JLgtvi Baoh
rt>i-- ,fteffyntlhngle£\ <t CcUtgt ot thb^dtony x>

0

DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

LECTUEES ON THE BOOK OF EEVELATION.

LECTUEES

ON THE

BOOK OF REVELATION.

By WILLIAM KELLY.

Jtefo ani glebterii, (Ebitimt.

GLASGOW:
ROBERT L. ALLAN, 75 SAUCHIEHALL ST.
LONDON : G. MORRISH, U WARWICK LANE,
Paternoster. Row, E.C.
DUBLIN: FRANCIS CAVENAGH, 32 WICKLOW STREET.
GUERNSEY : J. TUNLEY, 104 VICTORIA ROAD.

PREFACE.

Ushering the work before the reader for the fourth time, I
do not know that there is need of fresh explanations. Any
practised eye will discern that it consists of lectures taken
in short-hand, with critical remarks here and there sub
stituted for that fulness of practical application which the
wants of souls call forth. Somewhat corrected, it is com
mitted once more, spite of all that the Lord's eyes still see
in it defective or faulty, to that grace which has deigned to
use it heretofore.
Guernsey, Uth Dec, 186S. «

CONTENTS.

Chapter I., 

 9

Chapter II.,

 41

Chapter III., 

 78

Chapter IV., 

 125

Chapter V.. 

 144

Chapter VI., 

 168

Chapter VII., 

 201

Chapter VIII., 

 226

Chapter IX., 

 249

Chapter X., 

 266

Chapter XL, 

 ... 2S9

Chapter XII., 

 333

Chapter XIII.,

 363

Chapter XIV., .... 

 421

Chapter XV., 

 448

Chapter XVI., 

 464

Chapter XVII., 

 479

Chapter XVIII., 

 '  504

Chapter XIX 

 522

Chapter XX., 

 546

Chapter XXL, 

 616

Chapter XXII., 

 648

LECTUEES ON THE BOOK OF EEVELATION.

CHAPTER 1.

Evert Christian of spiritual intelligence must have
felt more or less fully the peculiar character of the
book on the study of which we now enter. " The
revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him.''
It is evident that the Lord Jesus is viewed here, not
in His place of intimacy as the onlybegotten Son in
the bosom of the Father, but in one of comparative
distance. It is His revelation, but, moreover, the
revelation which God gave Him Somewhat similar
is that remarkable expression which has perplexed so
many in the gospel of Mark (chap. xiii. 32), " But of
that day and that hour knoweth no man : no, not the
angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the
Father." He is the servant Son of God all through
that gospel; and it is -the perfection of a servant not
to know what his lord doeth — to know, if we may so
say, only what he is told. Here, Christ receives a
revelation from God; for, however exalted, it is the
position He took as man which comes out conspicu
ously in the Revelation. And what makes this the
more striking is that, of all the inspired writers of
the New Teslament, none dwells with such fulness
upon His supreme and divine glory as John in his
gospel. In the Revelation, on the contrary, it is the

10
very same John who brings out with the greatest
detail His human glory.
In keeping with this, the Revelation is "to shew
unto his servants things which must shortly come to
pass." How very different is the tone of John xv.
15, "Henceforth I call you not servants;" and also of
John xvi. speaking of the Spirit, " He shall glorify
me, for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it
unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine;
therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall
shew it unto you." So we see through the gospel
from first to last, that the design of the Spirit is to
give the disciples the title and consciousness of .their
sonship with and through Jesus, the Son of God in
the highest sense. Thus in chap. i. 11, 12, "He came
unto his own, and his own [people] received him not.
But as many as received bim, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God." And again, after His
death and resurrection, the Lord says, chap. xx. 17,
"Go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend
unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and
your God." Of course they were servants also, and
there is not a shade of incongruity. Still, the differ
ence of the relationships is immense; and the Revela
tion clearly is addressed to the lower of these rela
tions. The reason, I presume, is, partly because God is
therein making known a certain course of earthly events
with which tbe lower position is most in harmony (the
higher one of sons being more suitable to communion
with the Father and with His Son); and partly
because God seems here to prepare the way for dealing
with His people in the latter day, when their position

11
as His servants will be more or less manifested, but
not the enjoyment of nearness as sons — I allude to
the interval after the removal of the Church.
The next words greatly confirm this; for the Lord
" sent and signified [it] by His angel unto His servant
John." That is, the prophetic communication is
made, net directly, but through the intervention of an
angel; and John is no longer spoken of as "the dis
ciple whom Jesus loved, which also leaned upon his
breast at supper," but as f'his servant," "who bare
record of the word of God, and of the testimony of
Jesus Christ, [and] of all things that he saw." It has
to be remarked here, that the last "and" ought to dis
appear, which makes no small difference in the sense.
For " all things that he saw " must not be regarded as
a third and additional division, but rather as explaining
or limiting the word of God and the testimony of
Jesus Christ. The visions of John constituted the
word and testimony spoken of, and thus the true render
ing is, " Who bare record of (or testified) the word of
God and the testimony of Jesus Christ — whatsoever
things he saw." Compare chap. xxii. 8.
Very different, again, is the revelation of God here
and the testimony which Jesus bears in this book,
from what we find in John's gospel. The Word of
God there is the Lord Jesus Himself, who in the
beginning was with God and was God; the full and
personal expression of God, and that not merely as
the Creator of all things, but in perfect grace. "In
him was life, and the life was the light of men."
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
aDd we beheld his glory, (the glory as of the only-

12
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
In the Revelation, on the contrary, even when He is
spoken of as the Word of God, it is as the expression
of divine judgment, because the whole book is emi
nently judicial. " He was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood; and his name is called the Word of
God" (Rev. xix. 13). So too, in the gospel, the
testimony that Jesus renders is to the Father, as
it is throughout the Father's joy to bear witness
of the Son. Indeed, the Son Himself, towards the
close of His ministry, sums up the pith and charac
ter of the testimony there in these few words, " He
that bath seen me hath seen the Father" (John
xiv. 9).
AU this makes the distinctive features of the Reve
lation to stand out in broader contrast. For throughout
the book the very name of the Father occurs but
rarely, and even where it does, the object is in no way
the revelation of His love as Father to His family.
In Rev. i. 1, iii. 21, and xiv. 6, He is spoken of as such
in relation to Jesus only. The grand subject is, God
manifested in His judgments here below, with a view
to the manifestation of the Lord Jesus, " King of
kings and Lord of lords." Even when the churches
are in question, it is given about them to another, not
to themselves directly.
" Blessed [is] he that readeth, and they that hear
the • Words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein: for the time [is] at hand."
What a serious mistake in the face of such words as
these for Christians to think that this book or any
part of it is unprofitable, and that it may be safely

13
set aside either as too difficult to understand, or, if
understood, as having no practical bearing upon the
soul ! It is remarkable indeed with wl at special care
the Lord has commended it, not only here at the
commencement, but at the close, where we read,
"These sayings [are] faithful and true, and the Lord
God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to
show his servants the things which must shortly
come to pass. Behold I come quickly; blessed [is] he
which keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this
book." It would seem that the Lord's prescient eye
anticipated in such warnings the neglect with wl.ich
the Apocalypse would be treated by His servants, and
that He was thus solemnly guarding them against it
by commending the book emphatically to their study
and use. It is a little remarkable, by the way, that a
somewhat similar admonition occurs in the close of
1 Thessalunians, which was the first of Paul's epistles,
and the one which above all others developes the
grand truth of the coming of the Lord. In Rev. i. 3,
the Lord takes pains to encourage every possible
class of people who might come in contact with the
book. Not only the individual who reads is pro
nounced blessed, but those who hear its words and
keep (or observe) what is written therein. And
certain I am that the Lord does not fail to encourage
His saints who count on His assured faithfulness and
blessing. He has never turned aside frpm using it
for good, and especially in times of danger, spite of
all contempt or perversion.
The objection to the study of prophecy arises from
a root of unbelief, sometimes deeply hidden, which

14
supposes all blessing to depend on the measure in
which a subject bears immediately on one's self or
one's circumstances. Thus when some cry out, That
is not essential, I would ask, Essential to what ? If
they mean essential to salvation, we agree. But then
on what a ground do such objectors stand ! The
anxiety to examine only what they deem indispensable
to salvation shows that they have no consciousness of
salvation themselves, and that this need of their souls
is the only thing they are alive to. Now all hold
that not prophecy but the gospel should be put before
the unconverted. The. coming of Christ in glory,
which is the centre of unfulfilled prophecy, ought to
be terror to their hearts, instead of a mere question
for interesting discussion. To the believer, indeed,
His coming is "that blessed hope." We wait for the
Son of God from heaven, and we await Him not only
without anxiety but with joy, because we know Him
to be " Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to
come." But for any man, who has not peace by faith
in Him dead and risen, to occupy his mind either with
this, the Church's hope, or with the events of which
prophecy treats, is but a diversion of which the
enemy can make fearful use, if it be not a proof of
utter deadness of conscience as to his own condition
before God, — though I am far from saying, that God
may not make use of that truth to arouse it. On
the other hand, prophecy is essential to our due appre
ciation of Christ's glory and of the glory that is to be
revealed. To slight prophecy, therefore, is to despise
unwittingly that glory and the grace which has made
it known to us. It is the plainest evidence of the

15
selfishness of our hearts, which wants every word of
God to be directly about ourselves.
God takes for granted that His chUdren love to
hear whatever wUl exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. The
result, too, is striking and serious: where Christ is
the object of our hearts, all is peace; where our own
happiness is the first thought, there is disappointment
and uncertainty.
Another form in which this egotism meets us, and
must be watched against, among those who do hear
the words of this prophecy, is the assumrjtion that its
visions are about the Church — that the seals, trumpets,
and vials, for instance, are of chief value and interest,
because they concern ourselves (i. e. the Church) either
in the past or in the future. But this is a fundamen
tal mistake, as we may gather even from ths words of
the verse before us. The divine ground alleged for
the importance of taking heed to this book lies, not in
the time being come, or our being in the circum
stances described, but in their being near ; " for the
time is at hand." If it could profit the saints of God
in the apostle's days, who were not personally con
cerned in the judgments, equally at least may it avaU
for us. The Lord grant that we may increasingly
value the place in which He has set us, peacefully
" knowing these things before."
Ver. 4 — 6. " John to the seven churches which are
in Asia."* Even the three verses already looked at

* By Asia is meant not even Asia Minor, but that part of its
western coast which constituted the Roman proconsular province.
The kingdom of Pergamus had that title given to it, just as part

16
give us a certain measure of insight into the peculiar
features of. this book, which are obviously distinct
from the other parts of the New Testament. God
reverts a great deal to the principles on which He had
acted in Old Testament times. One can see that the
positive edification of the Church is not the subject;
nor the unfolding of God's special dealings in mercy.
But we have judgment of evU, whether in the churches
or in the world. In perfect harmony with this we
have God introducing Himself to His people by a
different style and title. " Grace unto you and peace
from him which is, and which was, and which is to
come." It is generally what answers in the New
Testament to Jehovah in the Old. There is this
peculiarity, that He is here revealed as first He that
is, then He that was, and He that is to come. The
" I am" takes precedence, but He was before, and is the
coming One. God of old revealed Himself to Israel
as the unchangeable One, " the same yesterday, to-day
and for ever." But now God speaks in the language
of the Gentiles, and, by these words — " Him which is,
and which was, and which is to come," translates as
of the Carthaginian territory was called the province of Libya or
Africa. — Some account for the absence of allusion to Colosse and
Hierapolis by the circumstance that they were destroyed by an
earthquake soun after St. Paul's epistle to the former. If
Husebius and Tacitus refer to the same fact(for their dates differ),
it seems that Laodice.a, though involved in the catastrophe, was
rebuilt before the reign of Domitian. But adopting the earlier
date of the Roman historian (A.D. 61); how can this consist with
the usual reference of the Colossian epistle to A.D. 64? — May J
also express my surprise that the strange notion of Theodoret,
that St. Paul founded the churches of Colosse, Laodicea, and
Hierapolis, should be held by any unbiassed person ? I am aware
of Lardner's elaborate effort. But Col. ii., if rightly understood,
includes the Colossians and Laodioeans among those who had not
seen the apostle in the flesh.

17
it were that name of Jehovah, never before so com
municated to them. He is going to return to His
ancient people Israel; but before He does so, there must
necessarily be a sweeping judgment upon the profess
ing mass that c lis itself by the name of the Church.
But when God has set Christendom aside, He wUl
bring in Israel again — no longer on the ground of law,
but of grace. The law executed death on sinful man,
but the grace of God executed it on the person of the
Son of God. In Heb. ii. 9 we have it said " that He,
by the grace of God, should taste death for every
man." As. God, in the death of the Lord Jesus, has
given a stronger expression of His hatred of sin
than in any other dealing, so in proportion, and as an
answer to His .death, does grace now flow out to the
very worst. In that day Israel wUl know this for
themselves. The style in which the Holy Ghost is here introduced
is as strikingly characteristic of the book as the
way in which the Lord Jesus Himself was spoken of.
" Grace [be] unto you and peace .... from the
seven Spirits which are before his throne." Of course,
the same Holy Ghost, known as the " One Spirit " in
other parts of God's word, is here mentioned as " the
seven Spirits which are before His throne." He is
spoken of as the " One Spirit," where it is a question
of the one body, the Church, as in Eph. iv. 4. But
here it is the "seven Spirits;" because, when God has
finished His present work in the Church, He wUl
infallibly cut off the faithless Gentile, and will no
longer gather Jews and Gentiles into one body on
the earth. On the contrary, Israel is to be put above

18
the Gentiles. It will be a different state of things
altogether; and the Holy Ghost, therefore, is regarded
in His various fulness of operations (as He is in con
nexion with Messiah in Isaiah xi.), and not in His
heavenly unity. It is added, " which are before his
throne," because the main subject of this book is the
government of God; first, providentially and prepara
torily in the seals, trumpets, and vials; next, personally
at Christ's appearing till the kingdom be given up
and God be all in all.
In general, when we have "grace be unto you and
peace," it is "from God the Father, and from the
Lord Jesus Christ." But in this place the order is
different: first, it is "from him which is, which was,
and which is to come," i.e., from Jehovah; then, "from
the seven Spirits," &c. ; and, lastly, " from Jesus
Christ," &c. I think this departure from the usual
order is because Jesus is here spoken of, not so much
as our Lord, neither in His divine glory as Son of
God, but in special reference to the earth and His
rightful claims over the world. He is " the faithful
witness." All other witnesses had been unfaithful.
He alone had been the faithful witness for God on
this earth. But, besides this, He was "the first-begotten
of the dead" — the first person who had entered into
resurrection-life in that wonderful way, so that cor
ruption can never touch it. "Being raised from the
dead, he dieth no more; death hath no more domi
nion over him." Moreover, He is " the prince of the
kings of the earth." Yet all these things are connected
with what He was, is, and wUl be as man. It is
Jesus viewed in His earthly connexions. His inter-

19
mediate relation to the Churcri (as its Head, and as the
great High-priest) disappears, as not fairing in with the
design. But mark the beauty of what follows. The moment
Jesus is presented to the Church, and is announced as
"the faithful witness, the first-begotten of the dead,
and the prince of the kings of the earth,'' she can con
tain herself no longer. The saints interrupt, if we may
so say, the message of John, and break forth into a song
of praise — " Unto him that loved us, and washed us from
our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings
and priests unto God and his Father." He satisfies
the affections by His love, He has cleared the conscience
by His blood, and has put us in such glorious relation
ships as He stands in Himself to His God and Father.
There is a little alteration that should be made in this
verse, which, to my mind, greatly adds to the sweetness
of it. In the correct text it is "Unto him that loveth
us," not "that loved us." It is quite true that "Christ
loved the Church and gave himself for it." Eph. v.
shows us this; — equally true this He " loved me and
gave himself for me," as in Gal. ii. But the first
of Revelation shows us the present love of Jesus. It
is not that He is always washing us from our sins : He
has washed us with His own blood once for all, and
does not require so to Wash us again. There is, how
ever, the practical cleansing day by day — the washing
of water by the word; but this is not what is spoken
of here, but in His blood a finished work, and one that
lasts all through to His praise. But how blessed it is
to know, while this is the very book that unfolds to us
the ways and means by which God was about to put

20
aside His unfaithful people, and to judge the evil of the
world,,— that in the midst of all this, we can look up
in the' full confidence of His present abiding love, and
say. — « Unto him that loveth us, and washed us from
our sins in his blood,  to him be glory and
dominion unto the ages of the ages. Amen."
Verse 7. After the salutation, " Grace be to you
and peace," <&c, we had an interruption. It was the
voice of the heavenly saints breaking forth into a strain
of praise. Now we have (ver. 7) those solemn but
blessed words, "Behold, he cometh with the clouds;
and every eye shall see, him, and they also which
pierced him : and all kindreds of the earth shall wad
b -cause of him. Even so, Amen." This is not a part
of the song, but a testimony quite distinct from it.
And we often find these two things : that which forms
the communion of a saint of God, and also that which
is or should be his testimony.
The communion of each other is a happy thing; but
it is the presentation of Christ and the knowledge of
our portion in Him which calls out worship. Besides
this, the believer is acquainted by God with what is
coming upon the world. And this is a part of our
testimony, but not the theme with which the heart
should be most filled. With a person who merely dwells
upon prophecy, you will never find much fellowship.
It would be very wrong to despise prophecy, and he
who does will be sure to fall into some snare or other.
But if the Christian is always occupied with the details
of prophecy, there never wiU be power for heavenly
worship; nor does it necessarily deliver a man from the

21
ways of the world. A person may be able to talk well
enough about tbe Jews, about the judgments on the
beast, &c, and yet may go on walking with the world.
But when the heart is occupied with Christ, and these
things come in as a sort of background, then we shall
find that the Holy Spirit will show us "things to come."
So, in 2 Peter i. 19, it is said, speaking of the word
of prophecy, " Whereunto ye do dwell that ye take
heed." It is important that I should s^e what is
coming, and that I should not indulge myself in an
easy path here below. To know that the Lord is
coming to judge the habitable world, ought never to be
a comfort to those who are swimming with its current.
But there is something else that should be the delight
of the soul. When does the day-light dawn and
the day-star arise in our hearts 1 Peter does not
here speak of the day coming on the world, but affirms
that the word of prophecy is an admirable lamp uDtil
you get heavenly light, and the day-star arises in your
heart — the hope of the coming of the Lord Jesus
as the Church's proper portion. This is never pre
sented in scripture as a bare prophetic event. Christ
waited for and known as One who may come at any
time to gather us together to Himself— such is the
form taken by our blessed hope. It is the apostle
Paul who specially brings out the hope of the Church.
John, too, looks at Christ as the Bridegroom — at what
He is for the heart.
When the Lord comes to receive us, He is not said
to come " with the clouds." When He ascended, a
cloud received Him. Even so will it be with us : we
shall be caught up together in clouds to meet Him.

22
But here He is manifested for judgment of the world,
arid especially of the Jews. " Behold, he cometh with
the clouds." This is a revelation known and testified
by the heavenly saints, but not their own joy in com
munion. " Even so, Amen."
In Colossians we have the association of the saints
with Christ very fully -brought out (Chaps, ii. iii.)
He is my life, and I am one with Him, Thus,
when I find Christ my Saviour is dead to the world,
in Him I become dead to the world also. 1 find not
only my treasure there, but the very religion of the
world judged, because Christ was cast out by the world's
religion. When He comes with the clouds, every
eye shall see Him. But this will not be the case when
He comes to fetch His Church. God is gathering the
friends of Christ round the name of Christ now. The
Church is a body that is called while Christ is not seen,
and the Christian, having his portion in Him now, is
hidden with Him. "Your life is hid with Christ in
God." In this verse, then, it is not the Lord coming to
meet His own and gather them to Himself in the air;
but "every eye shall see him .... and all kindreds
of the earth shall wail because of him." When the
Lord comes to take the Church, it will be far otherwise.
God has joined us to the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven,
according to all the efficacy of His death arid resurrec
tion. As far as the spirit is concerned, this is true
now, and it will be true of the body itself when Christ
comes. The resurrection of Christ calls me to live
thoroughly to God, as the death of Christ makes me
as truly dead in principle to the world as if I were

23
already buried. In practice alas ! we have to own sad
fairing short. Still, says the apostle, "your life is hid,"
&c. It is the life of Christ you have received. As
long as Christ is hidden, you are hidden also. But the
time is coming when this will no longer be the case.
" When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall
ye also appear with Him in glory." When Christ
comes to receive the Church, no eye will see Him but
those for whom Christ comes. When the world sees
Christ, it will be when He comes in glory, bringing
His saints with Him — revealed from heaven with the
angels of His power, in flaming fire taking vengeance
on them that know not God (the Gentiles), and on
them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ (the Jews.) If the world were to see Christ
coming alone in glory before the Church is caught up
to Him, it would not be true that "when Christ, who
is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
him in glory." The world can never see Christ
coming to receive the saints, because then they must
have seen Him without them and before them; whereas
the same moment of His appearing is to be the epoch
of our appearing with Him. And this does not merely
rest upon a word: it is the doctrine of the whole
passage. And the same truth is shown and confirmed
by other proofs throughout the New Testament.
In Christ's death we are dead to the world; in His
resurrection we are risen, and are therefore to have
our hearts set upon heavenly things before we see
them. And more than that. Christ is not always to
be hidden : He is about to be manifested, and when
He is, we, too, shall be manifested along with Him.

24
It is plain that Christ and the Church must have been
together before they are manifested to the world, if
they are to appear, together. In Rev. xix. 1 1 we have
this taught beyond all doubt. "I saw heaven opened,
and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was
called Faithful and True," <fec. " And the armies
which were in heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean." The horse is
an emblem of power, the white horse of prosperous
or victorious power. It is the Lord Jesus coming
in judgment, which will be the time when He comes
in the clouds of heaven. These armies that are seen
following Him out of heaven, clothed in fine linen,
are not angels. The text says that the fine linen
(piamvov) is the righteousness of saints. Ajid the
remarkable thing is that, although angels are described
in chap. xv. as being " clothed in pure and white
linen," a different word (xivov) is used. It is the
heavenly saints who are describsd in chapter xix. as'
the armies of heaven, <fec. They were in heaven,
therefore, before the way was opened for Christ . to
come out in judgment; and they follow Him from
heaven when He comes. I doubt not th-at angels are
in His train also, as appears from other texts; but
they do not seem spoken of here.
There are thus two important and different stages
of the Lord's second coming. First of all, He will
come to receive His people to Himself, and the Church
ought always to be waiting for this. In the next
place, He will come to judge the world, when He has
already taken up the heavenly saints, and wickedness
rises to its head apace. Then, suddenly, the heavens

wUl open, and Christ the Lord Jesus wUl come and
the Church with Him, appearing together in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Is it
asked how? Israel was not told how they were to be
delivered out of Egypt. The Lord was going to
deliver them; but He did not explain it before it came
to pass. And the Lord is going to bring the Church
to heaven by His coming. Besides this, He wUl
judge the wickedness of the. world, and then the
Church will come with Him.
Verse 8. Here, it seems to me, that we have God,
as such, rather than the Lord Jesus,* uttering the
titles of His various glory, as a sort of seal of the
foregoing and an introductory basis for what follows,
"I am the Alpha' and the Omega, saith the Lord God
that is, and that was, and that is to come, the Almighty."
The first is evidently a name most suited to the book
which so admirably closes the written communications
of God. This, and all the rest of His characters here
announced, would be deeply necessary for the saints
to remember, whether for us before the trial, or for
those who shall be called on to pass through it.
Verse 9 is not quite correctly given. " I, John,
who also am your brother and companion in tribula-

* At the close of the book (ch. xxii. 12) the Lord takes similar
titles ; for if He were the exalted man and is to come and to judge
as such, He was much more, and no designation of the Eternal
God could exceed the dignity of His person. But the words of
the common text in verse 11 ("I am Alpha and Omega, the firs't
and the last and") are an interpolation there, and mar the sym
metry of the. context. "AU the best mss., versions, &c. reject them,
and -require "God" in verse 8. C

26
tion." The Word "also" is left out in the best copies.
And what follows should be read thus : "your brother
and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and
patience in Christ." They all went together. He
purposely speaks of himself, not as a member of the
body of Christ, but as their brother and companion
in tribulation (perhaps because, after the Church is
taken away, there will still be saints on earth and our
brethren). John puts himself along with them. The
Holy Ghost loves us, whatever specialities of privilege
may corne in, as much as possible to take our place
along with the saints of God at all times. The book of
Revelation was written for the Church, just when it
was drifting into a state of ruin. In chap. vi. we have
some of these companions in tribulation. But what
they say proves that they do not belong to the Church.
"How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not
judge and avenge our blood ....?" We find a proper
Christian appeal to God in the case of Stephen —
" Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. " The Christian
is always called to suffer in the world. These Apoca
lyptic saints will understand that the Lord is about
to judge, and they will ask Him to do so. It would
be wrong now to ask this, for it is the day of grace still.
Faith habitually takes its language from what God is
doing, and God is dealing in grace and not in judg
ment now. We are called to retire from the way of
the world, and our hearts should be connected with
all that is glorious and heavenly, for this is the present
object of Christ. The white robes given to these
sufferers, in chapter vi., are an evident mark of God's
approbation. They were to rest till their brethren

27
who should be killed as they were should be fulfilled.
Judgment must then take its course.
" In the tribulation and kingdom and patience." It
will be the kingdom of Christ in power when the
tribulation and patience are all over. But now the
circumstances of that kingdom involve tribulation.
The kingdom of heaven, as presented in Daniel, &c,
was not a mystery. It means the reign of heaven on
(or over) the earth. Christ, instead of getting His
rightful place as Messiah when He came, was rejected,
and went up to heaven; and thus it is that the
mysteries of the. kingdom come in. Hence it is that
there must now be suffering and endurance even in
the kingdom of Christ. When Christ appears in
glory, all this wUl be at an end. Then will come the
kingdom and power. (See Rev. xii.) It is the
" kingdom and patience in Christ" now. That word
"patience" is to be weighed well. We have communion
with Jesus in this patient .expectation; we wait for
what He waits. A man that is born anew now is
not in the kingdom and power, but in the kingdom
and patience in Christ Jesus. Hence suffering here
below naturally follows. So here the apostle John
was thrown into the isle of Patmos for the word of
God and for the testimony of Jesus.
Thus, the ground on which John addresses the
churches is not expressly as an apostle, but as their
brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom
and patience in Christ Jesus. One remarkable trait
which Christianity has brought out is, that God has
opened to us another kingdom of an order differing
from the earthly or Jewish one — a kingdom in which

28
there is tribulation, as far as natural circumstances
are concerned, and patient hope the corresponding and
distinguishing grace. But the Church has slipped out
of its place of suffering and endurance; it1 has sought
and taken the place of power in the world — the place
that had belonged only to the Jews of right, and to
the GentUe empires in divine sovereignty because of
Israel's sins. In the presence of failure and of evil
it becomes no one to be high-minded; where there is
real separation from evil, there wiU not be this.
Wherever it is a question of ceasing to do evil, there
is -great need of looking to the Lord, lest one should
say, ." this is what I have done, and what others have
not done." Say rather it is all of the Lord's grace.
But those Christians who desire to1 stand aloof from
the evil around them are in evident danger of giving
themselves a little bit of credit for doing something
that other people are not doing. In the presence of
evil that we have left, the effects of ' which we have
still to judge in ourselves, it is not a time to indulge
in great thoughts of ourselves.
When God is executing His purposes towards the
earth, His people wUl have fellowship with what He
is doing, as in the land of Egypt, in the wilderness,
and in Canaan: But when we look at Christianity,
it is not a question of earthly purposes, but of Jesus
crucified through weakness, and of power put forth to
raise Him again from the dead. There will be again
a most solemn dealing on God's' part when Christ will
judge not only the living but the dead. But for us
the fire of God's wrath has fallen upon Christ;' His
judgment was upon the head of His beloved Son.

29
And now God is imprinting on the hearts of His
people heavenly glory. He is forming their character
by these two great facts which meet in Christ; the
one is the cross, and the other is the glory into which
He ascended. What God has thus done in Christ is
what He wants us to have communion with. As the
Israelites had the law engraven on stones, so by the
Spirit should Christ be written on our hearts and
ways. The life of a creature may be lost, but what
the believer has is the life of Christ; and can the life
of Christ ever perish 1 Christ went through death in
order that He might give a character of life that death
could not touch. When the Lord God made man, He
made him out of the dust of the field, but He breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life; and therefore is it
that the soul is imsaortal. He got this life direct from
the breath of the Lord God. - Sin, however, may
touch it, and the second death — eternal misery in the
lake of fire for soul and body. But that which Christ
breathed after He rose from the dead (John xx. 22)
was a life which death never could conquer, nor even
assail more, over which nothing had a claim; and such
is the Ufe of every believer.
And. yet there are those who fancy that the life of
a believer may be lost ! I can only say that God does
not deal with those who so think according to their
thoughts of Him. The life is as strong in the
Arminiaii as in trie Calvinist, because it is the life of
Christ. When a man is conscious that he has faUed
and /sinned against God, he is in great danger of
thinking that his blessing is gone. But no; you have
gone against the life, and against Him who is the

30
source of it; but the life itself is there still, and
cannot be touched; it is eternal. Again, where a
person is occupied in looking at the spiritual life
within him, he will never have comfort. The proof
that I am a Christian is, that I have received the
testimony of God's love to me in Jesus.
Ver. 10. " I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day."
The " Lord's day" is not at all the same thing as the
"day of the Lord." The same expression (Kvpiaicds)
was used with regard to the Lord's supper, because it
was not a common meal, but a holy and divinely
instituted memorial of the Lord. So the Lord's day is
not a common day, but one specially set apart> not as
a command, but as the expression of the highest
privilege, for the worship of the Lord. The sabbath
was the last day which Jehovah claimed out of man's
week; the Lord's day is the first day of God's week,
and in a sense, we may say, of His eternity. The
Christian begins with the Lord's day, that this may, as
it were, give a character to all the days of the week.
In spirit, the Christian is risen, and every day belongs
to the Lord. Therefore is he to bring up the standard
of each day that follows in the week to that blessed
beginning, the Lord's day. To bring down the Lord's
day to the level of another day only shows how gladly
the heart drinks in anything that takes away somewhat
from Christ. The man who only obeys Christ because
he must do so has not got the spirit of obedience at
all. We are sanctified not only to the blood of sprink
ling, but to the obedience, of Jesus Christ' — to the
obedience of sons tinder grace, not to that of mere

31
servants under law. The lawlessness that despises the
Lord's day is hateful; but "that is no reason why
Christians should destroy its character, by confounding
the Lord's day, the new creation-day, with the sabbath
of nature or of the law.
On that day, then, bright visions of glory passed
before the prophet's eye. First, John tells us what he
saw on that occasion : this is what we have in the rest of
the first chapter. (Verses 12-2.0.) It was the vision of
the glory of Christ's person, in the inidst of the seven
golden candlesticks. "The things which are" (ver. 19)
we have in chapters ii. iii., which describe the condition
of the churches at that time. The third division of the
Revelation consists of "the things which shall.be after
these." The version "hereafter" is vague, for it might
mean thousands of years after. "After these'' expresses
the sense of the phrase much better. It means what
was about to happen immediately after "the things
which are" now — i.e. after the Church-condition.
These we have from chapter iv. to the end of the book.
The "things which are" continue still (in the most
important application of the book). And what next ?
" What is about to happen after these things," when
the Church has ceased to subsist on earth.
Let us look a little at what the apostle saw. First
of all, he hears behind him "a loud voice, as of a
trumpet, saying, What thou seest write in a book
(or roll), and send to the seven churches : unto Ephe
sus," &c. (Ver. 11.) "And I turned to see the
voice that was speaking with me. And being turned
I saw seven golden candlesticks'' (or lamp-stands).
These were evidently derived from the light of the

32
tabernacle. Only in this case the lamp-stands were
separate, so that the Lord' could walk between them.
They were golden, as in divine righteousness set here
to give light. In the midst of the seven candlesticks
he sees not exactly the Son of man, but "one like unto
[the or a] Son of man." He is really God, but He is
thus seen here. From John v. we may learn the
force of this, and why it is, in this instance, Son of
man, and not Son of God. The Son of God is the
one who quickens, because He is a divine person ; He
quickens in communion with the Father. Thus, giving
life, He is called the Son of God; but as Son of man,
He executes judgment, because God will have Him
honoured in the very nature in which man outraged
Him. This at once shows us the bearing of what we
have in the Revelation. It is as Son of man on the
earth that Christ is here presented; and as such He is
about to execute judgment upon the seven churches,
as well as by and by upon the world.
The " garment down to the foot," with which He
was clothed, shows not activity of work, but rather
dignified priestly judgment. The "gold" of the
girdle was the symbol of •divine righteousness, as linen
is the symbol of what is displayed before men. "His
head and his hairs were white as white wool, as snow."
So that, besides being the Son of man, and being seen
in the garb and place of priestly discrimination, there
are the emblems too of divine glory, as appears by
comparing this passage with Daniel vii. What is
said -of the Ancient of days by Daniel is applied to
the Son of man by John — the Ancient of days being
the eternal God. John sees here that the Son of man

33
is Himself the Ancient of days. The same who
wrote " The Wprd was with God, and the Word was
God," and " the Word was made flesh," &c, sees also
now in prophetic vision the combination of humanity
with the emblems proper to Deity in the person of
the Son of man. The head and hairs, being " white
as white wool, as snow," show fulness of divine
wisdom. " His eyes like a flame of fire " set forth the pene
tration that marked Him in judgment. "His feet
are like brass," &c. They could not contract any
defilement, and are unbending in judicial strength
among men. (Verses 12-15.) His voice expressed
resistless power and majesty outside the control of
men. Such He is personally. Relative description follows
in verse 16. "And he had in his right hand seven
stars," the emblem of the angels, or representative
rulers, of the seven churches. The word of judgment
went out of His mouth; because in the Lord Jesus
Christ to speak the word is at once to strike the blow.
" He spake, and it was done." " His countenance was
as the sun shineth in his strength." Such He was
officially. The churches' angels were represented as
" stars " only, as being, of course, subordinate to the
Lord. We have supreme authority in the Lord, wliich
is universal in its range, as the stars are His ad
ministrative lights in the churches, which He main
tains by His power. He judges by His word those
who have it or refuse it.
When John sees this wonderful vision of the Son

34
of man, he falls at His feet as dead. But the Lord
puts His right hand of sustaining power upon His
servant who lay trembling, nay, as dead, before Him,
and says, "Fear not; I am the first and the last, and
the living One; and I became dead, and, behold, I am
alive unto the ages of ages."* He is Jehovah yet man.;
but if He had not died, we should not have known
Him in the blessed character and energy of Ufe that
He has proved now — Ufe more abundantly. Christian
ity presents Christ as having passed through death,
and as risen in triumph for God and His people.
John is going to hear about judgments; but the know
ledge that the right, hand of Him who was alive for
evermore had been upon him, and the words of His.
mouth would give him strength and courage for every
thing to come. And this is the spirit in which the
book was written and should be read. " Behold, I am
alive unto the ages of ages, and have the keys of
hades and of death." The succession of these words in
the common text is a mistake. Hades follows . death,
and does not go before it. (Rev. vi.) See also chap.
xx. where we have " death and hell " mentioned
several times in their regular order. And so in the
best authorities it is here. When the Lord says that
He has the keys of death and of hades, He intimates
that He is the absolute master of all that appertains
to life, either for the body or the soul.
Accordingly, also, in verse 19, a little word ought
to be put in which adds to the force and connexion
* The "Amen," though read by B. and most of the cursives,
seems due to the copyists making the phrase a doxology, either
through unconscious habit, or designedly adding d/i^ as a correc
tion.

35
somewhat. " Write therefore what thou hast seen,"
&c. Because I am risen from the dead and am alive
for evermore, and the sole ruler of death and hades,
write therefore.— He who had bid John write (verses
11, 19) was the Son of man, with the characteristics
of the Ancient of days; but He was also the living
victorious Lord, the security against terror and. death,
the strengthener of His servants in presence of glory.
" Write therefore what thou hast seen, and the things
which are, and the things wliich are about to be after
these." Human nature might well be confounded by
the sight; but He who was revealed to John character
ised Himself both as God and as the man who had
passed through death and destroyed Satan's title and
held the power for His own. And this was to be
written, this revelation of Jesus as seen of John, as
well as the existing church-state, and the things which
should follow. (Verses 17-19.)
Verse 20 explains the mystery of the stars and
candlesticks, as already indicated. It is the connect
ing link between the vision of Christ and the judgment
of the church, or house of God on earth (Rev. ii. iii.),
as long as its existence there is recognized as the object
of His government. After that, it is the judgment of
the world from God's throne in heaven, and Jews and
Gentiles are variously dealt with, but chwrcJtes never,
in that part of the book. All this, and the reasons for
it, wUl appear more distinctly as we proceed.
It is plain, from chap. i. 4, 11, and from what
follows, that seven actually existing churches of pro
vincial Asia were primarily meant. But while it is
true that there were special reasons for addressing those

36
particular churches, it does not, to my own mind,
admit of a doubt that they were selected with the
further and larger design of presenting successive
pictures of the church in general, from the apostolic
days to the close of its existence on earth. Hence it
is that there were seven golden candlesticks;
seven being the well-known symbol of spiritual com
pleteness. There might have been other churches as
well or better known, and one of these seven had been
already addressed formally by the great apostle of the
Gentiles. But Ephesus is again taken up, and six
other churches are associated, so as to make up a
mystical and perfect sketch of the more important
moral features whicri then existed, and which, at the
same trine, would successively be developed in the after.
history of the professing body upon the earth.*
* Every believer in the inspiration of the Apocalypse of course
admits the ever-living application of the moral pictures set forth in
Rev. ii., iii., as is true of the Acts in the New Testament, or of the
histories in the Old Testament. But the idea that the seven
churches represent all churches, or the general state and character
in John's day, appears to be mere confusion. The truth is, that
each represents a distinct moral state, in which the professing
body, wholly or in part, might be at some given time. In a word,
that the local assemblies then exhibited the special features
described is true ; but they could not all characterize the then
existing state of the church in general, because they set forth
different and even opposed moral conditions. If we admit, then,
as we must, an enlarged application, beyond that to the actual
assemblies or to mere individual conduct, the natural reference is
to successive phases of spiritual condition, good or bad, in the
history of the Christian profession. Perhaps the extreme partizans
of the Protestant school of interpretation are not generally aware
that their learned leader, Mede, thus expresses himself in his
more mature "Short Observations on the Apocalypse " (Works,
p. 905): — "If we consider their number being seven, which is a
number of revolution of time, and therefore in this book the seals
and trumpets and vials also are seven ; and if we consider the
choice of the Holy Ghost, in that He taketh neither all, no, nor
the most famous church in the world, as Antioch, &c. , and such no
doubt had need of instruction, as well as those here named ; — if

37
Many things that might seem most important in the
eyes of men and even of Christians are passed by, for
the Lord sees not as man sees.
Another striking feature claims our notice and
admiration. It might have seemed impossible to
reconcile prophetic light, as to the successive phases the
church might assume from the apostolic age as long
as it is found here below, with the continual expecta
tion of Christ. But divine wisdom solved the difficulty
even here, as the same end is secured in the Gospels
and Epistles. The Lord was pleased to address seven
contemporaneous and actually existing assemblies; but,
in dealing with existing facts, He knew how to select
and shape His instruction, so as to suit the states
which should follow, till He comes. What a comment
on the Lord's answer to Peter's query, " Lord, what
shall this man (John) do 1 Jesus saith unto him, If I
will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ?
Follow thou me." In this part of the book trine is
excluded. It is the present, however protracted —
" the things wliich are."
But it will be found, I think, that He has here
given prominence to those features, whether good or
bad, which should reappear, and most aptly set forth

these things be well considered, may it not seem that these seven
churches, besides this literal respect, were intended to be as
patterns and types of the several ages of the catholic church a
principio adjinem, that so these seven churches should prophetically
sample unto us a sevenfold successive temper and condition of the
whole visible church, according to the several ages thereof, answer
ing to the pattern of the seven churches here? And if this bo
granted, viz., that they were intended to be so many patterns of so
many states of the ' church, succeeding in the like order the
churches are named, then surely the first church (viz., the
Ephesian state) must be first, and the last be the last," &c.

38
what He foresaw to be of the deepest moment for him
who might have an ear to hear tUl He comes again.
And this extensive appUcation seems to me strongly
confirmed by that clause of the threefold division in
chap. i. 19, which bears on these churches. They are
characterized as " tJie things which are." No doubt
they existed then, in the time pf John; but if they
continued to exist, and if seeds that were then sown
germinated yet more in after days and thus imparted
a graver significance to the words and warnings of our
Lord, that subsisting state pf the church on earth
would still.be fitly designated "the things which are."
Thus, Ephesus is the first great sample of decline
through a relaxation or abandonment of first love.
But was not this the notorious fact in Christendom, as
a whole, before the last, apostle departed to be with
the Lord 1 If in those days and yet more in the times
which followed, there was a simUar moral state, what
more apt and natural than to treat the moral circum
stances so as to convey the general lesson? Again,
without questioning that the message to Smyrna fully
applied at that time, it is easy to see that the great
and repeated persecutions, which broke out upon
Christians from the heathen, are admirably set forth
by it. So again, the Balaam element would naturally
come into great distinctness, when the world patronised
instead of persecuting. Then, further, Jezebel is an
immense advance in evil; and though there was no
doubt, that which furnished occasion for these refer
ences at the time when the Apocalypse was given, can
it be denied that the outline was filled up in a most
striking way, after the throne of the world established

39
Christianity by its edicts, and when, at a later epoch
stiU, the professing church formed a guilty union with
virtual heathenism and enmity to the truth of God?
This glance, rapid as it is, over chap, ii., wUl show
why I conceive that these churches are to be viewed as
having a real, if indirect, prophetic bearing upon the
subsequent states of the Church as they presented
themselves to the Lord's all-searching judgment. On
the other hand, it is clear that to have made this. bear
ing so marked as to be apparent from the first; to have
given a distinct chronological history, if one may so
say, would have falsified the true posture of the Church
in habitually waiting for the Lord from heaven. For
the Lord has nowhere else so spoken to or about the
Church, as to keep it necessarily waiting for ages upon
the earth. The Lord knew that it would be so, of
course, but He revealed nothing that would interfere
with the full enjoyment of the blessed hope of the
Lord's return as an immediate thing. And so it is
here. Some have taken advantage of this indistinctness
to deny that these seven churches have the successive
and protracted character which I have alluded to; but
the evidence will appear more fully, as we look at each
church severally. Another consideration whieh ought
to weigh much is, that, after these two chapters,
churches are nowhere referred to as existing longer on
the earth. In the concluding remarks of the book,
(chap. xxii. 16,) the Lord says that He has sent His
angel totestify thesethingsinthechurches. But through
out the entire course of the visions and in all that is inti
mated of the condition of men here below, after Rev.

40
iii. and onward, there is the most unaccountable sUence
as to the Church on earth, if the Church be really
there. Nothing more simple, if that state of things be
closed. And this quite agrees with chap. i. 19: "The
things which are, and the things which shall come to
pass after these" After the churches are done with
and no- longer seen as such upon the earth, the directly
prophetic portion of the book begins to have its course.
Further, it seems that the introduction of a new
state- of things does not necessarily imply the disappear
ance of what had been before it. In a word, after the
new condition appears, there may be still the co
existence of older ones, and each may run on its own
sphere. This appears to be distinctly true of the last
•four. Thus much for the churches as a whole.
Responsibility on earth is the question: not the
privileges of the Church or the saints in Christ, but
the obligation of the churches to represent Him, and
His estimate of their state. The light-bearers are
open to His scrutiny and judgment.

CHAPTER II.
Ephesus.
We wUl now look at the first of the seven churches
more particularly (ver. 1-7). First, let us observe that
John is told to write to the angel of the church there.
The address is no longer to "the saints which are at
Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus." Nor is
it to the saints with the bishops and deacons, as the
word was to the Phriippian church. Why is this ?
The Lord's ways are always full of grace; but they
are righteous withal, and the church was a fallen and
falling thing, so that He could no longer address them
in His famUiar love as formerly. Thus there was
departure of the most serious kind from Himself, and
John is directed to address, not the church, but its
angel or representative. The angels spoken of in
these epistles were men, and must not be confounded
with the class of spiritual beings called angels.* The
apostle John is employed by the Lord to send a mes
sage to them, and it would be contrary to all the ways
of God to use man as a messenger to angels in the
* Origen and Andreas adopted the latter meaning, but Epipha
nius and others expressly reject it. Many moderns suppose that
the term is derived from the synagogue and that it answers to the
TO'S tTTO and DDMrt Jin. But if this be so, the angel of the
church cannot mean even a presbyter, much less the president or
chief of the presbyters, as Vitrin'ga argues, but rather what is called
clerk or sexton. The New Testament term for this chazan or angel
of the synagogue seems to be im-qpi.Tn% who had the care of the
books, &c. (Luke iv. 20). The ruler, or c\pxurvvA.yuyos, was quite
distinct ; and of these there were several (Acts xiii. 15). Compare
Lightfoot (Opp. II. pp. 279, 310.) D

42
ordinary meaning of the word. Angels often acted
between God and man, but not men between Him
and angels.
But, further, there is no sufficient ground to affirm
that the angel here addressed, though, a man, is in
such an official place necessarUy as a bishop or elder.
He might have such a charge, or he might not. " The
angel" always gives the thought of representation.'
In the Old Testament we have the angel of Jehovah,
of the covenant, &c, and in Daniel we read of angels
who were identified with Israel or other powers. In
the New Testament we have the angels of the Uttle
children always beholding the face of their Father in
heaven, which clearly means their representatives. So
of Peter in Acts xii. — they said it was his angel.
We may gather then that the angel here, though a
man, is, in some way or another, the ideal responsible
representative of an assembly. Hence, it could be
said, " I wUl take away thy candlestick." It would be
extremely objectionable to make this a denned official
place, as it would introduce not merely a novelty, but
one that clashes with all that is elsewhere taught in
scripture as to the assembly. But it wUl not be
doubted that in assemblies we find, as a fact, a parti
cular person whom the Lord specially links with the
assembly as characterizing it : he is morally identified
with it, and receives from the Lord either praise or
condemnation, according to the state of the assembly.
Here the angel is directly charged with the state of the
assembly. The address being to him, and not to the as
sembly, put them, as it were, at farther distance from the
Lord. What a tale this tells of the dreadful condition

43
into which the Church had got ! He could no longer
address these assembries immediately. He had spoken
directly to the Corinthians even; for, guUty as they
were, they had not so loved Him, and then relaxed.
But here the message is, "Thou hast left thy first
love." Yet, if He had not a faithful church, He had,
at least, a faithful servant in John : and he it is who
in the first instance is spoken to. Aoid be it ever
remembered that the church has never since recovered
from that failure and place of comparative distance.
The church, the house of God, is a complete ruin here
below. And in ruin the first thing that becomes us is
that we feel it.
This in no way touches eternal salvation; but the
certainty of salvation is abused when employed to les
sen what is due to God. In fact, there is never a real
sense of sin before conversion; for if it could be then,
it would be accompanied with absolute despair. But
after, we have not conversion only, but perfect peace, we
can bear to look at our sin, and we can afford to
judge it thoroughly. A holy angel does not know
God as we ought to do — I do not say as we do, though
that be true also. An angel enters into the wonders
of God's power, " hearkening unto the voice of His
word." But the depths of God come out, marvellous
to say, about our sin, and in His only-begotten,
"seen of angels" indeed, but in living relationship
with us.
Here the Lord presents Himseff as the One " that
holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, that walketh
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks." (Ver. 1.)
He speaks of Himself as having authority over aU

44
the representatives of the heavenly light and going-
about among the , vessels of His testimony. The
representative is addressed, the assembly is none the
less responsible and dealt with accordingly. He is
come to investigate, to judge, — not yet, of course, the
ungodly world, but the assembly in Ephesus. What
a difference between such a sight as this, and the view
we have of Him and of the church too in Eph. i. ii. !
There He is seated at God's right hand in the heavenly
places, and there too God has made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Here He is walking
in the midst of the candlesticks. His hand is needed ;
for none but He could meet the difficulties. But is it
not solemn that He is so presented to that very church,
to which Paul had opened out the fulness of His
heavenly grace, the fulness of their own blessing in
Him? But here He is obliged, as it were, to walk
and vindicate His authority, not among those who
know Him not,, but where His love had once been well
known — alas ! now forgotten and dishonoured.
Observe the general character, as has been truly
remarked, of this the first address throughout all its
parts. Such is Christ's description; such is the sin;
such the warning. to trie angel; and such the promise
to the overcomer. His position is ecclesiastical gene
rally, holding the'seven stars and walking in the midst
of the Seven golden candlesticks.
"I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience,
and that thou canst not bear evil men; and thou hast
tried those that call themselves apostles and are not,
and hast found them liars: and thou hast patience,
and hast borne for my name's sake and art not wearied."

45
>(Verses 2, 3.)* Thus there were many 'things to
praise. There was patience, and this is the first sign,
if not the greatest, that Paul gives of his own
apostleship. More than this : there is nothing more
easy to break down than patience, after it has stood
many a trial. But here, at Ephesus, there was endur
ance. (Compare verses 2, 3.) Again, where there is
patience, there might be the tendency to pass over
evU,' or at least evil men. But it was not so here.
They had borne for His name's sake, but they could not
bear evU persons; and they had tried those that pre
tended to the highest place — to be apostles, and had
found them liars. And thus they had gone on, and
were not weary. How sweet of the Lord (in His
sorrow and, if we may so say, His disappointed love)
thus to begin with all that was good !
But though there was what He could praise, He had
against them that they had left their first love. It is
quite evident that this is nothing special, but the
general spirit or principle of declension of the church at
large. Indeed it is very broad : so the angels that left
their first estate; so Adam; so Israel. Alas! we
must add now the assembly of God, blessed and loved
* The common text, followed by the Authorized version, is in
some respects corrupted. —Their toil was known, and endurance
they were not only eminent for, but they had it still. They had
proved intolerant of evil persons and especially of such as falsely
claimed high ecclesiastical authority ; whilst they had manifested
their willingness to bear wrongs or afflictions for Christ's sake ; and
in all this they were not ' weary. Such is the sense of the right
readings and the true order. Por ov KeKorlaKas (or ovk iKOTrtaoas)
Erasmus adopted, from his copy which had got mixed up with
the comment of Andreas, ksicottI. xal oi /rf/c/«;/cas. A few mss.,
(16. 37. 38. 69.,) andVv. drop oi before ice/coirta/cas, perhaps to
seem verbally consistent with nb-wov in the verse before; but the
-evidence for what I have given seems overwhelming.

46
beyond them all. They had let slip the consciousness
of the Lord's love to, them, and hence their own love to
Him had waned. What produced love in them was
their appreciation of the Lord's love.
Let me just remark that the word "somewhat," in
ver. 4, seems to weaken the sense? It might convey
the idea that the Lord had but little against them ;
whereas,- in truth, He was exceedingly grieved. Not
to feel His lov^e, not to return it consequently, was
no small failure, especially where that love had once
been enjoyed. But now it was faded, and what would
not foUow in time? "Remember, therefore, whence
thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works ; or
else I am coming unto thee, and I will remove thy
candlestick out of its place, except thou repent." It
is a much easier thing to be zealous in doing, than in
repenting. But even this would not satisfy His heart,
unless they got back to that first love which had pro
duced their first works; otherwise the candlestick
must be removed. The spring of grace is as gone.
I doubt, on grounds both external and internal, that
"quickly" should be in ver. 5. For when He thus
comes to judge the ways of His own people, can it be-
so said? Doubtless, when He comes, whether to fight
with the Nicolaitanes, or to take us to Himself, it is
quickly. (Rev. ii. 16; iii. 11; xxri. 7, 12, 20.) But
the Lord gives space for repentance, even if it were to
Jezebel; and how much more to His beloved Ephesians?
The removal of the candlestick does not imply that
the church might not go on apparently as before; but
that it lost its place as a trustworthy witness for the
Lord. Here again all is general: it would suit the

47
Christian everywhere. Nothing makes up for distance
between His people (or between the soul) and Christ.
And such was the case, not merely with the assembly
in Ephesus, but with the Church generally, I think
we may say, even then. This, to my mind, confirms
the successional aim of "the things which are." Out
ward testimony might go on, but that is not what the
Lord most values; though value it He does, as far as
it is simple, genuine, and faithful. StiU, He cannot
but prize most of all hearts devoted to Himseff, the
fruit of His own personal, self-sacrificing, perfect love.
He .has a spouse upon earth, whom He desires to see
with no object but Himself, kept pure for Him from
the world and its ways. God has called us for this :
not only for salvation, and for a witness to Himself in
gocUiness, though this is most true and important, but
beyond all for Christ — a bride for His Son ! Surely
this should be our first and last and constant and
dearest thought; for we are affianced to Christ, and He
at least has proved the fulness and faithfulness of His
love to- us. But what of ours ?
The effect of thus looking at Christ is that th
CTiurch is kept in the dust, and yet always rejoicing in
Him. For the sense of failure in ourselves and others
would be oppressive, but that we are entitled to find
our joy in One who has never failed, and who, not
withstanding, loves us who have given such a feeble
and faltering witness for Him. Hence if we but go to
Him so known, even in sorrowful confession, He will
not let us part without blessing and strength. It is
due to Him to own and feel our sin; but to be occu
pied merely with failure never gives power: Christ

48
must have the glory. And assuredly He who has
dehvered us from the wrath to come, He who can save
frpm hell, can keep or snatch from every ditch on
earth. Only let the Christian confess his sin, cleaving
to Jesus : this vindicates His name, who comes to his
succour, and then the victory is sure.
But, what a comfort and how reassuring to find that
after His censure, the Lord again speaks of what He
can commend ! "But this thou hast, that thou hatest
the deeds of the Nicolaitanes whicri I also hate." (Ver.
6.) The essence of Nicolaitanism seems to have been
the abuse of grace to the disregard of plain morality.
The Ephesians saints had faffed in cleaving with fresh
fervour to that which is good, but they had fellowship
with the Lord, rejecting false pretensions and abhor
ring what is evU. People often say, there is no such
thing as a perfect church on earth. I would ask such
what they mean by a perfect church. WUl any Chris
tian man tell me that we are not to aim at everything
consistent with the holiness of God? I claim for the
church just what must be allowed for every individual
Christian. As there may be too many faults in the
individual, so there may be in the church. But then
there is this blessedness, that, as there is One who
dwells in the individual to guide and bless him, so the
same Spirit dwells in the church, and Christ cleanses
it with the washing of water by the word. With the
assembly, as it is with the individual, who has both
¦the Holy Ghost who is the power of good, and the
flesh which lusts against Him. As, in a man, the soul
may be said to pervade the whole body, animating it
n every part; so it is with the Spirit in the church

49
of God. When persons maintain that holiness may be
tolerated because no man is free from sin, it is anti-
nomianism; and I believe it to be the very principle of
the Nicolaitanes. Each individual is bound to be
ready to meet the Lord, having nothing left to be
wound up when He comes. The Lord looks for the
same thing from the assembly, because there is a
divine power against evU in the church as in the saint.
Then comes the promise, with the word of admon
ition before it; and all is very general, like the danger
and the threat. " He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto trie churches; to him that
overcometh wiU I give to eat of the tree of life, which
is in the paradise of my God." (Ver. 7.)
As for the paradise of creation, man had been put
there and tried by the simplest test of obedience in a
single instance ; but he fell. Now a new scene is opened.
It is no longer the garden of Eclen, but the paradise
of God — "of My God," says the Lord Jesus — not of
God only, in contrast with man, but of " My God," as
Jesus knew Him. Into this redemption brings us.
And therein is no tree of responsibUity' that could
bring in sorrow and death. The tree of life alone is
there, which the glorified saint shall enjoy in peace.
The church in Ephesus had fallen, it is true, from, first
love : but is anything too hard or good for the Lord?
Did any feel deeply and aright the wrong that was done
to His grace ? If there was but one who overcame (for
overcoming it must be now, by faith, not mere preser
vation of original blessing, and overcoming inside the
church too) to him was this promise given to comfort
and cheer his soul. The Lord's grace is just as full dot.

50
May there be none here who have not ears to hear : if
there are any who have, may they hear and overcome !
It is all well to "hear the church" in discipline,
confiding in Him who is in the midst. But when the
church leaves its first love, and claims all the more
loudly to be heard, taking the place of Christ or of
the Spirit, pretending to teach, what then? " He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches." Individual responsibUity comes distinctly
out now in Christianity (as in Matthew xiii., after the
proclamation in chapter xii. of the judgment of Israel).
SMYRNA.
Ver. 8 — 11. In Ephesus we have seen departure
from first standing. The next state is a different one.
We have the church at Smyrna in trouble ; the saints
of God are suffering. They may have thougrit the
fiery trial some strange thing that had happened to
them. But, on the contrary, it is more true that the
Lord is grieved with a Christian when He leaves him
without trouble for righteousness or for His name's
sake. The Lord had Himself known tribulation to the
utmost; but in Him it was' only the trial of the good
that was within, and the bringing out of His perfec
tion. And poor as we are, we too may. know trial
apart from our evU. The Lord has two objects in view
when He lays His hand upon a Christian in the way
of chastening. It may come either because there has
been something wrong, or because he is in danger of it
and this is little felt by him. When David was out
of tribulation, he falls into a snare. When his
circumstances were full of trouble, then it was that

51
he (inspired, of course, by the Holy Ghost) poured out
those sweet strains that we read with joy to this day.
The desire to get out of trial is a perUous thing for the
soul. The trial may be sent to show us what we really
are, or, what is better, to prove what God is for us and
to us : but it may be also sent to prevent us from falling
into sin. The Lord, in His love, thus often averts the
evU which He sees and we do not. I do not doubt
that there is another and a deeper character of suffering,
even fellowship with the sufferings of Christ, which
must not be confounded with the Lord's faithful
discipline, though, sometimes, I suppose, the two things
may be in a measure combined. In a certain sense
all saints suffer now with Him, though all may not be
called to suffer for Him.
In Smyrna the Lord appears to have been meeting
the declension from first love that had set in, and, in
order to do this, He sent tribulation. It is no un
common case — thanks to His name, for He is good and
faithful. In what capacity does He speak to them?
" These things saith the first and the last, which was
dead and is aUve." His title, first of all, is that of
a divine person as against Satan. The Spirit claims
for Jesus here, what Isaiah had before challenged for
Jehovah. (Isaiah xii. 4.) And what was there that
could not be claimed for Him? He "which was dead
and is alive." What a comfort for those who were in
trial ! Who is it that speaks to them in their
tribulation? The One who had been in the deepest of
sorrow and had gone through death itself. He who
was the First and the Last, and who had formed all, —
He was the One that had died and was alive again:

52
And this is the very One that I have to flee to in my
trial. You wUl see thereby what a connexion there is
between the quickening of the dead, and the comfort
of those who are in trial. (Compare 2 Cor. i-v.)
Jesus was God, but He was man also. He was the
suffering man, and He was the triumphant man ; and as
such He was able to comfort them in their tribulation.
What had He not gone through Himself?
Tknow [thy works and] tribulation, and poverty,
(but thou art rich,) and the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews and are npt, but [are] the
synagogue of Satan." (Ver. 9.) The word " Jews"
here is used symbolically. It was a name given to
the nation that was known as God's people, above all
others, in olden time ; and these symbols were taken
from the Old Testament. It seems to mean persons
who, taking the place of being chUdren of, God, went
back to hereditary religion. On the one hand, there
was this outward trouble, which the Lord allowed for
their blessing, and, on the other, there were those who
were insisting on Jewish principles. (Phil. iii. 2.) But
the Lord says, "Fear not those things which thou
shalt suffer." Do not mind what persons say, or things
done against you. " Behold the devil shall cast [some]
of you into prison, that ye may be tried." Thus, by
God's grace, the enemy himself is used as an instrument
for the good of God's people in the persecutions which
he stirs up against them. There is nothing, on the
other hand, whereby Satan more effectuaUy draws
aside than through a sort of quiet, easy-going, half-
and-half Christianity. God grant that His children
may be preserved from having two faces or characters

53
— that the Christian may never be worldly with
worldly people, and then put on the ways and words
of a saint with his brethren.
It is no new thing for the Lord thus to allow the
efforts and enmity of Satan for the blessing of His
saints. In the case of Job we see the same thing :
indeed the Lord probed His servant there far more
deeply. At each successive trial from Satan, Job re
tained his integrity, and blessed the Lord ; but the
Lord showed Job himself — the very thing he needed
for the full blessedness of turning away from self to
the Lord. Then He showed him God, and Job's com
fort at last was as deep as his self-abasement.
Job had no idea that he thought too much of him
self; but this was just what God had to show him he
did. He loved to recall the time when the fruits of
godliness in him drew forth the respect and esteem of
men. But God showed him how evU a thing it is to
be occupied with the effects of grace in himself or on
others. What the enemy of God and man could not
do, Job's friends did. He could stand against the
temptations of Satan, but he was provoked to folly by
his friends coming to condole with him, and giving
their misdirected opinions. When a person talks much
about grace, not a little unj udged self is apt to be found
there, we may be sure. Even Job had to be put in
the furnace to find out that there was a great deal more
besides grace in him. But though Satan might tempt
without success, and his friends only provoke, when
the Lord Himself comes in, then Job is soon thoroughly
humbled. He sees himself in the light of the presence
of God, and exclaims, " Mine eye seeth thee. Where

54
fore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
But the end of the Lord is as good at least as His
beginning. He is ever pitiful, and of tender mercy.
And it is when Job thinks nothing of himself that the
true stream of grace flows out, and he prays for his
friends. "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job
when he prayed for his friends."
The case of Smyrna follows that of Ephesus. As
already hinted, I should apply the church of Smyrna to
the time when the church was called to pass through
the tribulation that followed the era of the apostles —
the persecutions that were inflicted on the Christians
by the Roman emperors. But it is good to remember
that all is measured of the Lord. " Behold the devil
shall cast [some] of you into prison, that ye may be
tried ; and ye shall have tribulation ten days." (Ver.
10.) The sufferings, death for Christ's sake, &c, of
the Christians, were trie few brigrit spots and mani
festations pf life in the second and beginning of the
third centuries.
" Be thou faithful unto death, and I wUl give thee
the crown of life." (Ver. 10.) The distinction of
God's servants in glory is an important doctrine. For
while it is essential to maintain that the very same
grace which pardoned the thief on the cross was
needed to save Paul of Tarsus, yet it would be a grand
mistake to suppose that the thief will have the same
reward in glory. Nevertheless, we must not be afraid
when the Lord says to us, "I know thy works." For
though the vessels that are to contain the blessing may
not be equally large, the little cup wUl be as full as the
big one ; and full, if I may so say, of the same

55
materials of joy and blessing. In a glorified state there
will be no such thing, of course, as a person being
tried — no question of being faithful or unfaithful then.
Before we get there, spiritual differences exist; and
when we are there, the distinctions of Christ's king
dom will answer to the character and measure of
service here below, though the sovereignty of God
must be maintained also. (Matt. xix. xx)
There was this suited word of comfort to the
faithful in Smyrna — " He that overcometh shall not
be hurt of the second death." (Ver. 11.) Do not
fear the first death ; it is only a servant to usher you
into the presence of God. The second death will not
touch you. The Lord is like that tree of old which
was cast into the waters of Marah. He went into the
bitterest waters of death, which have thus been
changed into sweetness and refreshing for us.
PEKGAMOS.
Ver. 12 — 18. The Lord here announces Himself to
the angel of the church in Pergamos as One who was
armed with all-searching power by the word of God,
the piercing word that judges. In the' book of Revela
tion, the sharp sword is at the command of the Lord
Jesus, as the instrument of judgment. What the
sword does in the hand of man, the word of searching
judgment does which the Lord applies in power; it
decides all questions that have to do with Him. There
is always a great and beautiful connexion between the
way or title in which He presents Himself and the
state of the church which He is addressing. It was
because the word was no longer that which had Uving

56
energy to judge in the church, that the Lord Jesus
takes care to show that it had never lost its power in
His hands. As the first church shows us declension
set in, even in the days of the apostle John, and
Smyrna the time of persecution from the heathen, so
here we have a totaUy different state of things.
Pergamos is the scene of Satan's flattering power or
seduction, which was just what he used after the
violence of persecution had spent itself. It was a more
dangerous device than the second; for when our hearts
are set on anything that is wrong, there is nothing
that more shows God against our ways than His giving
us up to our own will. "Ephraim is joined unto
idols: let him aloiie." In the case of Smyrna it was
the contrary of this; it was the Lord intercepting the
power of Satan through persecution from without,
which was used of God to hinder the growing corrup
tion within.
After that, the god of this world promised Christians
every worldly advantage. The emperor himself offered
to become a Christian, though he put off baptism till
his death-bed. There was no plainer proof how
completely the church has fallen and had departed
from the Lord's name, than when it accepted the
emperor's terms and the patronage of the world.
Even those who were saved had entirely lost sight of
what the church was, as not belonging to the world
but of heaven. The Roman empire was essentially the
world's power. The church had been caUed out to be
the standing witness of these two things: first, of the
world's ruin; and secondly, of God's love. But when
we see the church shaking hands with the world, all

57
is gone, and the church falls right down into the mind
of this age. If the world gains in some respects, the
church loses in everything; and no wonder, because it
is at the cost of the will and glory of Christ.
Satan's "throne" is the sense: in presence of it,
who does not see the propriety with which the Lord pre
sents Himself, as armed withthesharp two-edged sword?
It is the same word as is used for " sent,'' as well as
" throne ' in other puts of this very book : but here
it is properly a •' throne," because Satan is spoken of
in respect of authority. Ir is obvious that all this
exactly describes the state of things in Constantine's
time. Instead cf being at the stake and suffering for
Christ's sake, the church was now yoked with tbe
world in a mere profession of Christianity; for as the
world did not really rise to Christ, the church must sink
to the world's level. No wonder the Lord says thereon,
" Thou dweUest where Satan's throne is." Yet He aUows
aU that He can, even where this miserable association
wasfouud — His assemblydweUing where Satan's throne
was. They maintained still His name, and did not
denv the faith which was given to the Saints ; but that
was all. They had just come out of the great persecu
tion in which Antipas was slain. But now the church
at Pergamos, instead of suffering, was dwelling quietly
in the world. Like Lot, they too had their righteous
souls vexed with the ungodliness of those around.
The Lord, accordingly, brings forward the things
of which He had to warn them. "Thou hast there
uhern that hold the doctrine of Balaam.'' (Ver 14).
What was the leading feature we see in the son of
Beor? He was led by his covetousness to try and

58
serve the bad king of Moab by cursing the>people of
God. When God gave him an answer, he goesto God
a second time, because 'his heart wanted its own way.
And it is solemn to learn that if God gives you up,
you may get what you want. Balaam afterwards falls
into even worse evU. He. was indeed a inan whose
heart was not with God. He said some true things,
but his spirit was not in them. He always speaks as
it were from without, as a miserable man, afar from
the blessing which he saw. " I shall see him, but not
now; I shall behold him, but not nigh," &c. He goes
on, step by step, until he lends himself to 'be the
-corrupter, through the world, even of God's chosen
people. And so it was with the church. Even the
philosophers began to take up Christian truth, and in
the writings of the fathers we find pretty much what
-we have here. What fornication is in moral things,
such was their, Ulicit commerce with the world in the
things of God. There were, I doubt not, witnesses
who were made very little account of, save in heaven;
but one of the men who had the largest and most last
ing influence of all, Augustine, was a true saint of God,
•and, though that is not saying much, the greatest light
of the western church. He had held the name of
Christ and had not denied his faith. All agree that
these epistles applied primarUy to the churchesto which
John wrote : but many do not see that they also apply
to different stages of the Church, and describe its
various states successively.
The doctrine of the Nicolaitanes* seems an evil from
* The true reading of verse 15 is "likewise," instead of "which
¦thing I hate," which was probably copied from ii. 6. The senBe
is, that there were such as held the Nicolaitane doctrine, as well as.
those who held that of Balaam.

,59
urithin, as that of Balaam was rather from without.
Such it was in principle and doctrine now. We read
of thefr deeds in Ephesus, hut this went farther and
deeper. It was a ^corruption of grace, a turning it to
licentiousness. Sanctity is the greatest snare if it be npt
.-seal, yea, if it flows not from the truth ; yet nothing-
more terrible than that where grace is known or at
least talked of, it should be abused. If we search our
own hearts and ways, we shall find that it is the very
thing we all tend to do. Grace has set us completely
free through Him who died and rose again, and what
claim has it not on our hearts? Do we not often
treat God's grace to us in the very same way that our
chUdren in their most hardened mood treat us ? They
then take all as a matter of right. Though creation
,has -been brought under subjection to vanity on account
of Adam's sin, yet there is no moral evU connected
with its lower forms. But in man's case it is not so.
Knowing the evU, he yet goes on in it. And even
when we have got the certainty of deliverance, if the
joy of it have passed away in a measure, we begin to
use the Lord's grace just to serve ourselves. This,
carried out without conscience, is Nicolaitanism.
God's grace was meant to bind us thoroughly to Him
self. We migrit see a person fall into evil (and this,
of course, is sorrowful indeed, in a Christian); butthere
is a great deal more of evil that others do not see..
God gives us the opportunity of judging ourselves
when no one else, perhaps, knows anything about it.
If we do not judge it, then the end here below is that
the judgment of the world comes'; and we may be sure
what a vast amount of evil must have gone on in

60'
secret, when God allows us to fall so that the very
world judges our course as evU. But we must not be
discouraged. It is just where the truth is most
preached and held, that Satan wUl invariably try to
bring in the worst of heresies, in order to bring shame
upon the testimony of God. When a man slips from
the highest pinnacle, of course he wUl have a more
terrible fall ; as also it will be much more manifest to
the world than if he had merely upset on the plain.
The Lord does not say, "I will fight against thee
' with the sword of my mouth," but "against them."
(Ver. 16.) The sword of judgment may, it is true,
act in taking them away by death, as in the case of the
Corinthian saints, who were judged of the Lord here
below that they might not afterwards be condemned
with the world; Christian discipline does not mean
putting away those who are not Christians from those
who are ; rather it contemplates the purging out of
Christians who are walking wrongly, in order to main
tain the honour and holiness of the Lord in their
midst. Mercy is the great motive of discipline, next to
the maintaining of Christ's character in the church.
It is at the bottom of the Lord's ways with us, and
surely it should be so for us with others.
The fact of the church's getting into the world
isolated at once the faithful Christian. The church
"only became invisible through sin. It was not God's
intention, it is not according to His heart, that it
should ever be so, though I believe that all was per
mitted and ordered wisely. God did not make a light
to be hid, but to be set on a candlestick. Such was
the fact now : Catholicism reigned, if you take the pro-

61
tracted view, which soon paved the way for Popery.
But if the word penetrated him who had an ear to
hear, it gave secret fellowship with Christ when the
public position had become settledly false. . Hence
to a true-hearted saint, amid all this ruin and confus
ion, He says, " I will give to eat of the hidden manna."
(Ver. 17.) The manna represents Christ Himself as
He came down from heaven and took a place of abase
ment in. the world. Those who were slipping away
into the world are reminded of the place which Christ
took down here. The " hidden manna" refers to the use
which was made of the manna for the ark : a certain
pprtion of it was taken into the holy place as a memo
rial before God. The faithful are to eat not of the
manna only, but of the hidden manna.
It is not merely that we shall share in and enjoy
with Christ . all -His glory as exalted on high and as
displayed before the world; hut God will give us
special communion with Christ as He was here below.
The sweet thing in the glory will be that the blessed
One, who has brought us into all the enjoyment and
peace of heaven, is the same One we have known in all
His path of sorrow and rejection in this world, with
whom we have shared it ever so feebly here, feeding
on Him as our portion even now. The white stone
was a mark of entire acquittal. May we be thus look
ing forward to Christ; and may God give us to taste
His own delight in His Son as He was here below, in
His outcast position ! May we have, besides, the
white stone, the portion of the faithful in a state of
things like that of Pergamos when the church and the
world were enjoying themselves together ! When in

62
heaven such wUl enjoy the same food that sustain^
them here. Christ will still be your food even in the
glory, and you will havg the White stone, "and on the
stone a new name written, which no one knoweth save'
he that receiveth it" (i.e. the expression of Christ's own
secret satisfaction in the way in which you have suffer
ed' for Him and served Him below). Assuredly the
heart will most prize what Christ will give between
Himself and it alone — what none will know but our
selves and Himself. The Lord grant that we may
have tokens of love for Him, although none should
know them but Himself now. Even in glory the joy
of His secret approval will not be lost but known more
profoundly than ever. THYATIBA.
Ver. 18 — 28. There is an importarit change that
occurs in this chapter, beginning with the epistle to*
Thyatira. In the first three churches the warning'
Word (" He that hath an ear, let him hear what the'
Spirit saith unto the churches") comes before the
promise; but all the four concluding churches have the
promise before the call to hear. These at least will be
found to be the representatives of states of the church
which go down to the end.
Now there must be a reason for it — a wise and
sufficient reason why the Holy Ghost should uniformly
adopt one arrangement in the three earlier epistles, and
as uniformly depart from this and adopt another
arrangement in the four last. There is nothing hap
hazard in the word. As everything He has done in
His dealings with man, as all that He has made even

63
in creation, has its purpose impressed by Him, so
much more is it with that word which developes His
ways and displays His moral glory. And this is of
vast practical moment to US; For, remember, the
secret of strength is in a Spirit-taught knowledge of
God and His ways in Christ. To enter into and enjoy
the thoughts and feelings of God as manifested in what-
He does and says, in His own revelation of Himself,.
is that which wins and keeps, purifies and strengthens
the heart of the believer. Israel did not understand-
His ways, and, therefore, never knowing His heart,
they erred in their own; as it is said, "they do always
err in their heart, for they have not known my ways."
MoseSj on the other hand, did appreciate the heart of
God, and accordingly of him it is written that " the
Lord made known His ways unto Moses.'''
In the first three churches, then, the call to hear is
addressed formally to the whole assembly concerned;
but in the last four the change of situation appears to
mark greater reserve. The Lord no longer, as it were,
expects any to hear but him who overcomes, and this
class is thenceforth, in a manner, singled out from the
rest. Evil had now set in over the professing body;
so that the promise is not, and could no longer be, held
out in the old indiscriminate way. From this distinc-.
tion we gather a remnant begins to be more and more
clearly indicated.
Something analogous to this appears elsewhere.
Thus, in the seven parables of Matt. xiii. the last three
were unquestionably marked off from their prede
cessors, and were addressed to a higher degree of
spirituaUty. The first four were uttered outside to

64
the multitude, the last three to the disciples only
within the house. Wherever we find in the Bible a
series of parables, prophetic visions, or the like, grouped
together as these are, there is commonly, not to say
invariably, some such line drawn between those which
commence with a general bearing, and those which
become more special and narrow as we approach the
goal. This is strikingly true of these Apocalyptic
epistles, the last four of which sever the overcomer
from the unfaithful sun-ounding mass. In short, the
formation of a faithful remnant, who were at first, I
suppose, only morally separate from the body which
bore the Lord's name (now alas! untruly), becomes
increasingly distinct. In the case of Thyatira the
Spirit of God seems to make the principle plain and
patent, as will appear presently.
The Lord Jesus introduces Himself here in His
character of Son of God, followed by a description
borrowed in the main from the vision which the
apostle had seen in chap. i. " And unto the angel of
the church in Thyatira write, These things saith the
Son of God that hath his eyes as a flame of fire, and
Ms feet [are] like fine brass" (ver. 18).
If we trace what the scriptures say of the Lord
Jesus viewed thus, two things more particularly are
seen. As Son of God, He is the source and sovereign
giver of life (John v). The Ufe which we by faith
derive (" for he that believeth hath everlasting life") from
the Lord Jesus Christ, is life in such power, that even
the bodies of such as possess it in Him will rise
from the graves to a life-resurrection; while others

65
who have it not must rise to a judgment-resurrection
(John v. 28, 29). In the resurrection of judgment
none can be saved. No Christian wUl appear before
the judgment-seat of Christ as a criminal to be tried.
All Christians wUl appear before it (as must all men),
but the result before the world wUl be, in spite of loss-
of reward in certain cases, their glorious manifestation
as justified men. But if you or I had to appear to see
whether we were righteous, and so could escape con
demnation, could there be one ray of hope for us?
Notwithstanding, there never can be, or at least there
never ought to be, a doubt as to the absolute salvation
of those who have life in and from the Son of God.
The judgment-seat of Christ will clearly display them
as justified persons; but we need not and should not
wait for the judgment-seat to know that we are
justified : we are dishonouring God's grace and His
Son's work not to know it now, " whereof the Holy
Ghost also is a witness to us." Faith is entitled by
divine warrant to a full justification, now and here
below, according to the worth and acceptance of the
Lord Jesus in God's sight.
And this leads me to the second of the things I had
alluded to, as connected with the " Son of God." He
gives liberty as well as life. " If the Son, therefore,
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John
vUi. 36). These are the two great aspects of blessing
which characterize Jesus as the Son of God. He
imparts not only life, but Uberty too. Not that they
have always or necessarily gone together. For a man
might have spiritual life and yet be in grievous bond
age, as one observes too often. This is also what we

66
read of in Rom. vii. A person who is converted has
life, but may be withal the most miserable of men as
regards his own experience. "Oh wretched man that
I am ! who shaU deliver me from the body of this
death?" In chap, viii we have the answer of grace.
" For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free (or deUvered me), from the law of sin and1
death." Liberty now goes with the life of the Son of
God, for He is the risen Lord who died for me and
discharged me from all the claims of law and of every
other tiring or one which might else arrest my blessing:
The servant does not abide ever in the house, lie might
have notice to quit; but there is no such thing as the
son's leaving the house. And it is thus, as sons, God'
puts us in His bouse, in the place of full and holy liberty.
What a searching but blessed title this was for the
Lord Jesus to take, especially if He was not only pro
viding for the then need of the assembly in Thyatira,
but picturing besides that state of departure from
truth, and even the depths of Satan, which characterized
the middle ages ! In Ephesus, when almost all the
apostles had disappeared from the world, there was
decay of first love; in Smyrna, persecution from the
heathen powers ; then in Pergamos, the aUusion is
plain to the era when Christianity gained the ascendant
in the world, and when consequently the church
consummated and sealed the loss of her sacred and
heavenly separateness upon the earth. The power of
the world never gained a greater victory than whem it
was externally vanquished by the cross; when, by
merely professing Christ's name in baptism, all the
Roman world was treated as born of God — in short,

67
when apparently heathenism, but really Christianity,
succumbed before the rising sun of Christendom. In
many respects it fiiay Have been a mercy for mankind,
as it certainly was the greatest event in the government
of the world since the flood ; but who can estimate the
loss for the saints, and the dishonour of their Lord,
when the Christian body exchanged their place of
suffering now in grace, hoping for glory with Christ at
His coming, for present authority in, yea over, the
world? In Thyatira we arrive at a period darker stUl
—the natural consequence of those pleasures of sin for
a season. When the empire professed the cross and
arrayed it with gold, it was not only that God's
chUdren were favoured and caressed, instead of having
to Wander in sheep-skins and goat-skins, or to hide in
dens and caves of the earth, but inevitably their
enemies were attracted, and the Balaam-state became
•developed, and man ran greedily after error for reward.
But the Jezebel-State is worse even than that, and
most significant of the bloody and idolatrous prophetess'
who Sought to be universal mistress in the so-called'
dark ages, and dark indeed they were ! Of this I
believe the church in Thyatira to be the remarkable
foreshadowing. But the Lord loves to praise what He can, and it is in
a dreary time that He is glad to be able to approve of the
least good. Here in the growing darkness of the public
state, there was growing devotedness among the real
saints. " I knoW thy works, and love, and faithj and
service, (for this is the true order,) and thy patience,
and thy last works [to be] more than the first " (ver.
1-9). "And thy works" ought to be left out,, and the1

68
clause following should be, "and thy last works," &c,
on ample authority, wliich the sense, I think, fully
confirms to a spiritual mind. "But I have against
thee that thou sufferest the woman [or, thy wife]
Jezebel that caUeth herself a prophetess; and she
teacheth and deceiveth my servants to commit fornica
tion and to eat things sacrificed to idols." Thus there
was much energy and devoted service; but withal the
greatest evil threatened them or even then was at work.
When Jezebel sat as a queen in Israel, aU was ruin
and confusion; but the Lord did not faU to raise up a
suited witness for Himself. It was then that we find
an Elijah and an Elisha, and even another where
naturally one -might least expect it — in the very house
where evil was' paramount. There was he who gave
refuge and food to the persecuted prophets of the Lord.
Just as in the New Testament we hear of saints chiefly
to be saluted who were of Cesar's household, so of old
there was an Obadiah, who feared the Lord greatly,
over the house of Ahab "which did sell himself to
work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom
Jezebel his wife stirred up." It was then too was
found the remnant of 7000, who had not bowed the
knee to Baal. I think the Lord would have said of
that remnant what we have in the epistle to Thyatira
— "thy last works more than the first." The wicked
ness of those 'who surrounded them made their faithful
ness more precious to the Lord; and He praises them
more, perhaps, we may add, than if they had lived in
a day less trying; just as, on the other hand, He
cannot but deal most sternly with evil, which is done
in a day of special light and mercy. How many

69
Ananiases and Sapphiras have there been since
Pentecostal times, who have not been visited in the
same open and unsparing way as when great grace was
upon all ! This is an encouragement to us who know
ourselves to be exposed, not indeed to a storm of per
secution, but to a season far more perUous. There
never was a time when man thought better of himself;
and this is so much the graver sin, inasmuch as the
testimony of God's truth to the contrary has been
widely spread abroad. I do not deny that it is a
day of no small effort among Christians. But "to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the
fat of rams;'' and never has there been less subjection
to the will of God than at this moment. There is much
association, which sounds well, — much taking counsel
together; but confederacy is one thing, endeavouring
to keep the unity of the Spirit is another and widely
different thing. But the Lord says, "to this man will
I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit
and tremble th at my word." The matter of real
weight is not getting Christians together, even if they
were all Christians, but together in the Lord's way and
for the Lord's glory as their object — the "one thing"
they have to do. If but two or three are thus
gathered unto His name, we have His own assurance
that His power and blessing wUl be there, spite of all
appearances te the contrary. Had we two or three
thousand together, but not in immediate subjection to
the Lord Jesus, we should have only shame and sorrow
in the end, however it might look for awhUe. If we
are seeking to please men, so far we cannot be the
servants of Christ.

70
It was, then, it seems to me, when the J^c-rd has
before His eye the state of a church which might well
prefigure the dark development of an after-day,
.{when the saints should be in great bondage* and that
which was altogether aUen in the midst persecuting
them, and His own authority nuU in practice,) -that
He brings out His title of " Son of God," whose eyes
were as a flame of fire and His feet like burnished
brass. Peter of old had confessed Him to be the Christ,
the Son of the living God; and thereon the Lord, im
mediately after pronouncing him blessed and emphati
cally naming him by the new name He had given,
adds, "upon this rock I wiU build my church:"
Now, alas ! the Lord anticipates that the professing
ichurch would lose its balance and set itself up virtually
in His own place, giving out that she, the lady, "which
calleth herself a prophetess," was to be heard in matters
of faith, not He, the Lord. Here then we have the
assertion of His personal glory and the attributes of
His all-searching and unbending judgment of men — a
serious but comforting thought for His own people,
who might be in the midst of this sad cpnfusion, and
the perfect provision of His wisdom to deUver them
from what was setting or set in. They would need and
enjoy the immutable foundation, the Son of God,
and the assurance that His church buUt on that rock
could not faU, when pubUc appearances were against it
as against Himself in Israel. They were worse than
nothing in the eyes of their persecutors; they were
precious in Christ. It was a severer trial than from
Jews or heathens; but the Son of God was no heedless
spectator of aU. So, too, His promise (26, 27) ought

71
to guard them from, seeking a present kingdom, a so-
called spiritual millennium without Christ, where they
should be either free to enjoy the world or entitled to
govern it as yet.
In the church at Thyatira there were faithful and
loving souls, earnest too, especially in good works;
but there was this plague spot also — the suffer
ance of "that woman Jezebel." Jezebel, as we are
told here, was a false prophetess, who was teaching
and deceiving Christ's servants to commit fornication
and eat idol sacrifices. This was worse than the
iniquity of him who loved the wages of unrighteousness,
a step farther even in Balaam's line. " And I gave
her space to repent and she is not -willing to repent of
her fornication. Behold, I cast her into a bed, and
those that commit adultery with her into great tribu
lation, except they repent of Iter works.- And I wUl
Trill her children with death, and all the churches wUl
know that I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts,
land I wiU give to you, each one, according to your
works," (verses 21-23).
What could be more shocking than the evU here
foreshown ! Jezebel, as aU knew, was one who added
violence to corruption, the counsellor of blood, the
active hater of aU God's witnesses, the patroness in
private and pubUc of the idolatrous priests and prophets
of Baal. And now, in Thyatira, there was that which
intimated to the Lord's eye the dark and cruel idolatry
which was to be formally taught and imposed by a
pretended infallible authority within the bosom of the
professing church. Even now the actual germ could
not be hid from Him whose eyes were as a flame of

72
fire. Jezebel was there and " her chUdren ' too. It
was a deep and lasting source of evil. But the judg
ment of her and of all that sprang from her was severe,
however it might seem to linger. The Lord discerns
-different degrees of connexion; but none should go
unpunished, let Christendom decide as they might that
evil must be allowed under His adored name. Re
pentance was absolutely refused, though the Lord had
¦given ample space for it. " Fornication " (for such is
the figure used) was both taught and practised. Long
patience on His part is the sure sign, both that the
object to be judged was in a thoroughly evil condition,
(else He comes quickly in the jealous care of true love
that counts on a true answer), and that when the judg
ment comes, it must be definitive and unsparing.
"The woman," it has been long remarked, symbolizes
the general state, as "the man" has the place of"
responsible activity.
The words "a few things," in verse 20, must dis
appear. It was not a Uttle complaint, but one of
unusual gravity and complication. The phrase crept
in, I conceive, from verse 14, as there is otherwise
resemblance enough to suggest such an assimilation
to a copyist. But on a closer inspection the difference,
as we have seen, is great, especially if we are to read
" thy wife Jezebel." The sin of fornication or adultery
here is symbolical of that wicked commerce with the
world, which is in the same relation to the Christian
or the Church, as intermarriage with a Canaanite
would have been to an Israelite. To eat idol-sacrifices
sets forth communion with what had a direct link with
the power of Satan, for "the things which the GentUes

sacrifice they sacrifice to devUs, and not to God;" and
it is an easy thing, Uttle as men may think it or Chris
tians may estimate aright its enormity, to have fellow
ship with devils.
Besides the leading corruptress-and fountain-head of
the mischief, we have two classes of persons mentioned
Who were guilty in a positive way. There were Christ's
servants whom she deceived to ilUcit commerce with
the world, and there were others who were the
immmediate offspring of Jezebel, "her chUdren."
With each one the Lord would deal according to his
works. He was the righteous Judge, and man, as
such, must be' judged, and all, saints or sinners,
must be manifested before His judgment-seat. Yet
it is remarkable how the Lord avoids saying
that the saints j will be judged. "I will give,"
says He, "to you, each one according to your
works;" and so in chap. xxu. 12, and many simUar
scriptures. On the one hand, we are positively
told that the believer shall not come into judgment
(for John v. 24 means judgment, and not "condem
nation," however certainly this is the result of it).
On the other hand, we know from Rev. xx. 12, 13,
that the wicked are to stand before the throne, and to
be judged, each one according to their works. Their
resurrection is one of judgment, (and in effect, of
condemnation,) contrasted with that of the righteous,
which is a life-resurrection. Thus, it is certain that,
if put on my trial for salvation or perdition, according
as my works deserve, I must be lost, for I have sinned
and have sin; yet is it equally sure that' the Lord is
not unrighteous to forget the work and labour of love,
F

74
and so He wUl give to each one according to his
works. Christ Himself, Christ's love, is the only right
motive for a Christian in anything; but there are
rewards for those who have suffered for Christ and
been cast out for righteousness' or for His name's sake.
The remnant comes out with great clearness in the
next verse. "But unto you I say, the rest (or
;t remnant;" omitting the words "and unto," which
Siave no right to be here) in Thyatira." (Ver. 24.)
Here we have a faithful few, who are called S'the rest,"
distinguished from the mass in Thyatira. The Lord
had been speaking of His servants who had been
seduced to dally with the evil of Jezebel, and of her own
chUdren, for which last class there was to be no mercy
from Him. Then another class is addressed, the
remnant, or "you that remain." The corrupt exterior
body goes on, and there is a remnant that the Lord
now had specially in view. He supposes them to be
ignorant of what Christendpm then counted knowledge,
and only says, "whosoever have not this doctrine, who
have not known the depths of Satan, (as they speak,)
I put upon you no other burden, but that which ye
have, hold fast tUl I come." (Verses 24, 25.) These
"depths of Satan" they had not known. They valued
no knowledge which undermined the call to holiness.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and
this beginning they feared to let slip; and they were
right. It might be but negative; but they had kept
clear of a great evU, and holding their little fast, they
would surely have their reward when the Lord comes.
There where those who suffered much for Christ, who
witnessed for Him in these dark ages. Such were the

75
Albigenses and Waldenses; and "you, the rest in
Thyatira," I take to' refer to these persecuted com
panies, who held tenaciously what they had from God.
They did not know much, but they were a remnant
separated in conscience and suffering from the evU
around them, from Jezebel. Their comfort lies in no
promise of amendment in the Church, but hi a hope
outside aU on earth, even the kingdom and coming of
Ghrist in person. Meanwhile they are caUed to over
come and keep Christ's works unto the end.
There could not be a more admirable sketch in a few
words than what we have here. And it is not a Uttle
remarkable that the book of the Revelation was much
prized by these saints. Indeed, this has always been
more or less the case in times of persecution — not that
it is the best motive, for the book is valued most when
the Lord leads His people to wait for His return.
But His tenderness to His sufferers in a dark day is
most sweet; and what a promise! — "And he that
overcometh, and he that keepeth my works until the
end, I wUl give him authority over the nations," &c.
(Ver. 26, 27.) What the mediaeval church arrogantly
.and wickedly sought, the saints she persecuted or
despised are yet to possess in the coming and kingdom
fo their Lord, and these hopes accordingly are here
brought in as their suited objects. The guUty church was
not more cruel towards the true saints than ambitious
of power over the world. Things ecclesiastical had got
to their grossest point. But it is good to wait for the
Lord's way and time: He is the same yesterday, to-day,
and for ever. When the earthly power has been put aside
and judged, those who have suffered with Christ shall

76
reign with Him. But He adds more than authority
over the nations, and ruling them with a rod of iron
.... as Christ also received of His Father. "And I
wUl give him the morning star." (Ver. 28.) This is
most blessed: not merely association with Christ in
the day of His power, when the stronghold of men
shall be broken to shivers, like the vessels of a potter,
but "gathering together unto Him" before that day.
The' hope abides in all its fulness, "and as fresh as at the-
first. Christ- only could' so -speak and act.
The sun, 'when it rises, summons man to his busy
tonl, but the morning-star ' shines 'for those only who-
'sleep not as'do others — for those who waifceh as children
of 4ight 'and -«f the day. We shall be -*with Christ
jdonbtless when -the ^Say of glory ^dafwns upon the
world; but 'the mommg^stlar is before the day, and
Christ not only says "/ am .... the bright and
morning-star," but "I will give .... the -morning-star."
He wUl come and receive His ' heavenly ones before
they appear with Him in glory. May we be true to
Him in the refusal of present ease, and honour, and
power ! May we follow Him, taking up our cross and
denying ourselves daUy! He will not forget us in His
day, and He will give us, ere that comes, the morning-
star. I would here add, in closing this sketch of Rev. ii.,
that Thyatira has a sort of transitional place, being
linked with the three preceding churches as on church-
ground, whatever the corruption allowed which charac
terized its public state. On the other hand, it is
connected with the three churches which follow on the
ground of truth or testimony (not regularly ecclesias-

77
tical), both as being the first of those marked by the
•change of position in the call to hear, and as also
expressly running down to the end. The others were
transient phases. This begins the more permanent
states in view of the Lord's advent. It may be noticed
accordingly that the dealing after Thyatira, when
threatened, falls on the angel : up to this it had been
either on the candlestick, as in Ephesus, or on the
evil-doers, as in Pergamos find Thyatira. Smyrna and
PhUadelphia have a special exemption, one in each
of the two series-. To the angel of the church in
Sardis the word is, "I wUl come ontheeas a thief;" when
similar language was used in a former case, Christ
said, "LwiU fight againsti!Aem''&c., "IwUlcasther" and
" I wUl kUl her chUdren," <fec. In the latter series it is
a question of a separated witness in Christendom, where
fideUty is everything, as with the disciples in the gospel.
Judgment must fall on the whole, though not without
distinguishing the true-hearted. In this new part
{with a sUght exception in Sardis, which is necessary
and only proves the rule), the titles of Christ are dis
tinct from those seen in the opening vision of chap, i.,
and point to His future reign. This is seen with
special emphasis in Laodicea, so that "the things that
Are " may vanish away thenceforth, as in fact they do.

CHAPTER III.
Sardis.
Ver. 1 — 6. I think that ariy discerning reader
must perceive that we are entering upon an entirely
new order of things in this chapter, or, at least, a sort
of fresh start. What was "described in the vision of
Christ walking in the midst of the candlesticks is not
here as in chap. U., unless it be the "seven stars,"
no longer, however, held in His right hand. It is quite
true that what we have been looking at, in the former
chapter, may stUl exist and be verified at the same
time with new features as they are brought out here.
Not Only may there be points moraUy like what we
have seen in Ephesus, Smyrna, or Pergamos, but a
continuing public state like the evU depicted in the
message to the angel of the assembly in Thyatira, which
goes on to the end in a way that differs from its
predecessors. We find in Sardis ' another condition,
and one which answers to the general state of Protes
tantism after the Reformation. We have not so much
open evil, Uke idolatry and the other horrors that have
been described before; but now we have a more correct
outward form and orthodox aspect of things. As the
four churches in the s'econd chapter follow on conse
cutively, and describe the state of things before the
rise of Luther, &c, so Sardis describes what followed
the Reformation, when the glow and fervour of truth
and the first flush of blessing had passed away, and a
cold formalism had set in.

79
The way in which the Lord presents Himself is
wonderfully suitable. "These things saith He that
hath the seven Spnits of God and the seven stars."
(ver. 1). This is a new point of view in which to see
Christ. In chap. i. "the seven Spfrits" were distinct
from His person and connected with the throne. The
seven Spirits of God refer to the Holy Spirit of God,
viewed in His various perfections and the ways in
which He works ; and this not so much in the church, as
towards the world.. In chap, v., when the churches
are done with, the Lord Jesus is described symboUcaUy
as a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and
seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent
forth into all the earth — the Holy Ghost as acting with
a view to the government of the earth. It is not the
Holy Ghost in all the fulness of the blessing into which
He brought the Church in its unity, or dwelling there.
It is the expression of the Spirit in fulness of quaUty
and power to make good God's will on earth.
But whatever might be the condition of the church,
the Lord Jesus was the One who had all the power of
the Spirit of God, and He only is the One who has at
the same time fuU spiritual authority. There were no
two things more separated than these at the time of
the Reformation. There was then a large body caUing
itself the church, which claimed the power of settling
everything, as being the spouse of Christ; and then
the claim of infallibility was strongly advanced, because,
of course, those who assume irresponsible authority as
Christ's vicar to settle the affairs of the church, to define
doctrine, &c, ought to be infallible. This body had
wrought for ages, gathering influence for itself; and at

80
last the struggle came, and it was proved to be a mass
of the greatest evil against God and His Son that had
ever been congregated on the earth. There might
have been true saints of God in it at the -worst of times,
and I think that some, such as Cyprian, had even
helped to give it an undue and false place of
authority. Then, again, St. Bernard sanctioned the
persecutions of the Waldenses. But it is well to bear
in mind that there cannot be a greater fallacy than to
abide in what is wrong merely because we find true
saints of God there; for the great aim of Satan is to try
and get good people to do bad things. When at last the
crisis arrived, and men rose up in a considerable part
of the world against this frightful evU, there was the
separation of these two thoughts of ecclesiastical autho
rity and spiritual power. Instead of its being a body
that claimed both, everything ran into disorder, and
men fell back on the power of the world, in order to
gain freedom from the dominion of the pope.
Thus Protestantism was always wrong, ecclesiastic
ally, from the very beginning, because it looked up to
the civil ruler as the one in whose hand ecclesiastical
authority was' vested; so that if the church had been
under popery the ruler of the world, the world now
became, in Protestantism, the ruler of the church. It
is not a question of church and state — that poUtieians
may discuss; but it is a great deal too narrow and low
a question for a Christian. The' great thing is to be
in the path of Christ, giving honour to Him. "I know
thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and
art dead." This describes the cold and formal ways of
religion that were found after the Reformation among

SI
those that were not really Christians. The Lord Jesus
shows what He disapproves of in Protestantism.
Why not be thoroughly Christians? It was a poor
thing to boast of not being as bad as Jezebel; it was
death, if not abomination.
In Protestant lands, there has always been a measure
of liberty of conscience. But the object of God is not
merely to deliver either from gross evils, or from mere
details, but that the soul should be right with God,
and should allow the Lord to have His way and glory-
liberty for the Lord to work by the Holy Ghost accord
ing to His will. When He is allowed His right place,
there is the blessed fruit of it in love and holy liberty.
t is not a human liberty derived from the power of the
world that we want, (though God forbid that we should
speak a word against the powers that be in their sphere,)
but the liberty of the Holy Ghost. It is the sin of
Christians to have put the powers that be in a false
position. The Lord Jesus touches the root of the
whole matter in the way in which He presents
Himself to the church of Sardis. Whether it is spiri
tual power or the outward authority flowing from it,
the Lord claims it all as belonging to Him. In Ephesus
it was said that He held the seven stars in His right
hand; but here are united the two things, inward spiri
tual power, and outward authority. He hath the
Spirits of God and tbe stars. It is not said here that
He holds the stars in His right hand, but that they are
His, as well as the fulness of spiritual competency.
In the great mass of Protestant churches they gave
up, as it were, the regulation of the stars into the hands
of the powers that be. On the other hand, the persons

82
who revolted from that fell into the sad evU of suffer
ing the church to have the stars in its own keeping.
There is not such a doctrine in the whole scripture as
either the world or the church having this kind of
authority in its own hands. The Lord Jesus has still
all under Himself. He has not given it up. Therefore
let the Church only own what He is, and He will
act accordingly. When there is faith to look to Him
in His place as Head of the Church, He wUl assuredly
supply every need. If He listens to the simplest cry
of His lambs, .does He not enter into the deeper need
of the church, which is always His most beloved
object? He took His Headship of the church only in
heavenly glory, and He went there not merely to be, but
to act, as the Head. What is His function as Head of
the Church? He exercises authority, having persons
to act under Him here below. Thus the existence of
rule and gift in the Church of God is the result;
and these are not touched by the min of the Church.
The Lord, anticipating the time when there would be
a revolt from under the spurious authority of the body
calling itself the church, and foreseeing all the con
fusion that would be the result, presents Himself as the
One who is superior to it all. Whatever may be the
condition of things here, strength is in Christ: and we
can never find strength in looking at the condition of
the church, but at Christ.
When the apostles were here below, they were
empowered to act for Christ in a very special way; but
when they were taken away, the real source of the
power in which they had acted, subordinately to Christ,
was not dried up; the Lord Jesus has it all in His own

83
keeping stUl. There was a name to Uve, but real
death. He was speaking of their condition as a body,
and not as individuals. " Be watchful, and strengthen
the things that remain, which were about to die : for
I have not found thy works perfect [filled up] before
my God." Here we have again a very striking feature
of what took place in Protestantism. In the desire to
escape from the abuse of works by the Romish system,
it is evident that its practice lost its due place in the
minds of Christians — its place for those who have
been brought nigh to God, for God does look for a real
separate and distinct path to be taken by His people;
and He finds fault with Sardis because of their failure
in this. The saints of God, even in Thyatira, were
commended of God for their earnestness, in spite of all
the evU. Their last works were more than the first.
Protestantism has weakened the idea of obedience,
under the plea of "no perfection," either in the church
or in the individual. Thus there has been a lower
ing of the just criterion wherever Protestantism has
prevailed: but our God looks for perfection as the
standard His chUdren should judge themselves by — I
do not say attain. He has grace to meet faUures; but
it is quite another thing for persons to settle down in
self-complacency, from not having the divine standard
before their eyes. - The Lord always goes back to this.
It is better, in seeking to have that standard before
us, to fail in carrying it out, than to succeed ever so
much, if we gave it up. For what does the Lord most
value? The heart that wants to please Him. The
chUd may come to its father and say, "See what a
pretty thing I have been making;" but if the parent

84
had- told him to do something else, he would ask the:
child, " Is that what I desired you to do?" The Lord
has His own willj which meets us in our first need as
sinners awakenedj and is the source of our very salva
tion. But it is far from the natural thought of the
heart, which does- not like subjection to another's wiU.
It isbut part of the lie of the enemy. The wUl of God
was evidently that which accomplished our sanctifica-
tion, tiirough Him who said, " Lo, I come to do. thy
wiU." In Rom. x. the apostle puts our part of the
matter in contrast with Jewish feeling. They thought,
if they accompUshed as much of the law as they could,
that God was merciful, and would make up the rest;
but the apostle shows that subjection to the righteous
ness of God is salvation. God's wiU is the very spring
and power of our blessing, not only in the matter of
forgiveness, but all the way through. Take God's ways
in the church. These were subjects that were parti
cularly neglected at the Reformation. Individual
tijuth, such as justification by faith, was brought out
forcibly and over a large field. But this was made the
great point and aim of every tiring, and the consequence
was, that people never knew thoroughly they were
justified. The moment I make my own blessing
the one or chief thing I am looking for in the Bible,. I
shall never know anything aright; but when God?s
thoughts and objects become my aim, I shall know
directly that I am saved and blessed indeed. I cannot
look at the cross of Christ without seeing, at the same
time, my utter ruin, and my complete deliverance in
the resurrection.. If a man hesitates whether he is so
very bad as ', God; declares, he has to wait before he

enjoys the* riches of His grace; but if I trust myself
unhesitatingly in God's hands, there is not a blessing
that does not flow out to me. We find ourselves to
be as bad or worse than Israel, and then we are brought
inside a circle of goodness and mercy superior to any
thing they ever possessed.
At the Reformation, all this was comparatively lost'
sight of; and in escaping from the fearful net of
Popery, they feU into the sin of putting church power
into the hand of the civil magistrate. Others, again,
who avoided this evil, made what they considered a
true church to be the depository of this power; whereas
it is Christ Himself stUl working by the Holy Ghost,
that maintains His own lordship, a truth which is
taught, at large, in the epistles. Supposing a person
labours as a pastor or a teacher, from what authority is
he to act? There was, indeed, human appointment of
those who had to do with local matters; yet wherever
it was a question simply of ministry in the word, there
was no appointment from the first. Even in the ease of
choosing a successor to the vacant seat of Judas, the
apostles did not themselves elect, but threw it out of
their own hands into those of the Lord. (Acts i.)
And when the Lord afterwards chose another apostle,
we find "one Ananias," indeed, sent to baptize him,
but there was no idea of that disciple, or any one
else, making him an apostle. In what we have after
wards (Acts xiri.) i.e. the case of hands being laid on
the apostles Paul and Barnabas, it was not a bestowal
of any orders or mission, for it was done by men
inferior to themselves in point of spiritual gift and
power, but was simply their brethren commending

them to the Lord before they set out on 4 particular
missionary tour to the Gentles., We have a right to
look for the Lord to maintain His authority in the
Church. In all ages, we find He was helping His
blessed people, and doing His work by His servants.
If a person wants to preach, he naturally thinks he
must have the warrant of some authority; but if we
seek an authority at all, we should have a competent
one. Although there may be more respectabiUty in
the world, where these outward credentials, are looked
for, the question rises, Has the Lord required authority
to vaUdate a person's preaching the gospel? The apostles
did appoint elders and deacons; but these might be
preachers and teachers, or they might not be : their being
deacons was another thing altogether. PhUip was a
preacher of the gospel, but this depended upon his
having a gift from the Christ as the head of the church,
and not on his being one of "the seven." Men have
slipped into habitual departure from God's principles;
and this is called "order," because it is the most
prevalent custom now in the professing church. And
thus when we give up true principles, we get into
wrong practice. The Lord attaches great importance
to our owning Him as the One who has all power and
authority in His own hands. The moment I own this,
it so much the more binds my conscience. If I know
.a thing to be wrong, my conscience is held to it. I
may not be able to see at once what is the right path
to take; but to cease from what is evil is evidently the
first step, and it is imperative.
The connexion between the end of the second verse
("I have not found thy works perfect before God")

and what follows ("Remember therefore, how thou
hast received and heard," &c,) is to be remarked. He
recalls them to what they had received from God
Himself at the first. No such thought is allowed
as that because things are not as they were then, '
therefore every church has a right to form its own
laws. If it would be downright rebelUon to say,
because the Queen does not live in Ireland, that
therefore the Irish people were at liberty to make what
laws they pleased, it is as bad or worse if we think
that, because things are changed, the apostles gone,
and confusion come into the church, men are left free
to desert the word of Christ and do their own wUls:
the Lord has left us His. The very word of God
which teUs me what I once was, but that I am washed,
sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God, this same portion enters
into all questions of the assembly, and the working of
the Holy Ghost in it by whom He will. (1 Cor.)
There may be no tongues, or gifts of miracles, and
healings; but is the Holy Ghost here? What He
continues to do is according to the same principle and
presence as at first, though in a very different measure
of power, else we have no divine rule in these things.
Remark that the Lord's coming is spoken of just in
the way it was threatened on the world (See 1 Thes. v).
"If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I wUl come on
thee as a thief," &c. (ver. 3.) He would come upon
them when they were not aware — suddenly and un
welcome. Had they not got into the world? Let
them then beware of the portion of the world. If you
have taken the world's ease, you must needs dread the

88
world's judgment. Such is not the way in which the
Lord Speaks of His coming to the Church. In reaUty
and aU the extent of the words, it wUl be upon
the professing mass, and not upon real beUevers, that
the Lord wiU come as a thief. "But thou hast a
few names in Sardis, which have not denied then*
garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for
they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same
shall be clothed in white raiment.'' (Verses 4, 5.) The
Lord brings in this suited comfort, that, as they had
sought to act faithfuUy on earth, they should walk
with Him in white. As they had walked in purity
here below, they should appear in full justification of
their ways before God above. But this is spoken of
individuaUy. The state of the Church as a whole was
evidently low and worldly, and as such it should be ,
judged. The moment a person ascertains that his
association is contrary to the word, he should feel
how grave that fact is, and consider what is due to the
Lord. It might seem incredible, if one did not know
the fact, that there have been and are men of God,
.guides of the flock, who not only abide in evU which
they know, but seek to find a palUative in the circum
stances of a righteous Asa or a godly Jehoshaphat,
who nevertheless did not remove the high places.
Alas! that the solemn revelations of God should be
thus perverted so as to serve the ends of the enemy,
and that a repeated warning should be tortured into a
justification of sin. "The right of the body is the eye :
therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also
is full of Ught; but when thy eye is evU, thy body also
is full of darkness. Take heed, therefore, that the

89
Ught which is in thee be not darkness." It is not
enough to correct thoughts, and rest there; but if the
Lord has given a judgment, is it not in order that the
walk may be correspondent? Satan contrives to make
the path of the Lord appear dark and sad; as he clothes
a worldly course with the semblance of humility, order,
and the like. But the word makes all plain now, as
power will by and by even to the world.
May we walk with the Lord now, and surely we
shall walk with Him in white hereafter ! Instead of
a blotted name, ours He will confess before His Father
and the holy angels. PHILADELPHIA.
The tone of the epistle to Philadelphia must, I think,
confirm the idea presented as to Sardis, that in this
portion (Rev. in.) we have not so much the early
church, or that of the middle ages, but what is found,
or is developed, in modern times. Sardis is the
beginning of this : a state of things not marked by
flagrant evil, but by one sad and fatal characteristic —
it is negative. Any fair persons, who have thought
deeply on what is called Protestantism, must know
that this is the sorrowful thing which we, who have
been Protestants and thus share its shame, have to
acknowledge. Men stand up too much, at least too
self-complacently, for certain controversial points, wliich
hide, in a great measure, their own wants and faUures ;
they pride themselves on keeping apart from certain
evUs, such as the supremacy of the pope, the infalUble-
authority of the church, the worship of the Virgin,
saints, and angels, the doctrine of the mass, purgatory,
o

90
<fec. Supposing that there were all orthodoxy as to
these, there might be a thousand evils of another
character ; and together with outward correctness, the
heart be thoroughly away from the love and honour of
the Lord. This is precisely what we saw in Sardis —
a name to Uve, but yet dead. As in Israel, when the
Lord was on earth, the old idolatry had passed away, the
unclean spirit had left the house, and had not returned ;
so the swept and garnished condition of the house ,
answers to that wliich follows the Reformation. But
we must distinguish between that and the work which
God gave the Reformers to do. Let none speak dis
paragingly of these men, whether Luther or others.
But while God was working in that great movement,
it would have been better and hoUer if they had left
earthly governments to their own proper functions.
No doubt, their patrons spared them persecutions and
secured them honours, which, instead of helping God's
work on, proved a great hindrance. Ajid so, when
the fervour of first zeal had passed away, the state of
things corresponds with Sardis.
In Philadelphia, we have something totally different.
The first thing that strikes us is not what the Lord does
or has, but what the Lord is Himself, If there is any
thing that delivers from mere dogma, with all its chil
ling influences, it is, I apprehend, the person of the
Lord appreciated in any special way. And this I see
in the epistle to PhUadelphia. The Lord here presents
Himself personally more than in any other of these
epistles. It is true He is said to have the key of
David; but before anything appears about this, He
says that He. is the Holy One and the Tine. In the

91
¦other epistles we do not find the Lord characterised
in the same moral point of view. This is, in my opinion,
what the Lord has been working in God's children
during late years. The impulse given to evangelization
by the spread of Bibles and missionary efforts has marked
it outwardly ; but inwardly the sense of ruin has been
used of the Spirit to lead the saints to the word, and
hence to a fuller appreciation of the person of Christ —
the only object in which we can rest, through the Holy
Ghost, as He was God the Father's when He walked
¦ on earth.
There is something very beautiful in the way in
which the grace of the Lord operates, after the epistle
to Sardis, which was in a dead worldly state Christ
made Himself known; and He is the resurrection
and the life. And what can give new life, put the
church in its proper attitude, or bring a remnant to
the walk and sentiments which become a time of ruin,
but the Lord presenting Himself personally? This is
characteristic of John's gospel; the person of Christ
in His rights, not only humbling Himseff to death,
but baptizing with the Holy Ghost, in the activity of
gracious power which is suitable to His glory. The
first portion of it brings His person before us ; the
second, the other Comforter, whom the absent Lord
was to send down from heaven. It is beautiful thus to
see the place that John's gospel has in the scriptures of
God. It was written very late, the last of aU the
gospels, and suited to a day of declension. There is no
question of Jerusalem or of the Jews, as the immediate
object of God, even in the way of testimony. They
are noticed as a people outside, whom God has noth-

92
ing to do with for the time. Hence the Lord speaks
of the passover as a "feast of the Jews," <fcc. In
Matthew, on the contrary, there is the recognition of
Israel for the truth of God. The boar out of the wood
may waste, and the beast devour, but it is Israel's land
still; and Jerusalem is called the holy city, even in-
connection with Christ's death and resurrection In
John all that is at an end. Not only had Jerusalem-
and the Jews forfeited all claim upon God, having
departed from Him as Jehovah, and the law and the-
prophets, but they had rejected Christ ; yea, and when
the Holy Ghost came, they rejected Him too, and
would not Usten to Him any more • so that there was
no resource. God had manifested Himseff in every
possible way. No manifestation of God, where man
was under law, could do any good. Individuals laid
hold of God's grace all through, but the nation was-
under law. The gospel of John starts from this point,
that all was darkness, and there the True Light shines
though the darkness comprehends it not. In Him.
was life. This ever remains true, though He may
deal judicially here.
But to return to these churches. There had been-
declension from first love, suffering from heathen power,
Satan tempting through the power of the world, Jezebel
seducing to idolatry, and, in short, every kind of evU'
commerce with the world, with persecution. But now
we find a modern state — outward cleanness, but the
heart given up to itself. (See 2 Tim. in.) Sardis gives
us this picture : some walking purely, but there was no
such thing as the heart throughly subjected to the Lord.
But wUl He be content with this ? The Lord must raise-

93
up a witness for Himself; and the only way whereby He
makes a person an adequate witness for Himself is by
presenting Himself to' the affections. The' moment we
see the Lord Himself, there is strength to serve Him
with gladness.
Here the Lord, disgusted with the state of Sardis,
comes, as it were, saying, " I want to have the heart —
I must have it. " He removes the veU, brought in
through the sin of the professing Church. When they
see that blessed One, so to speak, a little nearer, there
is a state that answers (but oh ! how feebly) to His
desires for their heart, and it will be made good without
fail, when we shall see Him as He is.
" Thou hast a little strength. " It is not the way of
God to produce great strength at a time of general ruin.
At the era of the return from the Babylonish captivity,
the Lord wrought in great grace. There was no out
ward power ; on the contrary, they were so apparently
contemptible, that it was the taunt of their enemies,
that- a fox could jump over their wall. But we find
the same sort of spirit as in PhUadelphia. They build
no fortification to keep out the Samaritans, (the Lord
was a wall of fire round aboutthem,) but the first thing
they erect is an altar to Him. The Lord was the first
object of their hearts. If He was their wall, they could
afford to wait before building another There was no
such thing as the angel smiting the ' first-born, no
miracle wrought on their behalf, not a word about
plagues on their enemies; but "my Spirit remaineth
among you, fear ye not." Whenever Israel were
afraid of their adversaries, they had no strength ; but
in looking to the Lord, they forgot enemies. When

94
we 16an on Him now, it strikes more terror into the
hearts of those who are against Him that anything
else. When the heart is true to the Lord, that tells
upon the conscience of others. What joy that the
Lord's heart was towards them ! It is this which pro
duces proper feelings towards Him and towards one
another. The very name of this Church is significant
of the relationship which He had established ; but it
is also important to remember that it is a holy relation
ship we bear to one another. While it is certain that
those who care for one another's heavenly interest wiU
not be careless otherwise, stUl the Church is not a club,
where men may be ready to help on each other, right
or wrong. This would be Chartism or any thing rather
than the brotherhood of the Lord. The first words are
the key to the whole. " He that is holy, he that is
time (ver. 7)." Look at the first epistle of John. The
expression is not often used about the Lord, but we
find it there. In the second chapter of that epistle,
speaking to the little ones of the family of God, it is
written, "Ye have an unction from the Holt One,
and ye know all things." He that is holy, He that is
true, has aU for them. There might be weakness, but
He has the key of David. In the genealogy of our
Lord in Matthew, we find the expression, David " the
king," not Solomon the king, or any other; because
David is the person who first characterized royalty in
Israel. He was the man according to God's own heart.
And as for David walking in faith, no difficulties could
stand in his way. True, the type was imperfect— no
type is perfect, because it is not Christ, though it may
be a witness of Him. We see the failure of the man ;

95
but where the power of God wrought in David what
was bright^- and- blessed, and good, we have the germ,
as it were, of that which we see fully in the Lord.
The " key of David " represents administrative power,
the means of access to whatever he possessed. Thus
it is said, (Isa. xxii.) " the key of the house of David
will I lay upon his shoulder ; so he shall open and
none shall shut," &c. This was the consequence ; he
who had it had all things under his hand ; and it was
his business to take care of everything.
The Lord presents Himself as having the key of
David. Therefore they ought not to look to the power
of the world, nor to man; for if He had the key, it
was the very thing they wanted. The energy of man
might be at work all around, Jezebel, false prophets,
&c; but there was this Blessed One, the holy and true;
and so much the more needed, because they were weak.
They had so little strength that, perhaps, they could not
even open the door, but He says that He had opened
it for them ; He had brought them into a large place
where there was no such thing as bondage, or constraint.
It is plain that the Lord is here marked according to
what He is personally and moraUy ; not only as the
great source of holiness and truth, but as the Holy One
and the True. We find the latter also in the first epistle
of John. " We are in him that is true, even in his Son
Jesus Christ ; " but there he goes farther still, " this is
the true God and eternal life " Thus, then, we have
the Lord's person brought before them : it was what
they coveted. They valued Christ. They wished to
know more of Him ; and He knew their heart. So it
is said, " If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall

96
be full of light." They were tried of a mere form of
godliness ; they knew it was as possible to be lost or to
dishonour the Lord in orthodoxy as in the world.
They turn to the Lord, and He presents Himself as the
Holy One and the True ; not as against them, but full
of tenderness and grace, putting before them an open
door, and giving triem the certainty that no man could
shut it.
" Thou hast a little strength, and has kept my word,
and hast not denied my name (ver. 8)." Here we have
three expressions concerning them. They are in a state
not marked by outward note, or strength. Like Him
self, they are unknown to the world, but they had kept
His word ; and more than this, they had not denied
His name. Consider what it is to keep Christ's word.
It is evident that there had been a departure from His
word. It might have been circulated ; but had it been
cherished ? Had it been loved and sought into, as for
hid treasure? Was it for this thing that men met
together to pray and read — that they might understand
it better ? What a movement in advance for the Church,
where the Lord's person becomes more than ever the
object, and the word as His word ! It is not mere
eyangelisatioh, blessed as that is in its place, and in
fts effect on the world. But here it is the inner circle
of the saints who love, serve, adore Christ for Himself.
In this epistle we also find the great value of the
name of the Lord Jesus. In 1 Cor. i. the address is not
to the Corinthians alone, but "to all who in every place
call upon " that name. In other words, the first epistle
to the Corinthians is in no way, more than the second,
of private application, but for all Christians everywhere.

97
In fact, the generalizing address is not put so strongly
in any other ; and this, perhaps, because the Spirit of
God foresaw that, more than any other, it would be set
aside. In these days, when there is no extraordinary
manifestation of power, men might say, It is not for us,
it belongs to a day that is bygone. True, there is no use
to talk of regulating tongues, if you have not got them.
But we have the Holy Ghost, and, blessed be God ! the
Church will never know the day when it will be without
the Holy Ghost. Look at its darkest hour — the
middle ages, Romanism, &c. The Holy Ghost was
always there, not, indeed, justifying evil, or putting
His seal upon disobedience, but He was there for the
certainty of faith, according to the Lord's word, " He
shall abide with you for ever." The idea of looking
for the Holy Ghost to be poured out again on us is
utterly wrong. Such is the Jewish hope. For the church
to make such a petition is, in effect, to deny that it is
the Church. It may be well for us to throw ourselves
down before the Lord, -and own that we have acted as
though we had it not. But let us bless God that we
have the Spirit, not only dwelling in individuals, but
binding us together for an habitation of God. The
manifestation of this is broken, it is true, but the fact
remains ; just as we say of a man whose circumstances
are bad, that he is a ruined man, whUe the man stUl
exists. This gives us ground for humbling ourselves
the more; that the Church had the Spirit and yet went
wrong. Men might say, If we had a Pentecost now,
.and the Holy Ghost sent down again, we should go
right ; but the fact is, that when they had the Holy
Ghost on the day -of Pentecost, they declined and fell.

98
What God calls upon us to do is, not now to wait for
fresh gifts of power, but to humble ourselves before
Him, because we have gone, even as Christians, in the
saddest opposition to His wUl. Alas ! though the
Holy Ghost dwelt there, ene gplden calf after another
has been set up, tUl there is as much sin as was in
Israel. This is what the Lord calls us to feel. Thie-
sympathies of the PhUadelphian saints were with Him.
Clearly, then, what the Spirit presents is a despised'
company, but the word of Christ specially prized, and
the Lord's name maintained. We have learned that
the church is never bound to go on in sin. "Let him
that nameth the name of the Lord depart from in
iquity." There may be moral iniquity and worldly
lusts; and what is there so bad as church iniquity,
except that which is against the person of Christ Him
self? If a man goes on with things against the outward
order of the church, it is evU, but not to be compared
with sin against the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is always the worst, and the test of souls. The
first of aU duties is that the heart should he true to-
Christ. God looks for it.
Here, then, we see Christ bringing Himself out
personaUy to the church, and this not with a general
expression of love, but manifesting a special attach
ment of His heart to them. Hence it is said, "I have
loved them." The Lord loves all His people, but it is
equally true that He has special affections. There may
be a peculiar link between Him and saints at particular
times of danger and trial. His grace removes the
hindrances and makes it to be enjoyed in its strength.
They know His place in glory, but that which touches

99
their hearts is that He loves them in all that glory.
His love the great basis and spring of their love.
"Thou hast a Uttle strength." I know you are
weak; but you have "kept my word and not denied
my name," See here the personal link — "my word."
"my name." The name of Christ, apprehended by the
soul, is salvation. When the heart is brought down
t6 submit to God's judgment of its sin, He Himself
brings before that soul Christ's name; when it finds
that it has no name in which to stand before God, He
says, Here is a name, my Son's name. Faith supposes
a man giving himself up as good for nothing, and
saying, " God has been good to me, when I have been
bad for Him." God has laid down this name as a
foundation-stone for the poor sinner. It looks weak;
it is called a "stumbling-stone," as it is to unbelief;
but I ought to believe in it. If I merely look at the
gospel, I am lost, because then I reason about it; but
if I believe it, I am saved. What did Abraham do?
He did not • reason ; he considered not his own body
which was dead, but he gave glory to God. If he had
felt strong, he might have given glory to himself.
This is one practical aim that God works for, that we
may know our own nothingness.
But is this the only use of Christ's name? No: He
assembles round Himself. Jesus is the great object
and attractive point to which the Holy Ghost gathers.
Suppose it were the question of a person corning in,
who holds what people caU Calvinistic views, or
Arminian, never having learnt fully the ruin of man ;
you may say, " We don't like to be troubled." But the
teat is, what does the Lord say? . Has He no power to

100
judge that question? Has He delegated it to our dis
cretion ? The Lord has named His name over that saint,
and I am therefore to receive him. Another comes
and says, "I hear you receive all Christians; but I do
not believe that Christ was exempt from the fall, either
in His nature or in His relation to God." "No," I reply
"you cannot use the name of Christian to dishonour
Christ." But wherever a man is found humbly con
fessing the name of the Lord (whether he be church
man or dissenter, that is not the point), we are bound
to receive him. It is sorrowful that the Church
should have these names of variance : they wUl all be
at an end by and by. But we must not gainsay the
name of the Lord now. The Lord's name is there, and
that is a passport all over the Church. It is no.
question of joining us; .indeed he is joined to us ff
joined to Christ. True, the Lord has His servants;
but we do not acknowledge any one as a centre in
the church but Christ.
A further use of the name of i the Lord is in discipline.
What is the object of discipline? Not to keep up our
character, but that His name should have its just place
.and honour, keeping it bright even where Satan's
throne is. In the very camp of the enemy there is a
name that cannot be put down. The Holy Ghost is
there, not merely to give us comfort, but having
delivered us from anxiety about our own sins, He leaves
us free to care for Christ, and to serve Him. The
question in the maintenance of discipline is, Is there
departure from iniquity? The Lord never acknow
ledges anything as the church where iniquity is
.sanctioned. There is a difference between sin detected

101
there, and the sanction of sin when detected. Any
iniquity may break out : it did in the apostolic churches.
The man was put away at Corinth because he was a
Christian (as it is said, "that the spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus"). It might be thought,
from the terrible nature of his sin, that he could not
have been one. The Holy Ghost shows us thereby
that if a Christian gets away from Christ, he is capable
of anything except positively going against Christ
Himseff. From this I think the Holy Ghost would
always keep ; as in the case of Solomon's judgment,
the false woman was determined at all events to have
her half of the child, whUe the real mother would
rather yield it than let its life be touched. But a
Christian may fall into a cold state of feeling about
Christ (unnatural as this may seem); and when in this
state, so as not to have a just sense of the name of the
Lord, what good can be got out of him? It was not so
with the Philadelphian saints. They did not deny His
name; and the Lord uses the tenderest expressions of
love towards them. All ecclesiastical pretension, it
has been well said, was against them. They were
not looked on by those who said they were Jews. But
He says of them, " I will make them come and worship
before thy feet," &c. (Ver. 9.) They were in the
midst of a great deal of profession that was hollow.
But the Lord promises to vindicate them by His own
power. What comfort there is in not seeking to vin
dicate ourselves, but in going on with the Lord!
It is of the utmost importance to see that the name
of the Lord will never oblige a man to choose between
two evils; and this is, in my judgment, what God has

102
been pressing of late. There is a path without evU.
Not that the flesh of man may not bring in evil ; but
if a man persists in any sin, you say he is not walking
as a Christian; he cannot be owned as a Christian,
though we may pray for him. Again, take a company
of Christians. EvU comes in. I cannot say, " these
are not Christians." No, but bring in the authority
of the Lord's name to put the evil away. He having
absolute authority, it is ours to take the place of full
subjection to Him. The Church belongs to God. If
it were ours, we might make our own rules ; but woe
be to the man that meddles with the Church of God,
bringing in his own regulations ! This was, it would
seem, what was felt by these Philadelphians. They
valued the authority of the name of the Lord. They
avowed that they were weak, but they knew that ¦ the
power of Christ was strong enough to keep them. Why
should they be afraid? When Christians own His
name as a gathering centre, it is not said that evil
wUl not come in; but looking to the power of the
Lord Jesus and His Spirit, we do not mean to sanction
evil. Let us only leave the door open for the Lord to
come in. There may be much to try our patience ¦
but what we have to do is to wait on the Lord. This
is what the Lord seeks — that we should have con
fidence in what He is and has, taking the place of
weakness and dependence in prayer, however much
we may be tried.
It is of great interest to note here the re-appearance
of the Catholic system at this point. It had developed
first in its fulness in the era of early heathen persecu
tion, under the fathers so caUed (the Smyrna period 

103
•compare chap. n. 9.) Now, it comes up again, the
enemy's counterfeit, the real antagonist of the testimony
of God in our own day. But the Lord wUl compel
them yet to recognise where the truth is, and where
the Lord's approving love rests especially. " Behold I
wUl make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say
they are Jews, and are not, but do lie." (ver. 9.)
These claimed to be exclusively the covenant people ;
others (in particular those meant by the assembly in
PhUadelphia) they regarded as outside, unworthy of a
name save of contempt. For this it is which tries the
saint, not persecution from open external enemies as
also in Smyrna. The boasters in tradition, antiquity,
priesthood, order, and ordinances, shaU yet be forced
to aeknowlede those they despised as the beloved of
the Lord. FideUty to Him, however feeble, is precious
in His eyes.
In Pergamos they kept His word : here they did
more. " Because thou hast kept the word of my
patience, I wUl keep thee from the hour of temptation"
(ver. 10). In these churches the Lord evidently looks
forward to a state of things up to the very close. It
is plain that, as the hour of temptation is still future,
room is left for the application of this promise to the
end. This is not His word only but of His patience.
Christ is coming to receive His Church, and afterwards
to be the Judge of all the earth. But we are not look
ing for signs. God wiU graciously give signs to the
Jews, but the church was never called to be guided in
its thoughts by what it saw (like Thomas). "Blessed
are they that have -not seen and yet have believed."
It was when the Lord was no longer seen that the

104
church was born into the world ; and since then the
church is waiting, but was never meant to depend on
outward tokens. It was when He took His place
above as Head, that His body, the church, was formed;
for there could not be a body, except there were first
a head. God would have the church waiting not for
signs, but for Christ Himself. He wUl cause His
voice to be heard, and the dead in Christ shall rise
 and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Christ is waiting for this patiently. As far as I have
noticed, the Lord does not speak about His coming as
if there were any haste connected with it. He waits
patiently for it. He lingers in His love, that there may
be a lengthening of mercy to the world, and that souls
may be brought to Him. The Church knows that He
is waiting, and is called to the same patience — to have
fellowship with Him in His patience.
"I wUl keep thee from the hour of temptation
(ver. 10)." This is not the portion of the Jews. To
them, when the time of trial comes, God says, "Come,
my people, enter into thy chambers" (Isaiah xxvi).
Ours is the place of Abraham. He had not to fly to
a little Zoar, like Lot who was saved indeed out of
the judgment, but not much to his honour. The Lord
had a heavenly-minded saint, as well as an earthly-
minded one. Abraham was not in the sphere of that
temptation at all. So the Church wUl be kept from
the coming hour. This is our confidence — not merely
preserved in or through it, but "from" it. Take another
figure — that of the deluge. Enoch had been preserved
out of it altogether, while Noah was carried through
the waters of the flood. Thus God gives us blessed

105
witnesses from the beginning of this two-fold preser
vation, Uke Enoch and Abraham in spirit on the one
hand, and on the other like Noah and Lot These last
were in the circumstances of the trial; and this wiU be
the case with the converted remnant of Israel during
the time of the dreadful judgments. The Christian's-
hope is to be with the Lord in heaven, and the church
ought to be looking for it And surely the cry is now
going forth, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye
out to meet him." I ask you have you gone out/
There were those who not only believed when they
heard the cry, but went out Have you left everything
that is contrary to Him? — what you know — not what /
know — to be contrary to Him ? I ask whether you are
ready to meet Him. If so, you need not be afraid.
Be assured that anything your poor wiU wants to keep
is not worth the pains. It is gain to go out from all to
meet Him; it is joy to be in the path of His sorrow.
Has that cry reached your heart I Do not be content
with saying, " I have got oU in my vessel, and it does
not matter where I am." This is selfish and unholy.
The Lord grant that such may not be your feeling!
He has saved me that I may think of Him. He wishes
me to go out to meet Him — to value the precious hope
of Tfis roining. Are you then keeping His word?
Tou know. This is a question between your own con
science and the Lord. When you have kept what you
do know, you wUl learn more, and find it the truest
Uberty ever to serve Him.
"I am cxHning quickly: hold that fast which thou
hast, that no one take thy crown (ver. 11)." This is
a precious word. The Lord speaks of c»ming Uke a

106
thief (as e. g. to Sardis, which had taken the world as
its mistress, and allowed the unpurged world to have
the place of the Lord). Here He comes as one that
has a crown to give. The Lord Himself coming to meet
us is tbe jewel He has given us to keep. The Lord
grant us to hold it fast, that it be not taken from us !
We are indeed weak now, but the Lord says, "If
you are content to be weak now, I will make you
a pillar in the temple of my God." A pillar is the
emblem of strength (that which supported the temple),
contrasted with weakness. It is a hard thing to be
content to be weak. To flesh it is comfortable to feel
the world's strength under one. But if wUling to look
What we are now, the Lord tells us what He wUl do
for us then: "I wUl make you a pUlar in the temple of
my God (ver. 12)." As I have known My God, I wUl
bring you into fellowship with Me. You were content
to wait for My coming, and none shall take your crown.
For those who have thought of Christ now, Christ wiU
provide all the joy He can give them then. The Lord
grant that this may be our comfort whUe we wait for
Him ! We may for Christ be outside all that looks
strong and orderly. In that day we shall go no more
out but enjoy the most intimate association with Christ,
be a pUlar in the temple of His God, and have the name
of His God and of the city of His God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and His new name inscribed on us.
Weak as these were, they took the place of weakness;
and as they had thought of His word and of His name,
the Lord says, When I have you in my temple, I wiU
write upon you "my new name," and wiU make you
a pUlar "in the temple of my God." He does not

107
say the throne, which would be the expression of power,
but the temple, which is another thought from the
throne. The temple is the place of worship, where
God is exalted in the beauty of horiuess. Just so,
when it was a question of the worship of God, David
wears an ephod. His own wife despised him (she was
looking at him as the son-in-law of her father Saul,
the king) because he did not come out in some robe
suitable to royalty: but David had the thought of God
before him, and' in his eyes it was his greatest possible
exaltation to wear the ephod, and so to draw near to
the Lord.
So in PhUadelphia, they were specially those who
entered into worship, because they appreciated the per
son and character of the Son of God. It is this that
chaws out the heart. Thus when Jesus revealed
Himseff as the Son of God (John ix.), the blind man
worshipped Him. This is very little entered into,
even by real children of God. A man might receive
favour from God, and give thanks to God for it,
but might know Uttle of worship. This is a higher
step and nearer to the Lord. It does not merely
appreciate the favours that come down to us from God,
but what the God is who gives them. Real worship
is always this. The Father seeks worshippers, but it
is to draw them back to the source from which the
grace has flowed. Not that the word worship is used
in the address to PhUadelphia (except in ver. 9,
where it is in quite a different sense, merely signifying
that the men, who were now scorners, would have to
bumble themselves and give honour to those whom
taey had despised). Worship is the drawing near to

108
God in the appreciation not only of what He does, but
of Himseff There is this that always prepares the
way for worship — the full and simple knowledge of
our being brought near to God, of the work of Christ
and its blessed results for us.
LAODICEA.
Ver. 14 — 22. We have seen the strong contrast
between the state of Sardis and the previous order of
things. Gross corruption, open evU, persecution,
hatred of the holiness and truth of God, false prophets
had reigned in Thyatira, though there was a remnant
found there, and a faithful remnant. If Thyatira.
represents the. dark ages, when the Lord had His faith
ful saints hidden away in. nooks and corners of the
world, in Sardis we have a' correct appearance of things
="-a name to Uve, -and death ataost universal; yet even
m, Sardis there were those who had not defiled their
garments. If there is so. marked a distinction -between-
Sardis and Thyatira, there is an 'equally strong line of
demarcation between PhUadelphia and Laodicea.
"Unto the angel of the church in Laodicea," not
"of the Laodiceans." (So as to Ephesus, it should be
"the church in Ephesus." Rev. U. 1.)
iLet us look at the character that God gives of this
church, and what He brings to light of its condition.
If there are two churches that stand in more pointed
contrast to one another, it is just these last two. The
reason, I think, is this; that when God works in any
special way, when He puts forth His grace in some
new form and Ught, it always, since the slipping aside of
Christendom, draws in its train a peculiarly dark sha-

109
-dow. So, here, PhUadelphia was a bright picture.
They were weak, but they were to be quite peaceful ;
, for the Lord had opened the door, and He would keep
it open. Christ was aU their confidence in contrast
with the pretentious reUgionists who appear at the
same time, claiming to be the people of God with no
care for Christ. The church should have been by the
Holy Spirit a real testimony to the new creation of
which Christ is both the only source and the bright
exemplar. But it had wholly failed and never so much
as in this last phase. But when we come to look at
Laodicea, what a difference we find! There is no such
thing as the Lord waiting upon their need, having the
key of David, and presenting Himseff as the object of
their affections — as the holy and true One, in His
moral grandeur, which called out aU the heart to wor
ship Him.
But now He speaks in another tone. "These things
saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the be
ginning of the creation of God." There was an end
of proud profession at hand. He was the "Amen, " the
only securer of divine promise, the solitary "faithful
and true witness,'' when all else had failed. This pre
sentation of Himself supposes that those to whom He
was writing were utterly faithless and had revived the
old things which had been buried in the grave of Christ.
Job was not in the presence of God when he was
tirinking so much about himself. ("When the ear
heard me and the eye saw me," &c.) We may say
he was in the presence of himself and not of God. It
is always a poor sign ff we see a man stop to look at
himseff, whether his good or his bad self. The Lord

110
does not want us to be dwelling on the change in
ourselves. This is not to forget the things that are
behind (which does not mean, by the way, our sins,
but our progress). If the Lord has given us to take a
step forward, it is that we may get nearer to Himself,
and increase in the knowledge of God. Along with
this there wUl always be increase in the knowledge of
ourselves, but never in the way of self-admiratipn. As
belonging to Christ, He is the object that happUy
keeps us low. When Job was really brought at the
close into the presence of God, he was in the dust. He
did not know what it was to be thoroughly worshipping
God until he was brought there, when his eye saw
Him. Before, he had been looking more at what God
had produced in him, but now he saw himself to be
nothing. After this we find him even praying for his
friends, and we have bumt-offerings. This was the.
spirit of intercession, and worship too. It appears to
me that such was the spirit into which the PhUadelphian
church had been brought. They understood worship,
because they, in their measure, knew Him that was
from the beginning. The Lord loves us to be strong in
Christ,, to be growing up into Him.
In Laodicea- there was no such thought — nothing
like entering into the riches of the Lord's grace.
There is nothing we ought to feel our lack in so much
as in worship, just because we do value it. It is
spfritual feeling, though feeble indeed, that makes us
aliye to our little power of worship. Be assured that
the spirit of worship is our true power for service.
Thus in John x. the Lord says, " I am the door : by
me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall

Ill
go m and out and find pasture." It is no longer the-
Jewish sheepfold and the bondage of the law, but •
perfect liberty, going in for- worship and out for
service, everywhere finding food and blessing. How
sweet to think that the time is coming when we shall
go in never to come out again ! It wUl be always
service in immediate connexion with the Lord
Himseff — enjoyment of the presence of God and of the
Lamb — eternal worship. And let me again ask, for
whom would this be a welcome and happy promise ?
For those who had valued and enjoyed worship here
below; as in Ps. Ixxxiv., "They shall be stUl prais
ing thee." The place where the Lord dwelt was
graven even in the hearts of those going there "in
whose heart are the ways." They must get to the
place where God was, and dwell there.
The Lord does not reveal Himseff in the same per
sonal and still less in an ecclesiastical way; but certain
qualities and titles belonging to Him are taken up, which
reach out from what He had been for God to that wliich
links Him with the new scene in which He is about
to be displayed as Head over all. This cannot fail. , He
was " the Amen," the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation of God. TJiey had failed in
everything — they had been unfaithful witnesses, and He
as good as says to them, "You have not met a single
thought of My heart. I will now present Myself . to
you as all you should have been." He was also "the
beginning of the creation of God." (Ver. 14.) Chris
tendom is at its beginning a rejected witness. Christ
is in relationship with the new creation.
" I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor

112
hot" (Ver. 15.) This is latitodinarianism. It is
not ignorance that makes a person latitudinariari, but
the heart. that remains indifferent to the truth, after
the truth has been brought before it Such an one does
not want the truth, because he feels the sacrifice and
the separation from the world, which must ensue if the
truth be followed. We ought to bear, wherever there
is unwUling simple-hearted ignorance; but indifference
to truth is quite another thing, and hateful in the
sight of the Lord.
Thus latitudinarianism is never the condition of
souls that are simple-hearted but of those by whom
the truth has been heard and who are not prepared for
the cross. God's truth must put people's hearts to the
test It is not merely something I have to learn, but
it proves me. If the sheep is in a healthy condition, it
will hear the Shepherd's voice, and not even know the
voice of strangers; but if the sheep departs after others,
it becomes so confounded that it can scarce distinguish
the Shepherd's voice. This arises in Laodicea, and,
as it appears to me, from despising the testimony given
in the former church. Laodicea is the fruit of the
rejection of the testimony that formed PhUadelphia.
There He showed Himself, and to the heart that
received Him He said, "As my name has been every
thing to you on the earth, so I wUl give to you My
new name in time of glory. Every affection that has
been true and blessed, that I have wrought in your
hearts, shall come out more brightly in. the glory." To
Laodicea He says, " Thou art neither cold nor hot."
They must have had some stimulant to warm them
as it was not absolute cold. They were dishonest.

113
Laodicea is just the last state of things, which the
Lord could not aUow to go on any longer — a time when
persons have had a great deal of truth in a certain
fashion, but their hearts not touched by it. If the heart
had been in ever so little a measure true, however
ignorant, it would have enjoyed what had come from
the Lord. In 1 John U. the persons who are said to
have an unction from the Holy One and to know all
things, are not the " fathers" (who of course had been
thus anointed also) but "the babes." The abUity to
judge what is not of Christ depends upon the heart
being true to Him. Hence the youngest saint, ff
single-eyed, can discern with certainty, where the theo
logian is lost in endless genealogies.
Every spirit that lowers and denies Christ (the
Christ of God) is of antichrist.' There were, there are
now many antichrists, and the place to look for them
is where He has been named. If Christ had not been
known, there could not have been an antichrist, which
was the dark shadow that followed the truth. If we
have the Lord at work in this gracious way, we have
Satan working too. To be "lukewarm" was to be
false, with the pretension of the truth; and the Lord
says, " I wUl spue thee out of my mouth." There is
not such a contemptuous expression used by Him any
where else that I know. This is sensibly different
from the dealing with Sardis, where the general judg
ment of Protestantism is given, — -judged like the world:
the Lord comes as a thief. Is this the way that we
measure things? We should have said probably that
Jezebel was to be felt most about; but would it have
struck us that to be lukewarm was the worst of aU $

1.14
But this was what drew forth all the Lord's indigna
tion, and He only is wise.
"Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with
goods," &c. (Ver. 16.) Here is a plain proof that they
had heard .a great deal about the truth. They thought-
themselves rich. Learning and intellectualism in re
ligion they counted a prize. If these grow (at least in
extent, even though not in . depth), what ground for
satisfaction? The spread of the outward knowledge of
God is what hastens on the last crisis — God's final
judgment and setting aside of all that bears His name
falsely and self-complacently. They riad sought man
and the ¦ world, which promise much to the eye. But
this is no righteous judgment; for nature thus aUowed
in the church is so much loss, to the utter exclusion of
what is divine and heavenly — the real and bitter impo
verishment unto all true riches. This the Lord proceeds
next to lay before the angel.
Ver. 17. "And knowest not that thou art the
wretched, and the miserable, and poor, and blind," &c.
This was because they had rejected the testimony of
God. His testimony always produces the sense of
being nothing, but it never weakens confidence in Him.
There may be tests, — the epistles of John are full of
them ; but there never is such a thing as the Spirit of
God leading a person to doubt God's being for him.
He may and surely wUl work in a person who is slip
ping aside from the Lord, to bring him back; He may
make us feel our weakness; but it is not at all His
way to produce a doubt in the soul ; and it is ever a
sign of the flesh being at work, "lusting against the
Spirit," when we give way to distrust. The Spirit of

115
God always, wherever He is, aims at making a man
thoroughly humble himself, jridging and renouncing
the folly of the flesh. There is, and must be, reality,
and earnestness, and truthfulness in the presence of
God. "/ am rich, and am become rich, and have
need of nothing.'' But we have the Spirit of God pro
nouncing this to be carnal presumption, the heart
knowing not its need, and refusing grace. There had
been momentary warmth, which made it so hateful to
GQd. But this is just what men are doing who talk
about the church of the future. The early times they
caU the infancy of the church ; afterwards the church
became a great naughty child : and now they are look
ing for a, church of the future, when man will be no
longer a subject, but will act for himself — will act like
a man. Alas! where wUl not these aspirations end?
for God wUl be left out of the so-called church alto
gether, and His authority got rid of.
This is working now extensively. And are God's
children lukewarm about it ? about God's truth being
shut out? Remember what the Lord here says, "I
wUl spue thee out of my mouth." It would be a gross
mistake to suppose that there were no Christians
among them. But it is not a question of individuals,,
but of the assembly, and as such the Lord said He
would spue them out of His mouth. People cannot
congregate in - large masses without Laodiceanism as
the result, if it be not also the spring. There is no
such thing as great power of the Spirit of God gather
ing people together at the present time. The Lord be
thanked if there are a few gathered out to His name !
Let God's chUdren remember that they must answer

116
to the Lord Jesus Christ, whether they are represented
by Laodicea or not ; whether they are standing for
Christ, or for what merely bears the name of Christ,
as a veil over indifferentism.
Yet the Lord does not give them up. He says, "I
counsel thee to buy of me gold tried iri the fire," &c.
(Ver. 18.) Gold is used as the symbol of what is in
trinsic righteousness in God's nature, or divine right
eousness; and white raiment, or linen, stands for the
righteousness of saints, as we see from chap. xix.
Divine righteousness had slipped from their thoughts.
They were neither appreciating the righteousness of
God, which a Christian is made in Christ, nor the
practical righteousness displayed before men, which the
Spirit leads in. So He counsels them to buy of Him
the true gold, and white raiment, that there might be
the holiness that became them before others. " Anoint
thine eye with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." There
was the secret — the lack of unction from the Holy One.
They did not see anything properly, not even their need
of divine righteousness.
As many as I love I rebuke and chasten ; be zealous,
therefore, and repent." (Ver. 19.) . Depend upon it
that this is the Lord's voice for the present moment.
Here,. alas ! it was what the Laodiceans needed. The
Lord is dealing with His people : He constantly puts
before them something to humble them in their
thoughts of themselves: not telling them to do some
thing or try something new, but calling them "to
repent." He does not ask them to stretch their wings
for some greater flight in the future, but to see where
they are and to repent.

117
The call to repentance here, however, as in Sardis,.
differs greatly from that in the message to Ephesus
and Pergamos, where all are thus urged, on penalty of
the 'Lord's solemn chastening, whether general or
special. Thyatira has here too an intermediate place :
"I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and
she repented not." Hence the threat of judgment
follows, and the vast change ensues in all its extent.
It is a far higher thing to suffer for Christ and with
Christ, than to'be doing something. When the Apostle
Paul asks, "What shaU I do?" The Lord answers,
"I shall show thee what great things thou must suffer,"
<fcc. This is what the Lord specially prizes — not our
sufferings as men, but sufferings for Christ.
Here they were persons, as sunken as ' they were
proud, caUed upon to be zealous and repent; to
humble themselves before God on account of their con
dition. The Lord brings out a gracious word too,
"Behold I stand at the door and knock." (Ver. 20.)
Yet it is a solemn thing that the Lord should be there,
thus taking the place of one outside. Nevertheless,
He was ready to come in where He found a soul true
to him. " If any man hear my voice and open the
door, I will come in to him," &c. Need it be said that
tids is not an address to the world for them to be
saved? In John x. the Lord presents Himself in full
grace, saying, " I am the door, by me ff any man enter
in, he shall be saved," &c. But here He speaks thus
to the Church. What a solemn position ! How utterly
fallen now ! What ought to be the enjoyed portion
of aU the Church, whether in approaching God or in
display before men, or in the communion of Christ,

118
proffered in pure grace to him who hearkens and
humbles himself before the grace of the Lord. He was
One that had no sympathy with their self-satisfaction.
He stood outside, knocking at the door, if perchance
there should be a heart within, not too much occupied
with the things and the persons around, that would
open to Him. To such He says, " I wUl come in to
him and sup with him and he with me." But it is aU
individual. If we saw a complete departure, are we
to say, "there is no hope?" Not at all; there is the
Lord standing at the door and knocking. There may
not be many to answer His call, but some will ; and
the promise is, " to him that overcometh, wUl I grant to
sit with me in my throne ; even as I also overcame,
and am set down with my Father in his throne."
It is a mistake to suppose that this is comparatively
a glorious promise : we are apt to think so, because we
naturally value display. But God does not estimate
power the most His holy love, proving itself divine
most of all when Christ humbled Himself, in coming
down to man and dying for him — that is the standard
of value, rather than power or glory. He could make
a thousand worlds with far more ease than He gave His
Son to suffer. I do not question the grace of such a
word, spite of such evU ; but our sharing the kingdom
with Christ is not the most blessed thing weshaU
enjoy. And the promise here does not go farther.
What we have and shall have in Christ Himself is
much more precious. Yet is this a portion with Christ
In John xvU. 23, the Lord shows that the display of
glory is for the vindication of -Himself before the world.
All this disclosed glory in the future wUl be the proof

119 ,
to the world, that they might know that the Father
loves us as He. loved His Son. But we are entitled to
know it by the Holy Ghost now. We do not wait till
then to know the love that has given us the glory — a
deeper thing than the appearing to' the world, or thrones
in the kingdom. The personal affection of the Lord to
His people is a better portion than anything displayed
before men or angels.
Here the Lord closes the churches. He had got to
the last phase. The wisdom of God has provided- in
these chapters not only His depth, but what requires
conscience, rather than any great amount of intelligence
to understand. What is needed is the eye fixed on
Christ. Besides these epistles being a messenger to
local churches in the name of St. John, we have seen
in them a sketch of the whole history of the Church
tiU the Lord comes. For properly speaking, not the
Lord's addresses, but the churches themselves and their
angels constitute "the things which are " (Le., the
actual state in John's day.) The addresses, while
primarily connected with the facts then existing, go far
beyond them, and reach out into a prolonged moral
application, till there is no longer any recognized
assembly, the last (though with mercy to individuals)
having been summarily rejected as a public witness by
the Lord. After that, we never hear of the churches
any more upon the earth. On the contrary, the curtain
drops, and we have a new scene altogether. The seer
no longer turns round to see who spoke behind him on
earth,* but hears the same voice above, whether he is
* The chief opponent of the future or rather protracted appli
cation of the Apocalyptic epistles, draws from the local direction
of the voice that, according to a mode of interpretation then pre-

, 120
now invited to ascend. The government of the world
from the throne in heaven, its accompaniments and
consequences, are the things which foUow, when the
Church's time-state is closed. After this we have
individual saints both among the twelve tribes of Israel
and out of all nations mentioned as such, but this only
makes the contrast more striking. Henceforward, if
specified at aU, they are named as Jews and GentUes,
because there was no longer any thing of the natm-e of
the assembly of God upon earth : for the very meaning
and essence of the Church is, that there is neither Jew
nor GentUe, because all are one in Christ
In the detaU of these seven epistles, there is also
abundant practical instruction. It is true, that the
Spirit addressed them to the churches; but "he that
hath an ear" is expressly enjoined to give heed; and
this, to the challenges of the Lord sent to them all.
Such appUeation, however, falls more fittingly within
the domain of ordinary ministry in the word.
It may be well, now that we have gone over the
ground of the Apocalyptic epistles, to notice the objec
tions urged against the larger view of their meaning by
valent, the visions about to be shown would refer to events yet
fuiwre and behind, in the course of time. (Horaa Apocalypticse,
4th Edition, vol. i., pages 66, 67.) If there be any truth in that
interpretation, it strongly confirms the jutwe bea/rmg of the seven,
addresses. But it is certain from Rev. iv. 1, that when the purely
prophetic visions are about to begin, the speaker's voice is above,
not behind. What the turning to the voice behind in ch. i really
shows is, that the prophet's eye was forward as it were, in the
direction of the kingdom, and that he was recalled to take notice
of the Churches, "the things which are," as justifying the Lord
in His setting aside of Christendom, in order to the introduction
of His kingdom in power, when patience shall no longer be de
manded. For the Lord will create new heavens and a new earth:
first, in a partial preparatory sense— the millennium ; fully and
then finally, the eternal state. The Church state is thus emphati
cally treated at present time.

121
Bp. Newton. "Many contend, and among them such
learned men as More and Vitringa, that the seven
epistles are prophetical of so many successive periods
and states pf the church, from the beginning to the
conclusion of all. But it doth not appear that there
are, or were to be, seven periods of the church, neither
more nor less; and no two men can agree in assigning
the same periods. There are, likewise, in these epistles,
several innate characters which were peculiar to the
church of that age, and cannot be so well applied to
the church of any other age. BesideSiOther arguments,
there is also this plain reason ; the last state of the
church is described in this very book as the most
glorious of all, but in the last state in these epistles,
that of Laodicea, the church is represented as 'wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' "
(Newton's Works, Vol. I., p. 549, Ed. 1782.)
Now it is. clear that " it doth not appear" is rather
an assumption than a proof. Why does it not appear?
Another might urge the same objection, and perhaps
with quite as much weight, against the seven seals,
trumpets, and vials. God has been pleased to specify
in each ofothese instances seven salient points, so to
speak, as His complete account of each. " The main
subjects of this book," the Bishop had just before
remarked, " are comprised of sevens, seven churches,
seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials; as seven
was also a mystical number throughout the Old Testa
ment." If this answer satisfy as to the seven vials,,
why not as to the seven epistles? Doubtless, more
spirituality may be required for right discernment in
the latter than in the former case ; because one series
i

122
relates to external judgments in' the world, whereas the
other series takes cognizance of such remarkable spirit
ual conditions, good and bad, in the history of the
Church, as it seemed good to the Lord to notice. Hence
a1 priori, one might be prepared for a greater divergence
of judgment among Christians in their adaptation of
Rev. n., Ui., than in their views of any other parts of
the book. If there had been, therefore, a considerable
measure of truth in what he says, the general principle
would still remain undisturbed. But this is not the
case. There is a striking agreement as regards the
first three or four churches. This, of course, is not
urged as in the least degree authoritative, but as a
sufficient answer to the charge of hopeless discrepancy
preferred by Bp. Newton. • Retort would be easy on
the discordant schemes of interpreting the seals, trum
pets, and vials.
It is singular, however, that the Bishop bears testi
mony in the next page to the mystical meaning of the
epistle to Smyrna. For the "tribulation ten days" is
there explained of the greatest persecution that the
primitive church ever endured, Diocletian's persecution,
which lasted ten years, and grievously afflicted all the
Eastern churches. Conscious that such an appUeation,
not in the promises attached, but in the body of the
epistle, is fatal to his own exclusively Uteral application,
the Bishop thereon allows that the "promissory or
threatening part foretells something of their future
condition," and asserts that " in this sense, and in no
other, can these epistles be said to be prophetical"
(p. 550).
But how stop here, once you own, as he does in the

123
Smyrnean epistle, a bearing beyond the bare single
church in or near that age, once you extend its scope
to all the East, and its date to the beginning of the
fourth century? Indeed, that fierce persecution was
not confined to the East; for all the empire, not
exceptmg Spain and Britain, was stained with Chiistian
blood. If the principle is true in one epistle, why not
in all ? And, in fact was not general declension within
as clearly marked in Ephesus, as persecution from with
out in Smyrna ? and does not Pergamos portray the
corrupting influences of worldly exaltation, as palpably
as Thyatira sets forth the proud unrelenting false
prophetess of Popery?
No doubt, the unsatisfactory character attached by
our Lord to Sardis must be painful and startling to
those whose eye is filled with ordinary Protestantism
and its decent orthodoxy. And, perhaps, yet more
distasteful is the sight of another and a subsequent
testimony, which sets those who bear it in weakness
and scorn outside the religious world, with the coming
of Christ their blessed and animating hope.
But it is plain that the picture of the last assembly,
in its deplorable lukewarmness, and the Lord's per
emptory rejection of it, was the great difficulty to Bp.
N., because of its inccnsistency with his theory of the
last state of the Church, " described in this very book,
as the most glorious of all." But this is a total mis
take. The Revelation never describes the Church on
earth after Laodicea. The glorious description, to
which the Bishop refers, is probably in Rev. xix.-xxi.,
where the entire Church is glorified above. In a word,
this reason is plainly invalid. The bride of the Lamb

124
is to reign, but this does not contradict the solemn
testimony of the Laodicean epistle, that the last state
of Christendom here below is to be, like that of Israel
before it, "worse than the' first." The general testi
mony of the New' Testament ' entirely confirms the-
witness borne by this particular part, as appears from
Luke xvii. 26-37; 2 Tlress.; ii. 1-12; 2 Tim. Ui. 1-5;.
2 Peter ii. iii. ;' 1 John ii. 18 ; Jude 11-19.

CHAPTER IV.
We are now come to the strictly prophetic part of
the book of Revelation. The seven churches formed
together what the Holy Ghost calls "the things which
are." And the Son of man was seen judging the
house of God on earth, represented by the Asiatic
churches. They existed in the time of St. John; and in
a mystic sort at least, they have an existence con
tinuous and, to a certain extent, successive, as long as
there is any testimony rendered by the professing body
on the earth. If the Uteral application is past, the
protracted representative bearing still goes on. In
chap. i. 19 we were told that, besides "the things
which thou hast seen" and "the things which are,"
there was a third division — "the things which shall be
hereafter." The word "hereafter" is vague, whereas the
sense intended appears to be precise : it should be read
" the things which shall be after these" meaning what
is to follow after the church has come to an end on
.the earth. Its present history closes here, though it
wUl have a better existence in heaven, and it wUl reign
¦over the earth, too, in the day of mUlennial glory.
We then arrive at this wholly prophetical portion.
¦Ghaps. iv. and v. are a kind of preface to "the things
which shall be after these." Their great object is to
.show us, not events occuring upon the earth, but the
attitudeor aspect in which God appears, and the place
-of those who are nearest to Him, during the occurrence
of these future events (i. e. the crisis of the present age).
I must here dwell a little on the first of these chapters.

126
"After these things I looked, and, behold, a door open
in heaven, and the first voice which I heard [was] as
it were of a trumpet, talking with me," &c. (Ver. 1).
The "first voice" here does not mean the first of the
voices that were about to speak, as some have strangely
thought, but the voice that John had already heard in
chap, i — the voice of Him who had been in the midst
of the seven golden candlesticks. It stiU addresses him
like a trumpet, but now not from earth, but from
heaven. There was a door there, and the voice spake
from thence, so that this portion of the book supposes
tbe earth done with for the moment, and the scene
lies, above. It is not merely that saints render testi
mony upon earth, but the voice speaks from heaven,
showing the things that should follow the church-con
dition on earthy now concluded. "Come up hither,
and I, will show thee the things which must happen
after these things." John is said to be immediately
in the Spirit (ver. 2) ;' i.e. by the Holy Ghost's power
he was characterized, so as to enter into the new scenes.
he was now to behold.
"Behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on
the throne. And he that sat," <&c. God is not named
as such in this account, save as "He that sat upon the
throne,'7 John is about to show us what the aspect
seemed of the One who sits upon the throne, wlulfe
there is that in God which no man hath seen or can
see. This is a. representation, in a symboUcal way, of
the glory of God. He may assume any appearance
that pleases- Him, but as far as He permitted it to be
displayed here, it was what could be compared to these
precious stones. Iii chap. xxi. the bride, the New

127
Jerusalem, comes down "out of heaven from God,
having tbe glory of God; her Ught [was] like a stone
most precious, as a jasper stone," ho. It is quite
evident that this cannot be the essential glory of God.
It rather means, I think, that it was not a human but
a divine glory. There is in God that which He can
confer upon the creature, and there is that which is
incommunicable. Here divine glory is meant in con
trast with creature glory — not that which would
derogate from His majesty, but be a reflection of it.
Her light was like a jasper stone ; the wall also was of
jasper (ver. 18), and the first foundation (ver. 19).*
The general appearance of the city was as it were of
jasper. This a little answers, I think, to the view we
have in chap. iv. of what John enjoyed of the sight of
Him that sat upon the throne. In Rom. v. 2 it is
said, not only that we have access to the grace of
Gqd in wliich we stand, but that we rejoice in hope of
the glory of God. That glory of Him who sat on the
tijrone, as far as it could be viewed by the creature,
was presented under the figure of jasper and sardius
(ver. 3); and when the church comes forth in the
glory of God, her light will be jasper-like. That is,
* The application of the jasper, in the aooount of the heavenly
city, seems decisively to set aside the notion that the colour of
this stone was intended to convey something in the appearance
very awful as well as glorious. It is utterly out of the question
to' attribute such a feature to the New Jerusalem, of which the
figure is used still more emphatically. I cannot but think, there
fore, that we must search for a meaning in keeping with both, and
that the idea of glory and splendour best meets all requirements.
Far more untenable is the view that the jasper sets forth the
incarnation. It appears to me to fall in with not a single occur
rence of the figure ; it sets Rev. iv. hopelessly at variance with
chap, v., and it would involve, I fear, serious aberration from
. sound doctrine, if carried out in chap. xxi.

128
the thought of God's glory, not man's, is the thing con
veyed to the mind. Even in the "eternal day," there
wUl be no such thing as God abandoning or lowering
the dignity of His own proper Godhead; for there will
always be an infinite difference between God and the most
exalted of His creatures. Still, there 'is a resemblance
between the glory of God, as seen by man, and the
church's glory by and by. Arid this answers exactly
to the words. of our Lord in the gospel of John (xvii.
22, 23) : "The glory which thou gavest me I have given
them; that they may be One, even as we are one: I
in them, and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one; and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast
loved me."
But, besides the appearance of divine glory, there
was a rainbow round about the throne. This evidently
carries our thoughts back to the covenant that God
made, not with His people Israel, but with the earth
at large. The covenant with His people is noticed for
the first time in chap. xi. of this book, where we have
heaven opened and the ark of His testament seen in
His temple. It is not the new covenant itself; for
when this is brought out, there will be no earthquakes,
and lightnings, and thunders, &c, but the day of
peace and blessing for Israel. But at the time to
which that vision refers, God wUl show that He has
respect to His covenant. Here the rainbow is' God's
remembrance of His covenant with the earth. The
ark spoken of in chap. xi. is God's remembrance of
His covenant with His people. God is going to pour
forth judgments upon the earth and upon those who.

129
had the responsibility of being His people. But He
takes pains to show that, before a single judgment
falls, there is mercy in store. Before He touches
creation, there is the sign of His covenant with the
earth; just as when He is forced to pour down plagues
upon His people Israel, the ark of His covenant is
seen. The rainbow was the witness that God had not
forgotten His ancient word — He could not forget.
The rainbow is the sign of mercy. It spans the
heavens, and takes in earth, and sea, the whole com
pass of that blessed security of which God had hung
out the token on- high. But now we have the rain
bow not merely over the world, but round about the
throne in heaven., This is not its usual place, but it
was a sweet sight for John to see in the midst of all
that bright glory, God wishing to fill his heart with
confidence. , He had not merely the vision of what
was coming on the earth, but in the circle of the di
vine manifestation and power above the rainbow is
seen. God shows us His own glory, and, at the same
time, the rainbow would teU us that God was true —
that He Was purposely putting man in mind of His
pledge, given after the great judgment of old, and the
rather as now He set it in this peculiar place, where a
rainbow had never been seen before, in order to assure
our hearts. But though peculiar, what could be more
in character? For it is the throne of God, the Almighty,
the Creator and Supreme Lord of all things.
Perhaps it is needless to remark that no such things
wiU happen literally <• but the vision was like a pan
orama, putting all before the eyes of the prophet —
a most lively and admirable way of conveying what

130
God meant to teach. When persons have got thorough
ly founded in His grace, nothing is more important
than the study of this book. But it may be injurious
to spuls who have not been so established to get
absorbed in the Revelation.
First, then, we have the throne of One who is the
centre and source of all trie action, God's glory, and
majesty being set forth by the symbol of the jasper
and sardine ; and, next, there is the rainbow, the
familiar emblem of God's faithfulness to creation.
The rainbow was of a particular kind, ''in appearance
like an emerald" (ver. %). We coidd scarcely have
colours more opposed than those which represented the
divine majesty, and the emerald so refreshing for the
eye to look upon. The Holy Ghost gives us a vivid
impression by these simple symbols. For this book
was not written for great scholars ; it was intended
for suffering saints. Even by men of the world it has
been noticed, that the Revelation was specially the
book sought into by persecuted Christians, and it
appears to me that, while those who make it a field
for human research and speculation go wrong here
and everywhere else, there is a general bright idea
that would present itself to.the mind pf an unlettered
believer, who looks up to God and desires the glory of
His Son. , L
. The first thought suggested to me by the chapter is,
that the only true place from which to look at the
things that- were coming to pass after the churches
is. heaven. It is not upon and from the earth that
we can rightly judge of these events. It must be from
above, we must learn and look. If we are earthly-

131
minded, we shaU never understand them. If I am
merely on the level of the scene upon which the
judgments are passing, I shall endeavour to make the
best of everything, and to put off the judgments: I
am not entering in by the door opened in heaven. A
heavenly standing must be taken as the ground, and
the only ground, upon which these visions can be
rightly estimated.
The next tiling is God seen and His throne — His
power ruling in providence. The throne is not in itself
connected with priesthood, but with power, whence
divine government proceeds. God wotdd establish
souls in the thought that He governs, even in the midst
of all the wickedness that was to be developed in the
time of the beasts, or the final apostasy. The thing
seen is the throne of One who did not need to be named,
but who permits His glory to be seen, as far as it can
be by the creature. From His throne above He is
dealing with the world. Then we have His throne
surrounded by the remembrancer of His covenant with
creation. Next in the fourth verse, the prophet sees that,
round about the central throne of God, there are other
thrones. The reason why thrones here are preferable
to "seats " is, that it is part of the essence of the
vision tP show that the persons seated there were
persons of kingly dignity. The same word means a
throne and a seat, and the choice is only determined
by the connexion in which it stands. We should not
say of a person in humble life that he was sitting upon
a throne, nor of the sovereign when in state that he
was upon a seat. We can judge by the subject-
matter.

132
Around the throne of God, then, in the scene of such
glory as man, perhaps, never saw before, there are other
thrones, with elders seated on them — persons who were
endowed with wisdom from on high, who entered into
the thoughts and counsels of God. They are clothed in
white raiment, answering to"- their priestly, as their
«rowns do to their kingly, dignity. They are clearly
saints, and they are seen in heaven, around the great
central throne before the world's judgment begins.
The number of these is twenty-four, corresponding
with the twenty-four courses of priesthood in Israel.
When the forerunner of the Lord was to be born, his
father Zacharias was a priest of the course or order of
Abia. In 1 Chron. xxiv. we must look to see what
these divisons were, and we find the eighth was that
of Abijah. The priesthood was divided into these
.courses in order that each in succession might take up
the work of the priesthood, every course having its own
chief priest. The High Priest is not named here : we
all know whp He is ; but we have the twenty-four elders
answering to these twenty -four courses of priesthood, or
rather to the chiefs who represented them. (Ver. 4.)
But a deeply interesting enquiry arises. If these
.crowned and enthroned elders represent the heavenly
.saints, as few will deny, when and to what condition
does the vision apply? (i.) Does it speak of those who
have departed to be with Christ? Or (n.) does it fore
shadow the manifested kingdom of Christ and His saints
during the mUlennium ? Now, I think it certain that
both these questions must be answered in the negative,
and that the time of this chapter iv, and therefore the
interval during which the elders are thus engaged on

133
high, is after the separate state is over, as far as they
are concerned, and before the mUlennial reign begins.
For (i.) it is obvious that the symbol of the twenty-
four elders implies the sum of the heads of the heavenly
priesthood — not a part, however large, but the whole.
There were just so many courses, and no more. In the
vision they are complete; and in the reality, which it
symbolizes, this can never be the case, whUe the saints
are absent from the body and thus present with the
Lord. During that state of things there will always
be members of the Church on the earth. For "we
shall not all sleep." And when, at the Lord's return,
the dead in Christ shall rise first, "we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them to
meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with
the Lord." That is to say, the symbol understood and
interpreted aright requires that all the members of
Christ should be together and in the same condition;
and as this will never be true of the separate spirits,
it necessarily follows that the vision wUl be realized
only when "we shall all be changed" and with the Lord.
But (ii.) it is clear, that, whatever may be antici-
patively presented in the songs of the elders, or of
others who catch up, as it were, the chorus of their
strains, both the actions of the elders, and the entire
heavenly scenery, in which they take so prominent a
part from Rev.'iv. to chap, xix., suppose that the reign
ing over the earth does not arrive as a literal fact tUl
Christ and His saints have left heaven for the judgment
of His enemies. But the full complement of the elders
is made up a considerable time previously: none can
deny they are in Iteaven before and during the seals,

134
trumpets, and vials. "The inference is plain. The
saints represented by them must be, as a whole, in
heaven before these judgments begin to be fulfiUed.
The millennium does not come tiU Rev. xx. ; the
elders, shadowing the glorified saints, are with the
Lord in their changed bodies long before. When He
comes from heaven, to the destruction of the beast,
they foUow, and with Him they subsequently reign
for a thousand years. Others, I doubt not, wUl be
joined with them in that reign : these wUl not be.
glorified in their bodies tUl Rev. xx., having suffered,
after the rapture of the church, under the beast, &C;
But Rev. iv. intimates, that the raptute wUl then
have taken place, and that the saints caught up are
viewed as a royal priesthood, interested, as having the
mind of Christ, in the trials, sufferings, testimony,
and hopes of those who succeed themselves, as witnesses
for 'God, during the hour of temptation which will
then come upon all the world to try those that dweU
on the earth. Even, for the raptured saints on high
it is not yet the time for the iriarriage of the Lamb ;
and therefore, as well as for other reasons, they are
here regarded, not as the body or bride, but as kings
and priests worshipping, and as yet waiting for their
manifestation in glory when they shall judge the world.
There is a solemn connexion with this in Ezekiel,
where we have twenty-five men named; (Ezek vni. 16;)
and to my own mind it appears, that they were the
whole of the heads of the priesthood— the twenty-four
chiefs and the high priest besides. But where were
they now? Alas! they were the very heads of idol
atry and of wickedness perpetrated in the temple of

135
Jehovah. They were there, not as those whose rai
ment told of the blood that Cleanses, but the corrupters
of God's holy standard and the defilers of Israel, lead
ing them on to apostasy; so that if judgment is to be
inflicted, it must begin with the house of God. There
is a sort of contrast between the scene here described
and that in Ezekiel. There we had the living crea
tures, first, the symbol of the executive judgments of
God — of His judicial power putting down evil. The
earthly result of the action of these Uving creatures,
as seen in Ezekiel, might be the destruction of Jeru
salem; but that was only what man saw.
The cherubim and the living creatures (i^a) are the
same thing; they must be carefully distinguished from
the beasts (e-npld) we read of afterwards. The first
mention of the cherubim is in the early part of the book
(of Genesis chap. Ui.) When sin entered the world,
immediately we find them. They were the beings to
whom the work of judgment was entrusted. ' ' He placed
in the garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword
to keep the way of the tree of life." The emblem of
their power was this flaming sword. Again, if we look
at the second book of Moses, we find the cherubim
there in a most blessed way. Where were they
looking ? Within. Had they been looking Outwards,
they would have seen sinners ; had they looked under,
i.e., into the ark, there they would have seen the law ;
but they were looking within, upon the mercy-seat,
upon the blood that was sprinkled there. There was
the blood that spoke of the perfect mercy of God which
had met and triumphed over sin; and there was the
power of God — both combined in preserving the glory

136;
of God, and both working- for, man instead of .against
him. If we look at them again in the time of Solor
mpn,; we find a remarkable difference, The position
of the cherubim completely changes, and instead of
looking within, they ai'e looking out, because Solomon's
day typifies the time of glory, when the true Man and
Prince of Peace shall rule. And why should not they
look put. then? Sin wUl have been judged, and
instead of the goodness of the Lord falling as it "were
in. drops here, and there, the Lord shall come down
Uke rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water
the earth, and the. whole earth shall be filled with his
glory: — the just answer to the glory of ¦. David's Son.
When mercy will have, bad its full way, and judgment
has been; executed, there will be nothing to, hinder the
cherubim from proclaiming the goodness of the Lord.,
But in Ezekiel a terrible crisis came. The mercy-seat
had been' despised, and Solomon's glory had faded
away. Israel was sinning., with a high hand, and now
the very temple itself was the spot where the greatest
dishonour was done to God, and there the cherubim
again as good as say, " God can have nothing to do
with this wicked people; judgment must have its
course." Accordingly they leave Israel, though they
bring judgment upon them. They are only seen
again as giving the signal for judgment, and putting-
it in force by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.
We have the same thing in Revelation, with this
difference, that in Ezekiel the living creatures are
seen more in connexion with the earth, and this is the.
reason why they are said to have wheels as well as
wings. In Revelation, the earthly people being

137
dropped for a season, and a heavenly people called,
they are simply seen with the wings suited for heaven,
and not the wheels suited for earth. From this
omission ib is sweet to see that even if God is going
to speak about- judgment, the very form that the exe
cutive of God's judgment takes, tells us that a heavenly
interruption has come in, ere the world's history is
resumed. It is of immense importance, if we are to
view these things aright, to get a firm footing on the
ground on which the apostle stood — to enter in, as it
were, by the door opened in heaven.
But besides this, "Out of the throne proceeded
Ughtnings, and voices, and thunders," &c. (Ver. 5.)
Evidently, this is not the throne that we draw near to ;
for ours is a throne of grace, and this is a throne of
judgment Its aspect described here has nothing in
the world to do with grace. What proceeds from the
throne is not a stream clear as crystal as in the case
of the throne mentioned in chap. xxU., but "light
nings, and voices, and thunders," &c, which are
expressive of God's terrors. Even the symbolic like
ness given here of God's Spirit is in keeping with it
"There were seven lamps of fire burning before the
throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." The Holy
Ghost does not take the symbol of lamps of fire when
expressing God's grace to the church. No doubt, pn
the day of Pentecost we have the tongues of fire, a beau
tiful emblem of what God was then about to do; for
it was divine force that gave those unlettered men to
Speak in every tongue. On the Lord Jesus He des
cended in the form of a dove ; but this was quite a
different thing from what we have in Revelation.
K

138
Here it is the consuming power of the Spirit of God.
Fire is the weU known emblem of the searching holi
ness of God. The Holy Ghost in full perfection as
light, and as a fire that consumes, is the representation
that the Spirit gives of His own relation to this time.
It is plain that this does not refer to the nrillennial
kingdom, for then a stream clear as crystal is to
proceed out of the throne of God; stUl less would such
a symbol apply to His action in the body of Christ
during the present time. Nor is God's throne now
one from which proceed lightnings and thunders, <fce.
To what period, then, is the reference ? To a short
space between the two, when God has done His present
church- work, and before the mUlennial glory begins
The present is the time when God is gathering out His
heirs, joint-heirs with Christ, and forming the bride :
and now there is a throne of grace, and we find grace
and mercy in every time of need. Here, on the con
trary, His judgments issue from the throne. The Holy
Ghost is the Spirit of judgment and burning here, just
as much as the throne is judicial and the source of
terrors for the earth. Thus, then, it is neither the
peaceful era of the mUlennial glery, nor the present
display of unbounded grace, but a time between the
two. It is not conceivable for a person to have just
light upon this book who does not see that the Revela
tion fills up the interval after the Lord has taken the
church, and before He comes out of heaven and the
church along with Him, (Chap, xix.) I speak, of
course, of the prophetic visions which fill the body of
the book, and not of the three introductory chapters
nor of the close, when the Lord is about to appear.

139
There the whole scene is changed; the heavens are
opened to send forth the Lord Jesus, for the purpose
of putting the last stroke of judgment to man's iniquity
and Satan's power, and then we have the full flow of
blessing far and wide. Here we have the time that
precedes it — an interval of most solemn character for
the world, when the heavenly saints shall have been
caught up.
" And before the throne there was a sea of glass,"
&c. (Ver. 6.) Not a sea of water, where persons could
bathe, but a sea of glass. Now the Holy Ghost uses
the washing of water by the word for the purpose of
purging defilement. There was no longer need for this
in those who were here. In chap. xv. there is another
class mentioned as standing upon a sea of glass, show
ing that it is not then a question of the Spirit's power
in dealing with what is contrary to God, but the vic
tory is over. All question of the trial of the heavenly
saints is over. The scene where the church had been
in trial is now peacefully closed, in Rev. iv., and they
are seated round God's own throne.
There, too, are the four living creatures, full of eyes
(before and behind, which are the symbol of discern
ment ; for though it is judgment they have to execute, it
is not, we need hardly say, unintelligent j udgment " The
first Uving creature was Uke a lion, the second like a
oalf, the third had the face as of a man, and the fourth
was like a flying eagle (ver. 7)." The various symbols
are taken from the heads of God's creation here below,
and represent different quahties of His judgments : the
lion as the head of -wild beasts, the ox or calf the head
of cattle, man of intelligent beings, and the eagle of

140
birds. The lion conveys the, idea of strength or majes
tic power, the ox of patient endurance, the man of
intelUgence, and the eagle of rapidity. God shows us
the strength, patience, intelligence, and rapidity with
which His judgments should be executed. The four
living creatures, having each of them six wings,
denoted supernatural rapidity, and the eyes within in
trinsic discernment (ver. 8). Some have supposed,
chiefly from the nearness of the living creatures to the
supreme throne, that they, rather than the elders,
must set forth the criurch.* But this is quite a mis
conception. The reason, as I think, why the living
creatures are thus near, is because they are the judicial
executive, and providential judgments wUl then be in
progress. They characterize the action of the throne.
"And they have no rest day and nightj saying,
"Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was,
and is, and is to come." This is a remarkable word.
It is, not occupation with evil ; but when God1 shows-
us the means or agencies by wliich He executes judg-

* - All admit that the cherubim are invariably attendants on the
throne of God, and that they were, therefore, in the most holy, place
made of the same' piece of gold as the ark itself on which Jehovah
sat. But. it is argued that, though in all the Old Testament-in
stances they were angelic,, because the Jaw had been, ordained, by
angels (Gal. iii 17), they might'become human in the Apocalypse,
because the world to come, is to be made subject to man (Hebrews
ii. 5). Thus the cherubim and the elders would represent the
saints in a -twofold aspect, active and contemplative. And cer
tainly it is a notable fact, as another has remarked, that before the
Lamb appears arid takes the book, there are no angels mentioned
who praise, and, the .cherubim or Uving- creature only express or
celebrate the holy character of God, but are not associated with
intelligent worship. AVhereas, when the Lamb is in the scene, the
elders and cherubim join in intelligent worship, and the angels are
expressly distinguished. But more maybe said when we treat of
chap. v.

141
ment, we have one unceasing cry as regards Him —
" Holy, holy, holy."
One of the most important features of this scene
for the soul is that the elders symbolize tbe heavenly
saints in glory, the heads of the heavenly priesthood,
found in their blessed employ above. But observe that,
when they are seen there first, they are perfectly
famUiar with the scene : there is no hurry and no
anxiety. They are peacefully seated on the thrones.
There is no trembling, even in the presence of God.
These thunders, and lightnings, and judgments, might
proceed from His throne, but stUl they sit peacefully
on their thrones — not a single movement is produced.
And what is it that does move them ? They were
entirely undisturbed by terror: judgment does not
shake them from the thrones ; but when those living
creatures shall give glory, and honour, and thanks to
Him that sat on the throne, &c, the four-and-twenty
elders shall fall down, &c. Directly honour is given
by the executors of judgment to Him that sat upon the
throne, the elders worship. What satisfaction in
God — what certainty that sin was at an end — does this
show ! He may be going to judge, but He wUl not
judge those who are made His righteousness in Christ.
They are in sympathy with Him ; and when the living
creatures address God and ascribe glory, and honour,
and thanks to Him, then it is that they rise from
their thrones and are found prostrate before Him.
More than that, they worship and cast their crowns
before the throne, saying, " Thou art worthy, O Lord,
to receive the glory, and the honour, and the power ;
for thou hast created all things, and for thy will they

142
were, and were created." They enter into His personal
worthiness in a way that the living creatures do not,
and with greater spiritual intelligence. They are
elders; they understand here trie creatorial and provi
dential glory of God, just as in chap. v. we see that
they enter into the worthiness and work of the Lamb.
"For thou didst create all things," &c. — not, "are
created and were created;" but for His will, or pleasure,
they were sustained in existence, even as they were
originated at first (Verses 10, 11.) Thus, their
praise embraces the two great thoughts in the chapter
— the creation glory and the governmental glory of
God. "They were" (i.e., they existed now in the care
and the government of God), " and they were created"
(i.e., to Him they owed their origination).
It is not merely what we shall feel then that God
reveals to us ; but He desires us to enter now into-
what we shall have then. This glory is given us
already. Assuredly we shall not have such a place
then, if we have not got its title upon earth. It is
ours now by faith, thougri then we shall have it in its
fulness. What enables the elders to be so calm in
the midst of judgment? That whicri God had done
for them through the cross of Jesus. But God has
done that now. In Christ was wrought as perfect a
work upon earth as there could be in heaven. He will
not do another or a better work there, though it may
be enjoyed more above. But God has revealed this
scene to His own that they may enter into it now
intelligently, and may be worshippers according to its
spirit, even upon earth, seeing the glory that will be
theirs in heaven. Worship is a more serious thing

143
than is supposed by many. Anything that does not
suit the presence of God in heaven, is unfit for
the presence of God upon earth. Even in outward
things He looks for our hearts to be exercised.
It is a bad sign when the children of God allow
themselves in anything that is inconsistent with His
presence. We are responsible that the worship of
God should be conducted in a way worthy of Him —
in solemnity, but in Uberty. We should be careful
that we do not distract others, but rather help one
another to enjoy the Lord better.
The Lord grant that, walking in holy liberty, and
remembering that it -is not the order of the flesh or of
forms that we have to keep up, we may be preserved
from thinking that His order is less reverent than
man's ! May He vouchsafe us to seek what becomes
the presence of Him whom we come together to exalt !
He has given us the place of worshippers : may we
worship Him in spirit and in truth ! A better relation
or employment God Himself could not give even in
heaven.

CHAPTER V.
WE have had, in the preceding chapter, a sight of
the greatest significance and interest: God unfolding
the interior, so to speak, of heaven — its thoughts and
its employment, before the faU of a single blow of
judgment upon the earth comes before us. But the
picture would have been incomplete, if the Holy
Ghost had not added the scene which we have revealed
to us in this chapter. For, if there was a divine
manifestation, and the elders entered with spiritual
intelUgence into the worship of God, acknowledging
His glory in creation and in providential government,
yet they had no song there, much less did they sing
" the new song." Now it is the great object of the
chapter before us to show this other and fuller way in
which the elders are found prostrating themselves
before the Lamb, and worshipping Him. The Holy
Ghost takes particular pains to point out that God,
as He discloses Himself, must be the object, spring,
and foundation of all the adoration from the creature
that follows. It is not an image conceived by the
mind of man; that would be an idol. We must have
a divine revelation to have divine truth and acceptable
worship. The images of chap. iv. left God in a sort
of mysterious grandeur and majesty. Accordingly,
the worship of the elders did not go beyond recog
nising that God had created and sustained all things.
It was His glory in creation and in providence, and
theirs was suited intelligent praise.

145
In this chapter we have a sweeter scene. And
why? Because we have the Lamb. What blessing
does He not bring ! He has blotted out sin — has
removed the sting of death- — has brought us nigh to
God, and has put a song in our mouth fit for the
presence of God. In this blessed portion of the word
we have, as the great subject of it, the bearing of
redemption on the occupation or worship of heaven,
and the connexion of it with, the counsels and ways
of God on the earth. As long as it was only the
creation-glory of God, we had no book at all. But
now the prophet looks, and he sees in the right hand
of Him that sat on the throne a book written within
and on the back side, sealed up with seven seals.
(Ver. 1.) In ancient times a book was a manuscript
roU, written only in the inside in ordinary cases.
But here there is a fulness of revelation. It flows
over, as it were, and is inscribed on the back as well
as within, and altogether is secured by seven seals.
But observe, that if God is seen with this book in
His hand, it is only the Lamb who opens, and in con
nexion with the Lamb that the contents, of the book
appear. How plain that there never can be any
opening out of God's mind as regards things to come,
without the knowledge of Christ and of His glory in
respect of them ! Every Christian knows that there
is no such thing as being saved without Christ, but
many do not perceive that there is no understanding
of prophecy without Christ, nor any right knowledge
of what the church is.
Thus it is that men make religious societies, and,
•call them churches. But I do not hesitate to say

146
that it is easier to make heaven and earth than to
make the church of God. But man's presumption
has risen to such a height that the highest and holiest
things of God are made the work (not to say the sport) of
human hands, because they have practically divorced
the church from Christ. They treat the subject as
optional and external, instead of owning that it is the
especial field of the deepest and purest operations of
the .Spirit, the dearest object of the affections and the
witness of the chief glories of Christ The ordering
of the Church and the ways of God therein bring out
the very depths and heights of divine wisdom and
grace. Again, one main difficulty now, as ever, is that
those whom the Holy Ghost brings together round
the name of the Lord are apt to carry with them a
load of notions out of the country from whence they
come — the long-cherished thoughts and habits which
they have got to unlearn. They have also the same
flesh as others — the same vanity, haste, conceit, &c.
We must remember that what other people have done
we are in no less danger of doing ourselves. If the
church fell away so soon after God had brought out
His new and blessed counsels of heavenly grace here
below, it is much more easy now (when Christendom
has forsaken and well-nigh forgotten its best privUeges)
to fall again into the same error and unfaithfulness.
The great root of the mischief is the tendency to look
at the church as ours, not Christ's. You never get
the full truth about anything that concerns either
God or ourselves apart from Christ. It remains
always true that "the law was given by Moses," (and

147
he was a most honoured servant of God,) but " grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ"
It is the same with prophetical interpretations. If
I connect prophecy with myself or with my country,
I may find the last French Revolution, or the potato
disease, or the Asiatic cholera, or something of the
kind, in the seventh vial. I may read the land
"bordering with wings" of Great Britain and her
ships; I may interpret the vessels of bulrushes (Isa..
xvrii.) of her iron steamers. Do you think this too
absurd ? Christian men liave done so, and this because
they connect things with themselves instead of with
Christ. The moment, on the other hand, anything is
viewed in relation to Christ, He is the light, and we
get deliverance from these thoughts of men. For
what is our country or our time? Neither one nor
other is Christ. If I seek communion witri Him, I
shall at once be free from the desire to make something
connected with myself the centre of my system. If
people look with an historical eye at the dark ages, or
at the previous invasions of the barbarians, they think
it all very interesting, and assume that God could not
have left that out of His book — that He must have
said something about a transition so important. Thus
even the invention of gunpowder has been conceived
to be anticipated in Rev. ix., the discovery of
America in chap, x., and the political importance -of
Protestantism in chap. xi. In short, nothing too wild
for men to think they have not found out in the
Apocalypse. And these things are put forth even by
godly men. Is not God warning us by all this? May
we be preserved from the same snare which has led

148
away persons naturally as sober (or as weak) as we
are ! He shows us that no amount of information,
learning, or ingenuity — nay, that not even piety — will
enable, us to understand God, or His word. What
then will ? Christ only.
The Lamb is the key to the things of God, and not
our own minds. There are many who think that, the
church being the peculiar object of God's love, all
prophecy must refer to it. Most erroneous idea ! The
reverse is true. In fact, it would be more true to
say the church is never the subject about which-
prophecy occupies itself. Its proper province is to
treat of earthly events, but the church has its place in
heavenly glory. When we come really to discern this
book, we find that judgment is the subject of it; and
the express object of these two chapters is to show
that before one of the judgments comes from the
throne, the church is taken out of the scene, and is
housed, we may say, in heavenly glory. The joint-
heirs being then with Christ, God prepares to introduce
the Firstborn Heir into the world. Unless this is
seen, the Revelation as a whole cannot be understood.'
A person might derive comfort from particular parts,-
but this is, not comprehending the book. To under
stand the scope of the prophecy, I must make Christ
the object, and not the church; otherwise I am out of
the Une of vision, in which the Spn-it wrote it. Not
the church, but Christ, is the centre of God's kingdom;
Astronomers used to think that the earth was the
centre round which the other heavenly bodies revolved,
judgmg superficially by what presented itself to the
senses. Christis the true sunand centre of God's system.

149
Here, then, we find God about to unveil what
man's mind could not possibly discover. "A strong
angel proclaims with a loud voice;" &c. (Ver. 2.)
Angels are those that "excel in strength" — not in
intelligence. We cannot suppose that they possess
the same kind of intelligence as those who are mem
bers of the body of Christ The angels are never said,
nor could they be said, to be sealed with the Holy
Ghost. But He it is, witnessing to Christ, who is the
power of intelligence in the feeblest child of God. If
I want to know the true place of the church, the body,
I must look at the place of Christ the Head; and if I
desire to learn what God is going to do with the earth,
I must examine God's account of Christ as Son of
David and as Son of man. If I am (unwittingly, no
doubt) putting the church in His Stead, I shaU get all
wrong. It is most true that God loves His saints, and
intends that they shall share with Christ the rule over
all the earth. Man draws from this the conclusion
that the church must go on and prosper here below ;
but when the divine revelations touching Christ arc
weighed more fully, I learn another truth, — that
Christ is coming in the way of judgment This, of"
course, supposes that the professing body has not
fulfilled its mission ; for if it had, who would there be
in Christendom for God to pour out His judgment
upon? "That servant who knew his lord's wUl, and
prepared not himself, neither did according to his wUl,
shall be beaten with many stripes."
Look at the truth God brings before us here. First,
there is the book, that is to say, the revelation of the
counsels of God as to the earth. Not a creature was

150
found worthy to open the book, neither to look thereon.
The prophet weeps because of this. (Ver. 3, 4.) It
should be borne in mind that in this book the apostle
John is not presented in his full place as an apostle of
the church, but rather as a prophet. He was, it is
true, a most honoured member of the body of Christ ;
but the object of this book is not to show our nearness
to, God in that relationship: it is as a prophet of inter
mediate judgment and of final glory he is seen. He is
not here viewed as having perfect communion with what
was passing around him. But this is very much the
characteristic of what is described of the Old Testament
saints; as ic is said in 1 Peter i. 6, "Of which salvation
the prophets have enquired," &c. It may be also that
the prophet John is here found in this position in the
main, because the book of the Apocalypse was not
merely intended for the church which was going to be
in heaven, and was even seen in heaven; but the book
was also meant for a body of witnesses to be found on
earth after the church is removed, who wUl go through
tremendous suffering in the last times. He is a
representative man, but rather, as it seems, of those
who are to enjoy the spirit of prophecy here below in
Israel, after the removal of the church to heaven, than
of those who, as sons, are entitled by grace to com
munion with their Father's heart.
The elders show us the true place that belongs to the
heavenly saints; and accordingly when John was
weeping much, one of tbe elders, who thoroughly
understood the matter, says to him, "Weep not,
behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of
David, hath prevaUed to open the book and the seven

151
seals thereof." (Ver. 5.) There at once we find the
Lord Jesus introduced. His person is brought out,
but it is in connexion with the earthly purposes of God.
He is in relation with David here. David is the one
whom the Lord elected king of Israel. (Ps. lxxviiL)
He was emphatically David " the king." This title
therefore expresses the purposes of God about Christ,
as far as the earth is concerned.
Judah we know to be the tribe connected with the
Christ or Messiah. This was tbe style and character
in which the elder announced the only One who could
open the book — "the Lion of the tribe of Judah."
Majesty and power among wUd beasts upon earth are
conveyed by the thought of the lion. Jacob compared
Judah to a lion. One great chain runs through
all scripture. The Holy Ghost that spake by Jacob
on his death-bed, speaks now through John, and
reveals that, rejected as He may be on earth, the Lion
of the tribe of Judah is owned on high, the One in
whom God's purposes all centre. He was, too, "the
root of David." This impUes more than being David's
Son. He was David's Lord. He might come out of
David, but He was David's root, the real though secret
cause of all His titles and promises; just as John the
Baptist said, that He who came after him really
was before him. But there is another remarkable
intimation. It is not merely said that He was worthy,
but that "He hath prevailed." That Uttle word
"prevaUed" (conquered, overcame) is connected with
the whole subject of the chapter. It is the victory
of Jesus by His blood. The Lord Jesus had personal
worthiness at any time to take the book, but if He

152
had received and opened it on the ground of His-
own worthiness alone, what would that have availed
for us ? It must have been sealed to us still. Therefore
the Lord not only proved that He had personal worthi
ness to open the book wliich contained these future
counsels of God, but He prevailed, and by virtue" of
that prevailing we are entitled to listen and understand.
"And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the
four Uving creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a-
Lamb standing as it had been slain," <fce. (Ver 6.)
John had heard of a lion; but now that He came to
look, it was a Lamb. When he expected to see the
symbol of power, there stood before all the picture of
most holy suffering and rejection. And this was the
emblem of Christ as seen even on the throne in aU the
glory of heaven — a smitten One, guUeless and unre
sisting, "a Lamb as it had been slain." He is
clothed with perfection of power; the seven horns, no
doubt, mean as much. The seven eyes are the symbol
of perfect intelligence — the fulness of the Spirit, here
in respect of earth and its government. But trie One
who is seen with all the power and wisdom is the Lamb.
The basis, I beUeve, of all our blessing stands in that
blessed truth. The Lord of glory has become a Lamb,
and as such must be known, if we are to profit by the
revelations that foUow. The Lamb is what answers
to the idea of redemption. Even with the Jews, when
the lamb was offered up morning and evening, God
was . showing that, ff a poor sinful people had any
thing to do with Him, and if He could go on with
them, it was because of the lamb. Those who by faith
understood looked forward, however obscurely, to a

153
better Lamb. God's Son was to become God's Lamb.
And now that He is sent away from the world, He is
the rejected One, and though glorified in heaven, He
still bears there the marks of the sufferer. He is seen
in the midst of the throne a Lamb as it had been slain.
The sacrifice of the Lamb is not so much the subject
of the Holy Ghost here, but His being the holy sufferer,
accepted above. Only foundation for the sinner, He
is also the pattern and the source of the hopes of His
own, and for this reason, that if we suffer we shall
also reign with Him. Here then, as everywhere, we
find that the King of kings and Lord of lords was the
greatest of sufferers. God brings these two thoughts
into connexion in chap, xvii — the suffering and rejected
Lamb, and the King of kings. Why? Because God
would show us aU glory resting on Christ, the earth-
rejected and despised One. The very thing that
seemed to be the death-blow of aU hopes for Israel
opens the way for better thoughts and higher counsels
of glory than ever. If we looked at the cross in itself,
it might have appeared that all was at an end, and hope
itself for ever laid in the grave; for there was the One
who might have blessed them, and vanquished Satan,
and terminated human misery and sin, Himself cast
out and crucified ! AU seemed to be nipped in the
bud, and prematurely closed in the death of Christ;
and yet such was the very way God took that He might
readily and eternally bless according to His own heart.
What seemed for the time to be the victory of Satan
was really the triumph of God for ever over him and
his works.
Observe, it is as the Lamb that the Lord Jesus
L

154
takes His place in heaven. What is the practical
effect of this on our souls? The more a man enters
into it, the less does he look for a place of honour and
esteem in the world. He knows well that, whUe
Satan is god of this world, and Christ hid in God,
truth must be despised here below; and consequently
he is not surprised, if he sees prosperity crowning
that which is evil. He wiU be prepared for all this,
because it is just the history of Christ. The slain
Lamb brings before us the whole moral course of the
world. But one more thing let me ask, Does the
' slain Lamb bring before your soul your history? Do
you know what it is to be cast out because of Christ ?
Not because you deserve to be rejected (though in
another sense, that is true,) but because you desire to
stand for the Lord Jesus at all cost?
But there is another side : Christ is glorified now —
not indeed as yet in the eyes of the world. But
heaven is opened to our view, and we find that He
who was most despised here is exalted in heaven, and
we learn that God has gathered, round the Lamb that
was slain, others into association with Him. I ask, has
He gathered you ? Has He given you the portion of
the slain Lamb on the earth? If you are a Chris
tian, you ought not to be happy without knowing
something of this. A saint ought to be pained if he
finds that, instead of realizing, he does not know what
such language means. God desires that we should
know it, not only about Christ, but as our own por
tion here on earth.
In the time of David, though he was God's anointed
king, yet was he rejected, and another king had the

155
power for the time. So now, though the power of
the beast is not yet fuUy developed, yet the world gets
ready for him to come and govern. David was cast
out, despised, insulted — thought, or at least insinuated,
to be some sort of a run-away from his master by
Nabal; and certainly appearances looked very unpro
mising, surrounded as he was in the cave of Adullam
by a band of the distressed and indebted in Israel.
There were many of those individuals, who, as far as
nature was concerned, may have justly deserved to be
thought lightly of. But what a change grace makes.!
David was the special person whom God's heart rested
on, and they knew it, and gathered' round the object
of God's love. There was a dignity that now ac
crued to them because of their companionship with
David. We can hardly be more miserable and weak
than we are, but as that one person gave all the value
to the inmates of the cave of AduUam, so it is from
association with Christ that all our blessing flows.
The priests of God were even drawn there by David.
But a greater than David is come, and God has
sent down the Holy Ghost that we may know that
the despised One is now in glory. And the Lord
grant that we may have more practical acquaintance
with His place of rejection here below, and not want
to escape or deny it! There is nothing the flesh
dislikes so much as to be despised. It is compara
tively easy to buckle up one's strength to meet per
secution or determined opposition, but it is another
"thing to be content in being nothing at all. In us,
worms as we are, this touches the wUl most; yet this
is exactly what the Lord of glory, Jesus, condescended

156
to be; and the enmity that despised Him, rose to its
climax at the cross. In spite of all the pretended
enlightenment and liberalism of the present day, the
spirit of the world is not reaUy changed. I would not
trust for a single moment that which arises from, mere
indifference toward God, or from glorffying the rights
of man. , Men count truth and error aU as one, have
no conscience toward God, and preach respect for each
other. The spirit of the age that now looks and speaks
so fair might at any moment rise up fiercely against
God, and then we should learn the truth of our expe
rience, that it is a slain Lamb whom we know and
worship on high. We should discover the reality of
it, and of fellowship with -Him, arid it would arouse
many •.& saint of iGod from the .-slumber: in which he is
now '(lor everi trie wise virgins 'may sleep); "Awake!
thou that Sleepest" is said to Christians. If you have
been asleep among, flead things and persons, the Lord
grant that ydu may not remain in this • condition but
SpeedUy may arise from these, "arid Christ shall give
you Ught!"
It is the slain Lamb that is evidently : the gneat
centre of heavenly worship. Now that sin is come
into the world, the creative glory of God is not enough,
nor. even Hisprovidential government If He is to be
glorified, save in pure judgment of His adversaries,
if there are to be displays of merciful goodness in
such a world as this, if there is to be a new song in
heaven, there must be redemption, and this, not by
power only, but by suffering and blood. Hence, as the
central throne in the preceding chapter was filled by
the Lord God, the Almighty, so here the central object

157
on whom all blessing for the creature depends, to whom,
equally with Him who, sat on the throne, worship is
offered, is the Lamb. AU heaven honours Him as the
Father is honoured. He is the Firstborn, the Heir,
not only by rights of creation and intrinsic personal
glory, but by redemption the divinely appointed " Heir
of all things.'' God destines the wide universe for His
sceptre. But how and on what plea would Christ take
the inheritance? By power? Surely, all power was His.
In the day of His humUiatien, the devUs were subject
to the least of His servants through His name. , So
that He could say, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven" — (the then energy of the seventy in cast
ing out demons being to His spirit, I apprehend, the
..sign and earnest of complete victory in due time).
"Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents
and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy."
Why not take the inheritance then and there? After
the evidence of such triumphs over the usurper, why
go down unto death, even the death of the cross?
"Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men;
and the weakness of God is stronger than men." Be
cause God must be vindicated in His majesty,
love, wisdom, and righteousness. Because Christ
could not accept a defiled inheritance. (Compare
Col. i. 20 and Heb. ix. 21-23.) Because He would
not reign alone, and in this He and His Father were
of one mind. In His grace, He would have joint-
heirs, the sharers of His glory. Such a reconciliation
was only possible through death, even if the offering
were the body of His flesh, all spotless flesh as it was.
Peace could not be made stably and divinely save

158
through the blood of His cross. Therefore, is it that
He is here seen and sung as the Lamb. God means
assuredly to bring the First-begotten into the habitable
world; and the book in His right hand describes, I
suppose, the process whereby the inheritance is to be put
into His hands; but purchase by bood, blessed be His
name, is the ground on which aU is taken. When He
receives the book, all is in motion. As in chap, iv.,
when the Uving creatures pay honour to God, the
twenty-four elders fall down and worship, so here,
when the Lamb takes the book out of the right hand
of Him that sat on the throne, the four living creatures-
and the twenty-four elders are prostrate before Him,
Though it might be opened for the purpose of striking
some blow, there was no apprehension, no trouble, no-
concern about themselves in particular; they fell down
before the Lamb. It was not merely receiving some
thing from God, but they would exalt God. Far from
taking away anything from God, on the contrary, in
the very presence of the throne and of Him that sat
on it, the Lamb is the object of worship, the source of
its purest and deepest strains. God is best glorified
when the Lamb has His meed of praise.
They had "each a harp and golden bowls* full of

* The reviewer in "Evangelical Christendom" (Aug., 1860, p.
451) objects, among other departures from "the time-honoured
expressions of our venerable Saxon Bible," that I have' given
"bowls" instead of "vials." But surely he must be aware that
"a small bottle" is not intended by (j>. here, or anywhere else in
the Apocalypse, but rather a broad open vessel or bason. Compare
in the LXX, Exod. xxvii. 3; xxxiii. 3; Num. vii., passim: also
answering to other Hebrew words, Num. iv. 14 ; 2 Chron. iv. 16,
Ac. "We ought not to sacrifice the sense to sound. The English
word "vial," though derived from the Greek, really misleads-
Habit or the ear may account for such a preference.

159
odours, which are the prayers of saints.'' In the
tabernacle service of the wUderness sUver trumpets
were used for holy purposes by the priests. David first
introduced the harp, separating the sons of Asaph,
Heman, and Jeduthun, for songs in the house of the
Lord with cymbals, psalteries, and harps. These, like
the priests, were divided into twenty-four classes; so
that the allusion is obvious, with that measure of
difference which is characteristic of the Apocalypse.
Priestly and choral services are here blended in per
fection. Does not this also serve to show that the
elders only are here said to have harps and basons of
incense? In chap. xv. the four living creatures give
the angels the seven golden bowls full of divine wrath.
Thus, all is in keeping : the elders being the heads of
royal priesthood, as the cherubim wait on the execu
tion of God's judgments, though both unite (ch. v.) in
the fullest homage to the Lamb. But who are these
" saints" that pray? The elders, or the church, were
in heaven, and in full choir of praise. Whose prayers
then are these? They come from saints who wUl suffer
when the church is above. The elders are those
heavenly saints who have been removed previously,
including perhaps the Old Testament saints. They
are in the place of adoration and praise, whereas prayer
impUes need. If they have to do with prayers, it is
the prayers of others, not their own. More than that,
they sing a new song, that of the Lamb's purchase by
blood, saying, "Thou artworthy, forthouwast slain,"&c.
A very important change occurs in this verse, well
known to every person tolerably acquainted with the
original scriptures. Persons who have studied the

160
most ancient manuscripts and other witnesses of this
book, all agree that it is, "and hast made them unto
our God kings (or a kingdom) and priests" (ver. 10).
Who are those that are meant by "them" and are made
kings and priests "to our God?" They do not speak
of themselves.
Indeed, I am prepared to go farther, and am bound
to state ray impression that in the 9th verse the word
"us" was put in by copyists who supposed that the
elders were celebrating their own blessing.* But the

* It cannot be denied that, the true readings of Bev. v. 9, 10,
are, some of them, unusually hard to be decided. Out of four
there are but three uncial MSS. available, one of the oldest being
deficient from Bev. iii. 19, to v. 16. The versions too are con
flicting, and so are the editors. There is no doubt, however, thjat
we are obliged to read airois, them (and not ¦lip.&.s, us) inverse
10, on the authority of the three uncials, forty other MSS.
and many ancient versions. But evidently that substitution,
true and certain as it is, of them , for, ';'us" in verse 10,
obscures or destroys the connexion with the preceding verse
if "us" is supposed to hold its ground in verse 9. And this
is the more noticeable, as both clauses form part of the same
song in the mouth of the same personages. For what more
incongruous than "redeemed us  and made them," when no
other class has been referred to between the clauses? Hence the
strangest solutions of the difficulty have been proposed. Thus
Prof. M. Stuart, who takes for granted the correctness of the text
of Griesbabh and Scholz, refers the airois of verse 10 to (j>v\t)s,
yKibo-o-ris k.t.X. i.e. "thou hast made every tribe," &c. "to be kings
and priests." Now, limit this as you may, it is a construction
awkward in the extreme, and without parallel in St. John, or
perhaps in any author. Besides,, it ignores, instead of solving, the
enigma. For ij/j.S,s '4k is left out of the result, and the question is,
if the same party is intended (as Prof. S. thinks), why should
"us" be used in yerse 9, and "them" in verse 10? The alterna
tive to which the Professor is reduced, of portioning out this short
song between the living creatures and the elders, and thus account
ing for the change in the pronouns, strikes one as an evidence of the
difficulty rather than of its removal. Singular to say, the true
key, as it seems to me, is alluded to as if it had no authority
beyond the conjecture of an eccentric German. The- truth is that
¦tyuas in verse 9 does not appear in one of the best manuscripts
(A or the Codex Alexandrinus) which contain the passage; nor
is any equivalent given in one of the oldest extant version's. — the

161
elders are so perfectly at rest about themselves, that
they are occupied about others. I beUeve, accordingly,
that the true sense is this: "Thou art worthy to take
the book, &c, for thou wast slain, and hast bought
to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation; and hast made them unto our
God kings and priests, and they shall reign over the
earth." They are speaking about the saints whose
prayers they were offering. As they were occupied
with their prayers, so here they were praising the
Lord for His goodness to the saints still on earth.

-33thiopic of the fourth century. It is also wanting in a cursive
MS. known as Codex Borgiae. I admit that in this case the
amount of testimony has the appearance of being small. Never
theless, the omission seemed probable to Griesbach ; and in fact it
it dropped in three of the latest and best editions of the Greek
Testament, which appeal to ancient authority. Tischendorf omitted
it from the first, as ne does still : Lachmann had it in his earlier
manual, but erased it in his second and more correct edition; and
the younger Buttmann has it not in his recent manual Greek
Testament (Leipsic, 1856). These critics have arrived at that con
clusion on independent principles, and on purely external grounds.
If it be sound, the constructions elliptical, but frequent, especially
in the writings of St. John (compare John xvi, 17; 2 John 4;
Rev. ii. 10; iii. 9; xi. 9). There can be no objection, therefore,
on the score of phraseology, but, on the contrary, the sentence
runs quite in his style without ¦qp.as. Some scribe, ignorant of this,
and supposing that the saints in heaven must needs sing there of
their own redemption, as they had done on earth (chap. i. 5, 6),
may have inserted the first 17/iSs. This, in turn, producing a jair
with the airois in the following verse, would naturally require the
further demand of taking its place there ; and that again, would
lead to the change in the person of the verb in the last clause.
The internal considerations I believe to be very weighty in favour
of the omission ; but these have been, perhaps, sufficiently given
above in the text. The readings ¦fyySpao-as tu> 6e& thlSv (as
in Cod. 44) I believe to be the original text. The Alex
andrian MS., which is the nearest among those that diverge,
followed pretty closely by the jEthiopic, omits imuv in verse 9
and ™ deQ ijfi&v inverse 10. But these words are unquestionably
genuine, and add much to the proof that the elders praised the
Lamb for His redemption of others, distinct from themselves.

162
They intimate that in taking up above the heavenly
saints, He had not done with His rich mercy; that,
even in the midst of His judgments, He would have a
purchased people, who were to share the glory of the
kingdom, as a royal priesthood, instead of being
swallowed up in the delusions of antichrist.
These anticipated companions are the same probably
that we see in chap. vi. as "souls under the altar, slain
for the word of God," &c; and in chap. xiv. "Blessed
are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth," &c. ;
and in chap. xv. "Them that had gotten the victory
over the beast," &c. There are other allusions also in
the body of the book to the righteous. Clearly they
were saints of God upon the earth, in conflict or tribula
tion, after the elders (who, as we saw, represented the
church or the heavenly saints) were translated to
heaven. As to the saints who won the victory over
the beast, "they sing the song of Moses, the servant
of God, and the song of the ,Lamb." Observe the
mingled character of the scene.. True, it was the song
of the Lamb;, but it was the song of Moses too : it
was partly earthly and partly heavenly. Again, in
chap. xx. 4, it is said, "And I saw thrones, and they
sat upon them." These are the elders, already risen
or changed, seated upon the thrones. "And I saw
the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness
of Jesus, and for the word of God" (i.e. the people
whose souls he had seen in chap, vi.) ; and, again, those
"which had not worshipped the beast, neither his
image, neither had received his mark upon their fore
heads " (these last being the persons that had sung the
song of victory in chap, xv.) These two classes that

163
had suffered, after the rapture of the church, are at
length united with the rest in glory, and all reign
together with Christ.
It wUl be remarked how thoroughly the whole agrees
with the song in chap. v. The elders are in heaven,
in the enjoyment of God and the Lamb; but there are
saints on earth who are praying, and the elders above
are occupied about their prayers, and celebrate the
worthiness and work of the Lamb in behalf of others,
who should reign over the earth as well as themselves.*
Instead of that taking a single fraction away from us,
it adds indirectly, ff not in itself, to the place of
glory in which the church is seen in heaven. They

* I cannot but think Mr. E.'s remarks and notes on this (Horse
Apoc. I, pp. 81-90) confused and unsatisfactory- He reasons from
vulgar readings which no competent critic, whatever may be his
bias, can entertain. It is easy to convert a preconceived opinion
into a decision that our own view is much more simple. It is also
a serious mistake to say that the sense is "substantially the
same," whether we have us or they in verse 10. Again, the Codex
Sinaiticus turns the scale in favour of the twenty-two cursives,
and the better ancient versions which support fiaoiketiGovo-iv against
AB. eighteen cursives, &c. , exhibiting the present tense. But fyxSs
and pao~i\eio~ojj.ej> are indefensible and manifestly the work of a
meddling corrector. It is strange too that the question of the ellipse
in verse 9 is passed over in silence, seeing that there "us" is, to
say the least, very doubtful ; and if spurious, removes the main
reason for viewing the ffia as redeemed. Mr. E. treats this as
"unquestionable," of which there is really no proof whatever. It
is evident, further, that there is much embarrassment as to the
condition of the elders, in one page referring their insignia to the
resurrection-state, and in the next concluding that it is the division
of the church consisting of the departed in paradise especially, that
we must suppose depicted here. Finally, it is erroneous to speak
of ' ' the general assembly of the church ;" for Travqyipu belongs
to the clause about the angels. But letting this pass, (as the
Auth. V. misleads many there, ) what is meant by the apparent
distinction, in p. 89, between the church of the first-born, and the
spirits of just men made perfect ? I quite allow this; but I do not.
see its consistency with Mr. E.'s statement about the elders and
cherubim.

164
are so fuUy blest that they can heartily rejoice in the
good of others. There are some who are apt to be
restless if they are not always listening to the gospel
for themselves — not because they value it more than
others, but because they are not thoroughly established
in grace. When our hearts are quite satisfied, we
need not be anxiously picking and choosing in the
Scriptures ; we prefer the Lord to choose for us,
and are thankful, because it may be something to His
praise that we perhaps have not known before^ or a
weapon we may need in our next conflict with the
enemy. Whatever exalts Christ and glorifies Him is
that which we should delight in. Whatever detects
the deceitfulness of our hearts is most salutary to us.
When the elders are found thanking God, they take
up His goodness to those who are suffering on the
earth, and they bless the Lamb because He had been
slain, and had bought these also to their God. It was
deUght to them to think of that work so rich in
results for God — of those from every quarter who
should share the kingdom over the eafth.
The angels take up, not the thanksgiving about
those bought, but the worthiness of the Lamb to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and
honour, and glory, and blessing. Loudly do they
proclaim His worthiness and title to dominion whom
man despised and slew. " Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain." (Yer. 11, 12.) They do not sing of
His purchase, because they were not so bought; they
have not to do with it, though they are sustained by
the power of God ; but those who have known their
need as poor sinners can well sing the new song. The

165
angels sing of His person and His power, but they do
nottake up the deep and joyous note of the blood-bought
If I look at the gift and person of Christ, I can see
how God's character comes out, and TTis love is mani
fested. If I look at the great work of Christ, and
what I have in and with Him as He is, I can see how
the love of God with us is perfected. But where
is anything in the glory of heaven that shines so
much as the cross of Christ? We may foUow Jesus
on the earth, and see the holiness of God. We may
glance above, and see how He deUghts in having us
happy around Him. We may look again at Jesus in
His path on earth, seeking out the lost, the miserable,
and laying His hands on babes, even touching the
leper. But whether we think of the holiness or the
love of God, of His righteousness or His grace, it is
in the cross where aU is found and displayed to faith,
as we can get it nowhere else.
"And every creature which is in the heaven, and on
the earth, and under the earth,* and such as are on
the sea, and aU things in them, heard I saying, Bless
ing, <fec, to him that sitteth on the throne, and to the
Lamb for ever and ever." (Ver. 13.) The chord is
* Every creature "under the earth," inroKdria ttjs yj}s, must
be carefully distinguished, notwithstanding Bengd, from the
Koracxfloylw in Phil. ii. 10. The former, I suppose, means the
things, animate or inanimate, beneath the earth's surface, which
anticipate, in the vision, their deliverance from corruption into
ifce liberty of the glory of the children of God. They cannot of
course share the liberty of grace which we enjoy; but when we
are in the glory, it will be the pledge of their glorious change
speedily to follow. The latter in PhiL means the infernal beings,
who must bow with every knee elsewhere at (or in) the name of
Jesus. I am aware that Dean Alford, with Tneodoret, &?., takes
KOTax- as the dead ; but this, though a classical usage of the word,
seems to be far from the scope of the passage.

166
touched, the keynote sounded, and heard at last in
heaven. If the Lamb takes the book, not a creature
but responds in joy to the ear of the seer (as now
the whole of the lower universe groans in sorrow
because of Adam's sin.) Why should they not rejoice
if God and the Lamb unite to deliver? Doubtless, it
is but the opening out of the Lamb's title-deed ; and
much remains to be done in destroying the works of
the devU, and those that destroy the earth. StiU this
is the sure signal, and before God every creature
anticipates in sympathy.
All bow down before the Lamb. Tbe myriads of
angels join in ackncwledgment of His death; but it is
the place of the heavenly saints to enter into the sense
of its efficacy, yea, and into the deep joy — God's joy
— in the blessing of others, and not merely their own.
The four Uving creatures set to it their seal, and say,
" Amen;" but the elders fall down and worship. They
did not merely yield their assent to all, but their hearts
went along with it. Such was their place.
Such a subject as this may well leave one in
finitely behind. We must be living very much in
its depths in order to feel it aright, or to give it an
adequate expression. But ff I have directed attention
to the blessedness of Christ as the slain Lamb, and
shown that God makes Him to be the key for under
standing His otherwise hidden purposes, I shall be
thankful. Even to understand God's purposes about
the earth, we must see the Lamb. It is only in com
munion with Him that we can enter into them. To
appreciate what follows, we must be subject to God's
thoughts of Christ — we must go back to what God

168
begins with — we must see and hear the Lamb. The
Lord grant that such maybe our better portion! We
shall be near that blessed One, in whose person and
work shines all that is gracious and blessed in God,
from whom we can learn in peace His most solemn
judgment of man's rebellion and apostasy.

CHAPTER VI.
Fbom the two preceding chapters the lessons are
apparent, and I do not doubt, should be learned : 1st,
God sits on the throne, whence proceed lightnings,
voices, and thunders ; 2nd, all things are given into
the hands of the Lamb, who unfolds all ; 3rd, the per
fect security and the blessed employment of the hea
venly saints, then removed from the scene of trial; and
this long before the day of the Lord, when their bless
ing will be manifested fully to the world. The moment
the soul and the body, or. both, (the soul now, the soul
and body united at the coming of Christ,) leave this
world, there is for the saints, I believe, immediate en
joyment of the Lord. Is that a scriptural thought in
a hymn that we sometimes sing, about "soaring to
worlds unknown ?" Does scripture intimate anything
at all like a soul journeying on a voyage of discovery?
On the contrary, is not the truth peaceful and im
mediate entrance into the presence of the Lord?
When heaven* is allowed to burst for a moment upon
men on the earth, (as, for instance, at the birth and
the transfiguration, and in the cases of Stephen, Paul,
&c.) it appears that there is no such great distance be
tween them. Of course, it is not a question of mere
physical space. But there is a divine power which at
once brings a person out of the present state of exist
ence into the enjoyed presence of the Lord. So when
He Himself was speaking to the poor dying thief, it
was " to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise," — that

169
very day. There is nothing to my mind like the
poetical sentiment of soaring to worlds unknown.
But while it is perfectly true that the soul goes at
once into the presence of the Lord, in the case of
death, and it is equally true that "in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye," the saints will be caught
up at the coming of Christ, yet we must remember
that their manifestation 'vrill be a different thing.
Now, we should not be able so' plainly to gather from
other scriptures the considerable interval between their
gathering to the Lord and their manifestation to the
world. These chapters of the Revelation make that
clear. God has a very important purpose to fulfil dur
ing this interval. He has to put the earth into a condi^
tion to receive the Lord JesuSj and is going to put Him, ,
the great Heir, into possession of the inheritance. But,
further, He purposes to bring the joint-heirs along
with Him. Accordingly the interval is filled up with
the preparations for all this. To accomplish it, there
must be judgments upon the world's wickedness; but
parallel with these judgments, we have some signal
acts of the mercy of God. When the great and terri
ble day of the Lord comes, there will be mercy no
longer ; "the door is shut." But during the intervening
time, there will be mercy, except for those who have
heard the gospel now, and have rejected it I do not
see the smallest ground to believe that there will be
any hope for such. There will be an interval of
some years, in which God will work in judgment and
in mercy — judgments increasing in severity on these
favoured lands where the gospel has been preached ;
but I doubt any such thing as the grace that now is.
M

170
The sad reverse wUl appear. God will give up to blind
hardness those who have now refused His mercy.
He will, as it were, retire from these countries to save
outside them ; and from those who have been talking
so self-complacently about the light with which they
are favoured, God wUl then, if I read prophecy aright,
turn to such as are now far away from the gospel.
But it is a solemn thought that, where the light of
Christendom is now most found, there will be the
greatest darkness of apostasy. What Scripture shows
is, that that which now is the scene of God's mercy,
where He is now at work, and His word is most cir
culated, is destined to fall back into the most frightful
and fatal idolatry— into the union of infidelity along
with it — into anti-christianism. Such a thing may be
thought to be the gloomy dream of a feverish mind.
But this is because men prefer to believe their own
thoughts and fancies, and do not take the trouble of
searching into God's word to see what is there, if they
do not even make it a butt for their ridicule. WUl
it be believed that men pride themselves on their
ignorance of a great part of scripture? Is it conceiv
able that it should be held as an axiom that prophecy
was not given to show us what is coming, but only,
when the events are past, to prove that God has fore
known them? But the Christian does not want this.
Prophecy is given that the believer should know how
God opens to us His secrets about what He is going
to do on the earth. We have the word and the Spirit
to make us understand it. But if Christians have not
faith in the prophetic word, it cannot profit them;
for, like all other scripture, that word must be mixed
with faith in them that hear it

171
One important tiring, then, we have seen to be as
sumed — the removal of the heavenly saints from the
earth. In chaps, iv. v., and throughout the body of
the book, they are no longer found there. They are
glorified in heaven, and yet it is not untU chap. xix.
that they are manifested, when they come out of hea
ven. Between these two points we have, evidently, a
long series of events. We have seven seals, seven
trumpets, seven vials, with various episodes of great
interest and importance. These three different series
of judgments are not executed by the Lord in person.
It is manifest that they must occur after the Lord has
come to receive His Church, but before He executes
His grand personal judgment in chap. xix. For it is
self-evident that, before the saints are taken to the
Lord and so can come with Him, He must have come
for them. How did the four and twenty elders get to
heaven? It may be said, they might have been taken
individually through death, i.e. their souls might be
there. But there is no such thought in scripture, as
the souls of the saints being seated on thrones, and
having crowns on their heads. Neither do the souls
of the saints form the complete headship of heavenly
priests, as taught us by the four and twenty elders, in
allusion to the twenty-four orders of the priesthood, set
up by king David. Now Christ is at that time about
to take the place of king; and, just as before the king
dom of Solomon was established, David divided the
priesthood into twenty-four courses, so we find that
bsfore the true Solomon, the Lord Jesus, comes out in
all His glory, we have the antitypical courses as a
whole again. The heavenly priesthood is seen complete.

172
It might be asked, Why is it only the heads that are
seen, and not the body of the priesthood? It-appears
probable, but I only offer it as a suggestion, that those
that are taken up when the Lord comes WUl form tJie
heads of the priesthood, and that those who suffer after
and join 'them 'may -be the subordinate body. Twenty-
four is necessarily the complete sum of the courses (i.e.
of the chiefs). Now, the souls in heaven can never be
even that completed; because till Christ comes, there
wUl always be a part of the Church remaining on
tbe earth. (1 ^T-hess. iv.) I conserve, therefore, that
by ! tbe' fullr priestly number twenty-four, surrounfing
the thraose, iGod intends to show that they are Blot that
portion ¦ whiok consists of the souls in paradise; for it
requires ' the ¦ addition of us "who are alive and remain,
in 'Order to make up the fehurch- of the firstborn, or the
then -complete sum of the risen arid changed saints.
The heavenly saiante up to that time are, necessarily,
removed. How and when did this take place ? There
is no real difficulty about it, because they never can
be removed as a complete body, and changed,' till the
Lord Jesus comes Himself; as He said, "If I go and
prepare a place for ybu, I will come again, and receive
you unto myself." And this evidently is not sending
angels for them. We find angels sent to gather in
elect Jews, or Israel, from the four quarters of heaven
(Matt xxiv.); but to gather in His Church He comes
Himself. And this falls in with what we said else
where. The saints in Thessalomica were told to wait
for God's Son from heaven (1 Thess. i.); and as to
those who were gone, they were not to sorrow as those
who had no hope. For the Lord Himself,— not merely

173
by angelic or providential intervention, but the Lord
Himself, — would descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
God. There might be angels, but there is not a word
said about them here. When the Lord is revealed,
executing vengeance, there wUl be angels; but here,
at the descent of the Lord Himseff, "the dead in Christ
rise first," forming one portion of the heavenly saints.
Then "we which are alive and remain" shall be caught,
up together with them. There and then, as it seems
to me, we have the twenty-four elders, evidently the
whole of the priestly heads. Those bodies of saints
that are in their graves are raised first, then the sur
viving saints are changed, by the presence of the Lord;
There is but the barest interval of a moment between
these two momentous effects of the voice of the Son of
God.. And so shall we, caught up together, ever be
with the Lord.
This most solemn and blessed event must ocgur
therefore between chapters Ui. and iv. of this book.
It is not described, because the object of the Revelation
is not to show the Lord's coming in the way of grace,
though there are of course allusions to it. There is
an entire passing over, of His coming to meet His
heavenly saints in the prophetic visions of the Revela
tion, but a full description of His coming with them in
chap. xix. This last is what is styled elsewhere the
appearing or day of the Lord, when He punishes with
everlasting destruction from His presence, and from
the glory of Hia power. AU this interval the. heavenly
saints are with the Lord above; all the members of
the church are there, and in their bodies of glory.

174
The first mention of them is in the fourth chapter,
where we find not augels, but redeemed men — persons
whose very vesture of white, and thrones, and crowns
of gold, are all connected with redemption — persons
who are evidently exercising their priesthood before
God in chap. v. These are the elders. How did they
get there? The Lord must have come, and have
gathered them to Himself in the air, and so have
accompUshed His promise to them. "In my Father's
house are many mansions," &c. "I wUl come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, ye may be
also." So now, in this future scene, having prepared
the place, He has come for them, and taken them to
the Father's house. But it is remarkable, as showing
the character of this book, that, although we do see
them in the presence of God, it is not called the house
of the Father. On the contrary, it is a throne that is
seen ; and so, too, when He who sits thereon is named,
it is not as the Father, but as the Lord God Almighty.
When we speak of God as "the Father," it is to
express the nearest place of affection into which God
has brought us; and when we hear of God as "the
Lord God Almighty," it is connected with the putting
forth of Divine power and government "God," as
such, is the most general and abstract name, and
implies no relationship with another being. But to
be called "the Father " necessarily implies the closest
relationship of love, whether spoken, in the highest
and intrinsic and eternal sense, of Jesus as the Son pf
the Father, or subordinately of those whom He has
taken into the adoption of sons, loved with the same
Love. (John xvU. and 1 John Ui.)

175
In Gen. i. creation is the subject, and God is spoken
of as the One who originates. In the next chapter of
Genesis He is called the "Lord (or Jehovah) God,"
because He is there entering into relation with His
creatures, and Adam is put in the place of responsi-
bUity to God as the Lord God, i.e., the God of creation
in moral relationship. How perfect is every word of
God! Infidels, instead of seeing the perfectness of
God's word, have only reasoned from their own
ignorance and impotence, and have endeavoured to
prove that these chapters must have been written by
two different persons, because of the different titles
given to God. But, instead of being the mistakes of
men, it is the wisdom of God that we discover in these
distinctions. When the relationship of authority
occurs, and man is put under the test of obedience,
the Lord God is used; but when in the New Testa
ment He enters into relationship with sons, it is "the
Father." He did not bring out the name of Father
fuUy untU the Son came, who opened, so to speak, the
sluice, that all God's grace might flow out. But
between these two points of the trial of the creature
in Eden, and the accomplishment of redemption, God
brought out first the name of Almighty, and next
that of Jehovah. Abraham was called to leave his
own country and kindred, called to be a pUgrim,
having none but God to look to, and so God most
suitably reveals Himseff to him as the Almighty.
(Gen. xvn. 1.) Subsequently He makes Himseff
known to Israel by His name Jehovah. Here the
Lord constantly brings out these names, but not that
of Father, or at least not of our Father. Just as the

176
scene is not the Father's house, but the throne, so the
title taken by God is not that of Father. The centre
of this heavenly scene is the throne of God; and the
saints are not aUuded to as enjoying mansions with
the Son in the Father's house, but are seen enthroned.
God is no longer gathering the church on earth; the
church is gone. When the church was the object
of God's care on the earth, they, even here below,
called Him Father; but when He is going to exe
cute judgment on the earth, they, already raptured
anjd in heaven, understand it and address Him
accordingly. The Lord's coming, then, to receive the church
must have been before the facts which answer to the
vision of the twentyrfour enthroned elders. Some
people may be slow* to believe that the prophecy
would pass over such an important event in sUence.
But it is forgotten that, whenever and wherever you
put it, there is sUence as to the act of the saints'
rapture in the book of Revelation. The only question
is, Where, according to our best light from Scripture,
is it to be understood here ? It must, in my judg
ment, be put before we find the heavenly saints as a
complete body above, which is in chap. iv. The Lord
wiU then have come and received the glorified saints,
and given them their place in the presence of God,
before any of the judgments come on the world.
Terrible things in righteousness are going to be
enacted, but the saints wUl be above them all. The
seals, and vials,. and trumpets, have no terrors , for
them. They call out not trembling, but only worship.
Nay, these risen ones wiU be occupied, too, about their

177
brethren who are stUl in the midst of trial; for we
shall have brethren after the present , work of God in
forming the church is done with, brethren, who will
suffer on the earth after we are gone. Again, there
will be godly persons when the "King comes to sit on
the throne of His glory, and all nations are gathered
before Him, whom He wUl call •" my brethren;" and
the living Gentiles, or nations, wUl be treated then ac
cording to the way in. which they have behaved to
these messengers of the King. Trie sheep wUl have
proved themselves to have faith in the King, because
they received His servants. The conduct of the goats
wUl have shown the contrary. When all the pre
liminary warnings, given to those on the earth, are
over; when the judgments that proceed from the
throne in rapid succession have been proved to be in
vain, and the rebellious hearts of men are only rising
higher against God, the Lord says, as it were, " I will
send them no more chastenings, I wUl wait no longer
for a repentance which is refused, but I will come
myself and sweep them away to destruction." Ac
cordingly, this we have in chap. xix. And the inter
val, from Chaps, iv. and v. to chap, xix., is filled by
new dealings of God in providential judgments, by
intermingled mercy to Jews and Gentries, and by
glances at the heavenly saints in the presence of God.
No doubt,, the. souls of dying saints, go to God during
the interval, but whatever may be the blessedness
reserved for such (Rev. xiv. 13), the saints, who are
ahceady changed remain there through . the whole
period. The heavenly saints, including those that are
true Christians now, those that have been such before,

178
and the Old Testament saints, may be caught up at
any time to be with the Lord. I know no scriptural
ground which entitles a believer to say, He wiU not
come to-morrow. None can say, with divine author
ity, " There must be something yet to be done before
— there must be a delay." No doubt, there may be
more or less time to intervene, but scripture never
puts the delay between us and Christ's coming, but
before His day. As a servant with his hand upon
the door, and on the stretch, as it were, for his
master's arrival, so as to be able when he comes to
opeu unto him immediately — such is the true attitude
of the chUd of God now. So says our Lord Himself.
He would have, if so we may speak, everything settled
up. He looks for practical readiness at all times.
Not as though we could do anything by way of pre
paration. Thanks be to God, He has made us meet
through the grace of Christ. But there may be things
in our ways and walk, in what we are doing, that wUl
not stand the Ught of His presence. Whatever we-
do, we should seek to enter upon nothing that renders
the 'thought of the Lord's coming unwelcome. We
must beware of speculations or plans which suppose
us to have a long time before us. The Lord desires-
us to be as travellers passing through a foreign land,
and withal going out to meet Him who is speedUy
coming for us. The Lord may be a little longer than
we think; but He is coming, and this, too, at an hour
when men think not. His coming wUl immediately
act on all the heavenly saints, raising the dead,
changing the living, and removing both to Himself
above. Then foUow the scenes of Rev. iv. and v.,

179
which let us see the interest of the glorified saints in
the righteous who suffer on the earth, after the otliei-s
are gone to heaven. They cannot apply fully, either
whUe only a part of the church is above and in the
separate state; or when the mUlennial reign is arrived.
They suppose an interval between these two things,
when the Lord wiU have come and changed them into
His risen likeness, and before they accompany Him
from heaven in order to judge and reign.*
Next, we come to the earthly course of "the firings
that must be after these." The seals are not judgments
executed by the Lord, but of a providential nature.
Some have thought that the first seal apphed to Christ,
because of the white horse. On the face of it, what
more strange than to conceive Him so represented,
seeing that He it is who, as the Lamb, opens the
seals successively, and, when clearly aUuded to under
the contents of the sixth seal, stiU preserves the name

* It will be observed that this, if well-founded, decides the
question of the true and proper application of the rest of the
book. Por what more weighty than to know whether it speaks,
throughout its central visions, of the time during wliich the
church is still on earth, or of the days which follow — the great
crisis when the Church is not here, but risen, and God is dealing
with the earth after another pattern ? To say that it is given to
us to know these visions proves nothing. All scripture is given to
us and is good for us, but it is certainly not all about us; and we
are most profited, not by the fancy that God is always thinking of
us, but by really understanding its objects, scope, and end. Had
Abraham imagined that he was to be involved in the impending
catastrophe of Sodom because the Lord graciously revealed it to
him before it came to pass, such a delusion would have done nim
harm. It was not to Lot who was there, but to Abraham who was
not, that the fullest communication was made. And so it will be,
I doubt not. A remnant is to be saved— saved as through fire.
If ay our place be above it all — above the world in spirit now, and
looking down upon its plans and progress with the abiding
consciousness of a judgment that hastens— destined to be actually
above when that judgment comes.

180
•of the Lamb! And yet stranger that He should now
enter on a course of conquest, at the very time, if you
take it historically, when all Asia has turned away
from Paul, when Timothy has the sad and sure fore
boding of evil men and seducers waxing worse and
worse, when John himself had written, or was about
to write, "Little children, it is the last time.: and. as
ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now
are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it
is the last time." Nevertheless, most of the ancients
and not a few moderns begin their comments with
this false start. Some, again, refer it to the second
advent; but this -quite upsets the order of the seals,
fixed by the Holy Ghost, and indeed the order of aU
the book.
It is true that in chap. xix. where the Lord ccmes
judicially and in person, He is represented as riding
upon a white horse. But there is aU the (UffegencjB,
possible between that vision of the white horse and the
one here. This horse does not issue-from heayen, as
that in chap. xix. does. Next, there is not a word in
chap. vi. about the rider, which necessarily means
Christ; whereas in chap. xix. He is caUed Faithful
and True, and said to judge and make war in righteous
ness. Of whom could this be said save of One? His
eyes were as a flame of fire. His written name none
knew but Himseff. The Word of God— King of
kings, Lord of lords — can be the titles of none but
Jesus. Not to speak of the, blood-dipt vesture, the
sword proceeding out of the mouth, the iron rod where
with to rule, and the treading the wine-press of divine
wrath, are descriptions in chap. xix. to which nothing

181
answers in the riders of chap. vi. No armies followed
here, clothed in fine linen, &c. And though the rider
is said to have a crown given to him, the word is quite
different from that employed in chap, xix., which
signifies kingly diadems, the crown of royalty. The
Romans were fond of a sort of chaplet, which did not
to their mind, Uke the imperial diadem, convey the
idea of absolute authority, and that is the crown men
tioned in chap. vi.
Furthermore, there are two frequent figures or
symbols used in scripture to express power ; the one
is the throne, and the other is the horse. Thus we
have already seen the supreme throne above, and now
we have the horse with the rider on earth. The same
thing is seen in chaps, xix. and xx. There you have
horses in the one chapter, and thrones in the other.
The difference between these symbols is this : — When
power is meant for putting down of rival or opposing
authority on earth, "the horse" is taken, from its
use in war, it is intended to subdue; but when the
victory is won, and it is a question not of subjugation,
but of governing and judging, "the throne" is used,
as being the fit emblem of rule over those who have
been thus subdued. When Christ is going to put down-
His enemies, He is seen in the vision of chap. xix. on
the horse, used to represent the reality of His power
to subdue; when the subsequent sway is meant, thrones
appear in chap. xx. It would be quite weak, of course,
for persons to confound this symbolic use with a
material horse, or throne. The idea of the former
is power to subdue, and of the latter is dominion
after the victory has been gained. The throne may

182
also be used, as it is afterwards, for the solemn and
eternal judgment of the dead — a throne of stainless
holiness. Of course we cannot apply the four horses and their
riders to the great empfres, three of which had long
disappeared. Equally untenable at least is the notion
that four successive religions are intended, especiaUy
when one hears it gravely laid down that. Infidelity
closes the list, which primitive Christianity opens,
followed by Mahommedanism and Popery. It is hard
to say whether such thoughts are most opposed to time
or place, to congruity or context. Again, it is agreed
that it is ha:Esh in the extreme, and in almost every
point of view, to understand the first seal of Christ or
the church in early gospel triumphs, and then the
three subsequent ones of the Roman empire or em
perors. But it is more important to notice that there
is positive ground from the Apocalypse itself to deny
the assumption that the horse means the Roman
empire. I do not refer to passages Uke chapter ix. 17,
where literal cavalry appear; but chap. xix. furnishes
an example of its symbolic use. Does the Lord on the
white horse mean His direction of the Roman empire?
Or the white horses of the linen-clad hosts, do they
imply imperial powers? Surely we must look for an
interpretation more in keeping with its usage else
where. It means, in my judgment, a mUitant
aggressive agency towards the earth, though it may be
from heaven. Hence, as in Zech. i., it may apply to
the Lord, or to the various imperial powers which
succeeded Babylon. And so the chariots, with the
horses of various colours, in Zech. vi. But as dis-

183
tinguished from the horns (ch. i. 19), the former symbol
rather refers to the providential instruments behind
the scene, and connected especially with these empires,
than to the rulers themselves or their realms. Plainly,
therefore, there is no ground, from the book itself, or
from Zechariah, to which the allusion is obvious, to
interpret the horse simply of the Roman empire. Nor
is there better ground in profane history to maintain
that the horse is the special sign of that people and
power. And no wonder. For the Roman infantry
was more characteristic of their nrilitary power than
their cavalry. No doubt the horse abounds on their
medals, but not more comparatively than among other
warlike nations, particularly in the east, who so set
forth their victories. It had formerly been one of the
Roman standards of war, but for two centuries before
Domitian all the varieties had given way to the eagle.
Abstractly, then, the horse cannot be regarded as the
necessary national badge of Rome, or emblem of the
Roman empire. Whether it be referred to here, must
depend on contextual considerations. And here it
appears to me that the fourth seal rises up conclusively
against such a view, the four seals being providential
judgments, homogeneous in character, but differing
'in form. The Roman earth may be the sphere, but
this has nothing to do with the symbolic force of the
horse in the passage.
Without further discussion let me state my own
view. We have a regular series of providential judg
ments. The first is the white horse, the symbol of
triumphant and prosperous power. " He that sat on
him had a bow." (Yer. 2.) The bow is the symbol

184
of distant warfare.* His course is evidently that of
unchecked victory. The moment he appears, he con
quers. The battle is won Without a struggle, and
apparently without the carnage of the second judg
ment, where the sword, the symbol of close hand-to-
hand fighting, is used. But this first conqueror is
some mighty one who sweeps over the earth, and gains
victory after victory by the prestige of his name and
reputation. There is no intimation of much slaughter
here, but the second judgment is of a more appalling
character. There went out a horse that was red, and
the one who sits upon him is not the proud conqueror
to whom people tamely submit, but one who, if he
wins, waves his standard over heaps of slain. Ac
cordingly, he has a blood-red horse — the symbol of
power connected with frightful carnage. The result
of the first seal (i.e. of the victorious career of the
white-horse rider) may have been peace and compara
tively bloodless changes; but all is sanguinary under
the second seal. (Yer. 4.) The fiery-red horse, the
peace taken from the earth, the mutual slaughter, the
great sword, are tokens too plain to be misunderstood.
The third horse is black, i.e., the hue of mourning.
It is a colour chosen to show that there were to be
peculiar sorrows, caused not now by bloodshed, but'
by scarcity, and perhaps, we may add, to man's feeling,

* The ingenuity of Mr. E.'s attempt to make out, in the bow,
an allusion to the Cretan origin of Nerva's ancestry is undeniable.
Yet, even if one admitted a more precise reference to past history
than I conceive to be intended, I am convinced that the meaning
of the symbols is not to be sought in recondite points of antiqua
rian research, but rather on the surface, or at least in the broad
and natural features of the portrait.

185
a most capricious famine.* Here we have the voice-
proclaiming, " A choenix of wheat for a denarius,''
&c. The penny in our country would give the idea of
* It is almost incredible the amount of discussion, if not of
careful research, which has been expended on this verse, and
especially on the import of "a measure of wheat for a penny"'
(i.e. a choenix, or about 1£ pints English, for a denarius, or about
8d. of our money). Isa time of scarcity or abundance indicated ?
Or does the verse proclaim an authoritative adjustment of a due
average price ? It appears to me that, (1) occurring as the third
seal does in a series of providential judgments, such a question
ought not to have been raised by the least enlightened reader; for,
in such a connexion, how incongruous the idea of plenty or a fair
price ! And (2) are not these thoughts particularly contradicted
by the details of the seal in question, as e.g. by the black or
mourning colour of the horse, and by the balances in the hand of
the rider ? (Compare, with the last, Lev. xxvi. 26). The facts of
the case are, on the whole, plain and decisive. Thus, from
Cicero's Orations, we learn that the Senate estimated wheat at
four serterces (= a denarius) the modius (^= 8 times the choenix),
and what is more important, that the then market price in Sicily
was two serterces, or at most three. "Hoc reprehendo, quod,
cum in Sicilia, H S II tritici modius esset  summum H S
ternis  turn iste pro tritici modiis singulis ternos ab aratori-
bus denarics exegit." (In Verr. Act. ii. lib. iii. 81.) The inference
is that the 'scale of Verres' extortion was to the Apocalyptic price
as 3 to 8. Again, it is allowed tha* the ordinary price under the
Emperor Julian and his successors, i.e. long after St. John, was
moderate. From the Misopogon it seems that the price of the
modius was then about 12d. of our money, and therefore the
choenix = l^d. or less than a fifth of the Apocalyptic rate. But
it is argued from a passage in the Natural History of the elder
Pliny (lib. xviii. 10), that, in his time, which was a little before
the Apocalypse was written, the medium price of wheat was
about the same as in the text. This would be the more extra
ordinary, not only as opposed to Koman experience both before
and after, but also because that laborious compiler does not, as far
as I know, speak of the prices then current as extravagant.
Having examined the matter a little for myself, I may say that
several elements more or less mistaken have concurred to falsify
the deductions of a recent and elaborate commentator. "The
comparison of ancient and modern prices of corn is a difficult
subject, and the results hitherto obtained are unsatisfactory."
(English Cyclopaedia, Arts and Sciences, Vol. III. col. 251. ) It is
well known that Dr. Arbuthnot's tables no longer carry their
former authority, and that modern scholars reject some of his
premises, and most of his conclusions. Now it was on his com
putations chiefly that the author of the Borse Apoc. depended.
But (1) if I understand Pliny, he speaks in the passage cited, not
of the price of bread, but of flour, which then cost forty Ases the
N

186

something insignificant in value, but in those times
and lands, a choenix of wheat for a denarius was very
costly, for not long before men could procure seven or

modius. But it would appear that the similago or flour spoken of
was by no means coarse, though there may be finer, for there was
out of .a peck of wheat but a half peck of this flour, with a large
residue of pollen, coarse meal and bran. (2) There is no evidence
that I am aware of in St. John's time to set aside the common
Attic choenix, which was the eighth (not the fourth) part of. a
modius or peck. The verses of Fannius Bhemnius are not for
gotten ; but why were they cited for another and later Roman sort,
seeing that he lived a considerable time after not St. John only,
but even the epoch to which the Protestant historical school would
refer the accomplishment of the third seal ? (3) The denarius, no
doubt, in. very early times equalled ten Ases, whence the name
was derived ; but it is notorious that about the second Punic war,
B.a 214, it was by law made equivalent to sixteen Ases, Bave in
military pay, fines, &c, which were reckoned by the old standard.
Who or what will the reader suppose is our authority for this ?
The very same work of Pliny (lib. xxxiii. 3). Nay, more, in the
same chapter we are informed that, forty years later, the Papyrian
law reduced the As one half. It is absolutely necessary to bear
in mind these extensive changes in order to avoid the astounding
results in which Dr. A. lands his# followers. The true inference,
it seems to me, is that the price in the Revelation shows decided
and painful scarcity, as it exceeds that of the Cassian law eight
times, and the actual Sicilian market price of Cicero's day no less
than sixteen times ; and I can but suspect that if Pliny's rate of
flour were accurately examined, and due allowance made for the
drawbacks he states, it would be found to strengthen this general
conclusion. It seems about as fair to cite on the one side the
starvation price related by Csesar (De Bell. Civ. i. 52), as the
poetical license of Martial on the other. There is hardly a siege
or a lengthened campaign, even now, without raising the price to
a degree that would be fabulous under other circumstances. — The
adulteration of the denarius under the second Severus to a third
of its original value is deemed by Mr. E. to set right his great
difficulty in the price of the wheat. But the question is as to its
value in exchange. Wheat must be excessively dear, if a man
could not do more than procure a quart for his day's labour. Nor
would there be any disposition to employ labourers, if the prices
of provisions were such that a man's daily wages were swallowed
up in buying five or six lbs of barley. The ratio of the barley to
the wheat is, I admit, singular, as it was and is usually one-half,
instead of a third. In Rome, however, wheat was the food of
men, barley of horses. It was a military penalty to use barley. —
I have only to add that Jerome's interpretation of Eusebius'
Chronicon distinctly puts the modius at six drachmae, or denarii,
during the famine in Greece in the ninth year of the Emperor
Claudius. Syncellus doubles this, which Scaliger prefers, and Mr.
E. gives it as if there were no question about the matter.

187
eight choenixes for the money: sometimes, it would
seem, twice as much. A denarius was given for the
daily wage, and was barely enough for a man's daily
food; for the choenix of wheat appears to have been a
minimum, being the allowance given to a slave. But
whUe there should be this scarcity of the very staff of
life, there was a command not to touch the luxuries of
Ufe, the oil and the wine. What the rich, then,
require was not to be touched, but only what people
want of the prime necessaries of life. God is laying
His hand upon the world. .
Yet such events as these might happen in ordinary
times. There might be some great conqueror, such as
Julius Caesar or Napoleon, appearing on the stage at
any time, or there might be famine, &c. And in the
fourth seal we have God's four sore plagues let lPose
together, the sword, famine, death, and pestilence, and
the wild beasts of the earth, but here limited to a fourth
part. They are but preparatory chastisements as yet.
"And behold, a pale horse, arid his name that sat on
hiitf was Death, an6f Hades followed wffch him:" (Ver.
8.) In Ezek. xiv: you' will find that these four same
' things are mentioned? together in connexion with Israel.
In thes£ first judgments God does0 ndt proceed to ^riy
very extraordinary measures. A conqueror is no rare
thing in the earth, a bloody and perhaps civil war not
uncom.rn.ori. These might be followed by a famine, and
that naturally enough might breed pestilence, &c.
Thus man would account for these things, and the wise
are caught in their own craftiness. But we know
before, through God's word, that there is a time of
conquest coming-— then of bloody warfare — next of

188
dearth — and lastly, of the outpouring of God's sore-
plagues. The heavenly saints must be set in rest and
peace in the presence of God— the church must 'be
safely sheltered before these -judgments begin.
The next scene, under the fifth seal, is a remarkable
one. The living creatures drop their cry of "Come,"*
which was connected only with external judgments in
providence. But now we have a series of events
somewhat different The fifth seal discloses that God
has a people on earth still. Who are these that are
suffering now? The prophet sees their souls under the
altar, where they were as holocausts offered up.
Though dead, they yet speak. They were slain because
of the word of God, and because of their testimony.
After that, man has no more than he can do. They
call for retribution; for after the Lord has taken home
His heavenly saints, He wUl begin to call earthly ones.
They will not of course be born again by a different
* It may be well to mention in this note my opinion that the
words "and see" (which, according to the common text and the
authorised version, follow "Come" in the call of the four living
creatures), appear to be an interpolation. In the case of the second
(verse 3) there is no difference of judgment among critical editors
of the least note; but, strange to say, Griesbach and Scholz retain
the ordinary sense in the last two, and, in the first case of all,
Knapp along with them, Buttmann, Hahn, Lachmann, Tisphen- •
dorf, and Tregelles omit the words uniformly, and, as I think,
with reason. The difference as to interpretation-would be this:
as the text. rec. stands, it, is a call from each living creature to
John; but if they merely cry, "Come," it would seem to be a
direct address to thepders on the several horses, who. accordingly
come forth at their bidding. The connection of the living
creatures with the action, of the horseman in providence is made
clearer and stronger by this little change. Besides, it entirely
precludes such remarks as those of Mr. A. Jenour in his "Ration
ale Apocalypticum," Vol. I., pp. 214-217.. That gpxov refers to
ch. xxii. 17, 22, and means the groaning of creation or a prayer
for Christ's coming, is quite wrong. Why should any of them be
"as a voice of thunder?" That the call of divine providence
should be so heard is natural.

189
Spirit, but they will be called to a different route, and
will not know God in the same full and near way
wherein He reveals Himself to us now, and as we
ought to know Him. These saints will have "the
Spirit of prophecy." Such was the mode the Holy
Ghost wrought in the Old Testament saints. The
effect of the Spirit of prophecy was that they were
waiting for Christ to come, for the accomplishment of
promise and prophecy; and so these saints will wait for
Christ to como in glory. All their hopes hang on
Him, who is to be their Deliverer from circumstances
of such excessive sorrow.
We should not be expecting Christ thus. We have
rest in Him now. Though we are looking for Christ to
come, we have present communion with Him in peace,
and the title, whether slain or not, always to rejoice
in Him. It is not the thing for Christians now to say
in a trying time, "How long, O Lord, holy and true,
dost thou ' not judge, and avenge our blood?" &c.
Stephen "cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge." Such also is the only right
and suitable prayer for the saints of the heavenly
calling. But hore they are on different ground. They
take up the position, and express the sentiments
described in the Psalms. When people think that
the Psalms are intended to convey our place and
proper feelings as Christians, they find a great difficulty
in understanding the language of vengeance and im
precation that is used in them. But when, the Church
is removed, God, from His place on the throne, will be
pouring out these Apocalyptic judgments; and then it
is that these Psalms fully apply. God is showing

190
mercy now; then it wiU be earthly judgment. ¦ Whei*
these visions are really accomplishing, God will show
not, as now, the exceeding riches of His grace, but the
exceeding terrors of His righteous wrath: and so,
when that day comes, and .men are yet heedless, the
saints living or dying say, "How- long, O Lord," &c.
"And a white robe was given unto every one of
them." (Ver. 11.) That is, vindication has been ac
corded them, though they do not take their place on
thrones tUl chap. xx. Disembodied spirits are never
said to sit there. We do not read of spirits being
glorified, but of bodies, and then they enter upon their
destined glory. They wUl reign with Christ. Thus,
after the Church is gone, there -will -be persons who
witness for God here below, but taking up totally
different language — the claim of retribution, and not
long-suffering grace. It was a holy thing once to
exterminate the Canaanites. It would not be a Chris
tian thing now. How unbecoming for us, if God is show
ing mercy 1 But when He is judging, that conduct will
be right and suitable which would not now be in season.
, If God sees that the earth is in such a state that it
requires to be chastised and judged, it wUl -be a holy
thing to take part in ib. But if I were to be judging-
bad people on the earth now, I should be doing what
the Lord is not doing — nay, the very reverse of what
engages Him. The Lord is now at work in marvels
of grace, and thus all who understand Him will be
acting in the same spirit The tremendous convulsion
(ver. 1 2) of the sixth seal comes, apparently, in answer
to the prayer of the saints who are concerned, and
shows, that the powers of the persecuting world re-

191
ceived an earnest of their doom, as truly as the slain
ones, in the seal before, have their recognition in part
before they inherit the kingdom. Their blood, we
may say, cried to the Lord of Sabaoth. They lived
unto God, and shaU surely rise again ; but they must
wait. Another class of martyrs must yet be made up.
" It was said to them that they should rest yet a Uttle
space, until their feUow-servants also and their brethren,
that should be kiUed even as they, should be completed."
No account of the killing of these saints appears here :
we must seek for this in other and subsequent parts of
the book. The eariier sufferers meanwhUe enjoy the
result of righteousness, and are owned of God; but they
are to a-wait the filling up of a new and distinct band
of martyred brethren, who are to suffer up to the close.
Then retribution wiU come. Iniquity must reach its
height and do its worst ere the hour of fuU divine
judgment Another and final outburst of peraecution
must precede. But mark here also — no such hope is
held out to a single individual, as the Lord's translating
them without passing through death.
We have stated that the heavenly saints (i.e. the
dead in Christ, and we who remain to the coming of
the Lord) have already been taken from the earth, as
chapter iv. had shown, the fifth chapter adding another
thing, that whUe they are above, there are righteous
persons on earth in whose prayers the risen saints are
interested. That is to say, those above are found in
the place of intercession ; and there is nothing'sweeter
than that place — nothing in which we are practicaUy
brought nearer to Christ, save in our immediate rela
tionship to Himself. The Church is destined to have

. 192
that privilege in glory, as we have it now in grace for
all men (1 Tim. n.) — the privilege of intercession for
others still in trial on the earth. The Church will
take the deepest concern in their sorrows, blessings,
and hopes.
But who are these sufferers on earth? In chap. vi.
9, as we have seen, there was a dreadful 'slaughter of
the saints. They cried with a loud voice, and we are
permitted, with and through St. John, to hear their
cry. They were appealing to God as the Sovereign of
everything. "How long, O Lord, the holy and true,
dost thou not judge, and avenge our blood on them
that dwell on the earth?" Evidently this is not a
Christian cry : I do not say it wiU not be a believing
one, but suited to their circumstances and to the then
dealings of God. People are so narrow that they think
a person can never be a believer without being a
Christian. It is quite true that now a believer is, of
course, a Christian. Even the babes know the Father-
"Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not .the
Father; he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father
also." But we ought- always to gather our thoughts
and our language from Scripture and not from our own
imagination. Now, though Abraham and all the Old
Testament saints were born of the Spirit, yet they were
not Christians in a proper New Testament sense. For
a Christian is not only one who has faith in Christ,
but' one to whose faith Christ dead and risen has been
presente'd by God, and who has, consequently, the
Holy Ghost uniting him to Christ in heaven. But
this was not and could not be tUl Christ had come and
finished the work of redemption. They had the new

193
birth no doubt, for to be born again does not necessarUy
imply that the work of atonement has been previously
accomplished; but still there is a difference of position
into which the accomplished work, and the consequent
presence of the Spirit during Christ's absence in heaven,
has brought us. ,
From those under the altar, then, we do not hear
Christian accents, but that which reminds us of the
state and feeUngs revealed of old. From the time that
the Lord Jesus. Christ came into the world, and went
up on high, as the rejected One, now glorified, — from
that time the sufferings of Christ, as the righteous wit
ness for God, and in perfect grace to man, become, so
to speak, reproduced in His people. The Holy Ghost
puts them in sympathy with Christ. What was in a
measure true before was now the appointed portion for
the saints. None but Christ could possibly know suffer
ing from God for bearing sin. But part of the suffering
even of the cross was, because Christ was put there
through the wickedness of men: another and a far
•deeper part was, that He was put there by the grace
of God for the vindication of His holiness, and the de
liverance of the sinner. In the last He suffered for
us ; in the first we may and should suffer with Him.
Hence, the apostle Paul did not hesitate to say, "That
I may know him .... and the feUowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."
A Christian might share the sufferings of Christ in the
sense of being cast out, even unto death. The apostle
himself had it often Uterally before him in this way.
(See 2 Cor. i. iv.) He knew the fellowship of Christ's
sufferings; Stephen knew the same.

194
Such is not this cry. Here the sufferers were un
der the deep feeling of the 'wrong that was done to-
them, and they called only for the judgment of God.
How differentthe state of things when persons, instead
of shrinking from prison and from judgment, thanked
God, and went away full of joy, because they were
counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus !
Is this what we get here 1 No doubt, there is the
world as unrighteous as ever ; but there is something
more blessed now, than appeals to God to deal with
the world as the world has dealt with us. This was
the state of things when men had to do with the law;
as the principle of righteous retribution wUl appear
again in the millennial day, when they will have the
law written on their hearts. As far as. the moral
blessedness (ducata/ia) of the law is concerned, God
makes that good in His people now. But there is
another principle which is being displayed now in every
form; for God's grace is going out to the lost. Christ's-
death is the greatest manifestation of that grace, and
the Holy Ghost works the spirit of grace into the heart
of His people. But the cry under the fifth seal is that
sin may be laid to the charge of their oppressors, and
vengeance taken accordingly. This is righteousness,
but not grace. Let us bear in mind, however, that
God does not allow us to take up a righteous or a
gracious cry just when we like. We are always
wrong when, under suffering from the world, a gracious-
cry is not brought out by the blow. When we have
to do with one another, as Christians, we are entitled,
of course, to look for godly and righteous ways:
indeed, it is part of the character of a Christian to feel

195
what is wrong, as well as to value what is right.
(Rom. xn.) But there should always be power to rise
above the evil, and to bring out Christ to meet it,
whether it be in the way of discipline for those within,
or of intercession for those that are without. God is deal
ing in perfect grace, and so should we, with the world.
Here, in the seals and seouel of the Revelation, it
is another thing: God is judging in a preparatory way;
and so, for His people, it is another kind of relation
ship, not that in which He has set us till the Lord
receives us to Himself. Accordingly, it is the Jewish
expectation of deliverance through God's destruction
of the adversaries, not the Christian's hope of removal
out of the scene to heaven. Righteous vengeance is-
invoked on those that dwell on the earth. Not that
vindictiveness is impUed, but assuredly it is not prac
tical grace. They look therefore for God to judge,
instead of longing, as we should do, for Christ to come
and take us to Himself. "The Spirit and the bride
say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come."
Remark, that the word used here for " Lord " is
not the one that is generally employed; but the same
term occurs in Luke ii. 29, Acts iv. 24, Jude 4. It
means the Lord, as "sovereign master." It is also used
in 2 Peter U. 1, " Even denying the Lord that bought
them." We have not here the nearness in which we
know Him as " our Lord," but the general authorita
tive relation in which the Lord is the Master of the
whole world — of all men, whether bad or good. It is
never said that those who know Christ by the Holy
Ghost can deny the Lord who bought them.
However that may be, the appeal is answered by the-

196
throes of nature universally, presenting, in symbols, to
the prophet's eye, what was coming. "And I beheld
when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great
earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth
of hair, and the whole moon became as blood ; and the
stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as. a fig-tree
casteth its untimely figs, when it is shaken by a
mighty wind. Arid the heaven departed as a scroll
when ,it is rolled together; and every mountain arid
island were moved out of their places." (Ver. 12-14.)
The heavens are convulsed from one end to the other;
the stars fall, <fec, evidently, as it seems to me, in the
vision only. "And the kings of the earth, and the
great men, and the chieftains, and the rich, and the
mighty, and every bondman and free man, hid them
selves in the dens and in the rocks, of the mountains;
and 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 is able to stand ?"

* The Vulgate, with good authority of MSS. (C.,,&c.,_) has
"their" wrath (ipsorum, not ipsius). I take this opportunity of
¦saying, that, invaluable as the best Latin copies are as a support
• of ancient and excellent readings, it seems a perilous thing to throw
aside all the MSS. and every other version, and all the early
writers save those who merely echo the Vulgate, as Mr. E: does,
in following its "quattuor partes" (ver 8.) There is really no
ground but the exigencies of his system. To square with facts,
according to his application, it should have been, not the fourth,
but the whole, of the Roman empire. Hence Jerome's manifest
oversight is adopted, and it is argued that he must have had
.ancient witnesses how lost ! But this is most unreasonable when
we see that Jerome is often loose. To take this chapter alone, is
it pretended that "vocem," in verse 1, the omission ,of "et," in
verse 2, "singulae," in verse 9, "insulae," in verse 14, rest on
original authority? Are they not evidently due, to mere laxity of
rendering? And why impute "quattuor partes" to a higher
source? The wonder is that we have not some of the later Greek

197
(Ver. 15-17.) Every class of men is in agitation
through these impending judgments. It is not really
the great day of the Lamb's wrath, yet people think
that it is. They fear that the last day is already come.
An idea has prevaUed with many that this seal repre
sents the epiphany of the Lord in judgment at the end
of the age. This has disposed them to understand the
description as a literal account of the heavenly and
earthly changes which accompany that great event.
But there is no solid foundation for such thoughts.
In the first place, the seventh seal is not yet opened,
so that the end it cannot be, even if one adopted the
system which supposes the trumpets to be a rehearsal
from another point of view. Again, not- a word occurs
aUuding to the presence of the Lord. There is a great
earthquake; but the appearing of Jesus is incomparably
more serious than any possible commotion in the world.
The difference is manifest, if we compare these verses
with chap. xix. 11-21 of this book, and with 1 Thess. v.;
2 Thess. i. ; Luke xvii. 24-37, &c. Not to speak
of the sixth trumpet, under the seventh vial (which
manuscripts influenced by the Latin in verse 8, as perhaps 26, was
in verses 1 and ' '2. We know there are stupendous blunders
occasionally in the best copies of the Vulgate, as in 1 Cor. xv. 51;
Heb. xi. 21. Why give it a place in this verse, which is not
claimed for it in any other verse of Old or New Testament?
Besides, is it according, to the analogy of this book, or of any other
book, to speak of "four parts," if the eiitire empire were intended?
The- attempted historical answer of qiiadriparttition seems to me
extremely meagre. This, of course, is matter of opinion. But it
is serious, when the author is so enamoured of his theory as to bid
his readers "well mark that if the prophecy here differ from the
history, it differs from, and is inconsistent with, itself also : seeing
that the whole horse is depicted with the pale death-like hue, not
its fourth pari only." H. A. I. p. 186. This is bolder than man
ought to be with God's word, unless there were infinitely graver-
grounds against the text. The inference from the horse I have, I
think, shown to be unsound.

198
must surely be owned as at least not earlier than the
sixth seal) there is an earthquake, of which the Holy
Ghost speaks in stUl stronger terms. Yet we know
that this is before the day of the Lord ; for all admit
that the vials are poured out before He comes as a
thief. And a fortiori why not the sixth seal ? Had
these convulsions been given under the seventh seal,
there might have seemed more tenable ground : as it
is, there is really none.
There is also this marked difference between our
seal and the passages in Matthew xxiv., Mark xiiii,
and Luke xxi., with which some would connect it, that
in the latter the Son of man is expressly said to be
seen coming in the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory, in the former, as has been remarked, there
'is not a trace of it. It is represented, under the seal,
that all men in their terror say to the mountains and
rocks (is this literal,.after they had been moved out of then-
places ?) "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him
that sitteth on the throne and the wrath of the Lamb :
for the great day of his wrath is come; and who is able
to stand?" But it is a revelation, not of that which
God declares about the time or circumstances, but of
men's alarm and its effect in their consciences. To
take what John saw in the vision as so many physical
realities; to be then verified in the literal sun, moori,
stars, and heaven, is, I think, an opinion adopted with
out due consideration. Would there, could there, be
need for any to invoke the fall of the mountains and
rocks, if the stars really fell unto the earth ? Could
men or the globe survive such a shock ? Besides, it is
plain that the description alludes, at any rate, to

199
passages in the Old Testament, such as Isa. xiii,
xxxiv. ; Ezek. xxxn. 7, 8, and Joel ii. Now the
last distinctly states that the signs therein predicted
are before the great and terrible day of the Lord come,
and the first had its accomplishment in the past fall of
Babylon, though there be also types of a more solemn
and universal catastrophe at the close.
AU this is, to my mind, decisive that the sixth seal,
according to its natural place in the prophecy, in no
way means the great day of the Lord, but sets forth,
first in figures and then in simple language, an over
whelming revolution which overthrows existing insti
tutions and governmental order. The authorities,
supreme, dependent, and subordinate, cease their func
tions. The shock is universal. They think the last
reckoning is come. Not the Lord, but their affrighted
conscience calls it the day of His wrath. But when
that day does come (as in chap, xix.), they are bold as
lions. The very frequency of divine judgment acts
upon the hard hearts pf men; and so, though the
trumpets have yet to blow, and the judgments become
more and more intense, yet when the Lord comes in
person, instead of calling on the mountains to cover
them, they are found fighting against Himself. When
their consciences were not so hardened, they were
alarmed ; but when the great day arrives, they are in
open rebeUion against Christ What a thing is the
heart of man ! and what an infinite mercy that the
Lord has brought us, not in the thought of His wrath —
though the Lord grant that this may be used to awaken
some souls — but what a mercy to think that He has
brought us into peace, and that He wiU have us in the

200
full enjoyment of our heavenly blessings, even when
all these judgments are passing beneath us ! To be in
the heavenly presence of Him who will then execute
these judgments — this is to be our portion ! The Lord
grant that we may walk in His grace now, not dragged
down into the spirit of the world, nor standing for our
own rights ! Alas ! if sinful men begin to talk about
rights, in the sight of God the only thing they have a
right to is to be lost and judged. If He dealt with
us on that ground, when — how — could we be saved ?
But He has forgiven us all our wrongs, and has given
us the joy of standing for His rights. The Lord grant,
that we may be true to Him and -to His cross !

CHAPTER VII.
The careful reader of the Revelation wUl have
noticed that this chapter does not perform any part,
properly speaking, of the course of events. That is to
say, it is neither one of the seals, nor of the trumpets,
nor of the vials. We have not finished the seals yet.
In the sixth chapter we have had six seals, and there
is a seventh that comes before us in chap. viU. What
then is the meaning of chap, vn? It is an interval—
a sort of parenthesis in these events — that occurs
between the sixth and seventh seals. Under the sixth
seal there is a frightful catastrophe among kings and
subjects, high and low, calling to the rocks arid moun
tains to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of
the Lamb. To their minds, His day was come.
On the other hand, when He opens the seventh seal
(chap, viri), there is sUence in heaven about the space
of rial fan-hour : so that the whole of chap. vn. is no link
in the regular chain of the history foreseen. Yet this
apparent interruption of historic sequence is just as
orderly as. the formally numbered series of the judg
ments, because all that God does is perfect; every
detail is fixed with the greatest care and nicety.
What confirms this is that, when we come to the seven
trumpets, the sixth trumpet is given in chap. ix. and
the seventh does not appear tiU chap. xi. 15; so that
the whole of ch. x. and the larger part of ch. xi. form a
great parenthetic revelation of events, simUar to what
we have in the chapter before us. Indeed, to me, it
is still more remarkable in the trumpets; for you wUl
0

202
observe in chap. ix. 12 it is said, "One woe is past,
and behold there come two woes," &c, and then we
have the sixth angel sounding and tbe description of
the Euphratean horsemen. But it is not tUl chap. xi.
14 that we have "the second woe is past," evidently
referring to the Euphratean horsemen mentioned before
in chap. ix. So that the whole scene of the mighty
angel coming down from heaven, of the little botik
that was to be taken and eaten by the seer, of the
temple and worshippers measured, of the court and
city abandoned for forty-two months, of the two
witnesses, their testimony, death, resurrection, and
ascension, &c. — all this forms part of the striking
episode. Thus, as there is a parenthesis between the
sixth and seventh seals, there is an exactly corre
sponding one between the sixth and seventh trumpets,
and not only so, but we have something analogous in
the vials. If you look at the sixth vial (chap. xvi.
1 2) you wiU find there is an interruption between it
and the seventh. First, the water of the great river
Euphrates is dried up, that the way of the kings from
the East might be prepared. And then we have a
totally different subject. "I saw three unclean
spirits," &c. — "they are the spirits of devils;'' and
then, distinct again from this, "Behold, I come as a
thief. Blessed is he that watcheth," &c. This is a
brief but singular parenthesis, containing both the
account of the evil and the Lord's coming in judgment
on it. I only refer to it now for the purpose of show
ing that there is nothing but what is laid down with
the most astonishing precision of purpose in God's
word, and in this book, it may be added, conspicuously.

203
If you take up the Revelation, it may appear, at
first sight, aU a maze; but this is not so at all, and the
impression arises from ignorant haste or from, incapa
city to discern. The fact is, that people bring certain
feeUngs or wishes with them to the book, instead of
waiting in the desire to know what God thinks and
speaks to them in it But we take the highest ground
for the word of God, and maintain that the Holy
Ghost is the only power for understanding any part of
that word. Now, whether for a man's soul, for his
salvation and hopes, for his practical guidance, either
individually or corporately, for his ways in the church
or in the world, for his instruction as to the worship
and the service of God, or even as to his relative
duties on earth, whatever it be, there is divine light
for every step of the way; and the only reason why we
do not all see it, is because we have not the single eye
which faith produces. It is faith that gets the bless
ing, , and I believe that, as it is ever true that
"according to thy faith so be it unto thee," it will
also be blindness according to the measure of unbelief.
The Lord always gives what faith -counts on from
Himself ; unbelief inevitably finds the barrenness that
it deserves. To return. It had long been a difficulty to me how
we could get the sealing of a body of elect Jews and
the vision of an innumerable company of saved
Gentiles, when their blessing only comes at a later
part of the book.* But the moment I learnt that it
* Not many of my readers will be more disposed than myself to
aecdpt Mr. E.'s -way tif accounting for the occurrence of the sealing
and palmbearing visions at this particular time : Augustine, the
celebrated Bishop of Hippo, flourished at the date to which he ap-

204
was aU a ' parenthesis, and that the actual time when
the sealed remnant of Israel and the saved Gentiles
come into pubUc action and take their place upon' the
stage is another thing altogether, that difficulty was
at an end. God for our comfort, whUe the judgments
are going on, allows the curtain to part for a little
moment, and we see that they are all safe under His
eye and ready to be manifested in due time. But
when they come pubUcly into view is another question.
In chap. xiv. there is a body spoken of, 144,000, of
-whom the Lamb is the centre, and these stand with
Him on mount Zion, having His name and His
Father's name written on then- foreheads. That body
is evidently simUar to, though not the same as, the
144,000 that we have here; and perhaps also we may
compare, but not identify, the " nations " in Rev. xxi.
24-26 with the countless host of Gentries here. Still'
more striking is the resemblance to the sheep of Matt.
xxv., because these are not merely the blessed Gen
tiles of the mUlennial day, but had stood the test dur
ing the interval of grievous trial which preceded it.
And observe that the sheep in that passage are

plies the sixth seal or rather its consequences ! Mr. E. has culled
from his copious writings whatever might be supposed to
strengthen this far-fetched idea, and certainly it would be strange
if in so large a field he did not find abundance to his hand. But
when Mr. E. begs " the reader to pause and consider with himself,
whether he can possibly imagine any two symbolic figurations that
would more exactly symbolize the doctrinal revelations made to-
Augustine than those that were exhibited at the exactly correspon
dent epoch in the Patmos visions, to the representative man St.
John," I must answer that I think if the vision of the holy city-
Jerusalem had been inserted after the sealing and instead of the
palmbearers, Mr. E. would have sung yet louder in praise of so
marvellous a foreshadowing of Augustine's great work De Civitate:
Bei. Let the candid reader judge.

205
•distinguished from the King's brethren who have a
position yet nearer to Himself — Jewish saints, who,
after the church is taken to heaven, will be entrusted
with the gospel of the kingdom, which is to be preach
ed in all the world for a witness to all nations before
the end comes. Thus in Matt xxv. 31-46, Israelitish
brethren of the King, just before the close, test the
Gentries, who, at His appearing, are summoned before
His throne and discriminated as blessed or cursed,
their faith or unbelief being proved by the way they
had carried themselves towards the^messengers of the
coming kingdom in the time of their sorrowful testi
mony. MUlions of the nations wUl be born during the
peaceful millennial reign, for whom the loosing of
Satan at its close will be fatal.
In this chapter, then, we have simply two striking
scenes, connected in sense if not as to epoch, outside
the regular march of things. The Spirit of God, who
laid down the historical order of the divine judgments,
leaves that for the moment and shows us that God
has mercy in store even in the coming day of distress.
Israel will be in frightful circumstances : "Jerusalem
shall receive of the Lord's hand double for all her
sins." As she had been strong in her hatred against
the Lord, so wUl He reckon that His vengeance has
been doubly poured forth upon the guUty city. We
have had judgments, first beginning with compara
tively ordinary events, such as a great conqueror going
forth, bloodshed, scarcity, God's sore plague (death
referring to the body and hades to the soul) ; then a
remorseless outburst of persecution on God's people;
next a universal and dreadful convulsion before the

206
eyes ©f the seer, affecting heaven," earth, and sea, "the
greatest alarm and bewilderment among men, who
think that the day of the Lamb's wrath is come. But
that day was not come then. When it does arrive,
the Lord will execute judgment in person on- the
dead and the living: But now it is a panic which
leads men to dread judgment-day. And the kings of
the earth, and the nobles, and the chieftains, and the
rich, and the mighty, and every one, bond and free,
were in the utmost consternation.
But here we find that the Lord stops and draws us.
aside for a season to show us what His mercy is going
to- do. " [And] after this I saw four angels ....
holding the four winds of the earth." They are kept
in check for the moment "And I saw another angel
ascending from the east, having the seal of the living
God : and he cried with a loud voice to the four
angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and
the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea,
nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our
God on their foreheads." (Ver. 2, 3.) Some have con
ceived that the sealing angel is Christ, partly because
it is- assumed that the work done is communicating the
Holy Spirit of promise, the seal of redemption. To
me aU this is more than doubtful. It is not tUl we
reach the trumpet series that our Lord ever assumes
the angelic form and title. Whether we look at the
seals, or at the parenthesis between the two last, He
is invariably, where the reference is certain, spoken of
as the Lamb. Again, this angel rises up from the
sun-rising. I can readUy apply such a movement to
angels- subject to the Son of man, ascending and

207
descending to do His pleasure. But when the Lord
appears in angelic garb, He either ministers as High-
priest with tbe golden censer, or He comes down with
unmistakable tokens and proclamation of His domin
ion and power. In the present scene nothing is said
which unequivocally reveals His own glory. Much
has been made of the phrase " tUl we have sealed," as
if it corresponded with the allusion to the persons in
the Godhead, as in Gen. i. 26. I am surprised that
the rest of the sentence was not observed to be incom
patible with such a meaning. Would Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost (which in that case would be the sense)
say "till we have sealed the servants of our God ?"
The idea seems to me unfounded. Nor even if our Lord
exclusively could be imagined so to speak, does it seem
to be consistent with His dignity. He teaches. His
disciples to say " our Father," but does not say it with
them. When He does associate them with Himself
risen frpm the dead, it is. even then " My Father and
your Father, My God and your God" — never "our God."
The meaning, then, is, that before the various
judgments are poured out on creation, God will have
appropriated a certain people for Himself. They are
sealed with the seal of the living God — that is, a
character is put upon them as set apart to God. Cain
had a very different mark put upon him by Jehovah ;
that was to screen him from man's judgment Here
also protection may be involved. At any rate, they
are sealed on then" foreheads, which, of course, means
no physical mark, but God's setting them apart for
Himself, and, I suppose, pubUcly. Who are the sealed
ones ? A measured remnant from His ancient people.

208
Thus, the angels are seen restraining the judgments
that are about to fall on all creation, and we have the
seal of God upon a certain chosen number out of Israel.
He wUl have an election from that people, but it will
be a personal and individual election — not a merely
national one as of old. When David attempted to
number the people, it was a presumptuous sin, but here
it is the grace of God appropriating a complement of
the tribes of Israel to Himself. The number 144,000
is a regular and complete number, though it is a mystical
one, as I suppose, with a view to God's use of the
favoured nation here below. The number twelve always
has a reference to what is perfect for God's accomplish
ment of His work, administered by man. This may be
seen in the twelve tribes of Israel, twelve patriarchs,
twelve apostles, and even the twelve gates, and twelve
foundations of the New Jerusalem. It is a perfect num
ber where human administration comes in. Hence,
when the nation of Israel are to be brought in again,
it is the multiple of twelve that we have, and this
expressed in thousands; the full result, as far as
Israel is concerned, of the administration that God
will commit to man.
An important question has been raised here, whether
the tribes of Israel are to be interpreted literally or
mystically. For the latter sense it is argued, that the
very first vision of the seven candlesticks, borrowed
from the Jewish sanctuary, and the allusions in the
seven epistles that follow, but more particularly in
chap. Ui. 12 compared with chap. xxi. 12, sustain the
Christian meaning throughout the book. But does
not such reasoning overlook the fact that the application

209
of Jewish emblems to the churches, while they are
expressly spoken of here below, and of others to the
church, either glorified above or following Christ out
of heaven in the day of the Lord, is totaUy distinct
from the question whether certain symbols, taken from
Israel, may not also apply to a different class of
witnesses on earth between those two points? The
real question is about the interval, when churches are
no longer spoken of and before the bride appears with
the Bridegroom in glory. To state the question aright
is enough to show the inconclusiveness of the argument,
as applied (not to Rev. i., ii., Ui., nor in Rev. xxi. 12,
where in the main we all agree, but) to the prophetic
visions from chap. vi. onward.
Besides, it is allowed by the more intelUgent of the
historical school that, about the close of the age, the
Jews wiU be converted and take the lead in the earthly
song of praise on the occasion. This may be put too
late in the book and founded on the feeble evidence of
the occurrence of the Hebrew word "HaUelujah" in Rev.
xix. 3. StUl the fact is admitted — an Apocalyptic
prophecy of that which is to happen before the appear
ing of the Lord. What is more, a large part of the
same school,* represented by one of their most popular

* Mr. Birks widely differs from Mr. Elliot, and this too, in
perhaps the most acrimonious attack ever made onf uturo-literalism.
Even Mr. B. confesses that "in the abstract, it can neither be
unreasonable nor improbable that they should be a direct object
of the prophecy, and, since no more appropriate symbol could be
found for them, that they should be, so to speak, their own emblem.
Those who view the book in general as symbolical, may, therefore,
without inconsistency, conceive literal Jews to be designed."
.(Elements of Prophecy, pp. 256, 257, the "masterly work" in
which, according to Mr. E., the writer has shown himself the
martel and hammer of truth against the reveries of the futurists).

210
books, (Bp. Newton's Dissertations on the Prophecies,
Works I., pp. 578, 579,) understand the tribes of Israel
to be meant in their natural historical import, and
apply the prophecy to the vast influx of converted
Jews in the reign of Constantine. In fact, the earliest
Christian writer who aUudes to the chapter, Irenaeus,
the pious Bishop of Lyons, unhesitatingly solves the
omission of Dan so as to prove that he considered the
actual tribes of Israel to be meant. So also speaks
Victorinus, in one passage at least of the eariiest extant
commentary on the book. Others soon began to veer
towards the aUegorizing method, tiU at length the
anti-Judaic theory became much the more general view.
But it may be well to notice briefly the reasons
alleged by one of the ablest advocates of the mystical
class — Vitringa. First, he argues that if the names
were to be taken in the letter, so must the number.
But does this foUow? And if it were a necessity,
what is to hinder ? He who reserved 7,000 in EUjah's
day may seal 144,000 of Israel at a future epoch. But
I see no need for this. The people might be literal,
the number symboUcal, without difficulty save to one
fascinated by the love of excessive simplification. It
is not denied that symbols exist, nor that they yield a
determinate sense; but to look for a sort of pictorial
consistency in aU the parts is contrary to the facts
everywhere. Moreover, what could be the meaning
of a mystical Reuben, Gad, Asher, &c? Nobody that
I know pretends to assign a distinctive signification,
unless persons in the last degree fanciful. Yet if they
are to be so taken, one might expect each to have a
meaning, which is looked for in vain in those who plead

211
strenuously for the general idea. Next, it is urged
that by the sealed must be understood God's elect, who
are to be preserved from an otherwise universal cala
mity; and who can assert these to be Jews only?
But who affirms that none are elect save these ? We
shall see presently that the scope of the prophecy and
the connexion of the passage intimate the contrary.
The false assumption therefore is, not that the sealed
thousands are out of the actual tribes of Israel only,
but that there will be no other saints but these.
Thirdly, the omission of Dan seems to be at least as
great a difficulty on the mystical as on the literal
hypothesis. In the blessing of Moses (Deut xxxiU.)
Simeon is left out. Is this list of the tribes, then, to
be taken allegorieally ? Fourthly, the alleged parallel
text, Rev. xiv. 1, by no means proves that the tribes
are not literally of Israel. The 144,000 in chap. xiv.
are saints on earth, not long before the final catas
trophe, and in contrast with those defiled by Babylon
and enslaved by the Beast. But that they are the
church, rather than a godly remnant of IsraeUtes
associated in the Spirit's mind with the suffering but
now exalted Christ, is what writers of this stamp have
never even fairly weighed, much less have they decid
ed on good grounds one way or the other.
On the other hand, I conceive that the specification
of the tribes is inconsistent with any sense but the
Uteral. Then, again, the contradistinction is as plain
and positive as words can make it, between the sealed
numbers out of Israel and the innumerable multitude
from aU nations, and kindreds, and people and tongues.
So that the mystical theory, when closely examined,

212
cannot escape the charge of absurdity ; for it identifies
the sealed Israelites with the palm-bearing Gentiles,
spite of the evident and express contrast on the face of
the chapter. This results from trying to make out
that the GentUe crowd consists of all the aggregated
generations of the elect from the tribes. As to the
sealed ones, not a hint appears of a succession : indeed,
the command to suspend the action of the four winds,
tUl after the sealing, impUes the contrary. It was a
precise limited hour, as it was a special class. But
what clenches the matter is that the palm-bearing
Gentries (i.e. according to some, the Christian church
in its heavenly completeness) are all described as coming
out of the great tribulation — a tribulation which even
they view as following the days of Constantine. Thus,
to my mind, all is strong and conclusive that the sealed
here are literal IsraeUtes — not only of Israel, but
Israel, the Israel of God; as the mystical reading of the
first part of the chapter, with the literal understanding
of the rest, involves its advocates in consequences the
more gross where it is most systematically pursued.
With regard to the tribes mentioned, there is a cer
tain peculiarity, on which I can say little. There are
the sons of the various wives of Jacob : first, the two
sons of Leah, Judah, and Reuben; then of ZUpah,
Leah's maid, Gad and Asher ; then Napthali, the son
of the maid Bilhah, and instead of Dan, her other son,
Manasseh, Joseph's firstborn, is substituted. Then
there are the four sons of Leah, Simeon, Levi, Issachar,
and Zebulun ; and finally, the sons of Rachel, Joseph,
and Benjamin. Clearly we have the sons arranged
.according to the different mothers, the offspring of the

213
bond-women being intermingled with that of the free:
Dan, who had been the most conspicuous for idolatry,
is left out, and instead of Ephraim, the younger son of
Joseph, Joseph himself appears. We find here the
called of Israel, but the tribes numbered and arranged
in a singular manner. They are no longer merely
taken up in a natural way, according to the order of
birth, but God seems to intimate that He would make
them a spiritual people also, stamped with His seal.
They wUl then be IsraeUtes indeed, in whom is no
guile. Nor is Dan, at last, disinherited. (Ezek. xlviri.
1, 32.)
Nor this only; God is also going to save a multitude
of Gentiles, and here there is no numbering. This is
a most refreshing thought from its largeness. For
though from them God is now gathering a people to
His name, yet when we think of the multitudes that
are immersed in darkness, the myriads on myriads of
men in heathen countries, a handful — yea, perhaps but
one — among them, here and there, having the know
ledge of God, it is an afflicting and humbling reflection.
But is it not remarkable that when God is to show us
the increasing wickedness of both Jew and GentUe, and
when His judgments are about to fall, we find there is
this multitude of Israel numbered with the greatest
care, and God not forgetful of the poor Gentiles?
They may not be put in the same high place as the
Jews, but God will bless them woriderfully notwith
standing. But the prophet, who had just known the
election of Israel sealed and had heard the number of
them, has to turn to one of the elders in order to learn
who the countless company are. They were to John

214
a new unknown crowd among the blessed. If they
were sealed on their foreheads, is it reasonable that
they should just after seem so strange ?
The multitude spoken of here is distinct from, if not
in contrast with, the church; and it is thus that we
know this clearly. The elders represent the heavenly
saints as the heads -of priesthood. Now, God might
use two different symbols to mean the same body; as,
for instance, the wise virgins and the gnod and faithful
servants in Matt. xxv. are successive representatives of
the heavenly saints. But here we have the Gentile
multitude and the elders given as distinct parties in the
same scene. Again you have the elders doing one
thing and the multitude doing another. Above all,
note that the way in which God speaks of this multitude
totally separates them both from the church of God
and from the Old Testament saints. This cannot be
so clearly seen in our authorized translation, but the
right version in verse 14 is this: "These are they
which come out of the great tribulation." I could
understand, of course, that as a figure the whole of this
dispensation might be caUed a time cf tribulationj or
even of great tribulation. But here it is not merely
said, "These are they which came out of great
tribulation," but "out of the great tribulation." It is
not possible to make "the great tribulation" extend
over all the time between the first and second comings
of Christ. Even the vague Protestant interpreters
make it specific, but apply it, as is natural in them, to
the fierce persecutions of the Papacy — "the .great
predicted tribulation of the coming apostasy and
Antichrist." The phrase means a special time of

215
trouble, and we gather from elsewhere that it is yet to
come; and it is exactly this time that the central part
of the Revelation includes, and chiefly covers. In the
epistle to Thyatira it was said, "Behold I will cast her
into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her
into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds."
I have a strong suspicion that this great tribulation is
to be fulfilled now. The scene of the church is closed,
the great tribulation comes on apace, and those who
had professed Christianity, but who had gone back into
idolatry, would be cast into it with others. Thus,
what God shows us here is a multitude of saved Gentiles :
not the Jews, for we have had them just before; and
not Christians, for these will then be in heaven. Those
are a Gentile body, caUed after the church is taken
up; they are to be in the great tribulation, but shaU
be preserved through it
We shall find the great tribulation spoken of in
several parts of the word of God. In Jeremiah it is
named in connexion with the Jews. (Jer. xxx. 6).
"Alas! for that day is great, so that none is Uke
it; it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shaU
be saved out of it." There is to be a time of excessive
anguish, which closes with the day of the Lord, and
Jacob is to be saved out of it; so that there you have
the Jew in trouble, and the Jew deUvered outof it. But
in Daniel it is stiU more expUcit (Dan. xU). The
angel speaks of Daniel's own people, the Jews. " At
that time .... there shall be a time of trouble, such
as never was since there was a nation, even to that
same time: and at that time thy people shall be
deUvered, every one that shall be found written in the

216
book." ; This, is '¦! the time of Jacob's trouble, but he
shall be saved out of it." It is, evidently, the plain
counterpart of the words of Jeremiah. I draw from
this; that there is to be a future time of "trouble"
'/such' as was never was" — the immediate precursor
of deliverance for Jacob's people as spoken of in these
prophecies. .In Matthew xxiv. the Lord Himself refers to it:
"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not
since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor
ever shall be." Evidently there we have the same
time, the Lord quoting i the very passage in Daniel.
It is quite plain that He is speaking only of Jews,
because they are supposed to be connected with the
temple, and they are told to pray that their flight be
not on the sabbath day, in which case they could not go
beyond a sabbath day's journey, nor in winter. . Li
either case, there would be a hindrance to their flight,
whether on God's part, or in the circumstances of the
season. We have the same thing referred to in Mark,
but Luke seems to speak, in a more general way.
What parties, then, are to be in the scene of the
tribulation?. First a Jewish one, spoken of in the
prophets and the gospels, the object of , God's care, who
wUl deal tenderly with a remnant of Israel, and deliver,
them out of their distresses. Then in Rev. vn. 9, we
hear of a GentUe multitude. But neither party is the
church. Never have we God dealing thus with the Jew and
with the Gentile as such, and forming the church at
the same time; for then God would have at least two,
if not three, objects, — not various only, but opposite

217
objects, — of special affection on the earth, at the same-
time, wi,th quite different modes and aims of action.
Suppose there were two persons, whom the Lord was.
bringing near to Himself. If He were dealing wjth
the Jew, He would acknowledge an earthly temple,
priesthood, and worship. The Lord acknowledged the
Jews, as such, when He was op earth, and He wUl
dp so, in a stiU more blessed way, in the day that is
coming. But as long as the Lord is occupied with
forming the church, Jewish prder ceases to have any
claim. Thus, then, suppose that God were blessing
the Jews as Jews, and, at the . same time, forming the
church on earth, if two persons were converted, the
.one might say,. I must still have my priest and go to
the temple; whUe another would -exclaim, There ifs.n°
priest but Christ, and the temple is in heaven. See
the confusion that would spring from God's owning an
earthly and a heavenly people at the same time here
below. In this time of tribulation, when the Lord
wUl recognize the Jew (Le. the godly remnant) in a.
certain sense, the church will not be in the scene.
The objects of deUverance wUl be elect Jews and elect
Gentiles, each distinct frpm the other, and not the
church of God, where both are united and all distinc
tions disappear. We have seen direct proof of the
removal of the church in chaps, iv. v. Here there is
indirect evidence, because we have Jews sealed and
Gentries saved, and the latter expressly distinguished
from the elders or heavenly saints. The sealing of
the Jews included the election frpm the whole twelve
tribes of Israel, except where there was a special
brand of evil, as in the case of Dan. But the moment

218
we find the Jew, we have God looking also, though sepa
rately, at the nations; because, having once visited the
GentUe with His mercy, He will never take it back.
Thus, when here He speaks of mercy to a complement
of Israel, there is also salvation to a multitude out of
every nation and kindred and people and tongue.
We saw that ff the guilty Christian professors
went on in their sin with Jezebel, they would be given
up, and would be left to go through great tribulation.
Here we find the great tribulation come, and not only
are Israelites sealed but a multitude of GentUes are
deUvered out of it. The Old Testament does not
speak of GentUes being delivered thence, but Jews.
Meantime, God has been sending salvation to the
Gentiles. Hence, in the New Testament prophecy
GentUe deliverance is as prominent as Jewish deliver- •
ance is in the Old Testament. God shows that, in
the last days, He is going to save a vast throng of
GentUes. But wUl it be so in these countries where
the light of the gospel has shone and has been de
spised? "They received not the love of the truth,
that they might be saved. And for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion, that they should
believe a lie: that they all might be damned who
beUeved not the truth, but had pleasure in unrigh
teousness." (2 Thess. U. 10-12.) God will visit
those who have not enjoyed this testimony, the external
peoples who have not had Christ rightly' presented to
them. The church has completely failed in what
God looks for from us. He. called on the church
to take up the cross and to follow Christ; but the
church has, in practice, given up the cross 'and fol-

219
lowed the world. AU this has hardened the heathen,
who find that the church does not bring forth the
fruits that are suitable to the grace and truth which
we profess to have found in Christ. But God, in His
fulness of mercy, wiU go to those outside. Thus, I
beUeve that these very countries which have set them
selves up as the centre from whence the light ema
nates wUl then be in antichristian idolatry, whUe
those which have been in darkness wUl come out into
light It will only be the tale of GalUee of the
nations again, when Jerusalem despised and lost the
Son of God — alas ! how long.
Here we see the blessed result. There wiU be this
innumerable multitude of all nations, and kindreds,
and peoples, and tongues, who stand before the
throne* and before the Lamb. Theirs are the robes
of righteousness, ¦]¦ and their palms are the palms of
* John's vision of them there does not imply that they are to
he in heaven, rather than on the earth, when the kingdom comes.
"Before the throne and before the Lamb" is moral rather than
local. (Compare Bev. xii. 1; xiv. 3. ) It merely expresses where
the prophet beholds them in the mind of God. The description
with which the chapter closes conveys the idea of people delivered
from bitter sorrow, and sheltered for ever. No doubt, this will
be inexpressible comfort to them: but nothing they say rises to
the height of the joy and intelligence which are seen in the elders,
nor is anything said of them which at all sets them on equal
ground with these. They are never presented with crowns nor
seated on thrones like the twenty-four. They are in relationship
with God when He is no longer viewed as seated on a throne of
grace, such as we know now, but as on a throne whence judgments
¦proceed. All harmonizes with the interval of introductory
government which precedes the millennium.
*f It has been sought to draw out the contrast between these
Gentiles in Bev. vii. and our own position in Bev. i 5, 6, by
dwelling on the different statements, that they washed their robes
and that Ee washed us. But such, comparisons often lead to
grave misconception; as indeed this has done. I wish, therefore,
-explicitly to state my own conviction (in which, doubtless, the
writer referred to would cordially join), that the salvation of all
the saved at all times depends on the work of Christ, and that the

220
victory; but they do not sing the new song. There is
nothing Uke the high and exulting tone of chap, v.,
no intercession for others, nay, not a word of being
made kings and priests to God. They cry with a loud
voice, " Salvation unto our God who sitteth upon the
throne and unto the Lamb." They are saved persons,
but the ascription is limited to the title that He takes
upon the throne and to the Lamb. God is not now
sitting upon the throne that is described here : at least
it is not thus He reveals Himself whUe the Church is
on earth. He wUl by and by take His place there as
One issuing judgments; and the great point seems to
be, that, although it is a time of preparatory wrath
and judicial action, yet God is showing signal mercy,
even to Gentiles. In verse 13, we have the elders
looking upon the scene. How could they be looking
upon themselves ? Yet this must be the case, if the
elders and the innumerable multitude are both sup
posed to set forth the Church. We have two distinct
parties. If the elders are the Church, the multitude
is not; and ff the multitude is, then the elders canno*
be. I well understand a man having a picture taken
of himself in one suit of clothing at one time and in
a different suit at another. But we could not possibly
have a portrait of a man taken at the same moment
with two different sets of robes upon him, so as to '
display distinct characters, and fulfil opposite functions
together.

Spirit is the only efficacious applier of it to any soul. The real
question is as to the various dealings of G»d and His sovereign-
arrangements among the saved. Scripture, in my opinion, is
quite clear as to all this, if men would but give up preconceived
notions and wait 'on God for the answer.

221
In the Church of God which is being called now,
there is neither Jew nor GentUe. The moment you
find the distinction kept up between them, there can
not be the Church. Whenever you separate the Jew
from the Gentile, you are off Church ground. Before
the death and resurrection of Christ, God was not
forming Jew and GentUe into one body. Thus, even
when the Lord Jesus was upon earth, He forbade His
disciples to go to the GentUes, or so much as to enter
the Samaritan cities. But when He, the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, Was about to form the
Church, He charged them to go everywhere and
preach the gospel to every creature, instead of merely
seeking out him that was worthy in Israel. Thus, a
complete change was evinced in the ways of God, not
as if He knew not the end from the beginning, but
with a view to fresh displays of His glory in His Son.
So, too, when the present calUng closes, His mercy
will flow out in fresh channels, as we have seen.
I trust, then, it has been shown plainly that the
subject of this chapter is not the Church, but Israel
and the GentUes blessed as such. Indeed, I do not
hesitate to Say, that, if any person supposed Rev. vU,
treated of the Church, it would argue that he had no
true idea of its nature and caUing — that he had no
conception of what the Holy Ghost connects with the
body of Christ here below.* The Church of God is
* The following extract from Dr. John Owen's Prelim. Dissert.
to his Comment, on the Hebrews (Exer. vi.) is endorsed with
strong commendation by a living Professor of Theology, and may
serve as evidence of the darkness that reigns on the subject. "At
the coming of tne Messiah, there was not one church taken away,
and another set up in its room; but the church continued the
same, in those that were the children of Abraham according to

222
essentially a heavenly body that entirely sets aside all
distinction of Jew and Gentile. The scope, ff not
object, of this chapter shows that these distinctions
reappear at the time that is referred to. We have
first a company of Israel, then an innumerable crowd
out of the GentUes. Besides these, that class of the
redeemed formed out of Jews and GentUes, and long
f&mUiar to us in this book (namely, the crowned
elders), are seen as a distinct body altogether.
Thus we have, in this chapter, "the Jew, the
GentUe, arid the church of God" — sealed Jews and

the faith. The Christian church is not another church, but the
very same that was before the coming of Christ, having the same
faith with it, and interested in the same covenant. The olive tree
was the same; only some branches were broken and others grafted
into it: the Jews fell, and the Gentiles came in their room. And
this doth and must determine the difference between the Jews
and Christians about the promises of the Old Testament. They
are all made unto the church. No individual hath any interest
in them, but by virtue of his membership with the church. This.
church is, and always was, one and the same. With whomsoever
it remains, the promises are theirs; and that, not by application
or analogy, but directly and properly. They belong as immediately
at this day, either to Jews (?) or Christians, as they did of old to
any. The question is with whom is this church, which is founded
on the promised seed in the covenant; for where it is, there is
Zion, Jerusalem, Israel, Jacob, the temple of God." There is not
a clause that is not an error; for even where there is a certain
substratum of truth, the use is fallacious. The Judaising of the
church on this scheme is complete. The truth is that Dr. O.
confounds the calling of the church, according to the mystery
hid from ages and generations, with the earthly order in whiclr
the promises are administered. Thus, the doctrine of Ephesians
Colossians, and other such scriptures, is left out and unknown—
that is, the doctrine of a body united to Christ its glorified head,
and manifested on earth by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven!
Such a state of things did not exist before Christ's first advent, nor
can it be after His second. As to the inheritance of the promises,
we share this with the saints of old ; but it is not our peculiar place-
of blessing. The church, as such, is quite a distinct thing, though
the members of it are, with others, heirs through Christ. So with
the olive tree ; doubtless the Gentiles are now grafted in: but is it pos
sible a spiritual man could confound this with the body of Christ?
The Jews were natural branches, the olive was their own olive tree :

223
saved Gentiles, for the earth, as I suppose, and. the
church with the Old Testament saints preserved for
heavenly glory. WhUe the elect of the twelve tribes
are said to have great mercy shown them, and the
GentUes too, who might have been thought to be for
gotten then (ver. 14-17), yet it is not the same exalted
privilege that we shall enjoy. "They" (i.e», these
3pared Gentiles) "serve day and fright in his temple."
But when the Holy Ghost is showing us our special
place of blessing, the prophet says "I saw no temple

even .the unbelieving branches formed part of it, though at length
broken off to let Gentiles in. Does one word of this bring out the
church as shown in Ephes. i. ii. ? Is not all above nature here ? In
that one body, it is not Jews making way for Gentiles, but the
believers, whether Jew or Gentile, brought' out of their old
previous condition, reconciled in one by the cross, and builded
together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. AU this
is neutralised by Dr. Owen's theory. — At least, as regards the
future, Mr. Elliott renounces it. " The church of the firstborn,
the bride, may be complete; but it does not follow that none
afterwards can be saved. What is said of the kings of the earth
walking in the light of the heavenly Jerusalem, seems to me to
imply an enjoyment of the blessing by other parties, besides those
that constitute Christ's bride, the ¦ New Jerusalem. The very
statement of Christ's being a priest upon his throne (if applicable,
as I think it is, to the millennial era) implies Christ's still
exercising his intercessory, and other priestly functions. And if
I am correct in my view of John xvii. 21, 23, it was a marked
point in his earliest intercessory prayer that the world's believing
on him, generally, might be the result of the distinctive manifes
tation in glory of the church of his disciples of the present
dispensation; — that manifestation which, as all, agree, will be only
at his second coming." (H. A. IV., p. 187.) Every one must
all6w that in the millennium the olive-tree will flourish more than
ever, and the Abrahamic promises be fulfilled to the letter. If,
then, the church, Christ's bride,' is distinct from the millennial
saints, albeit these last inherit the promises and are branches in
the olive-tree, the principle is evidently given up. The same
thing, then, may be true of the Old Testament saints. It becomes
a question of the testimony of scripture. Now this, we have seen,
pronounces clearly that the church of God, Christ's body, depends
on the gift and presence of the Holy Ghost, consequent on the
death, resurrection, and glorification of the Saviour. (Matt. xvi.
18 ; John vii. 39 ; xiv-xvi ; Acts i. iii j 1 Coir, xii; , &c. )

224
therein." In chap, xxi., where he describes the bride
or the heavenly Jerusalem, it is a state of things
tdtaUy different frorri what we have. here'. Though it
be the city, where you might above all expect td'
find a sanctuary, he says "I saw no temple therein.
Why is this? Because that city is the symbol of the
bride, and when God brings out the blessedness and
glory of the Church, He speaks of it as drawing near
to Himself/ so that there shall be norie but Christ
between Him and them, ff we can call that between,
where Christ Himself is the image of the invisible
God, the One who reveals God to us and who is God.
It excludes the idea of the temple. Here, on the
contrary, we have the temple. One of their greatest
privUeges spoken of is that they serve Him day and
night in His temple, arid "He that sitteth on the
throne shall dwell ariiong them." There might seem
to Jbe a. difficulty in this, but thefe really is a careful
guard against the thought that might be drawn from
the words, "dwell among them." The true meaning.
is,- God having. His tabernacle over them, not among
them. In chap. xxi. we find God dwelling among
men. It is not the sarne phrase at all. Similar in
English, it is totally different in the Greek. In chap.
vU. the idea is that the presence of God overshadows
the GentUes, but there is no such thing intended as
Gbd's taking His place wmdrtg them. They are blessed
of God, overshadowed and protected as Israel of old
under the cloud' of His presence. Like them, too, in
the" future (Isa. xlix.), they shall not hunger nOr thirst,
neither shall the heat n6r sun smite them; blessed
ex|ri-esM6'ris, but father conveying an, earthly position'

225
than a heavenly one. We have the Lamb Himself to
feed us now. Even Jtere He gives us to have in us
weUs of water springing up into everlasting Ufe, and
out of us flow rivers of living water.
I have been endeavouring to prove, then, that God's
purposes are not limited by what He is •doing now..
Besides forming the heavenly body, the church, and
conferring upon it the highest privUeges even He can
give, God is going to visit the Gentiles by and by.
They wUl be remembered; and this will.be done in the
midst of the most appalling judgments which precede
the great day. And God makes plain our own position
ainidst it all; for we see the elders distinct, and they
have the mind of Christ. This last is the portion of
the church even on earth, just as Joseph was, in
his time, the depository of God's wisdom. Whether
in prison or out of prison, he entered into the thoughts
of God and was able to explain them to others. That
is the place that God's goodness puts us in— alas!
how Uttle it is prized or acted on. It is one of the
most precious privUeges that belongs to the church of
God, save the position in which God sets us as brought
nigh in Christ to Himself. There Ought to be the
power pf announcing the revealed thoughts of God by
the Holy Ghost.

CHAPTER VIII.
To me it is manifest that the seventh seal is follow
ed by a short but solemn pause, which again is intro
ductory to a new course of divine inflictions.* "And
when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in
heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw
the seven angels who stand before God; and to them
were given seven trumpets." Now these judgments
that come before us under the trumpets are of a some
what different character from what we have seen in
the seals. In the first place, the seals, in general
appear to have a larger extent, but the blows were not
* Strange as it may seem that so simple a matter should give
rise to long doubt and interminable discussion, such is the fact.
Perhaps the earliest interpretation on record, that of Victorinus
(a martyr in Diocletian's persecution), applies the half -hour's
silence to the beginning of eternal rest. And this remains the re
source still of most who understand the seven seals to embrace the
outline of events in providence, down to the second advent of the
Lord, save that some would rather style the seventh seal a pause
at" His return. It is plain that the view rests mainly upon the
assumption that the sixth seal introduced the day of the Lord,.
with its dependent sealing and palm-bearing visions representing
the consummated glory of the blessed. Nobody can conceive that
silence in heaven for half-an-hour would have been so viewed, un
less the seal before had necessitated, to their minds, some such
reference. And yet it is evidently unnatural; for if we had the
rest, be it millennial or eternal, described fully in the close of chap.
vii.; why did it need a fresh seal to inaugurate or continue it in
the commencement of chap, viii.? And with what! propriety,
either as to time or character, is it conveyed in the seventh seal?
This has led others to adopt the still stranger idea that the sixth
seal closes the sequence of events, the seventh being merely indi
cative of a separation between this series and the parallel one of the
trumpets. And the very curious circumstance is, that some who
receive this anomalous arrangement have persuaded themselves
that theirs is the only perfect clue to the order of the book, where
as it is nothing but hopeless confusion. That I may not be charged
with injustice, let me give the following statement from "Three
Letters on the Prophecies," pp. 2, 3, by J. H. Frere, reprinted in
1859. "Every commentator who has hitherto written on the
Apocalypse, by erroneously understanding the mention of the

227
so severe. It is true we had in Rev. vi. 8 a certain
limitation (viz. the fourth part), used with regard to
the extent of the blow then to be struck. But in the
other instances there was no such restraint; whereas,
in most of the trumpets it is the third part, with some
sUght exceptions. The trumpets, then, may be less
extensive in their range, but it will by and by appear
that they are more intensely judicial than the seals.
Further, we find that the very name indicates a
difference. The trumpet sets forth a loud and solemn
call of God. It is God summoning men, for, if they
seventh seal having been opened, which occurs at chap. viii. 1, to
be an introduction of the events of that seal, has committed the
greatest possible chronological error: embracing in the midst of the
seals, and. therefore amidst the events of time, the eternal state of
the glorified Church, represented by the vision of the palm-bear
ing multitude before the throne, of the preceding chapter (vii. 9-
17) : so that no chronological arrangement of the Apocalypse has as
yet even been proposed, seeing that eternity has thus been univer
sally introduced between the sixth and seventh seals. The
Apocalypse, however, will be found really to consist of these
chronological histories, viz. : the seven seals, contained in chap.
vi and vii., concluding with the vision of the eternal state; the
seven trumpets, consisting of chap. viii. to x. 7, concluding (like
the prophecy of Daniel, chap. xii. 7) with the vision of Christ
assuring his Church, by the solemnity of an oath, that he regards
their sufferings and sets bounds to their duration ; and the little
opened book (Bev. x. 8 to xiv. ), concluding with the great judg
ment of the treading of the wine-press of Armageddon." It is
manifest that this unheard of and systematic disorder is due to
the great primary error that Bev. vi. 17 is a prophecy of the wrath
of the Lamb, instead of being the predicted expression of men's
apprehension at that early epoch of judgment. The seventh seal
is rendered meaningless, the sixth seal being virtually made the-
seventh, and the contents of it and of the parenthetical chap. vii.
entirely misunderstood. Equally are the trumpets mistaken.
They do not conclude with Christ's oath, any more than the pre
ceding series concluded with the vision of the eternal state.
Neither does the little open book conclude with Armageddon.
Like the sealing and palm-bearing visions, it is a parenthesis reveal
ed within the limits of the sixth trumpet, instead of following the
seventh trumpet. The reader will, therefore, see the immense
importance of steadily resisting the too common error as to the
sixth seal, and will understand why I have run the risk of repeat
ing its confutation too frequently.

228
have rejected His grace, they must hear, even if they
forget, these sharp warnings of His judgment The
seals might not so readUy have been regarded as divine
interferences, unless God had beforehand told us that
such they were, with their nature and their order. In
themselves, and especially in the first four, they usher
ed in disastrous but not unprecedented occurrences.
But when we come to the trumpets it is not so requi
site to announce that they are heaven-sent judgments.
Their sound or summons is quite plain and urgent.
They appeal far more unmistakably to inen.
But there is another remarkable difference and of a
more spiritual nature. The Lamb disappears under
these new scenes. The Lord Jesus is not spoken of in' .
that point of view whUe these destructive judgments
run their course. This supposes and marks a great
change, and we have to enquire what God would have
us to gather from it. If the Lord Jesus is introduced
at all, it is in another guise or aspect, and not as the
Lamb. It is not the Lamb that takes the golden cen
ser, but an angel. I do not deny that Christ is
referred to, but it is in His angelic connexion, or at
least in an angelic form. He is presented in a more
distant way than ever the church or the Christian, as
such, knows Him in. In Heb. U. we find that the
Holy Ghost reasons upon the fact of Christ's having
taken the place of man. "For verily he took not on
hirii [the nature of] angels," &e. Iri our version, the
expression is too strong and the italics a mistake. The
meaning is that He did not take up the angels : they
were not the object of God's calling nor of His rederrip-
tion. Jesus took hold of the seed of Abraham, (as it

229
is given correctly in the margin,) and because of this,.
" Forasmuch as the chUdren are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himseff likewise took part of the same."
He did not undertake the cause of angels. He stands
in no such relationship towards them. Still there is
nothing, as it seems to me, to contradict the idea that
the Lord Jesus may be and is intended in our chapter
viii. as the officiating angel at the altar; for, indeed,
He is the Head of everything, the head of all princi
pality and power. Why, then, might He not be
viewed here in exalted, angelic glory ? The personage
spoken of acts as the angel-priest. Undoubtedly it is
not thus that He has to do with the heavenly saints
and that He ministers before God for us. But then
the Lord, at the point of time to which we are come
in the prophecy, has entirely done with His ministra
tions for the partakers of the heavenly calling, at least
so far as provision for their failure is concerned ; but
we learn His interest in another class of saints — in
" all the saints " of course — who will be upon the
earth when the church has been taken up to heaven.
There is less introduction here of the suffering saints
of God than anywhere else. The judgments fall almost
entirely upon the world, upon men in their circum
stances and persons, and, finally, upon men in their
responsible relationship to God. Outwardly, the
saints would seem to be mixed up with them. This
accounts for the absence of the Lamb; for wherever
He appears as such in the book of Revelation, it is
Christ in His character of the holy and earth-rejected
sufferer. Accordingly, the Lamb is peculiarly brought
out where there are sufferers mentioned. For that

230
word remains always true, that "when he putteth
forth his own sheep, he goeth before them." He never
puts them in a path of which He has not tasted the
bitterest sorrow before them. Here He retires, as it
were, and is only ¦ seen in comparatively distant,
angeUc glory.
Remark, also, how full of symbols the chapter is,
and, from the first trumpet, of how external a kind.
Everywhere mysteriousness prevaUs. It is not God
opening out His heart of complacency in those He loves.
Whenever this is the subject, He speaks as it were
face to face. He is simple and explicit. Without
leaving this book, take, for instance, chap. xiv. There
He is going to speak of persons who were, or were to
be, exposed to all sorts of trials, because of association
with Jesus; and the first thing that we see on the
mount Sion is the Lamb, and the portion of the wicked
follows in the most distinct manner. So, again in
chap. xii. "they overcame him (the dragon-accuser) by
the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testi
mony; and they loved not their lives unto death."
But here we have God's dealings with the world, and
the scantiest notice of His own people as*a separate
class; and as the world has no claim on God, whatever
His mercy to it, as the world has no tie with Him and
only despises His love, so God speaks but of His
earthly judgments in forms more and more awful. He
does not bring persons so distinctly forward as in other
scenes; and thus, as I conceive, even the person of the
Lord Jesus is therefore not set forth evidently. For
here, as elsewhere, we find that there is the most sur
prising harmony governing all scripture, when once
the key to it is seen.

231
First of all, there are the angels standing before
God and they take their trumpets, the seventh seal
being a sort of preparation, or a signal, for a renewed
course and another class of judgment. But before
this begins, we have an angel-priest. There are those
to whom God is faithful, for His eyes are over the
righteous and His ears open to their prayers ; but the
face of the Lord is against them that do evU. Though
there may be but a passing glimpse at the saints, yet
God would never have us to forget that even at this
time there are objects of His care upon the earth.
"And another angel came and stood at the altar, having
a golden censer; and there was given him much incense."
Wherever the altar occurs without qualification, it
invariably means, I believe, the brazen altar — the
first means or point of contact between God and men
on earth. There the holocaust was burnt, and the
other offerings of sweet savour; thence was the fire
taken, in order to cause the incense to ascend from its
appropriate altar in the holy place. And this, as
it flows from or agrees with the rest of scripture,
so it is in perfect accord with its uses in the Rever
latum (chap. vi. 9; xi. 1; xiv. 18; xvi. 7). Where
the altar of incense is in question, it is characterized
as "the golden altar" before the throne, or before
God (chap. vni. 3 ; ix. 1 3). Both are referred to here.
Had the same altar been intended in the beginning
as in the end of verse 3, the full description would
surely have been furnished at the first mention rather
than at the second. Nor is there more difficulty as to
seeing the great altar in the heavenly vision here, than
the sea or laver in chap, iv., for according to the

232
Jewish type they were equally in the court. At this
altar, then, which connected the fire -wi-th tiie offering
and acceptance cf Christ, the angel stood with the
golden censer pertaining, to the holy pf holies. The
very phrase . conveys to my mind that it was not his
usual place : he came and stood there. In the Auth.
Version it is said of the incense " that he should offer
it with the prayers," &c. But if we take .the phrase
as it is given in chap, xi., the sense becomes plainer
and more just. There we read (ver. 3), lf I wall give
power unto my two witnesses." Now it is exactly the
same form of expression here, and means that He
should give power to the prayers pr render them effica^
jcicus. " And the smoke of the incense' which came
with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God,"
&c. (ver. 4). What is, the effect of the prayers and
the incense ? All would feel that the Holy Ghpst
does not lead persons to pray for what is contrary to
the mind of God, though when a mistaken prayer is
offered, He wUl listen in His long-suffering, and knows
how to teach His chUdren the foolishness of such
-requests. But none can say that the Holy Ghost ever
suggested or sustained a prayer whioh was not accord
ing to God's purpose. Observe, also, that incense out
of the angel's hand accompanies these prayers of the
saints, ,and they are offered- up to God.
But the fifth verse records a new action, "And the
angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the
altar." Surely this is the brazen altar, whei;e not the
incense but the fire was burning. The result is, not
the efficacy of Christ's work comes up before God in
more and more sweetness (as we see in the case of the

233
offerings put on the brazen altar in Leviticus), but
that here the fire was cast into the earth, and imme
diately followed "thunderings, and lightnings, and
voices, and an earthquake." So that thus you have
evidently prayer of another character and with a
different effect produced — nay, the very priest himself
viewed in another manner, as compared with what is.
going on now. For us Jesus the Son of God has-
passed through the heavens, a High Priest who was in
all points tempted like us, apart from sin. He died
for our sins, He can sympathize with our infirmities,
having suffered to the utmost both in temptation and
atonement. Our God also is on a throne of grace,
whence mercy and grace come forth to help in time of
need. (Heb. iv.) Again, our attitude towards those
without is akin ; and hence supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and giving of thanks, are and ought
to be made for all men. But here it is not mercy
but judgment; for though there may be the incense
and the prayers of saints, the immediate issue is
that the symbols of God's judgments are seen pass
ing through the earth. There is perfect congruity in
all the scenes that are pourtrayed here. Although
a priest, and an altar (both altars, as it seems to me),
and saints, and incense, and the censer, and the fire
are all found in due order, yet it is in communion
with God chastising the earth. Hence, too, the place
of comparative distance already noticed. If the Lord
is brought out at all, it is as an angel, and not in His
fuU dignity as the Son of God, consecrated for ever
more. Of course, He is always the Son of God, but
He has other dignities beside, and here the prophetic
Q

234
vision presents Him in a totally different title and
glory. Again, it is, I must say, an unintelUgent inference,
be it made by Histcricalist cr by Futurist, that "all
the saints" is a phrase which necessarily involves the
•conclusion that the Church of God is meant. The
question must be judged by the convictions we have as
to the bearing of aU this part of the book. And I have
abundantly shown, that, ever since chap. iv. began,
the church is viewed as already and wholly glorified
in heaven. Hence the church is really out of the
question here, and these are all the saints on earth
subsequently, for whom deliverance is prepared. The
angel offers their prayers, and judgment on earth for
their deliverance is the reply. The ordinary reasoning
is therefore beside the mark. All the saints are of
course the Lord's people — a converted class, Jewish or
GentUe. That this is what Scripture calls christians
or the Church is another matter, wliich the objectors
would do well to inquire into.
"And the seven angels that had the seven trumpets
prepared themselves to sound. And the first sounded,
and there followed haU and fire mingled with blood,"
<fec. The general bearing of this is apparent. These
things are not to be taken in their mere obvious or
physical drift. Supposing one looks at such a thing
literally as a mountain faUing into the sea, (ver. 8,)
would it ever turn the water into blood? Nothing of
the sort. The fact is that these were pictures that
passed before the eyes of the prophet. What the
figures meant, we have to gather from the general
tenpr of the werd, by the teaching of the Spirit. I pre-

235
sume that even the prophet himself bad to learn their
meaning from other Scriptures. For here we have St.
John, not in the place of one before whom all was naked
and open and at once understood, but rather simply as a
Seer. He is not necessarUy able, as a matter of
course, to enter fully into all that is passing before
him, but has need to mark, learn, and inwardly
digest. We come in the Apocalypse to the ground of
prophecy, and this is a different region from that in
which the Holy Ghost opens out to us the things of
Christ in the way of communion. Indeed, what is
told us of the prophet John himself throughout the
book shows that he did not always nor of necessity
.appreciate the meaning of that which he beheld in the
Spirit. In other words, he saw a sort of panorama,
and recorded the visions just as they appeared to
himself; and we have to use the word of God by the
Spirit to know what the symbols imply. We are not
to suppose that the event itself will be a mere formal
repetition of what the prefiguration was, but a reality
.answering to the foreseen shadow.*
* The excessive fancifulness and uncertainty of the schemes of
interpreting the trumpets, especially of those who deny that
they follow the seals and attempt to deduce a stream parallel to
them, may be gleaned from the subjoined sketch drawn up by one
.of the ablest of themselves. " It will be enough to select nine or
ten commentators, of considerable eminence and reputation, that
the diversity of their views, in detail, may be seen ;, while there is
uniform agreement in the main idea, that these trumpets denote
political judgments which fell, in the early ages, on the Roman
empire. Let us compare Mode, Cressener, Sir Isaac Newton,
Whiston, and Lowman; and of" living authors, Mr. Faber, Mr.
¦Cuninghame, Mr. Frere, and Dr. Keith, with the last of whom
Mr. Elliott nearly agrees in the arrangement of this part of
the prophecy. The first trumpet begins, according to Lowman,
in the time of Constantine; according to Mr. Cuninghame and
Mr. Frere, with the death oj Valentinian, A.D. 376, and ends with
the death of Theodositis A.D. 395. But Mede, Newton, Dr. Keith,

236
Thus, when the first blast is sounded, we have a
violent tempest of hail and fire mingled with blood —
the blood distinguishing it from aU previous storms,
as being beyond nature. This betokened or ushered
in a furious, sanguinary and destructive outburst that
and Mr. Elliott, make it begin with the death of Theodosius, and
reach to the death ofAlaric, A.D. 410. Cressener and Whiston in
clude in it both periods. Mr. Faber agrees with Mede and Newton
in its commencement, but continues it forty years after Alaric's
death, A.D. 395-450. The second, according to Lowman, Mr.
Cuninghame, and Mr. Frere, reaches from Theodosius to Alarie,
the exact interval which Mede, Newton, Dr. Keith, and Mr. Elliott
assign to the first. Mede refers it to the fall of the Roman sove
reignty, a.d. 410-455; Cressener, to the Transalpine invasions,
A.D. 410-448; Sir Isaac Newton, to the Visigoths and Vandals, 407-
427; Whiston, Mr. Faber, and Dr. Keith to the Vandals only,
but within different limits, A.D. 407-450, 439-477, and 429-477
respectively. The third trumpet, by Sir Isaac Newton, is applied
to the Vandals, A.D. 427-430; by Whiston, Mr. Cuninghame, and
Dr. Keith, to Attila and the Sims, a.d. 441-452; by Mede,
Cressener, and Lowman, to the troubles of Italy, or setting of the
Western Caesar, a.d. 450-476; by Mr. Faber, to the same within
narrow limits, A.D. 462-476; and by Mr. Frere to the Nestorian
heresy. Lastly, the fourth is referred by Mr. Cuninghame to the
fall of the empire, a.d. 455-476; by Whiston, to the extinction
itself, A.D. 476; by Mede, Cressener, Lowman, and Dr. Keith, to
the subsequent eclipse of Rome, A.D. 476-540 ; by Sir Isaac Newton,
to the wars of Belisarius, a.d. 535-552; by Mr. Faber and Mr.
Frere, to the reign of Phocas and the Persian invasion of the Eastr
A.D. 602-610. The remark of Mr. Faber on these differences, in
earlier writers, is very natural and just. ' While they agree that
the downfall of the Boman power in the West is at least the most
prominent object of the prophecy, scarcely any two expositors
concur as to the division of that subject among the several
trumpets, that are supposed to relate to it. The general result
brought out is the subversion of the Western empire, but the
particular steps are as multifarious and discordant as can well be
imagined. So curious a circumstance may well be deemed the
opprobrium of Apocalyptic interpretation, and may naturally lead
us to suspect that the true key to the distinct application of the
four first trumpets has never yet been found, or, if found, has
never yet been satisfactorily used.' The natural inference from
this strange variety of opinion among the best expositors is, that
the historical divisions they have adopted or assumed are dim and
vague, when compared with the distinctness of the emblems in the
four trumpets." — Birks' Mystery of Providence, pp. 103, 104. I must
add, however, that few have exceeded Mr. B. in the loose rein
he has allowed himself in applying this chapter. Verses 2-4 are

237
would agitate and rage over its sphere. "And the
third* of the earth was burnt up, and the third of the
trees was burnt up, and aU green grass was burnt up."
(Verse 7.) This evidently does not refer to the Uteral
earth, trees, or herbage. In Scripture, grass is the
symbol commonly used to denote man in his weakness,
his very glory being like the flower of grass. Human
prosperity then would be set forth by green grass.
Here we have a judgment of God upon it. Not a
certain part only, however large, but the whole of
it is destroyed. The trees represent such as are high
and exalted among men. It is a veiy common symbol
in the word of God to express those that are deeply

-called the season of intercession and are applied to the time from
Nerva till after Aurelius (a.d. 86-180) — why then, more than any
other epoch, does not clearly appear. Then verses 5, 6, are the
warning and preparation (A.D. 181-248); next, verse 7, the first
trumpet (a.d. 250-268), with an imaginary pause of judgment
(A.D. 270-365); verses 8, 9, the second (a.d. 365-476); verses 10,
11, the third (a.d. 431-565); ver. 12, the fourth (a.d. 540-622).
Verse 13 might be thought to denote at least as much as the invisi
ble pause of judgment between verses 7 and 8, but it is passed by
without chronological notice. Indeed the first woe is made to
trench even upon the fourth trumpet, being dated A.D. 609-1063,
as the second A.D. 1037-1453. But I have reason to believe the
author has abandoned it, and now, in the main, coalesces with Mr.
Elliott. * "The third" is an expression often occurring in the first four
trumpets. It refers, as I conceive, to the Western part of the
Boman empire. In chap. ix. we find it again in a different con
nexion where it must be modified in meaning; for there can be no
doubt, I think, that the first two woe-trumpets (whatever may be
thought of the last) find their local application in the East. In
fact, this is so clear that one writer of our day would rule the use
of the phrase in chap. viii. by its undoubted oriental (or as he
perhaps would call it, Greek) reference in the foUowing chap.
But this is obviously illegitimate, and the ordinal allusion to the
third emblem of Daniel is an error. In itself "the third" defines
nothing save that there is a tri-partite division. It is equally
applicable to any of the three parts: to ascertain which particularly
is meant, we must take the surrounding context into the account.

238
rooted with a lofty bearing and extensive influence-
here below. (Look, for instance, at Ezek. xxxi. 3;
Dan. iv., &c.) Thus, then, a blow is struck at a
defined part of the scene of God's moral dealings; and
both the low universally, and the higher classes to a
large extent, feel the ruinous effects.
The second blow supposes a great change; it falls on
the sea and so refers not to that sphere which is under
special and settled government, but to what is or wUl
then be in a state of confusion and anarchy. The-
nations which are in this condition do not remain
scatheless. "And the second angel sounded : and as
it were a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast
into the sea; and the third of the sea became blood;
and the third of the creatures which were in the sea,
that had life, died ; and the third of the ships were-
destroyed." If Jeremiah be consulted, you wiU see
that I am not explaining these things arbitrarily or
out of my own imagination. As this is not so common
a judgment, I think we have God furnishing us with
another example ; for just where we should be likely
to make mistakes, there God comes in with light and
instruction. The "mountain burning with fire," re
presents a system of power, itself under the judgment
of God and the occasion of judgment to others. In
Jer. U. 25, it is said, "Behold, I am against thee, O-
destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest
all the earth; and I wUl stretch out mine hand upon
thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and wUl make
thee a burnt mountain." There we have what
answers, in some measure, to what we have here.
Babylon, in Jeremiah, was to be "a burnt mountain,"

239
hurled down from its place of eminence. Here the
mountain is said to be "burning." Babylon was itself
to be as a consumed or destroyed mountain. Here
the mountain is the means of destroying others, as in
the Jewish prophet : " O destroying mountain, (saith
the Lord,) which destroyest all the earth." A moun
tain is regularly the symbol of settled and exalted
power ; but here it is cast into the sea, because it is
made the means of judgment to others, and not merely
the object of judgment itself. The Lord Jesus Him
self uses a part of the figure with regard to Israel.
Seeing a fig-tree with nothing but leaves, He pro
nounced that no fruit should grow, nor man eat of it
henceforward for ever. He had come and found no
fruit upon it, only abundance of leaves. And presently
the fig-tree withered away. Now almost every person
who has read the word of God with care has viewed
that fig-tree as the symbol of Israel, responsible to bear
fruit unto God, but completely fading to do so. The
fig-tree was figurative of "that generation," and, in
connexion with this, the Lord says to His disciples "ye
shall not only do this .... but also if ye shall say
unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast
into the sea, it shall be done.'' And so it was done ;
for no sooner had the apostles' testimony gone out to
Israel, and Israel had utterly rejected what the Holy
Ghost preached to them therein, than judgment came
upon them. It was not merely that they bore no fruit,
but there was a positive judgment and an uprooting
from where they were. The mountain was cast into
the sea ; the place and nation of Israel completely dis
appeared in the mass of the GentUes. This was much

240
more than their merely ceasing to produce fruit.
Their polity was broken up and completely vanished,
just as much as a mountain would be that was torn up
from its base and cast into the sea. So here a great
power, that seemed to be settled, is removed from its
place, and that power is not so much shattered itself,
as it is made the means of suffering to others. It is
burning with fire, and the consequence is destruction
to the third of living creatures and ships in the sea,
the whole being a figure taken from what would be the
effect of a volcano cast into the sea. It is thus that
the Lord fills up the picture of destruction by a great
consuming power that falls upon confused masses of
people with human carnage and poUtical anarchy, as
the result There may be some more precise meaning,
but I am only presenting what little I see of the sym
bols, independent of their application to a particular
time, place or people.
The third judgment in the series of the trumpets is
of another kind. " The third angel sounded, and there
fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a
torch, and it fell upon the third of the rivers, and upon
the fountains of the waters ; and the name of the star
is , called Wormwood : and the third of the waters be
came wormwood ; and many of the men died of the
waters, because they were made bitter." Now a star,
as we have seen in an earlier chapter, though in an
other connexion (chap. 1. 20), is the figure of pne who
holds a place of subordinate authority— one who may
give light to others — subject himself to another, but
still ruling. Here it is a degraded ruler, a dignitary
fallen from his place of authority. Waters are the

241
6ymbol of people unformed, fountains are the sources
of their refreshment, and a river that which charac
terizes their course. A certain proportion is tainted
by the fall of this star or ruler, which embitters what
ever it touches, and many die because of the waters
being made bitter. Here the infliction seems not so
much of a political kind as the previous judgment ; it
is rather the poisoning of all that ought to be the means
of blessing to man and that concerns his ordinary life.
Under the fourth trumpet we have something
higher. The waters were poisoned before ; but now
we find that the highest authorities were touched. It
is not a star that falls from heaven, but the third of
the sun, and the third of the moon, and the third of
the stars are smitten ; " that the third of them might
be darkened, and the day should not shine for the
third thereof, and the night likewise." I apprehend
that this is a judgment of God on the supreme as
weU as the inferior authorities of the world within the
given range, which are aU, to a certain extent, extin
guished, or at least ecUpsed.
An important question now arises — the proper ful
filment of these trumpet judgments. It is evident,
however, that the answer must depend on the stiU
larger issue of the time and condition to which the
prophetic vision, in general, apply. For this is no
matter of detaU, but of broad principle, and it is not
for me to deny the immense practical consequences of
the true application on the one hand, or of views
which mislead en the other. BeUeving that the seven
epistles had an immediate Uteral bearing upon the
actual Asiatic assemblies of St. John's day, I for one

242
cannot doubt that the seals prefigured the course of
the Roman Empire from that epoch onward, and that
they have thus had an application by no means im
material, substantially as the ordinary historical sys
tem insists, down to the overthrow of paganism and
the nominal supremacy of Christianity, with th&
natural result of vast accessions of souls from Israel in a
measure but far more from the Gentiles in that sphere
and day. According to this idea, the early trumpets
appear to me almost of necessity to refer : first, to
the Gothic invasions of Alaric, Rhadagaisus, <fec. ;
secondly, to the depredations of Genseric and his Van
dals ; thirdly, to the " scourge of God," as AttUa the
Hun was pleased to entitle himself; and fourthly, to-
the memorable era signalised by the extinction of the
Roman empire in the west.
But fully allowing these intimations to be contained
within the scope of the visions thus far, it is to my
own mind manifest that the seven epistles are stamped
with the most comprehensive aims, and from strong
internal marks imply the varying phases which the house
of God, in its protracted existence here below, would
assume, tUl the Lord removes the faithful to heaven,
keeping them out of the hour of temptation which
awaits the earthly-minded, and spueing out of His
mouth the self-complacent mass of Christendom. In
harmony with this continuous and successive view of
the churches, which in one shape or another has com
mended itself to godly and discerning enquirers of
different ages, the most simple interpretation of chaps.
iv. and v. is, that they suppose the rapture and glori
fication of the church of the firstborn to have taken

243
place, and that chaps, vi. et seq. begin to receive their
grand fulfilment subsequent to that event. It is easy
for an ingenious mind to conjure up difficulties and to
muster objections in formidable array : no part of
Scripture, nor truth revealed in it, is exempt from
exposure to attacks exactly similar. But nobody can
deny thai., going by the sacred text itself, this is the
most natural way of taking chaps, iv. v., or that the
common theory leaves these admirable Scriptures
without adequate adaptation to the then circumstances,
whether we look at the scene as a whole or at the par
ticular figures therein exhibited. Their occurrence
here, on the ordinary view, is an enormous, unex
plained and perhaps, it may be added, inexpUcable
difficulty ; but with tbe rapture of the saints then an
accomplished fact, as the key, they are a beautiful
and needed preface to all that follows.
Nor this only. Rev. vi., and the chapters that
succeed, raise the fundamental question, whether
churches or Christians, in the proper sense of the
terms, are any longer involved in the scenes they depict
on earth, when their full, and not merely their in
choate, accomplishment is in progress. Why should
writers on prophecy, without anything like reasonable
show of evidence, assume the affirmative? Why not
prove it, if they can? The more indispensable the
point may be to the popular system, the less satis
factory to unbiassed persons it seems to find its
advocates preserving a sUence so absolute, not indeed
as regards reiterating and reasoning from that assump
tion, but as to attempting a demonstration. Who can
aUege that the proposition is self-evident? Who does

241
not know that there are many intelUgent students of
the prophetic word who believe that not the church
but a godly Jewish remnant, with Gentiles converted
but separate, are the parties contemplated and directly
concerned in the struggles of the latter-day? Is it not
worth discussing? What prophetic question more
vital or more comprehensive? It would not be chari
table to impute this singular reticence to a feeling of
eontempt for their brethren ; neither would it be fair
to insinuate that they are conscious of their own in
ability to give some appearance of Scriptural proof
in favour of their sentiments. We deny that these
prophecies, precious as they are for our profit, are fully,
much less exclusively, about the Church : if any assert
that such is the case, on them lies the burden of prov
ing it. It is simply taken for granted. Would it not
be better to gather up and present, as forcibly as may
be, the evidence which strikes their own minds ? We
appeal to the very Scriptures in debate, some as clearly
evincing a glorified conditipn of the Christian body in
heaven, before the earthly judicial events transpire,
others as clear that Jews and Gentiles, distinct from
each other and not associated in one body like the
church, are thenceafter seen on earth, and that they are
the real objects in the crisis of the close. If we are
right, a vast amount of the differences, among those
who study the subject, would be decided without
further contest. Why then waste time in the shallow
fields of Germanising Praeterists or of Romanising
Futurists ? Why not grapple with the evidence pro
duced by Christians who are, through God's mercy,
at least as far removed from Babylon as the most

245
zealous of Protestants can pretend to be ? If this, as
I am sure, is the sound and satisfactory interpretation,
we are not compeUed to bend the past into a reluctant
and far-fetched accomplishment, nor are we at liberty
to explain away the frequent and obvious indices of
the future. It satisfies all just requirement that there
be an unforced, general resemblance, sufficient to show
the direct finger of God, yet not such as to exhaust
the prediction but rather to leave room for a still
closer, final application when the saints, body and
soul, are above.
" And I beheld and heard an eagle * flying through
mid-heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe
to the dwellers on the earth by reason of the other
voices of the trumpet of the three-angels which are yet
to sound (ver. 13)." It was an eagle, I beheve, which
John saw here, an angel in Rev. xiv. 6, to which our
verse may have been assimilated, if the two words were
not confounded by mere carelessness. The eagle's
flight in mid-heaven was the dark and most suited
harbinger of coming wee. Ner is there any real diffi
culty in its loud utterance; for the altar itself is, in the
true text, made to speak in chap. xvi. 7.
We have had the preliminary judgments ushered in
by the first four trumpets. They dealt, to a certain
extent, with man's prosperity in high and low — first,
•Mr. E. refers after Zullig to the ' 'learned critic" Wolf's preference
of the common text. I doubt that he would have cited such an
auxiliary, if he had been aware that the main object of the Curae
Philol. seems to be the maintenance of the received readings,
against the best authorities, and especially in opposition to BengeL
Besides, he is far from positive in this, though greatly suspecting
airou. "Quod si tamen aquilae mentio facta censeri debeat,
malim omnino cum Seideliano codice et Primasio legere &yyi\ov S>%
ahov ireTupAvov." (C. P., Arol. V., p. 514).

246
in the settled ordered system, and next in a state of
confusion; then the blow fell on the means of human
enjoyment, turned into bitterness and destruction; and
lastly, the whole fabric of political rule, supreme and
subordinate, has to suffer a notable eclipse. * Thus, it
* I know but must demur to the reasoning of Mr. E. in behalf
of the supposition that the literal and the symbolic are mingled in
these trumpets. The general examples of figure and fact, from
Ps. xxii. , prove nothing for such a book as the Apocalypse. The
real question, as he feels himself, is one of admitting literal
geography into obviously symbolical prophecies. So, again, an
incidental allusion (as in Ezek. xxvii. 26 ; xxxii. 6, 7 ; Ps. lxxx.
8, 11 ; Jer. iii. 6, ) is not fairly to be compared with an elaborate
orderly series of symbolic images, as in our prophecy, where earth
and sea have a definite meaning, quite independent of literal
locality ; the former referring to the scene of settled government,
and the latter to a state of anarchy (cf. Bev. xii. 12 ; xiii. 2. 11).
Indeed, the instances of Bev. xiii are admitted on all hands. It
is most natural, therefore, to adhere to the same sense of the
prophetic language in our chapter. The meaning afforded, also,
seems simple and excellent, without the incongruous mixture con
tended for. And as we saw under the seals, so here in the trumpet
series, the fourth, not to speak of the third, presents an insuperable
barrier. For surely, we must take the heavenly luminaries in a
homogeneous sense ; and ho w then can these be understood literally ?
The occurrence of the figure in the woe-trumpets would not have
been so conclusive ; for a difference there is, when we enter on the
fifth trumpet. But it is in the fourth, that we have sun, moon,
and stars, smitten. If these, then, are confessedly symbolical,
why cut the thread of consistency? why not interpret the three
preceding trumpets, as to land, sea, river and fountains, in a kin
dred spirit ? The sole reason I can conceive for the opposite course
is the difficulty that is found in adapting the successive inroads of
the Barbarians, in a sufficiently definite form, to the various
trumpet-blasts. But even so, what ineffectual effort and uncer
tainty after all! If I understand the Horae A. I. p. 352, "the
burning of trees and herbage" is viewed physically by one who is
generally the intrepid antagonist of literalism in the mouths of his
Futurist friends. Why not expound the burning of the third of
the earth! which critics admit must be received into the text?
Taken figuratively, all is easy and plain, as well as harmonious.
Again, if the thunders, lightnings, voices and earthquake in chap;
viii. 5 are answered by the primary insurrection of the Goths
-under Alaric, immediately after the death of Theodosius the
Great, what is the analogous reference of the lightnings, voices,
and thunders of chap. iv. 5 ? Mr. Birks has urged repeated in
stances where the prefiguration ill accords with Mr. E. 's alleged
fulfilment in history ; but I am not careful to insist on such
points.

247
was a judgment of circumstances, rather than a person
al visitation. But we also see a closing intimation of
still deeper inflictions, marked off in the most definite
way from the series that preceded: "Woe, woe, woe,
to those that dwell on the earth," &c. The unsealed do
not escape in the first, the third of men are killed in
the second. Under the last we come, in a general way,
to the end of all.
"The dwellers on earth" may have a local signi
ficance, especially during the great final crisis. But it
appears to me that a survey of the various occurrences
of the phrase warrants the conclusion that a moral
force is the chief and most prominent intention of the
Spirit. Twice has it been seen in the Apocalypse before
this, and it plays an increasingly grave part, as we draw
near the close. First, it is found in the epistle to the
angel of the church in PhUadelphia, where the Lord
promises to keep those who kept the word of His
patience, from the hour of temptation, which is to
come upon all the habitable world, to try them that
dwell on the earth. (Rev. iU. 10.) The reason, I
suppose why the earthly-minded are brought out so
distinctly there, is, because the church in question
supposes an unusual apprehension of Christ, and this
in a heavenly way, both as to present enjoyment of
Him, and as to the hope of His return. Hence the con
trast of the portion of those whose hearts were here
below. They shall eat the bitter fruit of their choice
when the great tribulation comes, as those whose
affections are set on heavenly things will then actually
be where they dwell now in spirit. Next, under the
fifth seal, (Rev. vi. 10,) the souls of the early

248
Apocalyptic sufferers are represented as calling upon
the Sovereign Lord to judge and avenge their blood on
"them that dwell on the earth." These will then have
broken out into relentless, deadly persecution, against
the witnesses, whom God wUl have on earth, when the
seals are being fulfilled. Now, under the woe-trumpets,
we find them to be the special objects. Further detaUs
we must defer tUl we come to the chapters that treat of
them more particularly.

CHAPTER IX.
A prefatory remark I may be permitted to make is,
that our chapter furnishes an incidental proof that the
trumpets are not coincident with the seals. For the
sealing was given in the large parenthesis (Rev. vii:)
which foUowed the sixth seal, whereas it is referred to,
not after the sixth trumpet, but before it. This
could not be if the two series of judgments ran parallel
to each other. The natural, and I believe, true infer
ence is, that the seals had finished their course before
the trumpets begin, so that when the fifth trumpet
sounds the first "woe," the men of the earth fall under
its predicted torment, those who were sealed being
referred to as in the scene, but exempted from the
scourge. How could there be a commission to hurt
nothing but those men who have not the seal of God,
if there had been no sealing yet? If the sealing had
already taken place, parallelism there is not between
the respective seals and trumpets, nor can they even
harmonize in point of time. They are consecutive, and
not concurrent, and the last seal, as we have seen, is
the mere prelude of sUence for the new series of divine
plagues to commence. How could that be if they were
to be accomplished side by side? For if the first six
seals confessedly follow in regular order, the seventh
must be the last in accompUshment, as well as in
revelation; but the seventh, instead of shadowing
some additional dealing in providence, like its pre
decessors, is only a brief pause in heaven ushering in,
another and more severe class of decreed judgments
R

250
And of these trumpets we must now enter upon the
fifth and sixth, to which chap. ix. is devoted, (i.e. the
first two woes).
"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star
fallen from heaven unto the earth; and to him was
given the key of the pit of the abyss. And he opened
the pit of the abyss; and there arose a smoke out of
the pit as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun
and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of
the pit. And out of the smoke came locusts unto the
earth, and to them was given power as the scorpions
of the earth have power. And it was commanded
them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth,
neither any green thing, nor any tree, but the men
who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads. "
(Ver. 1-4).
The star fallen from heaven to earth is a dignitary
in an apostate state ; for a real personage is intended,.
as the next words show — " to him was given the key of
the pit of the abyss." The allusion seems evident to
Isa. xiv. 12, where the king of Babylon is taunted
with " How art thou fallen, O Lucifer [i. e. day-star],
son of the morning ! .... Yet thou shalt be brought
down to hell, to the sides of the pit." Here it is not
his doom, but the authority he was permitted to exercise
over the abyss, which is the expression of the source of
Satanic evU and misery. " He opened the pit of the
abyss, and there arose a smoke out of it, as the smoke
of a great furnace," — the symbol of a delusion which
darkens the mind of man. " The sun and the air were
darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit." The
supreme power and all healthful social influence

251
¦suffer pre-eminently from its blinding effects. Nor was
this the sole result. " Out of the smoke came locusts,"
the figure of the aggressive instruments of rapine, and
these clothed with a singular power of torriient, "as
the scorpions of the earth have power." The command
given shows (I think, very plainly) the error of such
as apply the locusts in a literal way. They were not
to hurt the grass of the earth, &c. (that is, their natural
rfood, if real locusts were meant). Men were to be the
objects of these symbolic depredators — men, save God's
sealed ones. And yet it was the destiny of these
marauders not to kill, but to torment men five months.
(Ver. 5.) It is a limited preparatory chastisement, not
judgment-day. "And their torment [was] as the tor
ment of a scorpion when it striketh a man. And in those
-days shall men seek death and shaU not find it; and
shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them."
{Ver. 6.) Nothing on earth can exceed the agony of
conscience which will be inflicted on their victims.
It is a yet stronger colouring of wretchedness, than
that in which Jeremiah (chap. vUL 3) depicts the de
solated and dispersed Jews in all the places whither
they should be driven in the Lord's sore displeasure.
But there is a further description. " And the like
nesses of the locusts [were] like unto horses prepared
for battle ; and [there were] on their heads as it were
•crowns of gold; and their faces [were] as the faces of
men. And they had hair as the hair of women and
their teeth were as [the teeth] of lions. And they
had breastplates as it were fron breastplates, and the
sound of their wings [was] as the sound of chariots of
many horses running to battle. And they have taUs

252
Uke unto scorpions, and stings; * and their power
[was] in their tails to hurt men five months. They
have as Ving over them the angel of the abyss ; his
name in the Hebrew tongue [is] Abaddon; and in the
Greek tongue he hath the name ApoUyon." (Ver. 7-1 1.)
They were not mere plunderers, but there was warlike
energy; and they claimed for their victorious career
the righteous sanction of God, whose image and glory
they bore outwardly, whereas in truth they were
thoroughly subject to man and Satan too. Ferocity is
theirs, and hearts steeled against every emotion ef pity
in their swift career. But their worst power was the
venom of falsehood which followed. It was the energy
of false doctrine, represented by the scorpion sting in
the tail. And we know from, elsewhere, " the prophet
that speaketh Ues, he is the tail." FinaUy, the king is
the angel of the abyss, the same, perhaps, as the fallen
star, who had the key of the pit If so, it is a dark
Satanic destroyer, if not Satan. It is in this world that
the devil is so exalted, its prince ; he is ruler also of
the power of the air and the god of this age. In the
abyss he wiU be bound as a prisoner for a long season ;
in heU he will be tormented for ever and ever, the
most miserable object there, and in no wise ruling as
king in either the one or the other. So poets dream ;
but not so saith the Scripture.
" And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice
from the four horns of the golden altar which is before
God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet,
Loose the four angels that are beund at the great river
* The common reading is followed by the Auth. Version, " and
there were stings ; and their power was to hurt men five months."

253
Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, that
were prepared for* the hour and day and month and
year, for to slay the third of men. And the number
of the army of the horsemen [was] twof myriads of
myriads : I heard the number of them. • And thus I
saw the horses in the vision, and those that sat on
them, having breastplates fiery and hyacinthine and
brimstone-like ; and the heads of the horses [were] as
the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire
and smoke and brimstone. By these three plagues
was the third of men killed, by the fire, and the smoke,
and the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
For the power of the horses is in then- mouth, and in
their tails : for their tails were like unto serpents and
had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest

*Mr. E. seems singularly unf ortunate in his remarks on the Greek
text. Thus, in verse 15, he contends for the strangest possible
version of els, as=after, or at the expiration of, the aggregated
period in question ; and he twice in p. 490 speaks of airoKrewai., a
form and import different from Iva dironTeivwo-w, the true phrase
beyond all doubt, as he gives it in p. 492. It needs no reasoning
to see that the action is not momentary but continuous, and that
the preposition therefore has its ordinary sense, as Mr. Kirks has
properly remarked.
+Mr. E. is quite wrong (H. A. I. p. 453, note) in supposing that
Griesbach prefers altogether to reject the Sio. Michaelis considers
it "a very improbable reading" in the ill-considered and -unsound
last chap, of his Introd. No such doubt is expressed, but, on the
contrary, Sio is the reading preferred, both in Griesbach's first and
second edition, and in the London reprint, 1810, 1818, This odd
mistake is repeated in yet stronger terms in note 2 to p. 477, where
it is said that Griesbach, on external evidence, prefers the more
simple reading p.. p.. "which seems to me preferable on internal
also." The common text, read by many cursives, turns out to be
that of the Sinai MS., and its equivalent in sense appears in the
Alexandrian and a few good later copies. B. and very many others,
supported by the Arabic of the Polyglotts and a Slav, ms., but
contrary to all other ancient versions, omit Sio. Matthaei follows
them in that reading, which is the easier of the two. All other
-editors of note, like Griesbach, retain the Sib or SU.

254
of the men who were not kUled by these plagues re
pented not of the works of their hands, that they should
not worship demons, and idols of gold, and silver, and
brass, and stone, and wood : which can neither see, nor
hear, nor walk. Neither repented they of their mur
ders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor
of their thefts." (Ver. 13-21.)
It is the voice of the Lord, no doubt, which is heard
from the horns of the golden altar. But what a solemn
sound is this — above all, issuing thence ? For ordinarily
that altar is the special witness of His all-prevaiUng
intercession. Thence the incense rose up before God.
It was the horns of the brazen altar'merely which re
ceived the blood of the sin-offering, when an individual
sinned, whether a ruler, or one of the common people.
But when the whole congregation were guilty, the
priest was commanded to put some of the victim's blood
on the horns of the golden altar ; for the communion
of the people, as a whole, was interrupted, and needed
to be restored. Here how different ! The voice from
the four horns of the golden altar orders the angel of "
the sixth trumpet to loose the four angels that were
up to that time bound at (or by) the Euphrates There
they had been prepared for (not " an," but) the hour
and day and month and year to slay the third of men.
They were prepared, not during that time, much less
when it was expired, but with a view to it: when that
hour and day and month and year arrived, or rather,.
untU the term was over, they were ready to accomplish
their prescribed slaughter. They destroyed men by
apostacy. Still, if it be terrible to hear such a signal from the

255
altar of incense, how comforting to think that all in
the judgment is so minutely ordered and fore-ordained of
the Lord ! He it is who first gives the word, and gives
it to the holy angel. The angel again looses the four
bound at the Euphrates. The evU can only act when
and as far as is allowed of the good, and the good,.
however they may excel in strength, only do His
commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His.
word. The notion that we are to identify the foui-
here with the angels who restrained the winds in chap.
vii. is strange, seeing that contrast is marked, not
resemblance. Here they are not restraining but
restrained, which is nowhere said of holy angels.
There they stood at the four corners of the earth, as
separate as they could be; here all are bound in the
same spot.
As to the character of the second woe itself, it is not
torment Uke the first, but destruction of life. Not that
there is no element of false prophecy here, as also
was there; "for the power* of the horses," it is said,
" is in their mouth and in their tails : for their taUs
were like serpents, and had heads; and with them they
do hurt." That is, venomous error they did propagate
and leave behind them, and this with more settled plan
than in the locust-woe. The locusts, in the first woe,

* In note 2 to p. 485 of the Horae A., Vol. I., it is said, " Mill
reads al e^ovtnai. avroiv, 'their authorities are in their tails. A
notable reading ! The word is used in the plural, Luke xii 11 ;
Bom. xiii. 1, &c." How strange is the effect of a system ! The
truth is that the plural here is due to Erasmus, whom B. Stephens
followed ! And Mill's text is merely his third edition with some
errata corrected. It is clear from Mill's note that the evidence is
entirely adverse. There is not a shadow of doubt that the sin
gular is light ; and probably al yap oipal led to o( yap ££ovolai.

256
had scorpion-like taUs and stings : the horses, in the
second, had serpent-like tails, which had heads. But
they had power in their mouth also. " And thus I saw
the horses in the vision, and those that sat' on them,
having breastplates of fire and jacinth, and like brim
stone : and the heads of the horses were as the heads
of lions ; and out of their mouths proceeded fire and
smoke, and brimstone." It is the judicial power of
Satan, as far as God permits that. Besides, it far sur
passes in energy and aggressive destructive warfare the
preceding woe. This was spiritual — evilly so, of course;
the second is more destructive, though .in its train
follows the injury of the enemies' delusion and false
hood. It seems also more varied as far as leaders go :
for the other had but one, this had four angelic agents
at the head.
" And the rest of the men who were not killed by
these plagues, repented not," &c. Humbling lesson,
and most needful to remember ! God has been send
ing judgment upon judgment, first on men's circum
stances, and then on themselves, and in this last case
torment, and finally, death itself. But it is in vain.
Such is man, after all this, that he repents not of his
evil, either religiously or morally. Satan's last effort
remains. The reader will perceive that I am merely anxious to
present the leading feature of each woe, as far as I am
enabled, so as, in some measure, to help souls to the
understanding of the prophecy. This, he wUl remem
ber, is a very distinct thing from the application of a
prophecy. The question of the persons, or places, or
times alluded to, may be deeply interesting, but it is
subordinate to the understanding of the book.

257
For my own part, I do not doubt that the common
application of the locusts to the Saracens and of the
Euphratean horsemen to the Turks is well founded.
But we have seen repeatedly that the fulfilment of the
Revelation cannot, properly, be before the heavenly
saints are caught up, and the earthly people are once
more the objects of God's dealings on the earth and in
their own land, though by no means to the exclusion
of divine testimony and its blessed effects among the
Gentiles. According to this later and final accomplish
ment, the second woe would be fulfilled, I suppose, in
the early ravages of the north-eastern (or Assyrian)
armies, as the first might be Antichrist's delusive
agency in the land of Palestine. I conceive that when
the prophecy will be realised in all its precision, the
scene where these mysterious locusts are to enact their
bitter but transitory torment will be the land, where
at that time the Jews will have largely gathered,
but, as regards the mass, in unbelief. The unsealed
naturally points to them and most probably to then-
land. For it will be noticed that there is no "third"
under this trumpet to intimate the direction of the woe,
nor anything that I observe save the exemption of the
sealed. The rest of the Jews were stUl in judicial
blindness, and are the impUed objects of this judgment.
If they are the preparatory movements of these two
powers, each is as decidedly opposed to the other as
both are to the Lord Jesus : they are to be successively
judged and destroyed when He comes in power and
glory. It is interesting to observe that the same chap.
xiv. of Isaiah, which I referred to as an illustration of
the star fallen from heaven (i.e., the chief personage

258
under the first woe), treats also of the Assyrian enemy,
which I judge to be the full meaning of those, who
figure under the second woe. "The Lord of hosts.
hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall
it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it
stand; that I wUl break the Assyrian in my land, and
upon my mountains tread him under foot: then
shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden
depart from off their shoulders. This is the pur
pose that is purposed upon the whole earth : and
this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the
nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and
who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out,
and who shall turn it back?" (Ver. 24—27.) The-
difference is that Isaiah gives us the end of their career
for the deliverance of Israel, whUe St. John shows us
rather its beginning and course, as a scourge upon
apostate Judaism and Christendom. It would be a
mistake to limit Isaiah to the bygone history, or to
take the past as more than a type of the future, how
ever important in its day. For, in the history, the
Assyrian fell first, and Babylon's doom was long after.
In the prophecy it is the last representative of Babylon
(i.e., the Beast of the crisis), who is destroyed first,
and then he who answers to the great Assyrian leader
of the nations shall come to his end, and none shall
help him. So it is written in Isaiah x. 12, "Wherefore
it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath per
formed his whole work upon mount Zion and on
Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart
of the king of Assyria) and the glory of his high
looks," &c. Our chapter of the Revelation gives us

259
some of the earUer policy of the Assyrian, if not of
Antichrist, or of their respective parties.
According to the more vague and protracted his
torical application, which I conceive to have been
comprehended in the divine purpose of these visions,
it; may be asked how this chapter is to be understood.
I have already briefly shown how the earlier trumpets
brought us down to the extinction of the Western
Roman empire. Pursuing the same thread, the fifth
trumpet has a distinct bearing upon the Saracenic
infliction, as the sixth refers to the furious onset of
the Turks. Hence one is quite wilring to allow the
general reference of the fallen star to Mohammed, who
was the instrument of Satan in opening on the world
the delusion of the abyss, with aU its darkening effects.
Certainly the description suits, in many of its character
istic features, not the gradual growth and spread of the
doctrinal and moral pravities of Christendom, but that
host of marauders who, embracing with ardour the
hell-inspired creed of the Arabian false prophet, sprang
forth on their ambitious and fanatical career. Not
that I can accept without serious drawback much that
has been made of the local or national significance of
the locusts and the scorpions, the horses and the lions,
the faces of men, the hair of women, and the breast
plates of iron. For instance, it is plain, that the
nation, whose rapid devastation of Palestine is por
trayed in Joel U. (the prototype of the Apocalyptic
locusts), has nothing to do with the Saracens or Arabia,
but is rather the northern army, "the Assyrian," of
which the Jewish prophets so often speak. Compare
also Nahum Ui. 17, the reference of which confirms

260
the same thing. An exactly simUar argument applies
to the use of "scorpions, as in Ezek. U. 6, where it is
used figuratively as here, but with not the most distant
glance at the robbers of the desert. As to the "horses"
the very next vision of the Euphratean warriors refutes
the notion of a geographical reference ; for the Turks
are a totally distinct race and emerged from a different
quarter; and yet horses are just as prominent here, as
in the prophecy of their precursors.* Also, in the
one we have the heads, in the other the teeth, of
"lions." This, therefore, destroys anything like an
exclusively distinct usage, not to speak of the manifold
application which other scriptures indicate. The
truth is that the Spirit is making up an apt and com
plete symbolic picture, and in no way ties Himself to
the animals, &c, peculiar to the country.
To my mind the intention is moral, not geographical ;
and this kind of teaching detracts from the real force
of Scripture, occupying the mind with that whioh may
be partially true in a natural way, but not I believe
the object of the Holy Ghost. Hence does it not
seem almost trifling to extract from the faces of men,
the hair of women, and crowns like gold, an allusion
to beard or moustache, coupled with Uteral flowing
hair surmounted by a turban? Taken as emblems of
-character, the dignity of the divine word is vindicated
and felt. The locusts naturally point to countless

* Compare also what some of these very writers found upon the
horses of Bev. vi. Egypt is the first power historically celebrated
for its horses (Exod. xv). So it was the great market in Solomon's
day (1 Kings x. 28), as Togarmah was for Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 14).
See Isaiah xxxi. 1, 3. In Zechariah they symbolize the various
imperial powers.

261
swarms, devouring in specified limits, but more dis
tinguished by the tormenting sting of false doctrine.
The unsealed > the men of the earth, were the victims
of the scourge, but the object was a conquering
propagandism : not the extinction of prosperity, but
rather the maintenance of it, at the expense of the
truth, and this for a limited period. The resemblance
to horses prepared for battle is the expression of their
aggressive attitude, and the crowns like gold seem to
intimate their vaunted confidence in a divinely-right
eous mission of victory. Their faces as of men, but
with the hair of women, may denote that, with all
their claim to act authoritatively in the name of God,
they were nevertheless subject to the merest human
authority, and not to God after all. The iron breast
plates, the lion-teeth, the sounding wings, I regard as
the figure of the unflinching courage of fanaticism,
their strongest armour, and the ferocious depredations
that accompanied their wonderfully rapid warfare.
The Hebrew name of their king confirms, in my
opinion, the full reference to the special wasting of the
J,ews, as also a connexion with the Eastern Empire
may be implied in the Greek. I have thus rehearsed
the spiritual significance of the first woe's emissaries,
stating particularly what might be supposed to pre
figure the past accomplishment, according to which the
five months, of course, must be taken as months of
years. But I protest against the arbitrariness of
interpreting one part of the account literally and the
other figuratively. Again, if we examine it closely,
the utmost allowable is some such partial incipient

262
accompUshment. For it is plain that the prophet of
Mecca was more like a rising star than a faUen
dignitary; insomuch that Mede, with the earlier
writers in general, applies it to Satan, as others to the
Pope, &c. Again, the command not to kill is very
hard to reconcUe with the exterminating policy of the
Saracenic. incursions; and the term of 150 years has
been doubled by some of great weight, because of a
repeated mention, (but compare Rev. xx.,) in order to
eke out a more plausible solution. Even this im
probable inference from the twofold statement of the
five months labours under its own difficulties, as others
have sufficiently shown.
As regards the second woe, the first difficulty which
the protracted view has to encounter is the meaning of
the four angels that were bound by the Euphrates.
Most of the Protestant school apply them to four
Mussulman powers, either successive or contempora
neous. But says Mr. Elliott (Horae A. I., pp. 461,
462) "the interpretations are found on examination to
be, one and all, inadmissible. As the commissioning
and loosening of the four angels in vision was but a
single act, so the agencies symboUzed must necessarily
have been at one and the same time loosed or commis
sioned: by which consideration alone all such successions
of destroying agencies seem excluded, as Vitringa, and
after him, Woedhouse, have suggested in explanation.
And as to cotemporary Turkman dynasties, whether
we refer to the list given by Mede, and by Newton
after him, or that by Faber and by Keith, from MUls
and Gibbon, there is no quaternion of them that can

263
he shown either to have combined together in the de
struction of the Greek empire, — to have been aU locally
situated by the Euphrates, — to have had existence at
the time asserted to be that of the commissioning of
the four angels, — or to have continued in existence up
to the time of the completion of the commission given,
in the destruction of the Greek empire. In short, the
manifest inconsistency with historic fadf of every such
attempted solution, has been hitherto, in the minds of
the more thoughtful and learned prophetic students,
like as it were a mUlstone about the neck of the whole
Turkish theory of interpretation." This, at least, is a
candid confession, especially when we consider that it
is about a prophecy, which has been acquiesced in
more generally than any other, perhaps, in the Apo
calypse. But what is the view suggested that is to leave the
general application unencumbered?^ The resource of
superhuman angelic intelligences directing the subordi
nate human energies, and this without reference to the
number of earthly instruments employed. In fact,
Mr. E. identifies these angels at the Euphrates with
the angels parenthetically introduced^in the sixth seal
(chap, vii), and reasons from the assumption that the
judgments of the preceding trumpets were the probable
results of their actings. But this, it is clear, does not
hang well together with the scheme^which insists that
the fallen star of the first woe was not an angelic being
but Mohammed. Cpnsistency would demand, one
would think, that if the angel of the abyss in the pre
ceding trumpet sets forth a man, these four must

264
represent similar leaders. Certainly these are in con
trast with the angels whose office it was rather to
restrain the winds than to urge on .their devastating
"blasts. All the accessory circumstances strengthen
their distinction. Again, the use made of the fire and
smoke and brimstone which issued out of the horses'
mouths, as if they prefigured the Turkish artUlery, of
the breastplates of fire and jacinth and brimstone, as
an allusion to the Ottoman warlike apparel of scarlet,
blue and yellow, and of the serpentlike horsetails,
havmg heads, as the emblem of Turkish pashas, seems
to me both inconsistent with other parts of the Apo
calypse, and (shall I say ?) grotesque in itself. I deny
not the application of the horsemen and horses to the
past inroads of the Turks, as distinguished from their
Saracen predecessors, devoting themselves to their de
structive task in the Eastern Roman or Greek empire,
with far more of system and with more permanent re
sults. In their fierce career, they breathed out, in no
slight measure, along with the old diabolical delusion,
an infernal spirit of judgment; and as were their wea
pons, such was their armour. It was this pecuUarly
Satanic power, not like the scorpion now, But the
serpent, to which the Holy Ghost draws attention as
the grand source of mischief. The moral false-prophet
action is there, and this too invested with authority, for
the tails had . heads, and with them they do hurt.
Throughout the permitted sphere the result was the
litter extinction of Christian profession, whUe the iest
alas! heeded not the warning. But these features, in
my judgment, involve elements still more terrible than

265
anything yet seen on earth; so that all confirms me in
the conviction that we must look for another and final
answer to the imagery, in the last scourge for the cor
rupt and idolatrous East*
* While writing the above, Mr. D. M'Causland's "Latter Days
of Jerusalem and Borne " has come into my hands. He regards
(pp. 212, 213) the flood prevailing 150 days upon the earth as the
type of the fifth trumpet visitation, but why the destruction of
all flesh should typify the torment, not the death, of the future
victims, does not appear. The sixth trumpet, he thinks, confirms
this, because the time prescribed there (391 days and an hour)
carries us down, if reckoned on the scale of a day for a year, from
the deluge to the epoch of the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah.
Now, supposing there were no chronological objections, where is
the congruity of taking the five months literally in the first woe,
and the hour and day and month and year symbolically in the
second ? Besides, here again, the destruction in the type exceeds
the proportion of the antitype : and, what is more material, our
Lord applies both the deluge and the destruction of Sodom to the.
days of the Son of man, and the day when He is revealed. These
would answer to Bev. xix., not to ch. ix., which discloses prelimi
nary chastisements. Still less can I accept the singular idea that
the four angels or their chivalry set forth Israel and Ephraim fly
ing on the shoulders of the Philistines towards the west, and
purging away the filth of Jerusalem. For "the men" he conceives
to be the unsealed, who were to be tormented but not killed by the
Antichristian locusts : the horsemen of Israel finish the work.
The same friend who directed Mr. E.'s attention to Griesbach's
citation of d.v4p.ovs and fi.vep.oi from 30. (Cod. Guelph. of the four
teenth century) for o\yy in ver. 14, 15, recalls this variation to me
lt is also supported by 98. (Cod, Bodl. Can. of the sixteenth cen
tury. ) But I agree with the editors in general that it is barely
worth a notice.

CHAPTER X.
Some wUl remember a resemblance already pointed
¦out between, the two orders of seals and trumpets.
When We come to the sixth in each series, there is an
interruption of a most interesting kind. We saw that
after the sixth seal there was such an episode, not of
judgment but of mercy — God interfering on behalf of
man, after the most signal convulsion among men and
things on the earth; and not only so, but the powers
¦of the heavens also shaken. Then we found Gocl,
showing us that in the midst of judgment He remem
bers mercy. For there was the sealing of a full
complement out of the twelve tribes of Israel, and
besides clear and affecting proof was furnished that
the poor GentUes were not forgotten. Thus, when
the prophet looks, he sees a countless , multitude
out cf all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and
tongues. These were evidently deUvered by the great
goodness of God, and come out of that terrible tribu
lation that is yet to be. Now in chap. ix. we have
had the sixth trumpet; and, answering to what we
have seen in the seals, there is an interruption between
it and the seventh trumpet (which is only announced
in chap xi. 15). There is a vision described of a very
marked, and, considering the visions that accompanied
all the trumpets, of an extraordinary character. A
mighty angel comes down from heaven, who appears
to be the Lord Himself. So we saw in a previous
chapter the angel-priest at the golden altar, putting
incense to the prayers of the saints which He offered

267
up to God. And I suppose few would imagine that
God could commit this service of the heavenly sanctu
ary to any mere created being. In the Old Testament
Jehovah had occasionally assumed an angelic form;
.and as this book brings us back to a great deal which
is akin to the Jewish Scriptures, herein may be one
reason why we have Christ thus taking the form of an
.angel. As before the trumpets were blown, the angel,
who gave the signal for aU, was seen in a priestly point
of view, here he is in power, preparing the way of the
Mngdom. Accordingly there is every circumstance of
majesty surrounding him.
"And I saw another mighty angel coming down
from heaven, clothed with a cloud." The cloud, as
any one will recollect who is conversant with Scrip
ture idea and phrase, was the well-known badge of Jeho
vah's presence. When the Lamb's blood was shed
and Israel were being led out of the land of their bon
dage, God Himself went before them as the angel of the
covenant, and the cloud, was the visible form or token
of it (Exod. xrii. 21; xxrii, 20, 23; xl.,36, 38; Numb..
i). In the angel that .we. have here, there is much
th^t, seems to indicate the. presence, of /the Lprd Him
self, laying claim to the possession of, , the world, at
large.. You may remember one remarkable sample
even in the New- Testament, at the time when tiiere
was a.Uttie foreshadowing given of the coming kingdom.
Now what was it that testified to the immediate
presence of God? and what made Peter and .John
-tremble, accustomed thpugh they were to the company
of Jesus and to the most marvellous effects of His
power? "They feared as they entered into the cloud,"

268
because the cloud was the known and peculiar mark of
Jehovah's presence. Here, then, I think, it was no-
mere creature, but the Creator Himself who took the
form of an angel. It may be too the Lord retreating,
if one may so say, from all that would have linked*
Him manifestly and directly with His people, and this-
for a very solemn reason; His people during the
trumpets are supposed to have, only not wholly, lost
their distinctive separation and to be sunk down into
the world, so that God, morally, could not own in a
public way His connexion with them. In Hebrews
xi. it is said of certain believers that God was not
ashamed to be called their God. Alas! there are
saints of whotn God would be ashamed to be called
their God. It was not so with the early patriarchs,,
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob : God was their God.
But He never calls Himseff the God of Lot This is »•
serious matter for thought, and our hearts ought to-
watch against anything that could make Him ashamed-
to be called our God. It has been alluded to before,
when we noticed that the Lord is never spoken of in-
chis series as the Lamb, because the people of God will
have got so much mixed up with unbelievers. When
these judgments fall, the saints wUl be painfully
merged in the world, so that much of the chastisement
wiU come upon both. Remember also that the Lord
tells us the Slips of His people that we may be warned"
by them. How sad to use the prophecy of unfaithful
ness in order to justify it, and to attribute the effects
of our unbelief to the providence of God!
At the time of the trumpets, there is an ominous-.
silence as to the people of God. There is just an

269
-allusion to their exemption from the torment of the
apostates in chap. ix. 4; but this is the only distinct
reference till the parenthesis of chaps, x. and xi. .If
jou apply the seals and trumpets to the, past history
of the world, the meaning is so plain that most
thoughtful Christians have agreed in the main. Con-
stantine brought in Christianity by force of arms.
The consequence of this was the great downfall . of
Paganism, with intimations of mercy by the by, and
the seventh seal was followed by silence in heaven for
. about half an hour. No false expectation could be
there. God knew that, so; far from the world being
made really better by that astonishing, change, all
would end in the frightful consequences ;of grace
abused, corrupted, and despised. The vast body which
had given up idolatry for the profession of Christianity
wpuld ripen for judgment. The immediate result here
is the coming in of these trumpets. And what then?
God was ashamed of Christendom; heaven was silent
now, and yet we know joy is felt , there over one
sinner that repents. It Was, externally at least, a
swamp of forms; and where was the Rock of salvation?
Alas! He is once more lightly esteemed. Connected
with this, I think, the Lord Jesus is no longer spoken
of as the Son of man, much less as the Lamb : if seen
here, He is in angelic guise. And as before (in order
.to distinguish Him particularly from all others) He
was engaged with the incense at the golden altar; so
Ihere we find, He was ", clothed with a cloud" — the
badge of Jehovah's glory; "and the rainbow [was]
over his head," that is, the pledge of God's unchanging
..covenant with creatipn. "His face [was] as it were the

270
sun." The sun is ever the symbol of supreme glory in-
rule, and the face of this angel is said to be like the sun.
So it was on the holy mount ' (Matt. xvri. 2), and when
John saw his Lord again at Patmos (Rev. i. 16).
"His feet as pUlars of fire " united, it would' seem, the-
soUdity of the "pillar" and the thorough, final judg
ment that is so constantly conveyed by " fire." He
plants the left on the sea, meaning the unformed
masses of the outside world, and the right on the earth,
i.e., that part of the world which is favoured with>
divine testimony and government. In other words, it
is the Lord's universal claim over men, over the world.
It is a public declaration of His right, not in respect
of the church but of the earth: not yet His actual
investiture as Son of man, but a dealing of providential
character, which involves a recommencing of testimony
preparatory to. His speedy assumption of universal
dominion. But a further step has to be taken now. It is not,.
as in chap, v., God seated upon His throne with the
sealed "book in His right hand, and then the Lamb-
opening the book as the One who had prevailed to do-
so. And how prevaUed ? Through death. It is not
by creature-strength that the man of God conquers.
The victories that will shine most and brightest are
always those, cast, so to speak, in the mould of the
death of the Lord Jesus. In poor man's case it is life
first and then death, because we are by nature dead in
trespasses and sins ; but in that of the Lord Jesus it is
death first and then resurrection-life ; and such is the
pattern for the Christian's faith to realize. Our whole
life, as believers, should flow according to the same

271
cross that has wrought our salvation ; for the cross is
God's power for us allthe way through. (Gal. vi). It
is God who has given us to suffer, and then comes
power practically; but this is, perhaps always, after
there has been more or less a realization of weakness
and suffering. (2 Cor. xri. xUi. 4.) A man cannot
win Christian victories until he is bare and low before
God. He must be broken down in one way or another.
And blessed it is if we are broken down in the presence
of Christ ; for if it be not there, we must be broken
down, if one may say so, in our own presence, and
haply too in that of others. In chap, v., however,
Christ opens the book, that was unintelligible to all
the mind of man, and He shows us from the seals cer
tain judgments of God, so little removed from ordinary
events in providence that we should scarce have known
them to be judgments, save by that divine unveiling.
But the Lamb unfolds all, and we find that God is at
work to introduce the kingdom of the First-begotten.
to put the Heir in actual possession of the inherit
ance. In the chapter before us there is a difference. It iy
not a sealed book that we have, but an open one : and
it is also emphatically a little book. There is nothing
mysterious about the matter. We come here to a notable
change in the Revelation. Instead of its being, as
hitherto, events that were the secret effects of God's
unseen hand, there is a manifestation of His power and
purpose with regard to His people. All becomes quite
plain. We have no longer symboUcal locusts, having a
king (cf. Prov. xxx. 27), or strange and strangely nume-

272
rous horses and horsemen, &c. It is now God's opeD,
brief, and decisive actings. This I apprehend to be the
difference between the two books. The first was in the
hand of God and sealed, so that none could open it,
save the blessed One who suffered all for the glory of
God. Here it is an open book, which the prophet takes
from the angel's hand ; and immediately we have no
longer the more secret or enigmatical appearances of
earUer visions, but tbe temple, theholycity, theGentiles
treading it under foot — all an obvious manifestation
that God is acting on the Jews. We have before had
the sealing a certain number out of the tribes of Israel,
scattered, as I suppose, throughout the whole world.
But here (chap, xi.) wc come to a smaller scale, where
God's dealings are concentrated on Jerusalem, the
sanctuary, altar, worshippers, two witnesses, &c,
and where they are also brought out so plainly that
there need be no mistake as to what God means there
by. The Beast as such also appears here in undis
guised and tremendous opposition against God and His
servants. And evidently the Lord Jesus is showing
that the time approaches when He must take all into
His own hands. This, then, is an open book, because
all it contains is perfectly plain ; and it is a very little
book, because but a short time and a narrow compass
are contemplated in it.
" And he cried with a loud voice, as when a Uon
roareth, and when he had cried, the seven thunders
uttered their own voices. And when the seven thun
ders had uttered [them], T was about to write : and I
heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal the things

273
which the seven thunders uttered and write them
not."* (Ver. 3, 4.) "Will a lion roar in the forest,
when he hath no prey ? will a young lion cry out of
his den, if he have taken nothing ? . . . shall a trum
pet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid ?
shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not
done it? Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but
he revealeth his secret unto bis servants the prophets.
The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord
God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" (Amos in.)
1 cannot but regard this passage of the Jewish prophet
.as in various elements illustrative of the vision we are
examining. Again, thunder, in the Old Testament, was
constantly the expression of God's authority in the way
of judgment. We are summoned to hear this awful
.announcement of God's judgments. John was about
* In the first clause of verse 4, the uncial MSS. ABC. , the ma
jority of cursives, and almost all the ancient versions, besides Greek
and Latin fathers, omit ras <puvas eavrdv, and the rendering would
then be, "And when the seven thunders had spoken," for English
hardly admits of the absolute "had uttered." I suppose that the
phrase was assimilated to the close of verse 3, whereas the true
form is corrobated by the latter clauses of verse 4. The difference
in sense would be that these thunders not only emitted their own
proper sounds, but conveyed something intelligible to the prophet.
At the end of verse 4, p.^ aira yp6,ij/-ns is supported by the over
whelming preponderance of manuscripts. The common text has
touto with afew cursives, most of which, with the old Cappadocian
commentator Andreas, read p.er& for p.i). This last, I presume,
was the mere blunder of a scribe, who probably confounded a con
traction of the former with the latter, and this might be the more
readily, inasmuch as fiera raura ("after these things") is a fre
quent formula in Bevelation. It is curious that this obvious mis
take, yielding a sense totally different from, and nearly opposite
to, the one intended, has been followed in more than one of the old
foreign editions, beginning, if I mistake not, with the Compluten-
sian, though the fact is not stated by Tregelles, &c. There are
also discrepancies as to the form of the last word, but there is the
less reason to record them, as that which some authorities give ia
•not even sense.

274
to write, but a voice from heaven forbids it. He was;
not to Coinmunicate the detaUs of what God was going
to do now.' But the angel " lifted Up his right, hand
to heaven and sware by him that liveth for ever and
ever, who created heaven. . . . that there should be-
no more space [or delay], but in the days of the voice
of the seventh angel^ when he should sound, the mys
tery of God also should be finished, as he announced
to his servants the prophets." * (Ver. 5-7.)
I apprehend that people often gather a vague, if not
wrong notion from those words, "there shall be time
no longer." Many imagine tiiat it means— there was
then to be an end of time, and eternity was to begin.

* The right readings here, I believe, are xpcvos ou/ceYi prat . .
. . Kal ireKio-Bri. The former confirms the sense-given' in the text-
and evidently means that there shall be no longer space, or delay,
but in the days, Sta. " The time shall not be yet" would require-
6 Kaip6s instead of xpovos, and oiSiru rather than oitciTi. which, in
constructions like the present, means "no more." Others take it
as , " a (mystical) time ;" but this also in Scripture is always KatpoV
—The meaning which results from the latter very accurately falls
in with the sentiment, for Srav p,4\\ri .<ra\Trl£eai avoids the inde
finiteness of the mere future, and intimates that, when the seventh
angel should just sound, the mystery of God should also be finish
ed, or literally " was finished," the Greek aorist being employed
to express the summariness of its completion — its coincidence, as
it were, with that seventh blast, Bp. Middleton (and before him
it seems, Piscator and Vitrings) suggested a Hebraism as the source
of this peculiar use of the aorist ; for the Hebrew preterite very
frequently standsfor the future when that tense goes before and is
joined by the conjunction. Indeed, as Gesenius remarks (Bodiger's
ed., §124, ' 6), the Pret. with Vau con versive relates to futurity,
also when it is not preceded by a future tense but by some other
indication of futurity, and even where none such appears. This
solution, if it be true here, confirms Kal ire\4d-9ri. Here, again,
TeXead-ho-eTOA would leave a vague future open, and another form
is employed, which may appeal harsh at first, but the propriety of
which becomes apparent, the more the requirements of the passage
are understood. TeXeo-flij I good in sense, and fairly supported ;
hut it is easier than ire\i\r$ri and may have been the correction of
a copyist. The converse appears to me improbable.

275
But this is riot at all the sense, and the case shows the
importance of seeking Ught from God. The meanmg
is, that God would no longer allow time to run on
before He interfered with the course of this wbrld. It
is not that eternity was at once to begin, but that there
should be no longer any lapse of time before His last
summons to the world and the introduction of a new
dispensation, in which He wUl deal in an open manner
with men on the earth. Since the rejection and
ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, men — "His citi
zens" — have sent a message after Him, saying (at least
in their hearts), " We wUl not have this man to reign
over us." Such has been the voice of the world ever
since He went into the far country. The real desire
of man is to be rid of Christ ; and, in general, he
thinks he is. And no wonder he dislikes to hear of
His return in power and glory ; for the Scriptures de
clare expressly that Christ is to judge man, and man
does not like to stand before his judge. Hence he
puts off as long as possible the thought of Christ's com
ing to judge sin and sinners. The Lord intimates here
that there is to be, ere long, a close put to the present
delay. All the time that Christ is away at the right
hand of God, there is a suspense of judgment. But
God feels deeply for His people's suffering, as they
must during the interval of Christ's rejection ; and
now He is not going to allow such a state of things to
continue any longer, for there are the evident signs
and tokens of the Lord's coming to deal with His ene
mies. The mighty angel swears that there should be no
further delay (not before eternity but) before the day of

276
the Lord. The space or day spoken of here is man's
day, and, when this ends, the day of the Lord begins,
which latter in Scripture is never confounded with
•eternity, because that day has an end, whereas, of
course, eternity never can terminate. Viewed from
every side, the real force then is "that there should
be no longer delay." And remark the words in the
following verse — " But in tlie days of the voice of the
seventh angel, when he should soon sound, the mystery
of God should be finished," &c. These words at once
contradict the thought that eternity was to follow
immediately. On the contrary, after this the whole of
the millennium comes in; after it a little season,
and then eternity. Souls are sometimes hindered
from entering into the truth of God by one little
word, arid so, I believe, it has been with this passage.
Often when a slight obscurity is cleared up, heaps of
.difficulties disappear.
God will put a stop to the present delay: "the
mystery of God " will then be finished. This I take
to mean the secret of His allowing Satan to have his
.own way, and man too (that is to say, the wonder of
evil prospering and of good being trodden under foot)
God checks, no doubt, the evU in a measure, partly
through human government and partly through His
own providential dealings. And indeed it is an im
mense mercy that .there are such restraints upon tie
-evU of this world. For what would it be without
them, when, even in the midst of God's providential
checks, wickedness is often so triumphant, and godli
ness thrown to the ground? Still there is an influence
for evU that no government can root out, and good

277
that is beUed and so has comparatively little influence,
That is what seems so mysterious a thing to us, when
we know God and how He hates evU. But it is
soon coming to an end. God is about to touch all
that is contrary to Himself, to bring in all that has
been promised from of old, and to give credit for all
that has been done according to Himself. And He is
going to do this by His Son. The One whom man
despised and rejected is the very person whom God
will send to reduce all into holy order and beauty out
of tbe existing mass of confusion.
The "mystery of God" must not be confounded
with the mystery of His wUl in Eph. i. 9. This last
is what has been always near to His heart, for it
involves the glory not of the church only but of
Christ. It is " according to His good pleasure which
He hath purposed in Himseff." There was no one
that suggested it. It was His own will. And what
is the mystery of His wUl? "That in the dispensation
of the fulness of times, He might gather together in
one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in Him." All these things
that Satan has scattered now wiU be reunited in one
under Christ. Mercy and truth wUl then meet to
gether, righteousness and peace kiss each other. This
is true even now for the beUever, as far as his own
reconciliation to God is concerned. Satan may chal
lenge: — How can you have it in the presence of so
much evil within? This is one thing that cuts right
into the conscience of the man that doubts God, and
even of the one that believes God, if he is looking at
himself. When I am looking at myself, these doubts

278
may well ; arise, but not if I am looking at Christ.
He alone is entitled to give me rest before God-
It is Christ alone who can dissipate the waves and the
winds., Satan has set man against God in every way,
-even against goodness coming down from Him; but
God is not going to allpw evff to pass a certain limit.
Though Satan's opposition is allowed to frustrate
God's plans for the present, yet every one of the ways
in, which He has been at work in the earth from the
first is destined to triumph and to triumph together
in the end. (Hosea ii. 21, 23.) There was a man set
up in Adam; there was government put into the
hands of Noah; there was God's calling given to
Abraham; there was the long and patient test of the
law; finally, there was the mission of His Son and of
His i Spirit. All these things, so to speak, have been
streams from God flowing through this earth. They
have been refused or corrupted by man from the first,
-and through the enemy?s power men will abuse these
very dealings of . God to bring in the most daring and
deadly conspiracy that the. world has ever seenp— Satan
and man combined against God, who will allow all
this evil to come out and wUl then put an end to it
by judgment. This is the finishing of the mystery.
But that which is .called "the mystery of His wUl "
is not the subject of prophecy. Christ wUl be. the
Head of all blessing and He wUl gather all things in
united blessing under His own headships-all that
Satan had contrived to spoU. What God made
originally was merely in a condition of innocence ; but
what the Lord Jesus wUl accomplish in -the end
the reconeiUation of all things, wUl be beyond Satan's

279
power to touch. All will be gathered together in one,
-even in Christ, their chief. And another thing it is
well to state. In this mystery of God's will we are
not merely to be blest under Christ, but, in order to
get the full character of the blessing, we are blest with
Him. And this is what we have here in Ephesians :
not that we wUl be a sort of inheritance for Christ,
but we are joint-heirs with Him. In that great
mystery of God in Christ, there are two thoughts —
Christ's universal headship, and the Church's union to
Him. There is no such thing as our being united
under Christ's power; but all things that ever have
been made are to be united under His headship; and
wonderful thought! the Church is to share all that
glory along with Him. It is not what belongs to
Christ as a divine person, but what He takes as the
reward of redemption. But this very work gives Him
a title to bestow it on whom God will. The Church
is upited as the body and bride of Him who is the
Lord of all. She is the Eve pf the second Adam. In
Eph. v. St. Paul takes up more particularly the latter
part of the subject. Christ is to present it to Himself
a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing. _ The great mystery, brought out there, is
the nearness, the love, the intimacy of bridal relation
ship between Christ and the church.
In the epistle to the Colossians you have the same
thing referred to (chap, ii.,2): "To the acknowledg
ment of the mystery of God [and of the Father, and
of Christ"]. These last words are inserted without
authority, and when persons try to mend Scripture,
they only damage it. There is a certain great mystery

280
spoken of in Colossians i. (ver. 26). The meaning
of the word mystery is a secret. It may not be a
secret now, but it means a thing that was a secret.
Where there is anything that people cannot under
stand, they are apt to say '"It is a mystery." But in
Scripture it means a truth that God kept hid, but that
is so no longer — something they did not know as men
or Jews, but that Christ was to teach them as Chris
tians. Here's another statement about it (ch. i. 27) :
" To whom God would make known what is the riches-
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is, Christ in you, the hope of glory." If we
take the prediction of Christ in the Old Testament, it
is a mistake to call this a mystery — enough was quite
plain. What the Jewish prophets proclaimed was a
Messiah coming who would reign over them, and who
would unite salvation with being " the great King."
What they did not understand, though revealed, was
His humiliation and death. They stumbled over Himr
But "the mystery" is a term never applied to Christ's
death and resurrection. This was not a secret at all,
but, on the contrary, is very plainly predicted in Isaiah
lUi., Psalm xvi., xxii., lxix., cvi., and many other
passages. But it was a mystery that, when Christ
was rejected by His people, and during the time of
His exaltation in heaven, God would make Him to be
the Head of a heavenly body, chosen by His grace
out of all — Jews or GentUes. This was not treated
of in the Old Testament. There were certain things
that we can now show to be types of it, but they
never would have yielded the least light upon it, if
the mystery had not been brought out. There was no

281
such thing then, nor even any such predicted, as Jew
and GentUe being blessed together in one body; and
this is the reason why it is caUed "the mystery
hidden from ages and from generations." It was a
secret hid in God that the prophets did not touch upon.
When the Jews have their Messiah, it wiU not be as
the hope of glory, but as the One who Himself brings
in the glory. When the time comes for the blessing
they are looking for, there wiU be no doubt about it,
for all wiU be manifested, whether for friends or foes;
neither wiU it be a hope, but the actual accomplishment
of glory in their midst. But now there is an extra
ordinary state of things that God is effecting among
the GentUes whUe the Jews are cast off. The GentUes
have Christ now, not as bringing in glory visibly on
the earth, as it will be among the Jews by and by,
but they have Him in them, the hope of glory by and
by, and in heaven-
Trie term "mystery of God" may be used in our
chapter, because it was speciaUy during the time of
God's non-intervention with the world, that He had
been working out this wonderful secret of Christ and
the church. Now this was done with. StUl the
mystery of evUs being permittted to prosper goes on
for a time longer — that passiveness of God, whereby
He does not hinder evU from having the upper hand,
and good from being trampled down. It should soon
close, as He declared the glad tidings to His servants
the prophets. The voice speaks again and says, " Go,
rake the Uttle book which is open in the hand of the
angel," &c. (ver. 8). Accordingly John takes the
book, and finds it, when he has eaten, in his mouth
T

282
sweet as honey; but when he ponders its contents, and
digests its results, how bitter within ! So it is and will
he. . When we see how God wUl accomplish all, it
must be pain to think what is reserved for man, as
indeed it is to know how perseveringly he rebels
against God, and forsakes his own mercies.
The Lord grant that what has been of God for the
clearing of our standing from earthly principles, and
.awakening a just feeling of the exceeding dignity of
the place in which God has put us, may be impressed
upon our hearts ! None are in so responsible a place as
those who are occupied with heavenly things. And
let us not suppose that position, or even truth, wUl of
itself keep a soul: nothing but the Spirit of God can ;
and He never will, where there is not dependence and
sslf-judgment. He is come to glorify Christ. The
Lord grant that we may watch and pray ! For whUe
the truth is calculated to separate from the world, yet
where it is abused and degenerates into that know
ledge which puffs up, one is prepared for the worst
results. It remains to add a few words as usual on the past
measure of accompUshment which this parenthetical
vision has received. I am not disposed to question its
general application to that wonderful divine interven
tion, the Reformation. The Eastern empire had for
some time succumbed to the furious onset of the Turks;
the West was not a whit less steeped and impenitent
than before in abominable idolatry and imposture,
when that sudden light from on high shone upon
astonished Europe. Not that the grace of Christ was
deeply realised, or reflected in the Reformation. The

283
testimony of its leading spirit, Luther, expressed
itself in a way more akin to the lightnings and thund
ers of Sinai, and savoured too often of earth rather
than of heaven. In fact, it is this comparative earth-
liness of character, which enables the historicalists to
find so many apparent coincidencies between that great
work and the vision before us. It is just because
Luther so much approximated, not to St Paul's line
of ministry, but to the prophetic testimony of Jesus
which is yet to be borne by the latter-day witnesses,
that there seems so much in common between the
.tenor of his life and tendency of his labours, and the
predictions of what they are to teach and do and suffer
by and by. The idea of comparing it with the original
sending out of the gospel and formation of the church
at Pentecost is, I cannot but feel, a very gross miscon
ception. Besides, is it true that there is not a particular in
the vision to which the Reformation does not exactly
answer? Does the blaze of the Sun of Righteousness
intimate the republication of His gospel? I do not
•doubt that the full meaning of the vision involves a
public testimony to the coming of "the day;" but for
this reason the gospel is excluded, as any spiritual
person may see who dispassionately weighs Mal. iv.
For the essence of the gospel is that therein God
justifies the ungodly and saves the lost ; whereas it is
" unto you [the godly remnant of the Jews] that the
Sun of Righteousness arises with healing on his wings ;
.and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.
And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they .^hall
tbe ashes .under the soles of your feet in the day that I

284
shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. Remember ye-
the law of Moses my servant." There may be a measure-
of resemblance between this and the aims and course
(though not the issue) of the more warlike Reformers;
but in that very proportion, it is the reverse of the
gospel, or of the practical conduct which flows from
and is suitable to it.
Again the cloud recalls the deUverance of Israel,.
as the rainbow does the covenant with the earth, when
government was instituted; the pUlars of fire repre
sent judicial firmness, and the loud lion-like voice is
the terror-striking assertion of His rights, preceded by
the significant claim laid to the whole world, and fol
lowed by the complete utterance of God's power.
These with the little open book (i.e., it would appear,
known prophecy relative to the city and temple) are
aU of them features entirely agreeing with the approach
ing resumption of the Lord's relations with Jerusalem
and the Jews, and the world in general, but not one of
them, as it seems to me, in its fuU import like the
gospel of God's grace. Heaven and the church are
entirely unseen: it is a question of an earthly people,
and hence of kings and nations; it is the recommence
ment, not of evangelising, much less of edifying the
body of Christ, but of the prophetic testimony here
below. The decree is declared. Jehovah's anointed
King is about to take Zion, His hill of holiness, nay,
the nations for His inheritance and the uttermost parts
of the earth for His possession. He is no longer to
ask the Father for the heavenly sons, but for the world
itself — no longer to set apart by the truth for associa
tion with Himself above, but to reduce people with a

285
rod of iron, and to dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel. " Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings : be
instructed, ye judges of the earth." Such is the obvious
connexion of the scene before us. In view of this, it
is a preliminary interference. Had the Reformers
understood the high calling of the saints, or the nature,
character and consequences of our union with Christ
in heavenly places, there would have been a contrast,
not an analogy* In truth, it was (I repeat) the effect
of their lack of spiritual intelligence as Christians, and
their approximation to godly Jews, which imprinted on
their movement whatever assimilation there is to the
scene we are reviewing.
Further, the attempt to make it the complete answer
involves at least the ordinary amount of strain, and, I
might almost add, of the absurd. For, in his haste to
apply the principle of allusive reference, as it has been
called, the author of the Horae Apoc. does not even
glance at the connexion of the seven thunders with
Christ It was too good an opportunity to lose for an
allusion to the thunders of the Vatican. But here,
strange to say; and in opposition, as it appears to me,
to the very principle invoked, Mr. E. wrests these
thunders from Him who is the primary figure in the
vision, and applies them exclusively to the Pope ! The
reasoning that is offered in support of the proposition,
so monstrous to any mind not under the overwhelming
bias of a system, appears to me wholly groundless,
though not unworthy of Mr E.'s well-known ingenuity,
1. The vocality of the thunders is not altogether un
precedented in this book (chap. vi. 1}, and, besides,
the trumpets are said to have the same (chap. vUi. 13).

286
Compare also Rev. xvi. 7 for the altar. The supposed-
parallel in John xn. 28 is certainly net in favour of
papal oracles. 2. Thereflective pronoun no doubt im
plies that the voices were their own, the sounds proper-
to the thunders spoken of; but that they were in
opposition to the angel's crying as with lion's roar is-
the most unnatural of inferences. Whatever may be
thought of the theory of an allusion to Leo X., even
so the analogy of every other vision is in favour of the-
thought that the direct reference is the full expression
of divine power, as God's seal upon the angel's asser
tion of title. 3. It seems to me almost awful to lay it
down that the proposition, "write them not," implies-
that the voices were "not the true sayings of God, but
instead thereof false and an imposture." (H. A. Vol.
II. p. 105.) The real reason is very simple. The
general fact, that " the voice of Jehovah" echoes the-
claims of Christ to the possession of the world is given ;.
the details are not to be written. The apostle Paul
was caught up into paradise and heard secrets (fyvnrra.,
p-np-ara) which it is not allowed for man to utter. The
prophet John was about to write what the thunders
divulged, but the voice from heaven commands the
things to be sealed, not written — a mode of dealino-
most extraordinary, if the utterances are supposed to
be the false decrees of Rome, but well harmonizing with
the conclusion that other things were yet to be revealed,
before the power of God was enforced and the earthly
rights of Christ are made good by judgment. 4. Hence,.
I utterly reject, as a mere corollary of the last error,
the idea of reference here to. the seven hills of Rome.
Hitherto the septenary usage of the Revelation has.

287
been entirely independent of that local sign, which
occurs only in chap, xvii., where the context proves
that Rome is in question. Here, for the same reason
of the context, the Roman hills are an intrusion, whUe
the idea of completeness is the natural sense. 5. This,
also, accounts for the prefixed article, as in the case of
the seven angels (chap, viii.), who, I presume, have no
special connexion with that city. As to the opinion
that there is nothing but the Papal bulls to which the
seven Apocalyptic thunders have been made to answer,
it is natural in the quarter whence it flows ; but when
the writer adds " or can be," he passes, I humbly think,
beyond the bounds of wisdom or modesty. None of
us is the measure of divine knowledge nor of what the
Lord may bestow. Further, I for one confess my
inability to discern, even with the special pleading of
the Horae, the peculiar suitability of the angel's oath
to the prevalent convictions of the Reforming fathers
or their Protestant children. Savonarola and others
before him seem to have been rather more full of the
nearness of Christ's kingdom, than Luther and his
coadjutors. What the great German expected was
rather the destruction of the Pope's kingdom by the
word alone, and this founded ' on his construction of
Daniel quite as much as St. Paul (i.e. it seems to me,
in contrast with the open book and the angel's most
solemn announcement). NordidMelancthon improve on
Luther, when he assigned Dan. vii. to Mohammedanism
and Dan. viU. to the Papacy. Neither can I admit that
prophesying, as addressed to John, and predicated of
the two -witnesses, or indeed ever, is the mere function
of expounding the Scriptures and exhorting from them,

288
as fulfilled in every faithful gospel -minister. The
notion, too, that in the words, " Go take the little book"
and " thou must prophesy again," we are to read (not
now of course, an allusive reference, but) a sort of pre-
figuration of the deacon's ordination to preach the
gospel or Christian ministry, and of the taking in hand
the New Testament to translate it into the vernacular
tongue; and yet more, that St. John's being made
representative of the faithful ministers of the Reforma
tion at this epoch intimates that they were all in the
line of evangelical succession, is to me more like play
ing with feelings than a grave exposition of this chapter.
It is the attempt to apply the detaUs to the past, which.
betrays the unsatisfaetoriness of the exclusive Protes
tant scheme : a bearing on it, definite enough to show
that such a work as the Reformation was not over
looked of Gpd, in the pretracted appUcation of the
book, I have already admitted. The fuU literal carry
ing out of every word awaits the end of the age.

CHAPTER XI.
From the moment that God begins to deal with the
earth in an open manner, Israel naturally comes for
ward and also the GentUes as connected with them
(Deut. xx xii. 8, 9). We have had the twelve tribes
scattered abroad and a measured number sealed ; but
the land of Judea and Jerusalem is the great foreground
of the picture that we see here. " Rise," it is said to
the prophet, " and measure the temple of God, and the
.altar, and them that worship therein." The altar, I
think, clearly refers to the brazen altar, for the golden
altar was included in the temple. " They that worship
therein," are persons who are characterized by nearness
to God. The altar was the expression of true approach
to God, and they have drawn near Him. It was the
place of the burntoffering, which marked the accept
ance of the person. Now this shows us that here we
have God owning a certain number of people on the
earth, as capable of drawing near to Him. " Measure
the temple," <fec, meant, I suppose, that God appro
priated thus far Himself (ver. 1).*
• The received text gives Kal 6 ftyyeXos elo-r-qKet, the Compluten-
sian, following several MSS., has the same words, thus — Kal elor.
6 fiyy. Erasmus and B. Stephens had more rightly left them out
as do the Alexandrian MS., more than thirty cursives, and all the
ancient versions, save the Arm. and Syr., which in the Apoca
lypse are not seldom encumbered with glosses. The present addi
tion was probably drawn from Zech. iii. 3 through the scholiast
Andreas. The elliptical construction perplexed people and dis
posed them to adopt some such interpolation. Beza was the first,
after the Complutensian editors, who sanctioned the clause in the
common printed copies ; and this to avoid the absurdity of the
reed's seeming to speak. But there is no necessity, as he himself
admits, for such a meaning, if we do adhere to the best authori
ties. At the same time, it is a mistake to say that the words are -
wanting in all the most ancient Greek MSS., for A. (N) omit and B.
has them, while C. is deficient and therefore cannot be cited.

290
" And the court which is without the temple leave out
and measure it not ; for it is given unto the Gentiles •
and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and
two months " (ver 2). The Jew is owned to a certain
extent by God ; and consequently their city is spoken
of as the holy city, and the Gentiles as those who were
defiling and treading it- under foot. But it is impor
tant, before we go any farther, to enquire whether
there is any reference, in other Scriptures, to this
same period, spoken of here as forty and two months.
It will not be doubted that there is in Daniel — the
book which most nearly answers in the Old Testament
to the Apocalypse in the New. We find there a
period mentioned of three years and a half, called in
mystical language " a time, times and a half." Let us
turn to Dan. vUJ There we find the Gentile powers
represented as wild beasts, having in part some resem
blances in nature. There was a winged lion; and a bear ;.
and the leopard was presented as a four- winged witness to
the swiftness of conquest men would see in the power
represented by that beast. And every one knows there-
never was an empire in antiquity like the Grecian under
Alexander for spreading itself by rapid conquest ; and
not only this, but it had its roots deep, so that even to
this day the remains of the Grecian empire are seen ;
and these, not exhumed as it were, but in living effects.
The fourth beast was of a composite character, unlike-
anything that had been before. Upon its head were
ten horns, and after them, in their midst, another little-
horn was seen by the prophet to emerge. This last
takes the place of three others, and becomes the great
object with which the Spirit of God is occupied, not of

291
course because of anything gopd connected with it, but
because of its deadly hostility to God and His people.
Daniel looks at him more particularly in his political,.
and the Revelation in his politico-religious character.
It is with this fourth GentUe empire, the Roman beast,
and in relation to the Jews, that the period is given.
It does seem no sUght hallucination of mind to divert
these Scriptures from Judea, and to transport Rome
into them. But the cause is apparent. Men had been
so occupied with the controversies between Protestant
ism and Popery, that they naturally looked through
the Scriptures to find something about the pope ; and
finding there was one person more wicked than any
other (the antichrist), they came to the conclusion that
the antichrist and the pope were the same thing. Now,.
it is true that they both do similar things to a certain ex
tent; but when you look into the Scriptures, antichrist
finds his place in Judea, and in connection with the
Jewish people, in a way the pope has never done. I do
not say'the pope may not do so : but it is impossible yet
to apply, fully and exclusively, what is said about the
antichrist to the pope as such. There is a future sys
tem of lawlessness, and a future person at its head,
who will rise up against Christ in His Jewish rights
and glory, uniting poUtical power with religious' pre
tension, and this in the city of the great king. There -
are many antichrists, it is true, and the pope may
truthfully be regarded as one of them ; but not as the-
antichrist who is to come. That is reserved for the
time immediately preceding Christ's appearing from
heaven. He wUl personaUy affect and oppose the
Lord Jesus, and wUl by Him personally be put down-

292
People ought to be prepared for this ; but they, on the
contrary, imagine that popery is tbe last antichrist ;
.and that it is getting so decrepid as to be weU-nigh
sinking into its grave. But the Bible is clear that the
most hateful development of lawlessness is yet to come ;
and that when it arrives, it will carry away, not
Popish countries only, but Protestant ones, and the
Jews themselves, in its fatal delusions.
In Daniel vu. the little horn is said to speak great
words against the Most High, "and shall wear out
the saints of the Most High, and think to change times
and laws ; and they shall be given into his hands, until
.a time, and times, and the dividing of time." Now
it appears to me perfectly certain that the " times
and laws " in question here are those the prophet
Daniel was familiar with. The " times" had to do with
Israel's festivals, and the " laws" with the Jewish poUty
or ritual. The saints of the Most High were those
whom the prophet knew and was interested in ; just
as in chap. xri. " the children of thy people" (i.e.,
Daniel's people) are intended. This shows that a
special enemy of God's people in Judea who wUl arise
in that day is here spoken of. He riieddles with the
Jews when they have begun to be owned in a measure
by God. This iniquitous power wears out the saints
of the high places and thinks to change times and
laws ; and they shall be given into his hand. Not
that the saints should be so given, for God never relin
quishes them to the -enemy : He may permit saints to
be worried for a whUe, but He never gives them up.
It is the times and laws that are thus given for a
season, because the nation is not owned thoroughly till

293
the Messiah comes. As yet it is only a partial recognition-
of their worship. These are then to be abandoned to-
Him " for a time, and times, and the dividing of time."
You have this same period referred to in the forty-two
months, which is exactly the same length of time,
taking " a time " as meaning a year.
In Daniel, chapter ix., you have another note of time,
the famous seventy weeks (ver. 26). "And after
threescore and two (or rather, after the threescore, in
addition to the previous seven) weeks shall Messiah be
cut off and (margin) shall have nothing" (i.e., after
sixty-nine of the seventy weeks Messiah is cut off).
Then an interruption foUows on account of this; all
the weeks do not expire. There remains one, the last,
to be fulfilled, which is kept separate, like a link
wrenched off from the preceding chain. You will
observe that, after the death of Messiah the Prince,
another prince is aUuded to as yet to come; and he
is evidently an antagonistic prince, a prince of, the
Roman people. The grave mistake is made by many,
that this prince was Titus, who came and took the city
of Jerusalem ; but it is not so. The verse does not
state that the prince should destroy, &c. ; but " the
people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the
city and sanctuary ;'' and so they did. The Romans
came under that general. But when we are told of " the
people of the prince that shall come," it is a plain inti
mation to my mind that there was a certain great ruler
to follow — a prince connected with the Roman empire.
Hia people were to come first, which they did under
Titus ; afterwards the prince comes himself, which I
believe to be still future. For mark well, that the

294
past destruction of the city and sanctuary is not in
cluded in the course of the seventy weeks at aU. It
is after the sixty-ninth, and before the seventieth
begins. There was a chain, so to speak, of sixty-nine
weeks of yeais up to the death of Christ ; then it was
broken. There was an important link, the seventieth
week, remaining. What becomes of it? The last verse
takes it up, and is clear enough that this seventieth week
has to do (not with Christ but) with His enemy who is
to have a manifest connexion with the Roman people,
and also with the Jews. Observe that, in the 26th verse,
after the three-score and two weeks in addition to the'
seven, when the Messiah is cut off, there is no mention of
the weeks. In what comes after, we have no date, tiU we
•enter upon verse 27; showing that what intervenes is
not counted as a part of the continuous Une of the
weeks. "The end thereof shall be with a flood, and
unto the end thereof desolations are determined."
The city and sanctuary were destroyed long since, but
the desolations are "unto the end;" and they stiU go on.
Till lately, of all people of the earth a Jew had the
.greatest difficulty to get into the land. There is a
change coming over the spirit of the nations towards
Israel, I admit. Some of the Gentiles seem to forget
that the Jew is under a peculiar judgment of God.
This is no excuse for dealing harshly, of course, but it
is a grave reason why men should not meddle with
them politically. For the Jew to be so mixed up with
the Gentiles is a sort of apostasy, and for the Gentile
it is to despise God's judgment and eventually to incur
it. It will be found that God cannot be with such an
union. When the Gentiles have given up every

295
thought of Divine election of the Jew, I believe that
the hand of God will confound their schemes and that
He will interfere to bring out His people distinctly
¦and separately from all others, first for judgment and
then for blessing. When all seems to be quiet and pros
pering, God will spoil what man thinks he is doing, for
He has not finally cast off Israel. The Jew may have
given up God and have amalgamated with the Gentile;
but God will never forget that He chose the fathers
.and made promises as to the children. True, the Jews
undertook to be His people and miserably failed in
fulfilling their obligations; but God will not fail to
accomplish His purpose. When the Gentile mariners
had got Jonah in their ship, God was determined to
have him out. If they did not cast him forth into the
sea, God would break their ship to get His prophet
•out so as to be with Himself and His work. So it
will be in the day that speedily approaches.
From Isaiah xvni. we find that there is to be a
partial restoration of Israel by Gentile power, chiefly
through the influence of a certain maritime power,
-"that sendeth ambassadors by the sea," &c. They
may bring some of the Jews back to their own land,
but the Jews will still be rebellious and unbelieving.
All seems to flourish, but suddenly there comes a
blight from God ; and more than this : He allows
the ancient enmity to break out among the Gentiles
against the Jews. "The fowls,'' as it is said, "shall
summer upon them; and all the beasts of the earth
¦shall winter upon them" (i.e., every kind of unrelent
ing hatred is shown them). They are the dead body ;
and where the carcase is, there wUl the eagles be

296
gathered together. The GentUes who seemed to be so
kind will again stand aloof from them, and once more
unite for the purpose of crushing them. And what
will be the end ? The GentUes having relapsed into
their old hatred against Israel, God wUl espouse the
cause of His people. He refrains whUe man is meddling ;
but when an immense host comes up against them, in
that very day " shaU the present be brought unto the
Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from
a people terrible from their beginning hitherto." God,
as I understand the prophet to say, will bring a present
to Himself of His long-scattered and persecuted Israel.
This will show how naturally in the Revelation we
have a reorganization of the Jewish polity and worship,
after the Church has been caught up to heaven and
before the appearing of Christ. We see a little remnant,
in the midst of the mass which were to be given over
to the GentUes. For forty-two months, the holy city
is to be trodden under foot. The Lord allows a certain
period to go on as far as the many were concerned, but
He measures the temple, and the altar, and them that
worship therein for Himself. This remnant might be
kUled, but He values them. When some of the Jews
are thus in their own land, but Israel as a whole is not
yet thoroughly brought in by God, the predicted Roman
prince will come, who wUl "confirm a (not the) cove
nant with (the) many for one week." I am aware that
some apply this to Christ But the Lord never made
a covenant for a week or for seven years. It is impos
sible rightly to refer the words to any covenant the Lord
ever made, much less to a covenant made since His
death. " The everlasting covenant" is obviously the

297
contrast, and not the accomplishment, of this covenant-
made for a week. Many apply it thus ; but those who
so interpret Dan. ix. 27 have forgotten that Christ had
been looked at as " cut off" in the previous verse.
" In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacri
fice the oblation to cease ; and for the overspreading of
abominations he shall make it desolate," &c. Here
we have subsequent events of a totally different nature.
How and when, it will be asked, are we to suppose
this arrest of sacrifice and oblation ? Who and whence
is the personage who causes them to cease ? Messiah,
the Prince, and " the prince that shall come" — are they
the same person or different individuals ? The history
ends as to the Messiah with verse 26. "The people"
of that coming prince were the enemies of Israel, sub
ject to an opposed power, and not Messiah's people.
In verse 27 the prince, whose coming was announced
in verse 26, is himself come ; and he it is who confirms
a covenant with " the many," or mass of the Jews, for
one week ; but in the midst of the week he shall cause
the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the over
spreading of abominations, &c. The language may be
somewhat obscure, but at least it is quite plain, that.
there is to be a certain prince after the death of Christ.
— a Roman prince — whose people first come for a
desolation long accomplished, and at length he comes.
After that he appears upon the stage, the last week
of Daniel begins. This interruption between the sixty-
ninth and seventieth weeks may seem strange, and
people may ask, How can there be such a gap ? But
it is not without precedent. The same thing in prin
ciple occurs in Luke iv., when the Lord was reading
u

298
in Isaiah. The portion read was the description of
His own ministry in Isa. lxi. 1, 2, "The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me  He hath sent me to heal
the broken-hearted. .... to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord." " Arid he closed the book." He
did not finish the sentence. Why ? Because, if one
may reverentially answer, the prophecy went on with
" the day of vengeance of our God." Proclaiming the
acceptable year of the Lord was what Christ did at
His first coming, but it was not then the day of the
Lord's vengeance ; so that the whole of Christianity and
the calling of the Church came in between the accept
able year of the Lord and the day of vengeance.
When Christ came in humiliation and love, it was the
acceptable year of the Lord, and therefore He closed, the
book; but the day of vengeance is deferred till the Lord
comes again in glory.
So here in Daniel, the sixty-nine weeks run on tUl
Messiah is cut off, and then we have an evident gap.
The destruction of Jerusalem is not included in the
course of the sixty-nine weeks and as evidently does
not take place in the seventieth week. For if you in
terpret the last week as commencing from the death of
the Messiah, this would only give seven years, whereas
Jerusalem was not taken till forty years after the death
of Christ* The seventieth week had nothing to say

* If, with. Usher, the death of Christ be put in the midst of the
seventieth week, it appears to me that the confusion is only
increased. For, in all fairness of interpretation, the last week
does not begin to be accomplished until the city and the sanctuary
have been destroyed by the Bomans, not to speak of a course of
subsequent desolation. So that the Usherian view of verse 27
really puts the death of Christ at least three and a half years after
the destruction of Jerusalem, if the latter part of verse 26 is duly

299
to that siege, and, in point of fact, the wars and deso
lations were given before we arrive at the seventieth
week, which is not named tiU the last verse.
In the last or 27th verse a covenant is made. Did
Titus, did any Roman prince, make a covenant with
the Jews for one week ? And, further, it is said, " In
the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and
the oblation to cease." This shows that there is to be
.a renewal of reUgious service by the Jews at Jeru-
.salem, in the latter day. Sacrifice and oblation will
have been restored ; and this prince, in spite of the
covenant made with them, puts an end to all. And
what then? Abominations, which means idolatry,
are pubUcly set up and protected. They are to be
brought into the sanctuary itself, which was not the
case at the past destruction of J erusalem. Then there
was much appalling wickedness— every other kind of
crime and madness, but no idolatry. Here,, on
the contrary, there is supposed to be the open support
of idolatry in the temple. This does not answer to the
-capture by Titus, npr to the death of the Lord Jesus
•Christ ; for at that time the unelean spirit pf idolatry
had departed out of the nation, Which from the time of
the Babylonish captivity, excepting the defilement of
Antiochus, had kept clear of such abominations, and
in that sense was " empty, swept, and garnished."
But we know, that unclean spfrit is to return in
-considered. The truth is, the right understanding of the prophecy
itself leaves room for, and supposes, a gap of undefined length after
the Messiah is cut off, before the last week commences. -It, js cer
tain that the Roman invasion and the Jewish sorrows that follow,
exclusive of the closing dealings of the coming Prince, are not in
the sixty-nine weeks any. more than in the seventieth. The text
itself, therefore, proves this long interval.

300
greater force than ever (Matt. xu. 45). Christendom
and Judaism wUl each contribute to the last form of
evil — antichristianism. You may remember that the
Pharisees charged the Lord, when He was upon earth,
with doing His miracles by Satanic power, and the
meaning of the parable then given to them is really
the history of Israel itself. The old unclean spirit had
gone away. The people or their leaders were full of"
zeal for their ordinances. But what does the Lord
say? That the old and long-departed unclean spirit
was to return. And when it does, it will bring with
it seven other spirits worse than itself. The Jews are
to fall into idolatry, in union with antichristianism',
and their last state will be worse than the first.
Compare also Isa. lxv. lxvi.
But let us now go back to the Revelation. There
is this state of things in Israel — a measure of recogni
tion on God's part, and worship going on, though the
outward profession is given over to GentUe oppression.
And remark, that the Lord says, " I wUl give power
unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a
thousand, two hundred, and three-score days, clothed
in sackcloth" (ver. 3). The Lord mentions them as so
many days here, rather than as forty-two months, it
would seem, to mark His value for their testimony.
He makes, so to speak, as much of it as He can. He
does not sum it together, as when speaking of the
beast (chap. xUi. 5). Lovingly, He speaks of the time
as days, as though He were counting them all out.
" They shall testify a thousand, two hundred, and
three-score "days, clothed in sackcloth" — a testimony
borne in sorrow. It is not Christianity, nor is it the

301
estate of things that wUl subsist after Messiah has
appeared in glory. But it is the time of transition
after the church has been taken away, and before it
•comes out of heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ — the
time when man has brought in God's people to their
land, and the mass of them are thoroughly unfit to be
in relation with God. There is a Uttle remnant of
believing ones, there is worship, and besides a pro
phetic testimony, but evidently Jewish in its character.
In Zechariah, though there are two olive-trees men
tioned, there is only one candlestick; here there are
two, because they are the two witnesses, who prophesy
of the coming earthly glory, but who do not bring it in
personally. That is to say, it is not the regular order
•of God, but a proof that His eye is upon His people for
good, before full blessing comes.
" And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth
out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies : and
if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be
kUled." (Ver. 5.) This shows that it was not proper
'Christian testimony, nor the corresponding practical
fruits. It was the very thing the Son would not do
when He was upon earth, (save, of course, in the figu
rative sense of Luke xU. 49,) and that He rebuked
.James and John for desiring. (Luke ix. 54, 55.)
Here, on the contrary, fire proceeds out of their mouth,
and devours their enemies — a perfectly right thing
when God is about totake the place of Judge on earth.
But the Lord does not take that place now. He is
saving sinners, and otherwise displaying full grace ;
and as long as He so acts, He does not desire His
people to be the depositaries of earthly power. Thus,

302
the miracles of His servants, during this time of the-
display of His grace, have not been of a destroying
nature. Tbe Lord might deal with a person now, be
cause of some sin, as with the Corinthian saints : I do
not see why He should not at any time. But it would
be foreign to Christianity and Contrary to all that
it breathes, if a saint, because another was evilly
opposed to him, wished his death or injury. Christi
anity shows that the victory grace gives us is to show
love and kindness to one's enemy. It may be heaping
coals of fire upon his head ; but that is the Lord's
way — overcoming evU with good. Yet it is the Lord
who here sanctions this destructive power which accom
panies the testimony of His Jewish witnesses ; for He
says, " I wUl give power to my two witnesses 
And if any man will hurt them, he must in this man
ner be kUled." It is what He means them to do —
what evidently is to be done according to the thought of
God. It indicates another condition, and not the
Christian caUed to suffer unresistingly. It is the
close of the age when Christianity wUl> have done its
work, and the Lord will again begin to act on the Jews.
Besides, their ministry and miracles have the
same feharacter as that wliich is attached to those of
Moses and EliaSw Thus they " have power over waters
to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all
plagues," as in the time of Moses ; arid " they have
power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of
their prophecy;" as in the time of Elias. (Ver. 6.) And
in fact what will be found in these times answers-
much to what you have in Moses and Elijah. There
was idolatry in Israel then, and a remarkable testi-

303
mony of Elijah against it. God Himself chastised His
people — the heavens were as brass towards them. So
wiU it be found again. The person who then sways
the destinies of Israel wUl be an apostate who admits
and enforces idolatry. Again, Israel wUl be found in
subjection to GentUe authority, as they were in the
days of Moses ; yet there wUl be a Uttle remnant set
apart for God. But although these two witnesses are
guarded for a certain time by miracles, yet the moment
the days are over they have no power, so to speak.
The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit
makes war with them, and they are kUled like others.
" And their dead bodies [shall be] on the street
of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom
and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified."
(Ver. 8.) It is perfectly plain that this is Jerusalem.
Many think it is Rome, because, as has been said before,
Protestants are absorbed in, and biassed by. their con
troversies with Popery. God attaches the greatest
possible interest to His people Israel, when His rights
as to the earth are in question. But why is there not
more said about Popery in the Scriptures ? Because '
God never acknowledges His church as an earthly
people. The politics, pursuits, interests of this world
are well enough for those who have nothing but an
earthly portion and want no earthly intruder. But to
strive with the potsherds of the earth is beneath those
of heavenly birth.
We have now come down in this chapter to Jeru
salem, the centre of God's dealings and testimony, and
of the opposition from the abyss. Their great anta
gonist is plainly mentioned here, for the first time in

304
the Revelation, as "tlie Beast," just as if you had
known all about him before. It is a remarkable power,
not merely arising, as in chap, xiii., out of the sea,
but here, as in chap, xvii., said to ascend " out of
the bottomless pit." This empire does not arise
out of the earth, the symbol of a state of settled
government, as the second beast in chap. xiii. 11, nor
only out of the sea, which sets forth an unsettled re
volutionary condition. There is the extraordinary and
awful feature added in this passage, that it rises out of
the abyss. Satan has to do with its last state. It has
been a darling project of men from time to time to
form a vast universal empire. Charlemagne tried it,
but he faded. He never got the old Roman earth
under his hand. And some can remember another
who had the same thing near his heart, but he too
faUed and died a miserable exUe. But the time hastens
when that very scheme wUl be realised. In other
empires there has always been the providence of God
overruling. There was God above them, God calling
on His people to show allegiance to the powers that
be, no matter how they were formed. The Christian
was not to meddle with them, but to ackncwledge
them and to pay tribute. But there is an empire
about to be formed, that wUl be as thoroughly under
the immediate power of Satan, as all past empires have
been under the providence of God ; and God wiU with
draw that care and check that He has hitherto kept
over the kingdoms of the world, and will allow all to
ripen to a head under Satan. Justly, therefore, is this
empire said to arise out of the bottomless pit.
This corresponds with what we have in Daniel. The

305
person that would specially meddle with the Jews
(chap. vU. 25 ; ix. 27) is the Roman beast, the leader
of that very empire, which, in its last state, God does
not own. When Jesus was born, the fourth or Roman
•empire was there, and God took advantage of its de
crees to bring the heir of David to Bethlehem. It was
" the beast" that was there. In Rev. xvii. it is written,
" the beast that was, and is not, and shall ascend out
of the bottomless pit." (Ver. 8.) But observe a
notable feature that Daniel does not furnish, and that
John does. He gives three successive stages of the
Roman empire. It was existing in John's time ; then
it was to cease ; and last of all it should arise out of
the bottomless pit, special Satanic influence being con
nected with its final state. The beast " that is not"
¦describes exactly its present condition of non-existence.
The Goths and Vandals came down upon it, and the
old Roman empire came to ruin. Since then, men
have never been able to re-organize it, because God has
another thought. He has laid it down in His word
that it is to be re-organized, not by man, but by Satan's
power. Its sources will be from beneath. How re
markable is all this ! We have had the ' decline and
fall of the Roman empire, but there is one thing that
no historian could trace — that prophecy alone could and
does give — viz., the restoration of the Roman empire.
May we see it, not as being on earth, but as looking
upon it from heaven ! I believe that those who reject
¦the gospel now, wUl, ff then aUve, be carried away by
the dreadful delusions of that day. They wUl receive
the mark of the beast in their right hand or in their

306
foreheads ; they wUl worship his image — and it is
written by God that those who do shall be tormented
in everlasting fire. The "world may fancy, from all the
increase of grandeur and prosperity and luxury which
wUl be brought in then or previously, that the nrillen-
nium is come ; but it wUl be Satan's millennium. That
is the fate reserved for these countries ; for it is part
of the righteous judgment of God, that where the
gospel has been preached, and the world has trifled with
it, even allowing idolatry' for political purposes, He
wUl -withdraw the light and send them strong delusion.
And then Satan wUl bring out the man of sin. There
is immense practical importance in all this. People
may ask, " What is the good of this to us, as Christians^
if we are to be taken away before ?" Such a way of
speaking slights what God has been pleased to reveal
to us. When God spoke beforehand about the destruc
tion of Sodom, did Abraham say, What has that to do
with me ? God would have our hearts to be drawn
out in praise and thanksgiving for His grace and His
love to our own souls, but He tells us also the sad
doom which awaits the world, and awakens the spirit
of intercession for unfaithful saints, who may be mixed
up With it.
I would just remark, as to the two witnesses, that
there is no necessity to take them as two persons: they
might be two hundred. They are viewed as two wit
n esses (whether Uterally so or not), because it is a
divine principle that " out of the mouth of two or
three witnesses every word shall be established." God
was giving a sufficient testimony. These maintained

307
Christ's title to the earth, that He was " the Lord* of
the earth;" and this excited enmity. "The beast"
might not so much have cared ff they had said " the
Lord of heaven;" but they claimed the earth, not for
themselves, but for Him, and men will not bear it.
Unbelief likes present enjoyment, and anything which
interferes with this and makes conscience uneasy is
hateful and unwelcome. And so, when the testimony
is finished, and the witnesses are overthrown, not only
the beast but two great parties of mankind are affected
by their fall. " And some of the peoples, and kindreds,
and tongues,' and nations, see their dead bodies three
days and an half, and do not suffer their dead bodies
to be put into a grave; and they that dwell on the
earth rejoice over them. . . and shall send," &c. (Ver.
9, 10.) It is not the first or the only time that we
have this distinction drawn between "peoples, and
kindreds, and tongues, and nations," and " those that
dwell on the earth." The latter does not mean men
in earth merely ; it carries a moral force with it and
means those who are essentially earthly-minded, who
do not in heart and ways rise above the earth. The
dead bodies of the witnesses are on the street of the
great city; and they of the people, and kindred, and
nations see them, there three days and an half, and do
not suffer them to be put in graves. This was bad
enough — being the malice of man against those who

* The received reading fleoi/Jyiot without the support of some
cursives, Aeth. Slav., &c" But alTtne uncials and most cursives,
versions and fathers read Ktplov. The former was probably due
to the tempting antithesis, tG 0e« too oipavov, in verse 13.

308
witnessed for God. But "they that dwell on the
earth" go much farther. For in their case, there is
positive rejoicing and making merry, and sending gifts
one to another. And why was all this? Because it is
•said, "these two prophets tormented them that dwelt
on the earth."
¦ This is not a mere imaginary distinction, nor only
founded upon one passage. If you look elsewhere, you
will find the same thing. Thus in chap. xiv. 6, " And
I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having
the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell
on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people," there is the converse of what we
have here. We first find the mass of the GentUe
people, who show out their evU against the two wit
nesses by not allowing their dead bodies to be buried.
But the special rejoicing is on the part of the dwellers
on the earth, or the earthly-minded. But in chap.
xiv. we find God sends a solemn message, the ever
lasting gospel. And with whom does He begin?
With the worst; — "them that dwell on the earth,"
rods Kad-np.ivovs, literally " that sit," which seems
stronger than rois KaroiKoSvTas, and then the message
is extended to men generally. And on examination
you wUl find this thoroughly confirmed by other pas
sages. In other words, to " dwell on the earth" is not
a mere vague description of men, but it expresses a
moral condition.
But to return— God interferes. "And after three
days and an half, the (or a) spirit of life from God en
tered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and

309
great fear fell upon them. And they* heard a loud
voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither.
And they' ascended up to heaven in the cloud.; and
their enemies beheld them." (Ver. 11, 12.) It is not
merely in a cloud (as in the authorised version), but
in the cloud. I suppose it was the cloud seen in the
beginning of chap, x., which encircled the mighty
angel. The cloud, the known especial emblem of Je
hovah's presence, was that which received the wit
nesses and proved that their Lord, the Lord of heaven
as well as earth, was for them. They ascended up to
heaven in the very face of their enemies. " And in
the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the
tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were
slain of. men seven thousand: and the remnant were
affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven." One
word I would say, before going farther, on a remark
able distinction that occurs in this same verse. The
witnesses testified for the Lord. of the earth; but the
people that were affrighted, when they saw how the
cause of His martyred servants was vindicated, gave
glory to the God of heaven. It will be then an easier
thing for men to acknowledge God above in a vague
sort of way, than to own Him as the Lord of the
earth, concerning Himself about what men do here
below. The former might be merely to regard Him as

* The two most ancient uncials that are known as yet, AC,
with very many cursives confirm the received reading, which is
rather strengthened, it seems to me, by the fact that elsewhere
the book has iJKovffa. For assimilation, under such circum
stances, whether by accident or design, is far more probable than
the introduction of a difference. If this be so, the sense is that
the witnesses had a public and glorious vindication in the sight
and hearing of their enemies.

310
"One seen in the distance; though, in a higher sense, T
may know Him as One that comes down to give me a
portion with Himself above. Thus God in heaven is
¦either exceedingly near to His people, or far off to
those who are merely acted upon by transient terror.
The worldly man can well allow the thought of God
afar from Himself; and this is just what we have here.
They were alarmed by what was near. But there was
no reception of the testimony, no conversion. They
should have bowed to the Lord of the earth. They
gave glory to the God of heaven. But it is too late.
There was slain in the earthquake "seven thousand
names of men," as the margin gives it literally.
First of all, we have' seen the priestly remnant occu
pied in the worship of God — His holy remnant in the
midst of the Jews in the latter day. After this, we
have the witnesses, who did not bring out on God's
part what He is manifesting now, but asserted His
rights with regard to the future, as prophecy naturaUy
implies. Another remark I may here make. In the
Revelation an expression occurs that has often been
misunderstood. " The testimony of Jesus is the spirit
of prophecy." The meaning is not that all prophecy
refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, (which in a certain
sense may be true,) but that the witness of Jesus such as
this book contains — what Jesus testifies in the Revela
tion, is the spirit of prophecy. It is the Holy Spirit as
He is shown us throughout the book; not bringing
into present communion with the Lord Jesus in
heaven, but communicating what He is to do by and
by. They, the witnesses, asserted the title of Christ
to the earth. Whatever men might say, the Lord was

311
the one to whom it belonged, and He would soon come
And make good their record.
There is a third thing that the end of the chapter
contains. Besides a priestly place, and then a prophet
cal testimony, there comes the kingdom. The trumpet
sounds. And now it is not, as in the case of the wit
nesses, a proclamation fenced by miraculous power ;
that has come to a close — their own blood has sealetl
then' work. But ff it looked as if the Beast had playecl
an easy part in their death, God points to anothei
thing: — "The. seventh angel sounded, and there wen
loud voices in heaven," &c. There is the announce
ment of a kingdom, heard not upon earth, but in
heaven, and, therefore, as soon as it is made, thost
that had the mind of Christ, " the twenty-four elders
who sit before God on their thrones, fell upon their
faces and worshipped God," A little word I wouh
desire to say upon this verse 15. As it stands now, i.
has a very weakened turn given to it : "The kingdom
of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord an
of his Christ" The true force is: "The world-king
dom of our Lord and of His Christ is come." TLi
gives, in my opinion, a very different and a weightit
meaning to the verse. It is the world-kingdom ; an
why ? Because this book has shown us from the ver
beginning that there was another order of kingdoi.
altogether. In chapter i. John spoke of himself as
"brother and companion in tribulation, and in thi.
kingdom and patience in Christ." Thus the kingdon
of Christ is there, and yet characterized, or at le. s
acconipanied, by tribulation and patience! But t.;
angel heralds in the kingdom of the Lord and of I j

312
Christ, as to this world. Previously it had been one
only known to faith and calling for patience — a thing,
consequently, that the world would not believe. Talk
to them of a kingdom where people suffer, and where
Christ allows them to suffer, instead of maintaining'
His rights ! And this is exactly what God's chUdren
have been called tc go through, from that day to
this. But allow me to say that this shows the extreme
error of many good people who think it quite right to
use earthly power in seeking to estabUsh the cause of
Christ. For, not to speak of Romanism but to look
at Puritanism, they completely forgot that the king
dom of Christ now is the kingdom of patience, and not
of power. They judged because theirs was the right
as they believed, therefore they ought not to suffer —
whereas the very thing that God insists on is, that
because the world is wrong, and they right, therefore
His chUdren must suffer. Hence Peter testifies, " If,.
when ye do weU, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God." There, evidently, you
have the great moral consequence of Christ's kingdom
in practical things : a Christian is not buffeted because
he is wrong, but because he does well. There is such
a thing, even among God's people, as the being
buffeted because they have gone astray. What was
the trial of Lot ? And what that of Abraham ? It
was to prove that the latter was faithful ; but Lot's
was because he was unfaithful. Not that Abraham
was always true to God ; but unfaithfulness with him
was the exception, whereas I am afraid it was too
often the case with poor Lot. No doubt, Lot was?

313
more happy in his outward circumstances. He was
in the gate of the city, as we are told — sitting where
he ought not, though where the flesh would like to be.
We are not to suppose that he was drawn into the
ungodliness of the community wherein he dwelt. No
doubt, he could expostulate very well, as to the evil
they were doing ; but, evidently, he was in the place
of dishonour, as far as God was concerned, though not
in the commission of open sin, ff we only think of
moral conduct. He was delivered, through God's
mercy, but ignominiously. His sons-in-law remained
behind ; his wife was made a lasting monument of her
folly and sin. Abraham knew another kind of sorrow,
the sorrow of a man that knew God, and that had
come out at His word. We 'do find faUure in Abra
ham, as for instance in Gen. xii. and xx. But though
there were slips, stUl, looking at his spirit and walk as
a whole, Abraham was a most blessed man of God, and
a sample of faith to all, as God Himself puts him
before us in Heb. xi. and elsewhere. He knew trial,
because he was true to God and to his calling. Lot
knew it, because he was grasping after some present
thing, a place in the world. And what was the issue?
A blow comes upon the world, and Lot was carried
away by it ; and all that he had set his affections upon,
was swept away, and only restored to him through
Abraham's timely succour, to be lost for ever when the
judgment of Sodom came. At the close a dark spot of
shame fastens upon that man, and he had bitterly
to learn that for the believer a worldly path is one of
frequent pain and disappointment, which if persevered
in, ensures present sorrow, and leaves behind it alike
x

314
seeds of misery and fruits of shame. We must have
one or other kind of suffering, if we are children
of God at all ; either the suffering that comes upon the
world, if we are unfaithful to God, or the sufferings of
Christ because we confess him.
Thus the seventh angel- gives the signal that the
mysterious form of the kingdom is at an end. Heavenly
voices proclaim that this world's kingdom is become
that of the Lord and His Christ. Instead of merely
having a kingdom open to faith, and that none but
believers value — a kingdom whose earthly portion is
tribulation and waiting for the Lord, the only place
that hope can take now — instead of this we have an
entire change. God will no longer allow the world to
be the camp, and parade, and snort of Satan ; and
when the seventh trumpet sounds, it is announced that
this world's kingdom of the Lord is come. If it be
objected that the Lord Himself, in John xvUL, de
clares that His kingdom is not of this world, I reply
that this is beside the mark. This world is never the
source of His kingdom, but is it not destined to be its
sphere ? It was not His kingdom then, but that does
not prove that it is not to be His kingdom at some
future time, when He will fight and His servants too,
though in a new way. Here you have the positive
Word of God that the world-kingdom of our Lord and
of His Christ is come. The sovereignty of the universe
•is transferred to the Lord Jesus : " And he shall reign
for ever and ever." Of course the phrase, " for ever
and ever," must be taken in connection with the whole
subject. When eternity is spoken of, it must be taken
in its full and unlimited extent ; but here it can only

315
mean " for ever" in the sense of as long as the world
lasts. And I feel, though it is not the brightest
thought which our souls can enjoy in connection with
the future, yet that the Lord Jesus is to take the
throne of the world, is a very great rest to the heart in
aU the present confusion. It lifts one out of the spirit
of the present ; because, if I know that this is not the
place of the Church, but that I am now in thekingdom
and patience of Jesus Christ, I shall not be wanting
honour or power in this world. We are to have a
much better place in heaven, and the saints who wUl
be on earth when the Lord appears and we are with
Him in glory, will be] in the place of subjects. But
what is the place of those who are in the kingdom and
patience in Christ Jesus? We shall not be subjects -
merely of Christ when He thus comes, but kings,
reigning with Him. Even now those who are rejected
for Christ, are rejeoted kings. They do not merely
sing, " He leveth us," but hath made us kings and
priests unto God and his Father," <&c.
The Lord will have a kingdom suited to the earth ;
but the Jews are not destined to be kings. They wUl
have on earth a very honoured place ; but even when
the nation is converted to Him, they will never have
the nearness that belongs to every soul, Jew or Gen
tUe, who believes in Christ now. Our portion may
seem to unbeUef to be a most trying one, and trying
it is now. But the Lord Jesus. has trodden the path
before, and known suffering such as none other could.
He has gone through it all, and when He comes and
takes the kingdom, He will assign His sufferers their
place. They will be like the near companions of

316
David when he came to the throne, there was David
in the cave of Adullam, and David hunted about
upon the mountains by Saul ; but it was David's faith,.
as a means, that had kindled the flame in their hearts.
They caught the tone of David's soul; and, though
they had a time of sorrow, and there were many fool'-
ish men like Nabal, who could taunt him with being
some runaway servant, yet whUe David was rather
quick to feel and too ready to gird his sword to his
thigh, he takes a word from even a weaker vessel, and
retreats into the better place of grace — the place of
doing well, suffering for it and taking it patiently;
And soon came the throne. What then ? The poor
ones that had known his path of suffering and had
shared his sorrows in the day of his rejection were
now to share his honours. Where was Jonathan in
that day ? It is true that his heart clung to David,
but his faith was not equal to the trial. And what
was the consequence ? He fell on the mountains of
GUboa with his miserable father ; and he whose heart
would willingly have given the first place to David,
and who had already stripped himself for David's sake,.
now falls with the world with which he had outwardly
remained to the last. Thus whatever may be our affec
tion for Christ, if I remain in a false worldly position^
it will never be to my honour in the day of Christ,
when they that suffer shall reign with Him. May we
wait for that kingdom with hearts exercised by the-
truth !
You wiU find that there are many persons who hear
reluctantly about the kingdom of Christ, professing al
ways to like something touching more on the imme-

317
diate need of the soul. But does not God know what
we want? What we most need is not to trust
ourselves, but the living God. Always giving the first
and last place to the cross of Christ, may we not forget
that His kingdom is coming. Though the cross is the
only resting-place for the sinner, the kingdom is what
cheers and encourages the saint in his path of faith and
patience. There were those that foUowed David in his
sufferings — separated, wherever they went, from all
around. They were gathered from all conditions, and
out of all parts : but it was being round David and
sharing God's thoughts and purposes about him, which
sustained them. Though God has anointed the Lord
Jesus Christ for it, still, He has not yet taken the king
dom in the sense of the world-kingdom that I have
been speaking of. Having been rejected and crucified,
He is gone above and we wait for Him, suffering mean
whUe. But the day fast comes when it wUl no longer
be tribulation and patience, but power and glery. AU
will be brought under subjection to Christ, and He wUl
reign for ever and ever.
When this is heard in heaven, the twenty-four elders
rise from their thrones. (Ver. 16.) How sweet is this !
Before, when glory was ascribed to God, or the Lamb
appeared, they rose and cast themselves down before
Him. They were ready for everything that exalted
the Godhead. If it be as the Creator, (chap, iv.,) they
prostrate themselves before Him that sat on the throne ;
or if they hear of the slain Lamb who is about to unveil
the secrets of futurity, (chap, v.,) they fall down before
Him and proclaim Him worthy.
So here now the last trumpet sounds, " the world-

318
kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ" is announced,.
and forthwith the twenty-four elders are on their feces,
giving God thanks, because He had taken to Him His
great power and had reigned. It is true that it must
be through much sorrow for guilty^meh. For the sword1
of judgment has to clear the way, that the sceptre of
righteousness may have free course. " The nations
were angry, and Thy wrath is come," &c: But they
knew well that, though man must come down with a
crash, he will be exalted in the only true and enduring'
way in the kingdom of our Lord and of His Anointed;
And so they give thanks to the Lord God Almighty,
"that art, and wast, [and art to come.]" (Ver. 17.) I
beg leave to omit the last clause, " and art to come" —
npt as a conjecture, (for conjecture on Scripture is pre
sumption,) but because of what the best witnesses for
the word of Godj really maintain. The clause, "and
art to come," was put in to make it square with other
passages which contain a simUar phrase.
In the first chapter, you may remember that the-
salutation was, " Grace unto you, and peace, from Him
which is, and which was, and which is to come." All
these three clauses are from God. They assert that
He is Jehovah, the One that is, and was, and is to-
come '; they are almost a translation into the Greek
of the name Jehovah — One who is always the same.
Tbe same thing is repeated, chap. i. 8 : only there it is
not John's salutation to the churches, but the direct
word of God Himseff : "Iam Alpha and Omega, saith
the Lord God, which is, and which was, and which is
to come, the Almighty" — evidently pointing to the
unchanging continuity of His being. In chap, iv.,,

319
there is a little departure from the order given
in the previous passages, and quite rightly: "Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is,
and is to come;" not "which is, and was," &c,
but here, " which was and is." It may seem a slight
change, but it is not without meaning. The emphasis
in chap. i. is thrown upon the words, " which 'is" be
cause God is presenting Himself as the ever existing
One. " Wliich was," seems put first in chap, iv., be
cause the Uving creatures, (who had been the instru
ments of God's judgments in past dispensations, as they
will be in the future,) look back upon the past, and
therefore do not lay stress upon " which is," but begin
with what God had been all through the past. They
had been seen first at the garden of Eden ; next, they
formed a sort of representation of the judicial power
of God, in the tabernacle and in the temple ; and then,
finally, they were active when Jerusalem was swept
away, and judgment came upon Israel. Now, here,
these Uving creatures, which had been the witnesses of
God's ways all through, begin with what God was, the
perfection of His being, as, if one may so say, it had
been historically unfolding. In chap. xi. there is the
omission of the words, " and art to come," .because the
arrival of the world-kingdom of the Lord is here cele
brated, so that there was no need to add anything.
• Before He came in His kingdom, it was appropriate ;
but it would be hardly suitable here. As I find that
the best authorities reject the words, it is surely
legitimate to try to show how the better reading har
monizes with the truth of God in the passage itself.
The general meaning of the next verse (18) is plain

320
" The nations were wroth, and thy wrath is come, and
the time of the dead, that they should be judged," &c,
all which was to be executed afterwards. It is a sort
of comprehensive view of what would take place from
the beginning of the kingdom, when the various cor
ruptions should be judged, and during the mUlennium
up to " the end," when all judgment should be closed.
The three great thoughts, then, of this chapter, as we
have seen, are priestly worship ; next, a prophetic tes
timony ; and, finally, the kingdom announced in
heaven as come. The Lord grant that our hearts,
brought into the enjoyment of such privileges, may be
with Christ, not merely because of the blessing, but
for His own sake ! Christ is better than all the bless
ings that come even from Him ; and we shaU never
rightly enjoy what He gives, except in proportion as
we enjoy Himself.
That the greater part of the chapter refers to the
antipapal witnesses, crowned by the Reformation,
though urged with confidence and with no lack of in
genuity, I cannot but regard as a total faUure, involv
ing in some places a sense not only different from, but
the reverse pf, the express language of the prophecy.
Thus, the giving of a reed like a rod to John is sup
posed to denote the royal authorization of the Reformer
whom the prophet here impersonated. This is said to '
be fulfilled after the death of Frederick, the Elector of
Saxony, when his brother and successor, John, assumed
to himself supremacy in ecclesiastical matters, and
exercised it resplutely by forming new ecclesiastical
constitutions, modelled on the principles of Luther, the

321 •
example being followed elsewhere — in Germany, Den
mark, Sweden, and afterwards England. How singu
lar that men of God should be so prepossessed with
Protestantism, and so enamoured even of its blots, as
to turn the word of God into a sanction of the very
things in which the Reformers departed from Scrip
ture as widely, perhaps, as they did from Rome ! I
am aware that the appUcation of the rod in this pas
sage to the intervention of civil authority is, at least,
as old as Brightman ; but this pught to have given
time for considering and rejecting so unworthy a no
tion. Nothing can be simpler, it seems to me, than
the truth intended. In prospect of the approaching
divine government of the earth, Israel and their land
become, as ever, the central object. The Lord, there
fore, takes special cognizance of them, marking what
He owns and what He leaves out. The outside multi
tude are disowned; account is taken only of those who
worshipped within — a distinction far indeed from
being true of Protestants in contrast with Papists.
The reed was the instrument of measurement, not of
gold (as for the heavenly Jerusalem), but " Uke a rod."
There appears to be an allusion to Zech. U. (and Ezek.
xl. 3), with just such differences as there are in verse
4 to Zech iv. There it is a measuring line (oxou/lov
yeap-erpiKdv), and the entire city is to be measured.
Here it is but a special part, measured by that which
was not longer than a staff, which the Lord reserved
as His portion during the crisis, the rest being pro
faned by the GentUes for forty-two months. It is very
far from being the due re-establishment of Jerusalem,
but it is the little pledge of all that is to foUow. ' A

. 322
simUar remark appUes here as before. Precisely so-
far as the Reformers slipped into Jewish ideas and
order, instead of falling back upon the true and
heavenly peculiarities of the Church of God, there may
be an appearance of definite fulfilment. Had they walked
in separation from the world, the author of Horae
Apoc. must have lost a large proportion pf his apparent
identifications. In the two witnesses, which is the next subject of
importance, this comes out very clearly. Their earlier
history is supposed to be retrospectively given, along
with what remained to be fulfilled. As to thefr person
ality, we are agreed : they are not things or books,
but persons who testify. But the testimony of Jesus,
it is well to note, means not merely for Him, but
the spirit of prophecy proper to this book.. The
gospel is not the subject. Further, the two olive-
trees and the two candlesticks have nothing to do with
the churches (or & eW). That theme is completely
closed, as we have seen repeatedly; and we are here-
avowedly in presence of the proclamation of Christ's
title to land and sea. Hence, as it is added, these stand
" before the Lord of the earth." In a word, the con
nexion is not with the church-state, which then will
have been long .past, but with the order predicted in
Zech. iv., which undoubtedly refers to the mUennial
provision for the light of God in the midst of Israel.
Doubtless, there are points of distinction ; for our
chapter belongs in its full meaning, to the interval
after the rapture of the saints and before the thousand
years. There is one candlestick, all of gold, in
Zechariah, with its bowl, its seven lamps, its seven

323
pipes, and an olive-tree on either side ; perfect unity
and perfect development. Whatever may have been
the then historical accomplishment in Zerubbabel and
Joshua, the two anointed ones of the Jewish prophet
point, in their fulness, to the kingly and priestly offices
of Christ, the grand means of dispensing and maintaining
divine Ught in " the world to come." Here it is only
a testimony to these things ; and therefore, as the least
sufficient testimony according to the law, there were
two witnesses. The oil here is associated, not with joy,
but with mourning ; and the witnesses are clothed, not
with the garment of praise, but with the sackcloth of
affliction. Avenging power is theirs, like that of
Moses and Elijah. How vain to bend all this to the
witnessing Christians, Western or Eastern, earUer or
later ! Tlieir calling practically was to resist not evil,
to love their enemies, to bless those who cursed them,
to do good to such as hated them, to pray for their
persecutors ; and this, as the Lord expressly illustrated
it, after the pattern of their heavenly Father, who,
instead of shutting heaven that it rain not, contrari-
'wise sends it in indiscriminate mercy on just and unjust.
Of course, on the historical view (which, in a
general way, I allow), the days of their prophecy are
years, and the judgments must be taken figuratively.
But how, ff it be pretended that this is all fulfilled?
Had the Paulicians and the Waldenses (supposing them
to be true witnesses untainted by heresy) authority to
withhold ' the dew of grace all their days, or to smite
with plagues as often as they would ? To curse the
earth with a spiritual drought is still more tremendous
than ff it were in a physical sense, even though their

324
power embraced heaven, earth, the waters, and their
enemies. I perceive, however, that an effort is made
to escape the difficulty of the devouring fire thatissues
from them, by referring to the final fiery judgment on
the adversaries (H. A. II. pp. 208, 394) ; but what can
be lamer than such shifts? Present judicial power,
continuous or occasional, against all opposers is the
true and full meaning : like Elijah's in the midst of an
apostate people, and like Moses' in the midst of a
people oppressed and enslaved by the GentUes. But as
their testimony is prophetic and not the gospel, so it is
armed with judgment instead of breathing grace.
Righteous vengeance guards the claims of the Lord of
the earth. Heaven is the source, centre, and home of
grace. It is in the vaguest conceivable way that a
delineation like this can be made to suit proper
Christian witnesses ; arid it is chiefly the mixtm-e of
Jewish feeling and conduct, found alas ! too often and
especiaUy in dark times, which lends a colour to such
applications. I hardly like to notice the fancied coin
cidence of the black goatskin of the Vaudois and tiie
sackcloth, or of the motto of the Counts of Lucerna •
("lux lucet intenebris") and the candlestick.
But now comes another obvious and grave objection
to the scheme of the Horae Apoc. The natural mean
ing of verse 7 of course is, that when their 1260 days
of testimony have expired, the Beast kills the witnesses.
But this does not fit in with past facts. Criticism is
therefore summoned to substitute an ambiguous word,
so as to convey that after their death many of the days
may yet remain to run out. Difficulties are pressed,
but they are not insuperable. For the witnesses have

325
an exceptional place, and therefore might be miracu
lously maintained for their allotted period, whUe saints
generally were suffering and slain. And the Beast's
42 months might coincide with the 1260 days of the
witnesses consistently with the brief interval of 3£ days'
exposure and their rise and ascent to heaven, the earth
quake, &c. For what act against God or His people is
attributed to him afterwards ? I know of none. So
that it might stUl be true that their testimony and his
"practising" close together, while a short space might
intervene before the execution of God's judgment on
the Beast in the height of his triumph. In other
words, the 42 months do not define the epoch of the
Beast's destruction, but of his being permitted " to
work." Daniel entirely strengthens this conclusion ;
for we find, in chap, xri., an interval of some length
after the 3J years, before full blessing comes.
It is extraordinary that a learned person should cite
Gal. v. 1 6 and Heb..ix. 6, as parallel with Rev. xi. 7. For
it is plain, that from the absence of the article, the first
passage goes no farther than fulfilling flesh's lust. That
is, it could not mean the termination of the whole
career of lust. The anarthrous usage here is, in fact,
the strong and needed assurance that walking in the
Spirit is the divine safeguard against fulfilling anything
of the sort. In our text, it isa definite testimony, of which
the length had been carefully specified; and whether you
translate it finished or completed, the full time is, it
seems to me, necessarUy involved. The passage in Heb.
ix., every scholar must know, has no bearing on the
case, because the tense implies a continued or habitually
repeated action; whUe the tense in Rev. x. implies

326
aa action complete or concluded. Indeed, it is plain
that to the interpreters in general^ this wprd has
proved an insuperable difficulty. Hence the ren
dering of Mede, " when they shall be about , finish
ing," and so Bp. Newton.- Equally offensive to mere
grammar is that of Daubuz, " whilst they shall
perform their testimony ;" or the earlier view of
Mr. Elliot,* " when the witnesses shall have been ful
filling." The truth is that, interpreted with simpUcity,
according to the regular meaning of the word and in
harmony with the context, the witnesses are divinety
protected the 1260 days of their testimony. Then,
their mission having been completed, and not before,
God permits that the Beast should fight,- overcome,
and slay them. But this, applied strictly on the year-
day scale, completely destroys Mr. E.'s interpretation
in particular, if not the Protestant schopl generally,
save that some of them refer a part, as being yet un
fulfilled, to the future.
Manifestly the previous dislocation of the pro
phecy leads to the next error, that " the great street of
the city," or "the street of the great city," (verse 8),
refers to Rome and not Jerusalem. Now, I am not
disposed to deny that, on the prolonged view, such, an
application is left room for, especially considering the
peculiar way in which the city is here alluded to. But
this is the utmost which can be fairly" granted, and it
not at all excludes the closing fulfilment in the actual

* Is it right to refer to Hippolytns, as if he agreed with Mr.
K's idea of the witnesses making complete their testimony long
before the whole period assigned, or their own death ? The' very
reverse was his belief. ¦

327
city wherein the Lord of the witnesses was crucified.
The context seems to me quite decisive that Jerusalem
is intended ; for nobody doubts that, whether literally
or figuratively understood, the holy city of the opening-
verses (the centre of the testimony, though in the face
of profaning GentUes) is not Rome but Jerusalem. It
is agreed that the Beast is Roman, but this in no way
strengthens the theory that Romeis is the city here in
tended. His making war upon the witnesses is, on the
•contrary, much more naturally appUcable to a locaUty
not under his own immediate jurisdiction. No doubt
Babylon is the symboUc designation of Rome in chap.
xvU, where Rome is confessedly the great city, and so,
of course, in chaps, xiv. xvi. But Babylon has not been
named as yet, and there is" no reason why Jerusalem
also should not be so styled; especially as the figurative
terms, Sodom and Egypt, conjoined, are nowhere else
connected with Rome, and the fact which winds up
the description (" where also their Lord was crucified"),
points to Jerusalem.* If it were said <kAi}0?7 histori-
•cally (or k<?jcXt;t(u, the present result of the past,) there
might have been more difficulty; for, though Scripture
had already likened Jerusalem of old to Sodom, it had
not to Egypt. But the reference is to the moral features
of Jerusalem, as it is to be in the days of the witnesses,
and so KaXeirai is strictly correct. And certainly, ff
Nineveh had the title as well as the Chaldean Babylon
in the O. T., it is hard to see why, in the Apocalypse,
* Were the reading such as Mr. E. repeatedly represents it (of
course through oversight), irXareu/. tvs it. tijs p.. (H. A., Vol. II.,
p. 396, note 4, and yet more incorrectly in VoL IV., p. 543, note
2), there had been no room for this rendering, which some very
competent judges prefer.

328
Jerusalem might not have it as well as Rome, supposing
that the context looks that way. Thus, the . question
to what city our chapter refers must be judged by the
conclusion to which we come, as to all this part of the
Revelation, and as to chaps, x. and xi. in particular.
The grand point is; that the things which come to pass
after " the things that are," do not belong (save in the
general moral bearing already and so often acknowledged)
to the present order of thingSj but to the transitional
epoch when God is about to bring the First-born into
the inhabited earth. Therefore He wUl then be busied
with the provisional government of the world, and hence
specially with the Jews, who are the prominent object
and direct instrument of His earthly rule. Accordingly,
the witnesses, as we have remarked before, are said to
stand before the Lord of "the earth," for that is in
question, not His ways with the church.
Hence, whatever may be thought of the coincidence
in mystic reckoning between the not very truthful
speech at the Fifth Lateran Council, (" Jam nemo t e-
clamat, nullus obsistit,") which in the skilful hands of
Mr. E. is made to denote the extinction of the witnesses,
and Luther's posting up his theses at Wittemberg three
and a half years afterwards, which denotes their resur
rection, I cannot but regard the interpretation as forced
and unnatural. The only unbiassed way of taking the
account is that the 1260 days were fulfilled when the
prophets were slain. What more absurd than to imply
that, in spite of their death, they are stiU safe and sound
for centuries afterwards, and that the sackcloth testi
mony on earth can co-exist* with their ascent to heaven,
* The alleged case of Bev. vii. 1, 2, has nothing, to my mind,
in common.

329
understand heaven as one may ? But once the Protes
tant scheme is made the exclusive fulfilment, can one
be surprised that the marvellous explanations given to
the earUer part of the chapter are only surpassed by
increasing wonders in the latter portion ? Certainly,
few councUs had less claim to be considered made up
of delegates from the peoples, and kindred, and
tongues, and nations, than that almost exclusively
Italian assembly. Dean Waddington, who did not
write for the purpose of Ulustrating Rev. xi., records
that the Bohemian heresy " was again rising into for
midable attention " at this very time. Who can think
that the breath of the orator slew them? If they
refused to answer the summons to Rome, John Huss
had done the same before them, and Luther did so
after them. It may have been want of courage ; but
Prague, Augsburg, and Worms were not the same
thing as such a council held in Rome. I need not
dwell on the enactment refusing Christian burial
to heretics, the Pope's extraordinary donation of — not
the golden rose only, but — the sovereignty of half the
Eastern world to the King of Portugal, the grant of a
plenary papal indulgence, the singing of the Te Deum,
or the splendour of the dinners and fetes given on the
triumphant close of the CouncU.
But the deductions from verses 12, 13, must not be
passed over. The call to the witnesses is made a sum
mons from the highest authorities to ascend " the
heaven of political elevation and dignity," and was fid-
filled first by the pacification of Nuremberg (1532),
and yet more by the Peace of Passau twenty years
after. The cloud is conceived to imply that these poU-
T

330
tical triumphs were the terminating result of Christ's
special intervention, and to identify the cause of the
witnesses with the Reformation. The effects of this
mighty revolution in the overthrow of the tenth
part of the city, and the slaying of seven chiliads,*
are set forth as the fall of papal dominion in England,
and in the seven Dutch United Provinces. And the
ascending Protestants gave glory to the God of heaven,
as on Mary's death, Elizabeth's ascension, the destruc
tion of the Armada, and the reign of William III.
Thus, commercial and maritime and colonial power
crowning Protestant England and Holland, it began
to appear why the Covenant angel planted his right
• foot on the sea, his left only on the mainland. Insular,
missionaiy England was to be the principal instrument
of asserting Christ's claims to universal dominion and
gospel truth against papal usurpation and lies. Could
* Some readers will be curious to learn by what process of
legerdemain these slain chiliads can be metamorphosed into the
Protestant Dutch provinces which threw off the Spanish yoke.
Cocceius threw out the notion first, but it was rejected by Vitringa
and the more sober commentators, till Mr E. re-asserted it. It is
said that the Hebrew equivalent, "ft», was used in the course
of Jewish history for a tribual subdivision, without reference to
that number, and even for the district in question. On this very
slender basis, in conjunction with the old error of the Christian
twelve tribes of Israel,' all is founded. The fact is, that j^tXids in
the Apocalypse and the New Testament generally, is used in no
such contradistinction to the numeral adjective. It is applied, in
the simplest possible way, to soldiers, believers, and Israelites. It
is said of angels, of men, and of a measure. Nor is there in the
Septuagint the least real ground that I can see for taking ^., in
even one instance, as a province, or territorial subdivision. Yet
the substantive occurs more commonly than the adjective. The
truth is that, according to the meaning of the verse, the seven
thousands (or complete body devoted to death) fell with the tenth
part of the city, not those there, and this here. And the affrighted
remnant consists of the other inhabitants of the guilty city, in con
trast with the complement of the slain in the sphere of the earth
quake's ravages.

331
one ask for more palpable evidence of the absurd and
mischievous effects of a wrong system? To refute
¦such trifling with the word of God appears to me
hardly called for. And what can we say to the delu
sion that the loud voices in heaven, under the seventh
trumpet (ver 15), proceeded from " the religious world
of the great Protestant powers?" Or that its "general
indications coincide with the more prominent charac
teristics and concomitants of the past French Revolu
tion? (Vol. III., 299-332.) We must impute these
extravagancies to the necessity of the case ; for the
text requires that the last woe should follow quickly
after that of the Turks (ver. 14). Hence the'desire to
make out something in the seventeenth century, be
sides the great Reformation of the sixteenth, so as to
fill up the great gap that follows. It is the more
strange, as Mr/E. had already (Vol. U., p. 276) made
the seventh trumpet to include not the events alone,
that are preparatory to Christ's reign, but the millen
nium itself, and even all other revealed events be
yond .it.
Ver, 19. I think that the opening of the temple in
heaven marks a new portion of the book, and that it
is therefore connected, not so much with what went
weDt before, as with what follows ; for it is clear that
the verses before (15-18) gave the sounding of the last
trumpet, and the announcement of the consequences of
God's taking to Him His great power and reigning —
not the mere sway of man, but the power of God put
forth in an altogether new way. There was a sample
of His power, but not in connexion with Christ, at the

332
time when He fought the battles of His people and put
down the Canaanites. But then it was exercised
within failing, guUty Israel, without their Messiah;
and consequently that power was often obliged to be
put forth against themselves and not against their
enemies only, because God can never have alliance
with sin. But now, under the last trumpet, the king
dom of the Lord God and of His Christ was come,
and this is what the earth looks for, and the Lord
Himself too, for He is waiting "till His enemies be
made His footstool." Then the whole scene here
below will be changed. He will come and execute
wrath as terrible as His patience has been divine ; and
the effect will be that, " when His judgments are in
the earth, the inhabitants of the world wUl learn
righteousness." There wUl be the presence of the
Lord Jesus and the absence of Satan; there wUl be,,
not only the execution of wrath on the Uving, but
finally also the judgment of the dead. And these-
things seem to be brought together under the same
trumpet. All is anticipated from the beginning of
the kingdom to the end of it— aU the main displays of
divine glory in the government of both quick and dead.
And there, evidently, the subject closes; for the
opening of the temple of God in heaven (ver. 19}
ushers in another and wholly different vision, which
has not directly to do with God in His kingdom, but
here, first of all, it is a new theme that comes before us.

CHAPTER XII.
Under the seventh trumpet the elders anticipated
the effects of the throne's being actually established
over the earth. But now the temple is again seen, so
that we go back here, for we have God's purposes in
connexion with the Lord Jesus from the very begin
ning — the man-child who was to rule all the nation.
with a rod of iron, being clearly, as I think, Christ
Himself. It is God reverting to his purpose in Christ,
born as the heir of the world — not in relation to the
calling of the church, but as the man of might,
destined to govern all, and with no feeble hand. It
appears to me that this accounts for another remark
able feature of the vision. Christ's death and resurrec
tion are not alluded to, but His birth and His rapture
(not His death) are give in a summary manner. We
have the woman in pain to be delivered; and the
man-chUd is born; and then we have Him taken away
to the throne of God above. Of course this is not
given as history. The Lord Jesus had been born and
had died long ago : ff it had been history, His all-impor
tant death would not, could not, have been passed over.
Here it is plain that the Holy Ghost connects
the birth of Christ and His rapture to the throne of
God in heaven with Israel and the purposes of God
about them. The birth of Christ is of special impor
tance to Israel. The genealogy of the Messiah is there
fore carefully given in Matt, i.; and in chap. U. we
find all Jerusalem was troubled at His birth. This
was the working of the dragon. Herod was a sort of
expression of the dragon's power, who would gladly

334
have devoured the clrild, as soon as it was born, through
that evil king as his instrument. The child was deli
vered; but in the history, instead of being taken up to
the throne of God, He was carried down into Egypt
So that our chapter cannot be regarded as historical,
in the early part at least; and even where historical
facts are alluded to, they are not arranged in order of fact
at all, but simply linked with God's thoughts about
Israel. The church, as much, is passed over. It may
be involved mystically in the person and destiny of
the man-chUd, but there is no gradual unfolding-
of the thoughts of God as to His haying a heavenly
bride for His Son. Nothing is said about a bride
for the man-chUd. We have the mother but not
the Lamb's wife here. Israel was the mother of Christ.
It was of them, as concerning the flesh that the Christ
was born. This is the great point which the Apostle
Paul urges on the Jews in Rom. ix., because the Jews
thought he made Ught of their privUeges, and was
against them, in consequence of the strong way in
wliich he brought out God's mercy to the GentUes.
But it was not so at all. He demonstrates, in fact,
that they overlooked their highest distinction. To them
were given the adoption, and the glory, and the cove
nants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God,
and the promises. They had the fathers too, and last
of all, to them was given a Son, the man-chUd, whom
they knew not — the Christ; for of them, as to the flesh,
He came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Far
from lessening the just glory of Israel, the Apostle
had a much more exalted view of it than themselves.
As in Rom. ix. Paul does not go on to speak of
the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, so it is

335
here. Accordingly, you find these two thoughts
connected in Rev. xii. The man-chUd is brought
forth, but leaves the scene where the dragon was
opposed to Him, and takes His place upon the thione
ef God, which none but a divine person was entitled to
do. By and by He wiU sit on His own throne, but
that wUl be when He governs the earth in a direct
and public way; for God wUl never give up the right
and title of the Lord J.esus to the earth as weU as
to the heavens. He has acquired a title by redemp
tion, besides His essential one as Creator. But then
He is going to do much better than to rule all nations
with a rod of iron, or even bless His earthly people.
His heart is to be shown. He must have a free course
and a due object for aU His love. Christ wants to have
those that deserve nothing but judgment as the sharers
of His glory above. What is done by Christ and for
Christ, whUst He is upon the thione of God, is not
aUuded to here. Israel is in question. These few
thoughts may be helpful to understand the proper
place and bearing of this new vision.
The temple of God, then, is opened in heaven,* and
* The true reading is probably 6 iv rS ovpavv (i. e. which is in
heaven). At any rate, so the Alexandrian, and the Paris rescript,
the Leicester, a Vatican cursive (579), the Middlehillthe Mortfort
and one of the Parham (17. ) manuscripts say, not to speak of the
Cod. Coislin. of Andreas and Victorinus. Mr. E. is also quite
wrong in saying that "according to Tregelles this is a mistake."
It is true that, in his first edition, he omits this various reading,
though long before noted by -Walton, Mill, Bengel, ( Wetstein
probably), and even adopted without question in the text, not of
Wordsworth only, but of Lachmann and Tischendorf, as it appears
to be by Tregelles, judging from the new edition of 1859. How it
was that Mr. E. did not find it in the critical editions of Griesbach
and of Scholz, it is not for me to say : but there it unquestionably
may be found by any who examine them. In Hahn's manual one
could not rightly expect such a thing.

336
there was seen in it the ark of His covenant, the pledge
of His faithfulness to His people. For, as we have
observed in the last chapter, there was a certain
measured remnant that drew near to God in the way
of worship, and to these witnesses were given a testi
mony, to the Lord's rights over the earth, as finaUy
there was the announcement of the kingdom. Now,
we have another train of idea. There was the throne,
and a rainbow round about ii^in Rev.' iv. Here there
is the temple, and the ark of God's covenant seen in it.
This may prepare the way for the difference between
the two subjects. There it was God's power over
creation. Providential judgments were about to fall
upon the earth, and the rainbow was to show, before a
judgment was experienced, that even then God would
remember mercy. The rainbow round the throne in
chap, iv., arid round the head of the mighty angel in
chap. x. before the sounding of this last trumpet,
guaranteed that God was working, not for the destruc
tion but for the deliverance of the earth. But now
we come to a further point; for blessed as the throne
is, it does not bring us into such depths of God's
character, as do the associations of the temple and the
ark. Displays of divine power are not so much what
draw out our hearts in worship, as when we draw near
tp the dwelling-place and heme of God Himself; for,
though there is no one thing we have so truly to be
ashamed of as our poor and inadequate answer to His
holiness, yet it is just there God has met us in His
grace. Now, He is going to show us not merely creation
and mankind smitten, but Satan's connexion with the

337
final apostasy of this age. There had been a figurative
allusion to his influence in chap. ix. 2, where smoke
issues out of the abyss or bpttomless pit; then, in chap.
xi. 7, the beast ascends cut pf that pit ; but here the
evU seurce is thoroughly disclosed. And is it not pre
cious to find that, before God discovers to us the tide
of full evil, and shows us not merely the development
and the instruments among men, but the great hidden
spring of it all, and the person of him who puts himself
at its head, and who is yet to work out this tremendous
conspiracy against God — to find that, before all this,
the temple of God in heaven was opened, and there
was seen in His temple the ark of His covenant?* For
the heart under such circumstances wants not the mani
festation of God's power merely, but to know that His
holiness is secured, and that, in virtue of it, His people
stand. Accordingly we find that when the temple is
opened above, it is not a rainbow that is seen, but
God's connexion with His people is set forth in the
ark which now appears; for the ark was always nearest
to God, and what faith therefore most clave to. Israel
showed themselves to be dead to all right and godly

* Mr. E. asks, \ Vol. Ill, p. 300, note 4, "Ought not this word to
have been always translated covenant, not testament ; especially in
Heb. ix. ?" I answer in every place, except in Heb. ix. 16, 17, where
the reference is clearly to the " inheritance" just named in verse
15. This, it seems to me, furnishes occasion to the inspired
writer to found a fresh illustration of the all-important death
of Christ upon the idea of. a will or testament, which comes
into effect only on the demise of the testator, tou StaBepJvov.
The latter word never means covenanting victim, nor do I believe
it possible that it should. It was technically used for such dis
posing of property. If these two verses are read parenthetically
ind with this sense, all is clear. I have no wish to speak dog
matically on a point so nice ; but such is the view which commends
tself most to me.

338
feeling, when they were willing to expose it even in
the hope of deliverance from the PhUistines. The
dying grief of Eli, and the living transports of David,
alike show what the ark was in the eyes of the true-
hearted. Here it is the ark of God's covenant in
heaven; not merely that of Israel which might be taken
away. Even the wise king did not adequately value
the ark of old. And this shows the superiority of
David; for faith is always, if I may so say, wiser than
wisdom. If we had the largest human intelligence,
and even the highest natural wisdom that God can con
fer, it never rises up to the height of simple faith.
Solomon appears before the great altar. It was a
magnificent thing. He was an august king, and brought
suited offerings. But David showed his faith in this,
that it was not the altar merely which he prized, but
the ark most of all. The ark was a hidden thing; not
even the high priest could see it, save wrapped in clouds
of incense. One had to walk by faith, and not by sight
in order to appreciate the ark of God. j Therefore David
could not rest until the ark had its settled place in Israel ;
and he never had deeper joy than when the ark
came back to Jerusalem. It is true that the ark brought
judgment upon all who despised it, and even David's
heart was afraid for a time, and the ark rested in the
house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. But David regained
the spring of ccnfidence in Gpd, which generaUy so
marked his career; for we find him afterwards rejoicing
when the ark was welcomed back more than ever he
did in all his victories put together.
Here, it is not the ark of man's covenant at all, but
of God's covenant; the temple of God in heaven is

339
opened, not on earth yet (i. e. it is only the purpose
of God about it) ; and, associated with this, the ark of
His covenant is seen, the sure pledge of mercy, and
sign of His faithfulness to His people. But still the
circumstances were such as called for judgment; and
accordingly " there were lightnings, and voices, and
thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail,"* all
which were the tokens of God's judgment. The day
of peace and glory was yet to come. Thus you get
these two things united : first, the pledges of God's
interest in, and triumph for, His people; and then
the signs of His judgment upon the evil that must be
set aside before the time of full blessing.
"And there appeared a great sign in heaven; a
woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her
feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." (Ver. 1.)
I think it probable there may be an allusion here to
the well-known dream that Joseph had of the sun,
moon, and stars, explained by himself as alluding to
his parents and brethren. Here the symbols are more
general, and naturally refer — the sun to supreme glory,
the moon to that which is derived, and the stars to in
ferior or subordinate authority. All this is seen in
connexion with Israel; for God intends, as far as this
* It is amazing that the true relation of this verse escaped the
notice of so many able Christian men, owing, I suppose to the mere
fact of its being unfortunately tacked to the end of chap, xi., in
stead of opening the new division commencing with chap. xii.
If Mr. E. had only observed it, he might have been spared much
trouble ; but then he would have lost the coincidence of the "great
hail" with the storm in July, 1788 ! ! and the " earthquake" of the
French Bevolution in 1789. But the hailstorm he had hitherto
interpreted as an invasion from the cold north-east. Where is the
consistency of this vaunted scheme ? And what had the opening
of the temple of Ood, or the sight of the ark of His covenant
there, to do with the French democrats?

340
world is concerned, all power and glory to circle round
Israel. As for the church, she will have all in perfec
tion with Christ, and in Christ; but as far as the earth
is concerned, Israel will be the centre. The woman is
the symbol of God's purpose as bound up with Israel.
In the next verse, we have another thing; it is the
man by the woman. And so we find that "being with
chUd, she crieth, travaUing in birth, and pained to
bring forth," and a Uttle after we read (ver. 5) that
" she brought forth a man-chUd who is to rule all the
nations," &c. Thus, we see it was not the woman who
was of such importance for her own sake, though
clothed with all these symbols of glorious -power; but
the reason is, because from her comes the man-child.
And we shall find this thought is not at all foreign
to scripture. Take, for instance, the Psalms, where
the same thing is alluded to in a mystical way. Thus
in Psalm IxxxvU. the word is that the Lord is exalted;
His foundation is in the holy mountains. He is
challenging the world to compare their best with what
He can produce. "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion,"
'&c. He chose Zion out of all the cities of Israel,
because God's sovereign choice must be carried out,
even among His people. "I wUl make mention of Rahab
and Babylon to them that know me." Rahab was the
figurative name for Egypt, and Egypt and Babylon
were the most famous nations in the Psalmist's time.
PhUistia, with Tyre and Ethiopia, were, no doubt,
powers of inferior order, but extremely celebrated for
their trade, commerce, skill, &c. Of them it shall be
said, "This man was born there." And of Zion,
¦<irTliiH a.r\r\ tliat. man was l-irvrn in \\ay a-nA +Tia TT: «.!. nd

341
Himseff shall establish her. The Lord shall count,"
&c. I believe there is a dim allusion to the birth of
the Christ, where God and His people glory, so to
speak, (whatever other man may have been,) that this
man was born there. The reference is, I think, to the
Lord Jesus chiefly, if not alone. Let others boast of
their great men, but " the Lord shall count when he
writeth up the people, that this man was born there."
When He writeth up the people, of whom does He
think? Why, of Christ ; of the One that was born of
the woman, bom of Israel, and now caught up to
heaven. When we are on the look-out for Christ,
passages wUl be found to bear upon Him, more or less
distinctly, all through scripture; for He who wrote
the Scriptures had Christ ever in view. It is not the
death of ¦¦ Christ we hear in this Psalm, because this
would have brought the sin of the Jews prominently
before them. But it is His birth, which was or should
have been unmingled joy. And, therefore, when
Jesus was born, the heavenly hosts broke forth in
praises, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good-will in men." There was no trouble among
them, whatever might be the feelings of Herod and all
Jerusalem. Their great joy was whatChristwould.be
for God and men, and especially for the city of David:
in other words, just the suited feelings of those
heavenly ones, that were not occupied with themselves,
permitted to see the counsels of God as to His
people. There is another scripture or two I would briefly
refer to, where we may get help as to the meaning of
this woman and her chUd, not merely as to the fact

322
of the birth, but in its connexion with prophecy.
Micah v. furnishes a passage that both acquires and
gives light when compared with Rev. xii. " Now gather
thyself in troops, 0 daughter of troops; he hath laid
siege against us ; they shall smite the Judge of Israel
with a rod upon the cheek." The last words set forth,
what we have not in the Revelation, the rejection '
of Christ and the dishonour done to Him by His own
people. Then the Holy Ghost interrupts the course of
the chapter by a parenthesis, for such is the whole of
verse 2. "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though
thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out
of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be the
ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been of old,
from everlasting." It is Christ, after the flesh, who is
God over all, blessed for ever. There you have the
two points of the glory of Christ : His glory as a man,
as Messiah; and withal, the One whose goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting.' Then having
¦shown who this was, (the man to be smitten but a
divine person, which had made the sin of smiting
Him unpardonable, if it had not been for infinite
mercy,) He takes up again what we had in the first
verse. " They shall smite the Judge of Israel with a
rod upon the cheek .... Therefore will He give
them up, until the time that she which travaUeth hath
brought forth; then the remnant of His brethren shall
return unto the chUdren of Israel." Mark the term
of their being given up by God — " untU the time that
she which travaileth," &c. This shows that we are not
to take the allusion to the birth of the man-chUd as a
mere Uteral reference to Christ's birth into the world,

343
but rather in conjunction with the accomplishment of
the purposes of God respecting Israel. Christ was
born (Micah v. 2) : then comes His rejection, and, as
it were measuring His rejection on earth and His
exaltation in heaven, the calling of the church. But
the prophecy here passes by all that has to do with the
church and takes up Christ's brith figuratively, con
necting it with the unfolding of the divine purposes,
which is itself symbolized by a birth. The Judge of
Israel is smitten with a rod upon the cheek, and there
fore Israel is given up until the time when, to use the
language of Jeremiah, Jacob's trouble is come, but he
shall be saved out of it. Here it is put figuratively,
as Zion travaUing till the birth of this great purpose
of God touching Israel. " Then the remnant of His
brethren shall return unto the children of Israel."
All the time the church is being called, the remnant
of the Jews ("those who should be saved") are taken
out of Israel, cease to look for Jewish hopes as their
portion, and are absorbed into the church. But when
God's earthly purpose begins to take effect in the
latter day, the remnant of that time will form part of
Israel and wUl resume their ancient Jewish place.
The natural branches shall be graffed into their own
oUve-tree. Another scripture speaks of Zion's bringing forth.;
but it is of a very different kind. In the last chapter
of Isaiah the allusion is to a birth, but there it is said
to be in one day. " A voice of noise from the city, a
voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth
recompense to his enemies. Before she travailed, she
brought forth ; before her pain came, she was delivered

344
of a man-chUd. Who hath heard such a thing ? who
hath seen such things ? ShaU 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
chUdren. Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to
bring forth, saith the Lord, shall I cause to bring
forth, and shut the womb, saith thy God? Rejoice ye
with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love
her," &c. It is evidently not the time spoken of in
Rev. xU. So that it is plain that there are three chief
critical points connected with Israel's history. First,
there is the birth of the Messiah; secondly, the pas
sage in Micah, the ripening and effect of God's counsels
regarding Israel, which is to be connected with Rev.
xri. where God brings out His purpose concerning
Israel, before the beast and antichrist are shown fuUy ;
and, thirdly, this passage in Isaiah lxvi. which is
a sort of contrast with the others, the circumstances
mentioned being the express reverse of those that
accompany natural birth and of the figure used in
our chapter. The three passages may be put together
thus: — first, Micah v. shows us the birth of Christ
and Israel given up tUl the result of God's counsels as
to them shall appear by and by; next, Rev. xU. un
folds the time of sorrow* just before the last tribulation,
when Satan, losing his old seats, attempts new plans in
order to frustrate God's design to bless and magnify

* Some, shrinking from the hypothesis that the birth of Christ
is here alluded to, as being at variance with the exclusively future
bearing of the Apocalypse, incline to the view that the parturition
of the women means, in symbol, the formation of Christ in the
hearts of Israel, or a certain part of them, before the final crisis.
Compare Gal. iv. 19.

345
Israel ; and then, lastly, Isaiah lxvi. is the time when
aU sorrow is past, and when before Zion travailed, she
brought forth — Israel's full and sudden blessing after
the Lord has appeared. All previous sorrow flees
away by reason of the joy that fiUs the city of Zion,
or is only remembered to enhance it
But now, going back to our chapter, we find that.
besides the woman and the man-child, there is another
sign ; a great antagonist of God appears — not the beast,
but a much more serious power — " a great red dragon."
And there is this remarkable circumstance — the same
description which is appUed to the beast is used of the
dragon. How comes this? That Satan is the great
red dragon there can be no doubt : this very chapter
tells us so in verse 9 ; and yet he is described with the
various characteristics that we find in the Roman
empire (chap. xiii. 1), ''having seven heads and ten
horns, and upon his horns ten crowns." I beUeve the
reason is, that Satan is viewed in connexion with
earthly power. Just as the woman was seen invested
with symbols of power from above which God has given
her, so here Satan is clothed with the fulness of earthly
authority. He has seven heads, the symbol of deriber-
ative power, that which rules and guides, and ten horns,
the symbol of kings or kingly dignities. He is the
prince of the world, who surrounds himself with aU
power connected with the earth. The Roman empire
is the grand representative of the power of Satan.
But when we look at that empire in chap, xiii., we see
this difference. The crowns were upon the heads
of the dragon, but upon the horns of the beast That
is, in the Roman empire we have the exercise of the
z

346
power represented as a matter of fact, but in Satan's
case merely as a matter of principle or the root of the
thing. Satan is the great moving spring, though un
seen. It is a question of source and character, not
of history.
First, then, we have had the thought and plan of
God in respect to Israel and Christ. And it is plain
that it is the destiny of the man-chUd, not as yet the
exercise of His dominion over aU the nations; for if it
were the latter, the woman would not have to flee to
the wilderness, nor' would the dragon be permitted to
make war on her and the rest of her seed. To apply
this historically is to entirely miss the teaching of God,
who is here showing out His purpose and no more as
yet. Then the dragon appears, the one that God looks
at as the ruler of this world, the prince of the power
of the air, clothed with the same symbols of earthly
power as we find- later on in the Roman empire, save
that in this last the crowns are upon the horns, or those
actually swaying the power. (Rev. xiU.) "And his
tail draweth the third of the stars of heaven." (Ver. 4.)
This seems to be his malignant power-in the way of
false teaching and prophesying. In Isaiah ix. we are
told that " the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail."
The tail of the dragon does not set forth his earthly
power, but his influence, through false teaching, in mis
leading souls, and specially those that were in the place
of rule and authority — "the stars of heaven." "And
the. dragon stood before the woman that was about' to
bring forth, that when she brought forth he might de
vour her child." How wonderfuUy all scripture hangs
together ! For if you begin with the very first portion

347
of scripture that speaks of the serpent, the woman and
that subtle foe are seen face to face; and more than
this, God appears on the scene where Satan had
apparently gained a great triumph, and then it is that
He gives the blessed revelation that " the seed of the
woman should bruise the serpent's head." Here, at the
close of scripture, the same parties reappear, but with
marked differences. In the garden of Eden it was the
serpent's success, but here the certain triumph of God;
there it was the devil's craft, but here it is God's power,
long displayed in patience, but all-glorious in the end.
God permits the dragon to stand before the woman,
ready to devour her cbUd as soon as it was born. The
dragon shows out his spite and wickedness to the last
degree and in the next chapter his plans. MeanwhUe,
God turns even the suffering into more positive bless
ing for the. faithful. The very certainty that He could
crush the dragon gives Him patience to wait, and He
wants His people to be like Himself.
I would just observe that we must not take the
chapter as if it were all consecutive. Verse 7 begins
a, new division. And a proof that all does not follow
in immediate order is this : the casting out of the
dragon from heaven unto the earth precedes the
woman's flight into the -wilderness, and is, in point of
fact, the reason of it (see ver. 13), though only stated
afterwards. The truth is, that the first six verses give
• us the complete picture. In the divine purpose, there
is the woman clothed with the heavenly orbs, setting
forth the power which God alone can confer. But
there is another side of the picture. When the man-
child is brought forth, the mother is seen in weakness,

348
and is obliged to fly for her Ufe into the wUderness,
where she had a place prepared of God* God thinks
so much of the time she spends there, that He does
not call it "a time, times, and a half," but counts up,
so to speak, every day she is there, "that they should
feed her there a thousand, two hundred, and three-score
days." Then comes a new scene in verse 7. It is no
longer what takes place on earth, but in heaven, as it is
to many a new thing, and startUng. A war is inti
mated on high. How is that? A war in heaven.' It
is an easy thing to imagine the enemy of souls upon
the earth, and a war with him there. But the war
begins elsewhere. "And there was war in heaven 1
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon;
and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevaUed
not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.""
If the Bible is implicitly believed, its intimation is
distinct that Satan has power to draw near, . and to
accuse the saints before God. People may be staggered,
and say, it cannot be; but it is better to be guided by.
the word of God than by the notions of men. The
book of Job shows it; 1 Kings xxii. also, and perhaps*
Zech. Ui. You may say that these are visions; but we
take the epistle to the Ephesians, and there we are told

* It is true that eh may be translated unto or towards, no less
than into : to decide which is meant, we must carefully examine
the nature of the case, and the context. But Luke ix. 56, 57, in
no wise proves that the woman was fleeing merely tmoards the
wilderness; because we have various occurrences related immediately
after the evangelist says that they proceeded unto another village —
occurrences expressly said to be while they were on their way. So
with Acts viii. 25 ; xviii. 18, &c. The two wings of the great eagle
convey the very reverse of a gradual movement thither. Nor
does the parenthetic account of the war in heaven confirm the-
notion of progressive stages.

349
by St. Paul that our conflict is not Uke that of Israel,
who fought with the Canaanites. "For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world (or the world-rulers of this darkness)
against spiritual [powers] of wickedness in heavenly
places." Some use this verse in order to justify Chris
tian persons resisting the powers of this, world, in plain
contradiction of Rom. xiU. and other passages. But
the principalities and powers in high places, in Eph.
vi. 1 2, do not mean men at all. They are evU spirits,
in contrast with men. The conflict of Israel was with
jiving men on earth, whUe that of Christians is with
wicked spirits in heavenly places. Of course, Satan
cannot draw near into the immediate presence of God,
into that Ught wherein God dweUs, which none can
approach unto; but he can draw near enough to accuse
God's people before God Himseff. The heavenly places
here mean the heavens in general, and not merely
what is caUed the third or highest heaven. As far as
the lower heavens extend, Satan has access; there can
be no doubt that he is prince of the power of the air.
Israel had to fight in order to acquire possession
of their inheritance. The land was given to them in
title, and before Moses was taken away from this Ufe,
the Lord Himself took him to the mountain-top, and
showed him aU the land of GUead unto Dan, calling
the districts by the names of the tribes of Israel, as
ff they had been already there. But in order to enjoy
then- possessions, they had to fight for them ; and so
have we now. There is no such tiring as enjoying the
heavenly portion of the church without conflict with

350
the enemy, and that is the reason why so many do not
enjoy it. If the Christian does not enter into his full
heavenly portion here below, it is because he is occupied
either with himself or with the world; or some other
idol of the enemy, and then he cannot enjoy it. The
great object of Satan is to hinder our enjoying, tast
ing, and living on our heavenly blessings in Christ;.
and in thefsame|proportion that the world or the flesh
is allowed, and so the door is left open to Satan to-
darken our eyes, we cannot see the goodly land. There
must be victory over Satan before we can enter in.
The adversary has not merely power through men's
lusts below, but specially in connexion with the heaven
ly places— power of hindering Christians from appre
ciating their portion there. But there is an end coming
to that, though not without a struggle. God will put
a stop to aU Satan's means of access to heaven.
There is a text, often found obscure, that I cannot but
connect with this. In Hebrews ix. where the various.
applications of the death of Christ are spoken of,
there is the following allusion to the heavenly places :
"It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things-
in the heavens should be purified with these; but the
heavenly things themselves with -better sacrifices than
these." One reason, I suppose, is because Satan was-
allowed so long to have access there, as an accuser.
God would long since have shown His own sense of
the defilement produced there by the foe, if it were not
for the death of Christ. But as He- bears with the
rebellion of the world, so does He also with another
rebelUon, the audacity of Satan, who ventures to
intrude himself even into His own presence, to carry

351
the accusations of His people before Him. But let us
not forget that if there be one who loves to accuse,
there is another to intercede, the Advocate, who never
slumbers nor sleeps. There may be the devU against
the saints, but there is Christ for them, who ever lives
to make intercession. By and by God will not aUow
Satan any longer to taint the an- of heaven. He is
forcibly cast down thence, and has only power to deal
with mankind in an earthly way. "Woe to the earth
and to the sea! for the devU is come down to you,"
(ver. 12) &c. — that is, to those nations who are in a
settled or in an unsettled condition. Satan is hence
forth entirely prevented from usurping his higher place,
as prince of the power of the air. The heavens will
then be cleared of him and his angels, never to regain
thefr place above. He may come out on the earth
again for a Uttle season, after he has been bound, but
he wUl never more appear in heaven as the accuser of
the brethren before God. The momentous difference
in the ways of God with His people is very marked
here. All through the present time the accuser has
a place in heaven, but at the predicted epoch he is cast
out, and his place is not found any more there. Now,
you wUl observe that this naturally, not to say
necessarily, supposes the removal of the church to
heaven before the change takes place; and for this
reason, that ff we suppose the church to be stUl pn
earth, when the devil and his angels are cast cut of
heaven, it would no longer be true of us that we
wrestle with wicked spirits in heavenly places. Such
will not be the condition of the saints, either during the
mUlennium or in the great tribulation that precedes it.

352
Three years and a half roll on their course, after
Satan is cast down to the earth, during which the
woman and her seed, i.e. Israel, are the objects of his
persecution. "And the great dragon was cast [out,]
the old serpent that is called the devil and Satan,
which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast unto
the earth, and his angels were cast with him. And I
heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now is come the
salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of His Christ : for the accuser of our
brethren is cast [out] that accused them before our
God day and night. And they overcame him because
of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of
their testimony; and they loved not their life unto
death." (Ver. 9-11.) "The blood, of the Lamb,"—
that was what kept their conscience good, and gave
them confidence before God. Their conscience was
purged by the blood of Christ, and, besides that, they
had their testimony for God. He gave them the blood
of the Lamb as well as the word of their testimony and
they overcame by both. The one strengthened them
before God, and the other before men. "Therefore
rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them."
There, you see, are the dwellers in heaven, and they
are to rejoice because Satan is cast down from heaven.
The Church is there at the time of which this
speaks; the saints are already taken away from the
earth. "And when the dragon saw that he was cast
unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought
forth the man-child. And to the woman were given
two wings of the gr.eat eagle, that she might fly into
the wUderness, into her place, where she is nourished

353
for a trine, and times, and half a time, from the face of
the serpent (Ver. 13, 14).
Now, it is plain that this brings us back to verse 6.
The important link given us in ver. 7-13 was needed, and
after that we have consecutive order. We are brought
down to the fact of the dragon's persecuting the woman
and her child, and the woman's flight into the desert;
and then the Spirit of God goes back to show us the
deeper reasons, and higher source of all. Satan wUl
have to leave his place in heaven, and now in a rage,
"knowing that he has but a short time," he comes
down to the earth to do his worst. He hates the
woman, well knowing her seed is to crush him; so
that all his long-cherished enmity is concentrated upon
the woman and her seed. This is what leads the
woman to flee into the wilderness. The enmity of
Satan, not merely because she has brought forth a
child destined to rule all nations with a rod of iron,
but because Satan is cast down to earth. Satan was
once innocent, but he departed from the place of a
creature, admiring himself, and setting himself up
against God. Now when Satan is cast down from
heaven, he shows out all his evil feeling against God,
by persecuting the woman and her seed.
"To the woman were given two wings of the great
¦eagle," &c. Observe the difference here (analogous to
Rev. xi. ), " where she is nourished for a time, and times,
and half a time." In a former verse there is a making
the time, as it were, as long as possible, because, as I
•conceive, God's care for her was then the grand point.
She had a place prepared for her of God, and when
His care and preparation are in question, He lengthens

354
out the time as much as possible; but where it is a
question of the devil's power, He foreshortens it. It
is the same period, I believe, only put in a different
way.* The serpent, so spoken of because of his subtle
enmity, now adopts a new device. He "cast out of
his mouth water as a flood, after the woman, that he
might cause her to be carried away of the flood. . And
the earth helped the woman," &c. (Ver. 15, 16.) This
sets forth some providential means used of God to'
dpliver His earthly people and people and purpose from
the instruments of .the enemy, then, put into a state of
great commotion. These last are represented by the
waters issuing as a river from the dragon's mouth
(people that are under an immediate influence of
the devil); while, evidently, the earth helping the
woman means the more settled parts of the world, used
providentially to resist the efforts of Satan to over
whelm theJews. " The earth " in this book may have
morally a guilty character; but God can create a
diversion where He sees fit, and so bring to nought
that which is calculated to overwhelm His people.
" And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and
went away to make war with the remnant of her seed,
that keep the commandments of God, and have the
testimony of Jesus." (Ver. 17.) It might be a
* Mr. M'Causland (Latter days of Jerusalem and Borne, pp. 314,
326) conceives that the 1260 days, 42 months or 3J times, are hut
abstract indices of the indefinite period of the present dispensation
during which the Jewish body continues, like its- type Elijah, in
the wilderness, unvjsited by the dew of the Spirit. Primasius in
early days contended for a somewhat similar view ; but while he
thought that the dates were intended to include the period of the
Christian dispensation, he also allowed their literal application to
the final tribulation.

355
difficulty to some that a Jewish remnant should have
the testimony of Jesus. But if ypu have followed me
in former chapters, it will not be insuperable; because
"trie testimony of Jesus," in the book of Revelation,
is always of Jesus coming back again as the Heir of
the world, and not of His relations in full heavenly
grace that we know now. The Jewish remnant will
not enjoy the same communion with the Lord Jesus
that the church actually possesses; but they will
stand in faith, and they will have the testimony whiuh
Jesus is rendering in the Apocalypse. In chap. i. we
read, " The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave
unto him, to show unto his servants things which must
shortly come to pass," <fcc. It is, we have often seen,
a certain revelation which God gave to Jesus, connected
with events that were shortly to come to pass. This,
in the next verse, is called "the word of God and the
testimony of Jesus Christ." So in Rev. xix. 10, "the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," svhich
shows clearly that it is a prophetic knowledge of Jesus.
Thus the testimony rendered in this book, though
equally divine, differs from the blessed way in which
God unfolds Christ now to the church which is His
body. The remnant wUl have such a knowledge as the
saints in the Old Testament times possessed — greater
probably in amount, but siririlar, it seems to me, in
kind. They will be waiting for Jesus to come. They
wUl say, with penitent hearts, "Blessed is he that
cometh in the name of Jehovah." They wUl plead,
" How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not
judge and avenge our blopd?" I do not deny that they
may have the New Testament before their eyes ; but

356
there will be no power to apply the New Testament
facts to their own souls, as far, at least, as present peace
and communion are concerned. What a prcof that not
merely the word is required, but the Holy Ghost to
open it out, for the rest and enjoyment of the soul!
Some of us, even as Christians, have had no light as to
¦certain truths, until, in the grace of God, He was
pleased to remove the film from our eyes. And God
does this ordinarily by specific means; for it is not
His way to enable persons to take up the Bible and
understand it, independently of His provision for the
perfecting of the saints. God teaches His children,
but in general it is through those He has given for the
good of the church, and, though never tied down to
that order, He does not set aside the wise and gracious
arrangement that He has formed and wUl perpetuate
as long as the church endures. Nourishment is
ministered by joints and bands, and thus all the body,
knit together, increases with the increase of God.
What would enable us to do without one another
is a thing that God never gives or sanctions. Suppos
ing a person were casi; upon a desert island, God would
-bless him in his solitary reading of the word with
prayer; but where there are other means and oppor-
tunities, such as assembling ourselves together for
instruction, for reading the Scriptures, for pubUc
preaching, exhortation, &c, to neglect or despise them
is the wUl of man and not the guidance of the Spirit
of God.
These saints, Uke those of old, wUl fear Jehovah, and
-obey the voice of His servant, but withal must walk in
-darkness, and have no light, till Lthe Lord returns in

357
glory. Our place is identified with that of Christ
Himself, risen and glorified. Compare Isa. 1. 8, 9,
with Rom. viii 33, 34, for the latter, and Isa. 1. 10, 11'
for the former. Christians may not always act accord
ing to the light, but they walk in the light, as He is
in the light. " He that followeth me," says our Lordr
"shall not walk in darkness, but shaU have the Ught of
Ufe." The remnant of that day wUl trust in the name
of Jehovah, and stay upon their God; but it wUl be after
another sort. Thomas in John xx., as compared with.
the other disciples, may Ulustrate this.
And now let us briefly notice the historical theory,
as stated by one of the latest and ablest of its
advocates. The weman is, of course, the Christian
church, which is actually said to be not merely
united as one, but morally bright and beautiful in
the days of Costantine ! ascendant, for the first timer
in the political heaven ; with the sunshine of the high
est (Constantine) of the three* imperial dignities, and
the Ught of the second (Licinius) ; and with the chief
bishops as a starry coronal, the heads, now imperially
recognized, of the SwSck&QvKov of the Christian Israel
(Horae Apoc. III. pp. 17, 18). Three pages after,.
the civU authorities are viewed as the moon, perhaps
because of Licinius' apostasy and subsequent death.
And the great red dragon with seven heads and ten
horns is the old Roman paganism, concentrated for the
time in Maximin's prohibiting the Christian assemblies,
and even kUling their bishops in his third of the empire.
Again, Constantine reappears as the man-child, — a
baptized (?) emperor, the son of Christ's faithful church r
elevated over the whole empire to an avowedly Chris-

358
tian throne, that might be called the throne of God like
iSolomon's. And the ruling with iron rod means the
discountenance, of pagans increasing almost to oppres
sion, till at length, under Theodosius, all toleration
•ended, and their worship was interdicted under the
severest penalties. But Mr. E., apparently not quite
satisfied with this exposition, offers us the alternative
of Mr. BUey, who thinks that the question here was
one of fundamental orthodoxy, rather than of poUtieal
eminence, and that the birth and exaltation of the man-
chUd refer to the solemn public profession of Christ's
divinity, and its dogmatic establishment in the general
CouncU of Nice.
Where is one to begin, where end, in unravelling
this tangled web ! Almost, the only thing consistent
is the melancholy result (God forbid that I should say
intention) of degrading the Uving word of God. If
something like'the real point of the chapter is glanced
.at, it is to discard it summarily. Thus, it was too plain
to be quite overlooked, that Christ is destined to rule
all nations with a rod of iron (Ps. U.), and that this is
made part of the promises to the Christians who over-
corns. (Rev. U.) But all such reference Mr. E. con
siders excluded by the context. For, argues he, the
woman is shown immediately after to be persecuted by
the dragon, and then to spend 1260 days in the
wilderness. But how does this set aside the other —
the figure of Christ, take it personally or mystically,
.as the destined governor of all the nations ? On this
view, what can be clearer ? The woman is Israel, first
:seen in heaven in the glorious purpose of God, and
hence arrayed with that supreme power which is to rule

359
the day, with the moom — which, from the context, may
here be a symbol of legal ordinances — -under her feet,
and with the perfection of administrative authority as
her crown of glory. It is not a question of historical fact
but of divine counsels. Accordingly, in spite of such
a view on God's part, the woman is seen the object of
Satan's enmity in the Roman empire, who, foUed in
his wishes against tbe raptured Man of might, directs
his efforts against the woman, or Israel, fled into the
wUderness, desolate but preserved of God for her des
tined time of sorrow. I do not deny here, more than
elsewhere, a vague analogy to the imperial overthrow^
of the power of the enemy in idolatry. All I insist on
is, that the past accomplishment in no wise meets all
the features of the case, and that the system which
sees nothing else really makes God Himself the author
of that judaizing of the church, which, kept in check
by apostolic power, soon became doctrinally rampant
in the writings of the early fathers, and from the time
of Constantine was the established mould in which the
Christian profession was cast. Hence, historically, the
date does not at all answer. Mr. E. seems to be shy of
defining the 1260 years of the woman's place in the wU
derness. He considers the time soon after Constantine
when the true orthodox church became insulated, invisi
ble in respect of its public worship, and more and more
straitened for spiritual sustenance : the latter a most
unusual effect of persecution; the former an unaccount
able result, ff the eldest son of the true church had
the chief power in the empfre, and the old paganism of
Rome showed itself — not in a thousand years and more
of persecution, but — in the mere transient efforts of

360
Maximin and Licinius first, and of Julian somewhat
later. And if heathenism and Ariallism are strangely put
together to make out the war of the dragon and his
angels in heaven, what can serious Christians think of
the notion that Eusebius' extravagant flattery of Con
stantine, and the unwarranted joy and expectations of
the dominant party of that day, are the exact echo of
the prefigurative voice heard saying, " Now hath come
the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our
God, and the authority of his Christ ?" Certainly I do
not wonder that the eye which can see in Zech. Ui.r
compared with Ezra iv., a reference to the accusatioi
of the Jews before the Persian king's court by their
Samaritan foes, should read the fulfilment of " Rejoice,
heavens, and ye that dwell in them," in the .imperial
edict wliich proclaimedgliberty to those who had been
enslaved or condemned to the mines. (Horae Apoc.
III. pp. 29-32.) Of similar character is the criticism,.
borrowed from Daubuz, that the use of the uncommon
plural form heavens, instead of heaven, indicates the
then union of elevation in heart to the spfritual heaven
and elevation in dignity to the heaven of worldly rank.
Then, again, when we turn from the parenthetic-
heavenly war, and its consequences (verses 7-12) to
the dragon's doings on earth, we are told that the two
wings of the great eagle were fulfilled in Theodosius.
tlie Great, whose lot it was to unite the Eastern and
Western divisions of the empire under his own sway,
and use all his power as a protector and nursing father
to the orthodox church. Under those wings August
ine's ministry is said not only to have furnished

361
present food, but nourishment for its long long sojourn
in the wUderness. How the dragon, or old Roman
pagan power, should now have the seven heads and ten
horns, from Constantine to Theodosius, does not appear.
It is, to the historicalist, an obviously insuperable
difficulty, as to which I see not a word of explanation,
even in the most voluminous commentary that defends
the view. And supposing e.g. that Theodosius could
be the sun, the male chUd, and the great eagle's wings
all -at once, it is hard to connect the dragon with the*
governing power of the Roman empire in that day.
Does "the pagan remnant" answer to the persecuting
dragon, as our chapter describes him? I do not wonder
also that it is found convenient to combine all possible
ideas of the flood from the serpent's, mouth, and to
make that a mixture of foreign invaders and heresies,
of physical force and doctrinal error, employed to over
whelm the true church, so as to pass off a hazy
application to the hordes of Goths, Vandals, (fee, who
inundated the empire after the death of Theodosius.
But "the earth helped the woman," i.e. according to Mr.
E., the Roman population, superstitious and earthly as
they are confessed to have been, did service to Christ's
church ; and, in their bloody wars, the barbarians were
so thinned, that their incorporation with the conquered
followed, and their religion passed through Arianism
into orthodoxy. The flood was thus swallowed up! If
some very few stood forth as witnesses, like Vigilantius,
&c., against such the dragon proceeded to plot, and so
procure their destruction. To state the scheme is, in
my judgment, a sufficient refutation.
On the other hand, the fulfilment in the crisis is

362
sufficiently intelligible, whatever measure of partial
resemblance there may .have been in past events. The
•seventh trumpet has brought us down in a general
way to the very end. From Rev. xi. 1 9 we begin an
entirely new subject, of which that verse is as it were
the preface. The ark of His covenant is seen in His
temple above : it is not yet the actual bringing of the
house of Israel and the house of Judah under the
efficacy of the new covenant, but it is its pledge. The
sources of aU, whether on God's part or the enemy's,
are disclosed; and rience, as there confessedly is
retrogression, so I think there is nothing harsri in the
supposition that the birtri and rapture to heaven of
Israel's Messiah may be shown, the special object of
Satan's hatred, and the occasion of his intensest and
¦ever-increasing hatred to the Jews and to God's counsels
about them. I can also understand that the rapture
of the man-child may include that of the church —
like a binary star, the two-foldness of which appears on
adequate inspection. It is thus in the Old Testam ent that
we find the church involved, so to speak, in Christ. The
first great act of our Lord's kingdom will be, I believe,
the dejection of Satan and the wicked spirits, from the
heavenly places (cf. Eph. vi. 12, and Rev. xU. 7-12).
On earth the question of Israel, God's chosen people,
is raised at once ; and whether as dragon or serpent,
all his resources are put in requisition against God's
purpose in that people (yet in abeyance), and against the
.godly remnant who have the testimony (prophetically,
I conceive) of Jesus, as the man of God's right hand,
the Son of man whom He made strong for Himself.
The development of his plans we shall find in the
-chapter which follows.

CHAPTER XIII.
We have seen that chapter xii. goes back as well as
forward, and connects the purpose of God which is to
be brought out in the latter day with the Messiah and
¦even with His birth. Thus, whUe the Lord Jesus
Christ is, to my mind, clearly referred to as the man-
chUd, yet it is not* His birth merely or historically,
but His birth as it is linked with this future plan of
God, which the book reveals here. The moment
Christ is thus referred to, (that is, Christ evidently
viewed as the Head, not of the Church, but of Israel
ruling "all nations with a rod of iron," and taking
the government of the world into His own hands,)
Satan appears iri personal opposition. It is no other
than might be looked for; for God Himself had said in
the gardein of Eden, that He would put enmity between
tbe serpent and the woman, between his seed and her
.Seed. This was revealed at the beginning, and here
we have it fulfilled at the very close. Without teUing
us the least about His humiliation, the man-chUd was
.caught up to God and to His throne. Thus it is clear
that it is not a bare statement of the Lord's life, but
such facts are referred to — the two great cardinal ones
of His birth and of His rapture to the presence and
.throne of God — in order to furnish connecting links
with what God has to do by-and-by with Israel. All
the intermediate workings of God in the Church are
left entirely out, except as we may suppose the Church
to bo involved in the destiny of the man-child, who is
now hid with God, but is yet to reign. Just as what
is said about Christ in the Old Testament is applied to

• 364
the Church or the Christian in the New Testament ;
but still, most true and blessed as that is, it is an
indirect use. Here, then,' we have the Messiah in
relation to the future purpose of God as regards
Israel. ' Then follows the vision of a war in heaven. Not
the Lord Jesus Christ, but arigeUc power is seen used
of God to put down the rebel angels, Satan and his
host. And, from that moment Satan loses his power
above (that is to say, the most important part of it,
the most serious in itself, the most dishonpuring tc-
God, the most dangerous to the people of God) — his=
power in heavenly places, which is referred to in Eph.
vi. and other passages. Accordingly, when Satan.
loses that place, there is joy in heaven, and a voice-
proclaims that "Now is come salvation, and strength,
and the kingdom of pur God, and the authority of his-
Christ." But yet, as far as the earth was concerned,.
the kingdoni was not actually come : only Satan had
lost his place in heaven. So we find, a little' answer
ing to this, that our Lord alludes to Satan's faU from
heaven in the gospel; and I notice it because some-
have thence supposed that Satan had been expelledfrom
the heavens long ago. It is in Luke x., when the
disciples return to the Lord, full of joy because the
devUs even were subject to them. The Lord answers
that He "beheld Satan, as lightning, fall from heaven."
Now a person might set the words in the evangelist
against the fall of Satan that is described in the
Apocalypse as still future. But, evidently, this would
be a misuse of Scripture. We may always rest
assured that the Bible agrees with itself. It is ignor-

365
ance and unbelief to set one part of God's word
against another. To an unbiassed mind, I think, it is
certain that the fall of Satan in the prophecy is
described as a prospective event, which is to take
place three years and a half ' (however that may be
taken) before the destruction of the beast and the
binding of Satan himself. Consequently it is a fall
ihat, in St. John's time at least, was yet future. The
immediate effect was to be a dreadful persecution
against the woman and her seed. Again, I have
endeavoured to set forth a variety of considerations
ifrom which it is clear to me that before this event the
¦church must have been taken to heaven. Such, the
reader will remember, has been the uniform deduction
I have drawn all through our former chapters (iv.-vi.);
so that the fall of Satan, intimated here, must be an
event subsequent to the removal of the glorified saints
to heaven. What then does the Lord Jesus Christ
mean when He says, "I beheld Satan, as lightning,
fall from heaven?" When He sees and hears the
eflects of the disciples' service in His name, then the
vision of Satan's catastrophe passes before His eyes,
and the full consequences of His power are haded in
the then earnest of it. He looks on to the final crisis
and the downfall of the EvU One, when the disciples
announced so notable a sample of "the powers of the
world to come." It was the first great blow struck
by men at Satan's power ; and therefore He anticipates
the end from the beginning, and, so to speak, in a
sort of musing, contemplative vision, He beheld the
adversary fallen from the highest scene of his usurpa
tion.

366'
Nor is this an uncommon thing in . Scripture. In
another gospel, when the Greeks come up to the feast,
desiring to see Jesus, what does He say? "The hour
is come, that the Son of man should be glorified."
He was going to the cross and to death; yet He declares
that the hour was come, that He should be glorified.
How was this? If you. take it in a mere literal way,
it seems to me that the force of the passage is lost.
Jesus sees in the Greeks that were before Him a
sample of the ingathering of the GentUes; and the
Lord perfectly well knew that the only thing that
would draw the Gentiles must be His own cross and
His glory in heaven. So that He looks through all
the intervening scene that was before Him, for He
had to accomplish redemption and to ascend on high.
But from this little sample, He connects all with His
glorification, and speaks of it as of a present fact.
Again, when Judas goes out and the Lord Jesus
Christ repeats similar words, it is, I presume, on the
same principle. (John xUi. 31.)
Is not Rev. v. 1 3 analogous? A remarkable movement
was seen in the vision affecting the universe, when
the sealed book was taken in hand by the Lamb. It
is not merely that we had the living creatures prostrate,
and the elders taking up the new song, and the myriads
of angels with then- loud voice of praise ; but there is
a chorus in which the whole creation joined. "And
every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth,
and under the earth, and such as are on the sea, and
all that are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing and
honour and glory and power, be unto him that sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and

367
ever." It was like striking a key-note that would
never cease to vibrate, till the remotest bounds of
creation would be filled with the glory of God and the
Lamb. But the time of full blessing was here antici
pated; it was, in fact, the Lamb's receiving the book
of the inheritance which called forth these overflowings
of worship and joy. After this followed the opening
of the seals, which was but the prelude of the latter-
day judgments; and these would go on increasing in
severity till Christ Himself comes executing wrath.
(Rev. xix.) Not till then would the glory appear,
and these anticipations be realised. (Chaps, xxi. xxii.)
From the first event, however, that was a link in the
chain, the end is welcomed. This is the mind of Christ.
And so it is in Lukex. The Lord does not there refer
to Satan's fall as a fact actually accomplished then;
but He looks on, through what was true at that time,
to his future and more complete humUiation, which we
see here. And even this fall of Satan is by no means
the last exertion of the power of God against the
enemy. For until then Satan had scarcely been
touched, save to faith. It is true that in the cross of
Christ he had been judged in principle (John xii. 31);
but, as a literal fact, he was not yet shaken from his
throne of the world. Doubtless, in the cross, the
great work of God in virtue of which he is to be cast out
from heaven was accomplished, so that it only remains
a question of time and of the will of God. And first
of,all, he loses the heavenly part of the power wliich
he has usurped. Then he comes down to the earth in
a rage, knowing that he has but a short time. This
brings us to chap. xUi. ; for there we get the detail

368
of trip doings of Satan here below, i.e., upon the sea
and the earth (the sea, as we have before seen,
symbolizing what was not under regular government,
and the earth that part of the world which enjoys a
state of order). The two together make up the world
as a whole, or a given sphere of it, under whatever
condition. The prophet,* it is said, was set or stood upon the
sand of the sea. In a later chapter (chap, xvii.) he is
carried in the Spirit into the wilderness; and after
wards (chap, xxi.) to a great and high mountain.
Here, as everywhere, all is in keeping with the scene.
"I stood upon the sand of the sea." The reason is
manifest. John is about to see a great beast emerging
out of the sea, and accordingly he takes in the vision
a suited place. " And I saw a beast rising up out of
the sea." You must remember that all these visions
were like a great panorama that passed before the eye
of the prophet. What the meaning of the symbols
used is, we have to find out by the teaching of the Holy ,
Spirit. The sea sets forth the unformed mass of the
people under a troubled state of the world — people in
great agitation, like the restless w;aves of the deep. It is
* The reader should know that this is one of the most contested
readings in the book. The difference in Greek is but a letter more
or iess ; but in the one case John is meant, in the other the dragon.
The Alexandrian and Paris uncials, with the Middlehill and Montf .
mss., are confirmed by most of the ancient versions and two old
Latin commentators in the latter sense ; and all other known MSS.','
including the Sinai and Vatican uncials, with the Coptic, &c.„and
the Greek commentators, give the former. Modern editors and
commentators are not less' divided. The comparison of our texjt
with Bev. x. 5-10 will perhaps suffice to show that there is no in
ternal incongruity in assigning such a position to John. Dan. x.
4, 5, xii. 5, ought to be borne in mind. On the other hand, if it
be "he stood," I do not see that it attributes providential power
to Satan, which would be very objectionable.

369
that which represents a revolutionary condition among
men. And it is out of that mass of anarchy and con
fusion that an imperial power rises. This power is
called " the Beast." The same thing appears in Dan.
vri. ; but with this difference. The Jewish prophet
sees successively four beasts emerge from the sea ; not
one merely, as we have in the beginning of Rev. xiU.
There was the first beast like a Uon, the second Uke a
bear, the third like a leopard, and a fourth -beast of a
peculiar kind. And then, before the explanation is
given, one in the form of a son of man comes with
the clouds of heaven, in contrast with the powers that
came up from a tumultuous sea. It was a kingdom
heavenly in its source, and a king who was to use the
power of God which is to be established over the earth
in the person of the Lord as Son of man, instead of
being left in God's sovereignty to those successive and
ferocious beasts. The rising of the beasts out of the
sea, upon which the four winds of heaven strove, por
trays, probably, the vast commotion of peoples that
preceded the formation of the four great empires.
And it is an interesting fact, that the foundations of
those states which afterwards became possessed of the
imperial power, were all laid about the same time.
They emerged from obscurity and political chaos pretty
nearly together. God, in His sovereignty, gave power
tp each in succession. First, there was the Babylon
ian, then the Medo-Persian, then the Greek or Mace
donian, and, lastly, the Roman.
In this case John sees but one beast rise. The sea
sets forth a troubled state of nations, and the fourth
and last beast mentioned by Daniel, is seen by the

370
prophet coming out of it. The first three beasts had
had their day, and they were gone. The fourth or
Roman empire had followed, and was then in being
and power. It was the authority of the Roman Beast,
which had, at this very time, cast John into Patmos.
It seems to be its final rise, previous to its destruction
which John sees here, but what was to take place be
tween its first appearance as an empire and this reap
pearance, is not yet described. There can be no doubt,
from the description given, that it is the Roman
empire. It is said to have " seven heads and ten
horns, and upon his horns ten crowns ;" trie same things
that we saw in Satan, (chap. xii. 3,) where he Was re
garded as the possessor of the power of the world,
and specially that of Rome. We aU may remember
how he said to the Lord Jesus, when showing Him all
the kingdoms of the world, " AU this power will I
give thee, and the glory of them ; for this is delivered
unto me, and to whomsoever I wUl I give it." Now
here he gives it to the Roman Beast. Satan was, of
course, an usurper ; but still he was the prince of the
World in fact, and as such he lias seven heads and ten
horns. But as Satan, he does not present himself
openly before men. He must have some representa
tive or agent. He must disguise himself, and work
through another, and take a human form and instru
mentality ; even as God was pleased to do the same to
accomplish His blessed purposes of grace. And so
does Satan — awful counterpart in malice of God's
goodness in Christ ! The agent described, through
whom he works, is the Roman empire in its last phase.
He took advantage of men's lusts for power, because

371
that which is tbe object of ambition in the world is
power. And here you have a vast imperial power,
which was at first owned of God. As far as rising out
of the sea was concerned, God could stUl have owned
it ; but when it is said to arise out of the bottomless
pit, the source is in no way providential, but expressly
of the enemy.
But besides these seven heads and ten horns, there-
were upon the latter ten crowns. Let me just say
that I have no doubt the ten horns ought to be men
tioned before the heads : " having ten horns and seven
heads, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his
heads names of blasphemy." (Ver. 1.) Not that one
would attach undue importance to the order, save that
we ought always to be right; but the two clauses of the
verse agree in putting the horns first, perhaps because
the beast is regarded here as having these powers in
actual exercise, whereas Satan had them virtually only.
Blasphemy, not mere heathenism, characterizes his
heads. "And the beast which I saw was like a leopard."
This was the general resemblance of its body, and it
refers to the Macedonian empire, so notoriously marked
by its swiftness of conquest. " His feet were as the
feet of a bear," which refers to the Persian and implies
great tenacity of grasp ; " and his mouth as the mouth
of a lion," denoting its voraciousness, as in Nebuchad
nezzar's career and kingdom. Thus the Roman empire,
in its last stage at least, would unite in itself the
several characteristics of the former empires. And
indeed such was the ordinary policy of the Romans.
They did not interfere with what they found in the-

372
various natipns they conquered. They endeavoured to
incorporate into their own system whatever had
Lelped on the power of those, nations. - They did not
force their own customs upon others, but cultivated
whatever they found advantageous, and turned it to
their own use. So this Beast, as we see here, was
made up of the diverse qualities of power that had
given weight to its imperial predecessors.
But there is one remarkable difference from all of
them, and even from its own original condition. "The
dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great
authority." (Ver. 2.) This notable distinction is sub
sequent to Satan's fall from heaven. He wants to
have a medium for acting universally upon men, in the
¦centre of the world's civilization and activity, for the
short time that he is allowed to do as he pleases on
earth. Accordingly, to the Roman Beast which had
imperial authority providentially from God he gives
his own peculiar dragon power. This is a thing that
has never yet been seen on the earth in the full sense
of the word — this union of the imperial authority with
the positive impartation of Satanic energy. But the
prophet sees more than this, connected with the Beast's
investiture by the dragon. "And / saw one of his
heads, as it were, slain to death ; and his deadly wound
was healed : and the whole earth wondered after the
beast." (Ver. 3.) I am inclined to think that the
wounded head was the imperial form of government.
(Comp. chap. xvU. 10). The heads that were, as we
have seen, connected with the dragon (chap. xri. 3) as
well as with the Beast, represent the different forms of,
power which had existed successively. Of these one

373
was to be lost, as it were wounded to death, but at this
time was to be revived again through Satanic agency.
All the world is surprised, and no wonder. They will
be seized with extreme astonishment at the revival of
the Roman empire, with more than its ancient splen
dour. And now, if we look at Daniel, we find a remark
able fact introduced there, connected with its divided
state at the close, and of course also with its previous
divisions after it had ceased to exist as an empire.
The image in Dan. U. has got feet, " part pf iron and
part of clay." There is weakness consequently. That
metal represents tbe original Roman element in its
strength, while the clay was a foreign ingredient,
which brought in weakness when it sought to coalesce
with the iron.* "And whereas thou sawest iron
mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves
with the seed of men ; but they shall not cleave one to
another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." (Ver.
43.) This exactly accounts for the state of things
found in Western Europe. The history of this part
of the world was completely changed by the inroads of
the barbarians about the fifth century after Christ.
There was a time when one vast consolidated power
had universal and undisputed sway — the iron power of
Rome. But at the epoch named swarms of barbarians,
near about the same time and from the north and east,
came down upon the empire and assailed it at' almost

* Mr. M'Causland (Latter Days of Jerusalem and Borne, pp.
336, 353) interprets the miry clay of the spintual power exercised
by the Papacy, and the iron of the temporal power of Borne ; but
this is, for obvious and conclusive reasons to my mind, wholly
untenable.

374
every point. It fell. But mighty as these barbarians
were in overthrowing, they could only establish little
separate kingdoms ; and since then no hand has been
able to gather up the broken fragments and put them
firmly together again. It has not been for want of the
disposition to do so ; for, on the contrary, all sorts of
expedients have been tried — sometimes the sword,
sometimes policy, sometimes intermarriage — but in
vain. And thus it has remained under the providence
of God. There has been no unity, so that the prevail
ing and favourite expression of modem policy has been
and is "the balance of power." It means really keep
ing a respectful distance among the scattered members
of what was once a united body. Mutual jealousies
and the spirit of independence in each have ever
effectually hindered re-union. The ordinary aim has
been, by the formation of parties among the powers,
to check and prevent the preponderance of any one.
But though that wound seemed to be unto death, it
was healed notwithstanding. " I saw one of his heads
as it were wounded to death ; and his deadly wound
was healed." That is, at the period of which the vis
ion speaks, the Roman power is to be consolidated
afresh : not as formerly, with God's good hand over it
and controlling all, whatever might have been the ways
of individual emperors; but all is abandoned to the
will of the Beast as the immediate instrument of Satan.
Satan can no longer accuse the saints before God, but
now he is at work on the earth to produce open blas
phemy against God. And this is first done by means
of political influence. There is the Roman empire
reorganised, the imperial power revived, and a bead

375
over it that gathers everything under his own control,
so that all the world wonders after the Beast to' whom
the dragon had given his ppwer, and throne, and great
authority. In the next verse we have not merely this ;
but "they worshipped the beast saying, Who is like
the Beast ? and who is able tp make war with him ?"
(Ver. 4).
What a fickle thing is man ! No doubt just before
there had been a state of anarchy and confusion, and
thence the beast arose and becomes* an object of wonder
and worship to men weary of all their previous tur-
moU, and strife, and insecurity. Something like it
was seen in a neighbouring country. Men were con
vulsed by a revolution which tore up all the landmarks
and filled their minds with anxiety and restlessness.
A nd what came out of that ? A strong hand takes the
reins; a military despotism, a quasi-imperial power.
And what was enacted on a small scale, because in one
country only, will prevaU in all the western powers of
Europe. So that instead of men having things -to
themselves, some vigorous chief wUl take the rule ;
but it will not be the hand of man merely, but the
dragon's power. God will permit him to have his own
way; and so, for a short time, he is allowed to do his very
worst. Then, beside distinct governments and rulers,
each over his own country, there will be an imperial
unity under one great head, who will wield their
power and preside over all. Thus wUl be accomplished
those desires of men that have hitherto proved but idle
dreams, or, at most, abortive efforts.
There is a passage, I would briefly notice, in an
early epistle which refers to what has hindered, and'

376
hinders stUl, the development, of this and other allied
wickedness. . It is in 2 Thess. U. 6, 7, " And now ye
know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in
his time. Foi; the mystery of lawlessness doth already
work: only one who now letteth [there is one] untilhe
be taken out of the way. And then shall that lawless
one be revealed," (fee. There is a restraint that God
puts upon the lawlessness pf the wprld; and I conceive
the Holy Ghost whp acts here below is the One spokeri
of here as "he who now letteth" or hindereth. Still.
after the church has been taken away, God will carry
on a testimony, though of another sort, and Satan
wUl be kept in check for a season at least. This re
straint wUl be maintairied by the operation of the
Holy Ghost in a providential way. When this deal
ing of God ceases, the Holy Ghost wiU no longer
"let," as the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all
the earth; that is, the power which the Holy Ghost
exerts over the world, and not merely in the church,
will no longer be put forth, as now, to keep Satan
under. " He who now letteth " will "be taken out of
the way."- People do not know how much they owe
to this restraint of Satan from doing his worst. But
the time will come when God will cease to hinder ;
and then Satan will for a season carry all before him
on the earth. He raises up a person as head, and
men are charmed with the grandeur of his energy,
exercised as it wiU be without conscience towards
God — charmed With the comparative ease that will re
sult from having one person supreme over all. In
¥ short, they will have in many ways what is suited to
meet the idolatry and pride of the heart. For men

377
are, like chUdren, constantly disappointed with their
own schemes and even successes. Besides, having re
fused the love of the truth, they will readily faU into
whatever snare Satan may put before them: So that,
after a previous storm of revolutions, they wiU gladly
fall down and worship the Beast and the dragon that
gave him hispower. But, further, the Beast's worship
in the day that is coming wUl be of a different charac
ter from common idolatry. They wUl not merely be
adorers of him, along with gods many and lords many.
as the heathen of old. There will be an utter denia":
of any god above the one who is adored as such on
earth. This miserable being whom Satan fills wUl be
the object of their worship ; and the dragon shares it.
"And there was given unto him a mouth, speaking
great things and blasphemy: and power was given
unto Mm to practise (or continue)* forty-two months."
(Ver. 5.) Nobody doubts, I suppose, that this is con
nected with Dan. vii. The same kind of language ri
heard, applying to and for the same time. If we
examine that chapter, some of the thoughts I have
uttered will be found to be confirmed. It is said

* Grammatically speaking the Authorized version is good.
Compare Acts xv. 33; xviii. 23; xx. 3. The Hebraistic absolute
sense is according to the analogy of Dan. viii. 12, 24, and xi. pas
sim. Bengel, Griesbach, and others, doubted as to the word in
any sense, and' considered it probably an interpolation from verse
7. I believe, on the contrary, that the peculiarity of the expres
sion, to those^who did not bear in mind the phraseology of Daniel,
led some of the scribes to insert vb'Kep.ov before or after irotrjaai.,
as B., most mss. (14 iro\ep,TJo-ai,), and led other authorities, as
the Armenian version, Irenaeus^ &c, to omit ttomjo-cu. Dionysius
Alex. (ap. Euseb. ) has Kal fiijves. On the whole, I conceive that
Erasmus and B. Stephens rightly readirowjirai, and that the Com-
plutensian editors and the Elzevirs wrongly admitted irb\ep.ov
The true sense appears to be to practise, work, act, or do, rather
b2

378
<(Dan. vU. 7) that the fourth beast differs from aU its
predecessors. " It had ten horns. I considered the
horns, and, behold, there came up another little horn."
(Ver. 8.) There is nothing of this in the Revelation.
The little horn, i.e. as such, is not mentioned there.
But this is not all. Before him "were three of the
first horns plucked up by the roots." He takes pos
session of the territory of three of the horns, so that
but seven remain out of the ten. " In this horn were
eyes like the eyes of man," — the symbol of intelligence,
"and a mouth speaking great things" (the utterance
-of pride, and blasphemy against God). (Compare ver.
25.) This is what brings on judgment from God —
not, of course, the white-throne judgment of the dead,
but the judgment of the quick, and of the habitable
world. And so it is written in the 11th verse: "I
beheld, then, because of the voice of the great words
which the horn spake; I beheld even till the beast
was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the
burning flame." Now observe that there is this differ
ence between Daniel's prophecy and John's — what
Daniel says about the little horn John says about the
beast. (Compare Rev. xrii. 5, 6, with Dan. vU. 8, 25.)
The reason is this. John gives us the character or
than merely "continue." The ancient versions are singularly
vague, but to my mind they indicate action more or less energetic
or specific, and not bare continuance ; and so, it seems to me, the
great majority of the best modern translators. Mr. M'Causland
(pp. 300, 361) prefers "to make forty-two months,!' i.e. to drive
out the Jew into the wilderness for that period. This may be a
"literal" version; but I cannot commend its "propriety." Is it
not plain that the acting of the Beast is in contradistinction; to
his spanking? He blasphemes God in every possible way, His
name, His tabernacle, and those that dwell in heaven ; and more
than this, license is given him to carry all out practically for
forty-two months.

379
principle, and Daniel the detail of historical facts.
The fact was to be, that in the Roman empire there
should arise ten kings, three* of whom disappear before
the force or fraud of another king, the Uttle horn — a
power obscure in its first origin, but acquiring actual
possession of three kingdoms, and then becoming the
real director of all the rest. In the Revelation (where
of course it is assumed that what had been disclosed
in Daniel is already known), the Holy Ghost does not
go back to the historical detaUs, but speaks as if the
emperor and the empire were one.
I am bound to acknowledge "the powers that be;''
but when Satan has given the Beast his authority, it
is another thing altogether: we owe no allegiance to
Satan. In point of fact, he is the one who leads on
¦the Beast into all his own depths and heights of sin.
For the beast "opened his mouth in blasphemy against
God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, andf

* Even Mr. E. gives up the popular notion, sanctioned by Sir
I. Newton, Bp. N., &c, that this was fulfilled in the subjection of
Borne, part of Lombardy, and Bavenna; to the Pope. But is his
own theory much better ? How can the destruction of the Van
dals in Corsica and Sardinia, or of the Ostrogoths in Italy by
Justinian's general Belisarius, and of the Lombards, long after, by
Pepin and Charlemagne, answer to the little horn's subduing three
kings? Even of this petty territory, which is so strangely
¦ exaggerated into three kingdoms, the Pope has long possessed but
a portion : if all the parts remained, it would scarce make one real
kingdom. The little horn, on the contrary, conquers for himself,
and becomes pre-eminently great.
+ It is not correct to say, with the author of Horae Apoca-
lypticae, that the conjunction is wanting in all the critical editions,
for Griesbach, Knapp, Scholz, Tischendorf , &c. , retain it with the
Vatican Uncial, a good many other mss., and almost all the
ancient versions, save the Syriac. Still there is grave authority
{AC, twenty-eight cursives, &c.) against Kal, wliich is therefore
dropped by some excellent editors, as Matthaei, Lachmann, &c.
I have, accordingly, thought it right to bracket the word, though
my opinion is in favour of receiving it.

380
them that dwell in heaven." (Ver. 6.) The Roman
empire is the chariot, so to speak, in which this
furious rider is driving.
But let us look further at Dan. vii. "I beheld,,
and the same horn made war with the saints, and
prevailed against them. (ver. 21.) .... . And he
shall speak great words against the Most High, and
shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall
think to change times and laws : and they shall be-
given into his hands until a time, and times, and the
dividing of times." It is the same period of forty- two
months that we have here in Rev. xiU. : — "a time,''
which means a year; "and times," two years; "and
the dividing of time," half a year, I have no question
that it is the person referred to in Daniel, under the
name of the little horri, who here appears under that of
the Beast. There he is the "horn," because Daniel gives
us the gradual succession of the history, and adds the
special Jewish part, the gift of times and laws into, his
hand; here, because he is viewed as having all the
power and authority of the imperial system, he is
caUed "the Beast." He opens his mouth "in blas
phemy against God, to blaspheme His name and His
tabernacle, and them that tabernacle in heaven."
For this was the great object of Satan, who uses the
Beast as his mouth-piece. It was from heaven he
had been cast out, and God in heaven, and those whom
He calls into relationship with Himseff there, are
peculiarly odious to Satan and to this self-exalting
Beast. "They that dwell in heaven" are unbearable
to them. There is no one thing that stirs the world
even now so much as this. It does not always dislike

381
•godliness where connected with things on the earth: it
can appreciate love in a measure, for men can selfishly
profit by it. But the moment there is a godliness
that cares not for the things of the earth — not merely
that refuses the evU things, for they could understand
that — but a godly person who rejects them when men
are doing their best, i.e., seeking to be religious and
to honour God in their own way, nothing so excites
men's hatred even now; much more so when that day
•comes. For then Satan has lost all power and place
in heaven, and has only the earth to work in, and the
thought of blessedness above is hateful to him. He
-endeavours to make men think that the Beast is God,
and takes advantage, I suppose, of the prophecies in
Scripture to make them believe that the predicted
.good time is arrived, that God is come back to the
world, that men have nothing to do but to enjoy
all the blessings of the earth and of the day spoken of
when God was to scatter His enemies. Satan seeks
that men should antedate this under himself and
without God. He wUl know what is at hand and his
own torment when that day arrives. He will
endeavour to turn to account the very promises of
God, for cheating the world into the belief that these
times of chiefest evil are the days of heaven on the
earth. This is the time described here, when con
science towards God wUl be completely null and void,
^nd what was true of Pharaoh on a small scale wiU be
verified of entire Christendom. It will be given up
to judicial hardening and then destroyed. It is just
what the Spirit shows us in 2 Thess. U. 11, 12, when
God, grieved with this world because of their rejection

382
of the truth, will allow man and Satan to do their
worst together. "For this cause God shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a Ue; that
they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness." And I most
fully believe not only that God wUl do so righteously,
but that the righteousness of it will be apprehended'
by any soul who is subject to His word.
Here, then, we have the means by which Satan
accomplished his purposes. He has given his vast
power to the Beast, and now he makes him an object
of worship. "And it was given unto him to make
war with the saints and to overcome them: and'
authority was given him over every tribe, and people,
and tongue, and nation. And all that dwell upon the
earth shall worship him of whom the name is not-
written in the book of life of the slain Lamb, frem
the foundation of the world." (Ver. 7, 8.) Here is-
the same distinction that I have alluded to before.
"All that dwell on theearth" are a worse class than the
tribes, peoples, tongues, and nations, meaning those that
have abandoned heaven and heavenly hopes, and are
fully committed to the latter-day delusions. In the case
of "every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation,"'
authority was given to the beast over them; but as to
"those that dwell on the earth," they are completely
subject to him and to his malignant influence. "All
that dwell upon the earth shall worship him." That
is not said about the others, but these are completely
given up. When it says, "Whose names are not
written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world," the idea is not that the

383
Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world,.
though people commonly draw from it the inference,
as in 1 Peter i. 19, 20, of the purpose of God. But the
true meaning of the verse, I apprehend, is that their
names were not written, from the foundation of the
world, in the book of the slain Lamb. And, comparing
this with Rev. xvii. 8, we find that the Spirit has left
out a portion, which makes all clear by removing
any doubt of the true connexion. "And they that
dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were
not written in the book of life from the foundation of
the world." The Holy Spirit has left out "of the
Lamb that was slain," and puts together the writing-
in the book of life, with "from the foundation of the
world." The language of Peter, &c, (1 Peter i. 20,)
where he speaks of the Lord Jesus as an unblemished,
spotless lamb, "who verily was ordained before the
foundation of the world," has quite another bearing.
Then comes a solemn word of warning, on which I
need not dwell at length. "If any man hath an ear,
let him hear." If any man leadeth into captivity, into
captivity he goeth: if any kiUeth with the sword, he
must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience
and the faith of the saints." (Ver. 9, 10.) That is a
general maxim, true of any one; true even for the
Beast. If he has been leading others into captivity,
he is to go into that or worse himself: if he has killed
with the sword, he must also be killed. But it is
specially intended for the guidance of the saints, who
might naturally infer, from the wickedness of the
beast and his league with the dragon, that they were
at liberty to resist him. And there is, I believe, the

384
reason why this is said, lest the saint should be tempted
to forget his place or God's supremacy and sure
j udgment. Their place was not to take the sword«in
their own defence. If they did so, what would be
the result? Even then, whatever their character,
whatever the Beast's, God would hold to His principles.
They must expect what they sought to inflict. It is
the law of God's retributive government. The Apostle
Paul, in Eph. vi., does not scruple to use the voice of
the law as to the honour due to a parent. " Honour
thy father and mother .... that it may be well with
thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." Gf
course he does not mean that a Christian should look
forward to living on the earth as a reward for honouring
parents. It was a principle laid down of old by God,
and the Apostle, referring to the earthly promise,
merely shows that even under the law there was a
special blessing attached to it. It was the first com
mandment with promise. So here the Spirit of God
gives a general principle, true at all times, applicable
alike to foes and friends. "If any man," <fec. — it
does not matter who. It is a false position for the
Christian to assume the place of power in the world.
What makes it the more striking is that the saints
spoken of here are Jewish, who of all others might
think it very right to resist with their might. If
the Beast blasphemed and persecuted grievously, they
might say, "Surely we are entitled to stand up in
defence of our reUgion and our lives." "No," says
the Lord; "if any man have an ear, let him hear . .
- . he that kiUeth with the sword, must be kUled by
the sword." If He lets him have his way for a season,

385
what is our calling? "Here is the patience and the
faith of the saints" — faith as regards God, and patience
as regards the enemy: Thus God wUl so much the more
appear on behalf of His sufferers. And if the place of
faith and patience belongs to those Jewish saints who
have a comparatively earthly position, how much more
to us who have nothing but a heavenly one? (of.
Matt. xxvi. 52.)
Our great business, next to enjoying Christ and
deUghting in His love, should be to cultivate what is
according to His will: so that we should not give a
false witness of what He is and has done for us. We
are not of the world; and the moment we fall back
upon the resources of nature, upon our own personal
power, influence, or authority, we have deserted
Christian ground. In family relationships, to act
according to our place of authority is a perfectly right
thing. Nor will the blessing of God be with those
who- do not maintain the relative place that God has
set them in; as of a father or chUd, a husband or
wife, &c. The affections, most important as they are,
are not everything. God is to be respected in the
order that He establishes and sanctions. These are
things which are not touched by our heavenly place ;
on the contrary, this gives us an opportunity of show
ing we have got in Christ a fresh power for every
legitimate relation. But to take our part as having
.an interest in this world is quite another thing, and
not the place of the Christian; but rather to pass
lightly over it, as those that know their portion with
God in heaven. Christ is coming to judge the world,.
which God regards as guilty of the blood of His Son,

386
and only ripening for judgment This truth habitually
before our souls would preserve us from much that
dishonours the Lord in us as Christians.
May all we learn be used to our blessing in separat
ing us from what is to end so dismally ! The outward
effects of conduct are not enough. The church is
regarded as having the mind of Christ, and we are
responsible to God to keep out of the secret snares
and springs by which Satan is bringing about this
evil. For we have to do with his working in a still
more subtle way than his acts in the world. May we
not forget what God is to us, for the present claims of
His glory ! We have the most blessed opportunity of
being faithful to Christ now. It is vain to look wist
fully at others, and to imagine what we could do if in
their circumstances. God is equal to all the difficulty
of our own position and time, and would give us the
needed strength if we waited on Him. The only
reason why we are apt to magnify the strangeness,
&c, of circumstances, is because our eye is not single
to Christ. When we see Him in everything, the
danger, difficulty, and temptation are all at an end.
Ver. 11-18. The rise of the second Beast is strongly
distinguished from that of the one already noticed.
First, there was the Beast out of the sea ; now we
read, "And I beheld another Beast coming up out of
the earth." The earth we have seen, all through the
Revelation, to be the symbol of that which politically
is established and in order — the proper scene of the
testimony and ways of God and of settled human
government. Its privileges may be abused ; it may

3S7
lapse into a state of frightful moral darkness ; for it ia
just where there is any blessing from above that there
is the danger of corruption arid apostasy. The sea, on
the contrary, is a loose, disorganized aspect of the
world. Chronologically, too, this might intimate that
the rise of the second Beast is subsequent to that of
the first. When the seven-headed monster rises, all is
in a state of agitation ; but when and where the
second Beast comes up, things are consolidated after a
fashion. The land now is spoken of — no longer the
water, the spPrt of every wind. But the personage
described as "coming up out of the earth" is not a
mere individual. It is a political, oppressing power
that acts without conscience toward God — a beast*
It may be, and I doubt not this is, one particular
individual that exercises the power, as with the first
Beast. But " Beast," as a symbol, does not mean an
individual as such, but an imperial power, sometimes
with revolving satellites subject to itself.
Next, this Beast was evidently of an extraordinary
kind, for it is characterized by an imitation of Christ.
It has "two horns like a Lamb." The Lord, we must
have observed, through the Revelation, is often spoken1
of as the " Lamb." While seated upon the throne of
God, whUe described as Himself the great Sufferer,

* Mr. Elliott considers the two-horned lamb-like Beast to re
present the Papal clergy, secular and regular, united under the-
Pope, as the Western Patriarch, and supporting him in his loftier
character of Christ's Vicar, or Antichrist. Matt. vii. 15, he thinks,
almost precludes the possibility of error in thus interpreting the
symbol of the anti-christian clerical body.' But does not a "Beast,"
in prophetic imagery, always imply a political corporation or civil-
power, never elsewhere a priestly class however organised? Ought
such an element to be left out in interpreting the chapter?

388
actively sympathizing with the suffering people of God,
He is seen as a " Lamb. But when the saints slip out
of and abandon their proper lot of earthly rejection,
the Lord ceases to be thus symbolized. He seems
ashamed of them and retreats to a distance, and is seen
as an angel and not any longer as a Lamb. The
extraordinary thing we see here is that this Beast
assumes to be like Christ. He has two horns like a
lamb. He makes a sort of pretension to be like Christ
in official power. While the horn is used as a symbol
of a king, it may also mean simply power. It was so
used when speaking of David, " the horn of his
anointed," &c. ; but stUl more is this meaning of it
apparent if we look at the Lord Jesus, who is seen iri
this book as having seven horns and seven eyes.
Clearly the seven horns there cannot be seven kings ;
so that the horns, according to the context, either
might mean kings, or they might be simply power.
In the former beast we are told they signify kings ;
but per se they need not, and here they seem not to
mean more than power. It is not the perfection of
power, as seen in the Lamb, but only pretension to
it ; there were two horns. The Spirit of God has been
pleased to show us in chap. xvri. of this book, that the
ten horns of the first beast are ten kings (chap. xvn. l-2)i
So far, then, all is plain about this second beast.
It is a corporate power that grows up when all was
formed and orderly, and consequently arising after the
appearance of the first beast. More than that. He
arrogates to himself the power of Christ (he has two
horns like a lamb) ; but his speech betrays him — he
speaks as a dragon. Out of the abundance of the

389
heart, we know, the mouth speaks. Whatever he-
may appear to be outwardly, when he does give utter
ance to the real sentiments of his heart, it is the voice
of the dragon. To the former Beast the dragon gave
his power and authority. But here there is more in
ward resemblance to the dragon. Of this the draconic
voice is the expression. It is the great active power
of evU in the latter day ; and this is one difference
between these Beasts. The first Beast is the one for
show : it catches the profane world through the display
of power and glory. The second Beast is much the
more energetic of the two. It is the one that most
takes the place of Christ — is a false Christ, or rather
is Antichrist — i.e., the very expression of Satan in his
direct opposition to Christ. When Satan was seen
(chap. xU.) waiting to devour the man-child as soon as
it was born, he is not as the serpent, but as the dragon.
And here, in order to the ripening of his last designs,
this Beast speaks as a dragon.
But it may be interesting to look at some of the
scriptures that apply to the second Beasts, for there is
often a good deal of confusion about it ; and it is not
to be wondered at, for these two Beasts are so closely
bound together in the last days, that it is a difficult
matter to determine which of them is the Antichrist.
The word "Antichrist" is only found in the epistles of
John. And there we must look, ff we would see what
is implied in that name. In 1 John U. the Holy
Ghost writes as to this to the babes of- God's family.
For it is not at all a true principle that the young in
Christ are only to know Him for the salvation of thefr
own souls. The reason, I suppose, for thus writing to-

390
them was, because they were in special danger from
the snares and deceits of the enemy; and the Lord,
while He preserves, does not want us to be kept blind
fold. Christian guidance is not unintelligent. It is
not the blind leading the blind, nor even the seeing
leading the blind, but it is the seeing leading the see
ing. God does give help and instruction; but the
Holy Ghost takes particular pains to show that He
appeals not to the saints' ignorance, but to their
knowledge of the truth. " Little children, it is the
last time: and as ye have heard that the Antichrist
shall come, even now are there many antichrists;
whereby we know that it is the last time." There we
learn with certainty what was working from and in
the time of the Apostle John, what has been increas
ing ever since, and bearing a terrible harvest up to the
present time, though the fruit of it, the Antichrist,
may not yet be fully ripe. "Even now are there many
antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time."
That was the proof — not good, as men think, but the
deep evU of antichrist spreading. "They went out
from us, but they were not of us : for if they had been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us :
but they went out, that they might be made manifest
that they were not all of us." What a solemn thing 1
The persons displaying the spirit of antichrist were
individuals that had once professed the name of
Christ. In fact, there could not be an antichrist
unless there had been some previous profession of
Christ. There must necessarily be some truth; for
Satan cannot invent. He can imitate; he can corrupt
God's truth, and use it for his own purposes, and put

391
it in new and evil forms, so as to give the appearance of
truth to what is positive error — -"for no lie is of the
truth." Thus the great Antichrist is to come : but
even then were there many antichrists. These
persons, painful to say, had once been in the family of
God. There they had been, outwardly in the place of
children, but not of course in reality. Then " they
went out from us, but they were not of us." Next, he
says, " Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus
is the Christ ?" But he goes farther. To deny that
Jesus is the Christ is the first feature. But there are
greater abominations. " He is antichrist, that denieth
the Fatlter and the Son." There are two states spoken
of here. First, there is the denial that Jesus is the
Messiah, the last degree of that infidelity which every
unbelieving Jew shows, who rejects Christ from that
day to this. But the terrible thing is, that it is found
in those who had once taken their place in confessing
Jesus to be the Christ. Of him who will finally be
the leader in giving it up and renouncing, it is said,
"he is a liar." But more than that. He is net only
a liar, but an antichrist " that denieth the Father and
the Son." Jesus was the Messiah, and much more :
the Father was displayed in Him. If I look at the
Messiah as such, I do not necessarily and fully see the
Father there. In Him is the truth of the kingdom of
God ; in Him the display of His power and faithfulness
to His people. But there is something far more
blessed than the kingdom; for when I have the thought
of the Father, I rise, not merely into the region of
divine power, but into that pf the highest, heliest,
most intimate affections. It is evident that what we

392
know in the presence of God now, is an infinitery
nearer thing than the glory that He wUl give or dis
play by and by. This will tell others what His feel
ings are toward us, proving the love we are brought
into now. We do not wait for the kingdom to
know this ; but by the Holy Ghost we draw near to
God now, in the most blessed way in which He here
reveals Himself. Of course, when we are in heaven',
we shall have a more unalloyed knowledge of His love,
an enjoyment never interrupted by the workings of a
carnal mind or by worldly influences. Every hindrance
wUl be removed — all idols will vanish — for every
present thing, which becomes an object to the mind,
instead of Christ, is really an idol. We shall be out
of and above all this, when we are taken to be with
the Lord. But the love of the Father is just as true
and perfect now, and we, by the Holy Ghost, are
privileged to enjoy it. We shall enter more fully into
the love then, but the love itself is the same now. '
It is the rejection, then, not merely of the Messiah-
ship of the Lord Jesus, but of His divine glory as the
Son, that brings in Antichrist. All the love of the
Father has come out in Christ, witnessed by the Holy
Ghost. That involves, not merely the Jewish revela
tion, but the Christian ; and it supposes too that Mes
siah has not merely come and been rejected, but has
brought out all His divine and heavenly glory. For
His being the Son of the Father has nothing to do
with the earth. His eternal Sonship is evidently a
truth that is entirely beyond His Messianic rights and
position. It would have been equally true, if there
had been no earth or providential dealings. It was

393
His eternal relation and glory: and therefore, when
the Holy Ghost wants to bring us into our full place
of blessedness, it is the Father that He brings out.
" Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings.''
Where ? Here? Not at all. " In heavenly places in
Christ ; according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world." So that the seat of our
blessing is entirely outside and above the whole scene
of the lower creation. And if a man utterly rejects
and despises that, renouncing His glory whom he had
once owned, what is he? An antichrist. What he
does on a small scale, the Antichrist will do on t\
larger one.
I refer to the epistles of John, because there we have
the Antichrist mentioned, not as a Beast, as in the
Revelation, but as the end and chief of those who had
once been in the family of God outwardly, had gone
out from it, abandoning and denying the blessed truth
about the Father, and the Son, which they seemed to
have received. " He is antichrist that denieth the
Father and the Son." On the other hand, we read,
" Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the
Father." God always makes the utmost account of
His Son. If you deny the Son, everything is gone ;
whereas " he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the
Father also." When I possess the Son of God and
my heart finds satisfaction in Him, I know the Father.
" He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also."
Then, after exhorting them to let that abide in them
which they had heard from the beginning, that so they
might continue in the Son and in the Father, John
c2

394
-closes the matter thus : " These things have I written
unto you concerning them which seduce you." It was
an evil that was at work from the very beginning —
and what mercy is there even in this ? As the evU
did exist, and must be manifested at some time , or
another, God allowed it to break out then, so as to put
His own revealed sentence upon it. We should never
have dared to have said such strong things of those
whom we had even known as friends or as brethren so-
called. Call them liars ! How shocking and uncharit
able ! men would say. But the moment that any men
set themselves against (or rather deny) the full revela
tion of the Son of God, the Holy Ghost knows no
quarter ; and I believe that we ought not. If the
heart is unprepared for this, you wUl find another
thing that goes along with it. Wherever unbroken
self-love, sensitiveness, and tenacity reign about
what touches ourselves, there is but little care for the
Lord Jesus. You cannot have two master affections.
When the heart is single to Christ, He lifts us above
personal feelings ; but where the heart's care is for
ourselves, there will not be found much devotedness to
Him, nor jealousy for His name.
In 1 John iv. the Apostle refers to the spirit of the
-evU. " Every spirit that confesseth not Jesus Christ
come in the flesh, is not of God : and this is that
[spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it
should come, and even now already is it in the world."
Why does the Holy Ghost introduce it here ? There
' are many false prophets, as had been said in the first
verse, gone out into the world : and so 1 believe there
are now. But it is a most difficult thing to realize

395
it at the time in which we live. We can see it in
times that are past ; but the great difficulty is the dis
cerning of what is at work now. We are in the very
same circumstances that the saints were in then. For
as surely as the Holy Ghost continues to work, so surely
will the subtle power of Satan be there to oppose.
" Every spirit that confesseth not, etc . . . This
is that [spirit] of antichrist whereof ye have heard that
it should come, and even now already is it in the
world." It is not the Antichrist fully developed yet,
but the spirit of it working in the church, just as much
as the Holy Ghost was working there. The earliest
sphere is not in the profane world : it must begin with
those who had once borne the name of Christ. Satan
could not forge such a rebelion against God, but
among those who professed to believe the truth and
love of Christ. There is a notice of this in the second
epistle of John, where it is said that " many deceivers
are entered into the world, who confess not Jesus Christ
come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti
christ.'' It is no longer a question of justification by
faith simply, or of, the law, but a more serious thing
still. It is Satan, not only attacking the work of
Christ and seeking to get rjersons to add something
and so to take away from its glory, but depreciating
.and denying the person of the Son. Important as the
work of Christ is to us, the person of Christ is the
centre and substance of all truth and glory. In pre
sence of such a theme, I desire not to discuss but to
worship. The reason why persons care more for the
work of Christ is because they rightly feel they can
not be saved without it; but once we have got peace

396
of conscience, Christ's person becomes the most precious
object of our hearts. He is God's deUght ; and what
is most precious to Him, we shall find to be the most
blessed, and full of blessing, for us. It is not merely
he that denies Jesus Christ come in the flesh, but he
that does not confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh :
this is a -deceiver and an antichrist. The Holy
Ghost becomes, ff we may so say, bolder in His state
ments. Does He lower the standard, because Satan
apparently gains ground, and becomes more and more
audacious against Christ ? And are we to say, " We
must not be so particular now, because there is so
much evil ; " and " there is no hope, because the church
is in ruins ? " On the contrary, the Spirit, making.
provision for the latest time, uses stronger language
than ever. He says (ver. 1 0), " If there come any
unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not
into your house, neither bid him God speed." We are
to have nothing to say to him.
Not only was He not greeting us to be received
into the church, the house of the living God, but
not even into a Christian's house. He must have
no sanction nor footing among the saints; for the
Christian's house ought to be a fortress for the name
of the Lord, a reflection of what the Lord loves" and
produces where He is owned and honoured. No matter
if it be only to the lady that he is writing — one who is
not called to teach or to rule. But when it is a
question of Christ, it is in vain to talk about her being
a woman, as an excuse for laxity. She wants Christ ;
she owes all to Christ ; and, if she is a woman, is she
not bound to make Christ the first question, the ob-

397
ject of her soul? Therefore, if any person touches
Christ, no matter who or what she may be, her
allegiance to Christ calls for promptness and decision.
That at once becomes the governing motive to faith,
and the one grand responsibUity of her soul. Whether
it be persons who have the spirit of antichrist, or the
great Antichrist himself that is coming, antagonism to
•Christ is there ; and this decides all to a true heart.
In the Revelation, Antichrist is described, not
merely as a deceiver, but as a " Beast," as an earthly
power which has a subject kingdom — an imperial
system in fact, rather than a purely spiritual malig
nant influence, as in the epistles of John. If we look
a little at some of the Jewish prophets, we shall find
more about him. I refer more particularly to Daniel
xi. Towards the close (ver. 36) we read these words :
" The king shall do according to his wUl .... and
he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above
•every god, and shall speak marvellous things against
the God of gods." Who can deny you have a self-exalting
personage in the land of Judea? This is very plain; for
lower down it is said that " in his estate shall he hon
our the god of forces : a god whom his fathers knew
not shall he honour with gold and sUver, and with
precious stones and pleasant things. Thus shall he do
in the most strong holds with a strange god, &c 
And he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall
divide the land for gain." Now, I think that wherever
the Holy Ghost speaks of a land in this way, as the
land, it refers to the land of Israel. He speaks of it as
the Lord's own land. This is confirmed a verse or two
afterwards. (Ver. 41.) "He (the king of the north)

398
shall enter also into the glorious land, and many
countries shall be overthrown." Thus a great northern
antagonist is to come against the king (ver. 40) " like
a whirlwind, with chariots and with horsemen," &c.
Most evidently, then, the glorious land spoken of here
is the very country which " the king " had been distri
buting to his favourites. In short, he is a king in the
land of J udea, and it is expressly said, that the period,
policy, and conflicts described are " at the time of the
end." Then " shall the king of the south push at him (the
king in Judea), and the king of the north shall," &c.
If this be so, several points are cleared in these
verses. First of all, a king, who does according
to his own will, establishes himself in the land of
Palestine. But while you may find the moral features
that link him with the " Antichrist " of John, he is-
viewed here as an earthly power, and is thus connected
with one of the Beasts of the Revelation. But more-
than that, he is to exalt and magnify himself above
every god. This was a novel feature. The Roman
emperors had honour paid to them, in Ufe and after
death, as divine ; yet never above every god. But
" the king " shall magnify himself supremely ; and this
in a land that was specially Jehovah's above all others,
and amongst a people whom God had called out to be
a witness against all idolatry; and yet this man claims
a new and most audacious worship, as the Most High
in God's land and temple (cf. 2 Thess. U). For bad
as Israel had been of old, enflaming themselves " with
idols under every green tree," here we have the sight,
hitherto unknown, of a man setting himself up as the
supreme God. And yet he has an object of worship-

399
himself: for man must have an object which enslaves
him, unless he be truly exalted, as alone he can be in
bowing down before the true God. In reality he is
most elevated when most subject to God. For man,
unlike God, cannot suffice in and for himself without
another. He must either raise his eyes to the true
God or degrade them on a false one. Even the very
person who will try to get all beneath him, as supreme
object of worship, will himself have something that he
is subject to. And so we find (ver. 37) that, while he
does not regard the God of his fathers (which confirms
his being a Jew), nor the desire of women (which,
probably, refers to the Messiah), nor regard any god,
for he shaU magnify himself above all, yet the Spirit
of God shows us this apparent self-contradiction. (Ver.
38.) " In his estate shaU he honour the god of forces."
All others are to honour him, but he has got this false
god whom he honours himself " with gold and silver,
and precious stones and pleasant things. Thus shall
he do with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge
and increase with glory," &c. "And at the time of
the end shall the king of the south push at him, and
the king of the north shall come against him. .
He shall enter also into the glorious land," &c.
Now here plainly we have Palestine. The kings of
the south and north are so called with reference to
the land of Judea. The king of the north, described
as coming against him with this large force, is the
Assyrian, (so familiar in the prophets), whUe the king
of the south is the then sovereign of Egypt These two
powers come up against "the king," who, I apprehend,
is the Antichrist of Scripture. The Holy Ghost does

400
not here describe his rise. There was no need to say
who he was, but he is brought in quite abruptly. For
ff verse 35 be examined, yeu wUl find that it speaks
pf some who had understanding, referring to what
took place in the time of Maccabees, when there was a
celebrated and most wicked prince, Antiochus Epi-
phanes, that persecuted the Jews, many of whom then
came out in a remarkable way. There might have
been a good deal of nature and the spirit of the world
in their feelings and actions; nevertheless they resisted
all efforts to turn them away from Jehovah to idols.
Some of them fell, and this was, as the prophet says,
in order to try others, and "to purge and to make
them white, even to the time of the end : because it is
yet for a time appointed." There comes in the space
where the Spirit of God drops the past history. He
first gives us the struggle between Antiochus and his
adversaries, followed by the exploits and the sufferings
of those who had understanding in Israel. The history
of Israel is then in abeyance, and we are at once
carried on to "the time of the end." Between these
two points there is a suspension of their history.
What is the next thing ? " And the king shaU do
according to his will." We are not here told any
thing about his origin or progress ; we hear nothing
whence he comes ; we have only that peculiar phrase,
" the king," as if this would be intimation enough who
was intended. Nor is it the only place in Scripture
where " the king " is spoken of. Look at the close of
Isaiah xxx. and you wUl find " the king" introduced
there in no less singular a manner. The reason, I
believe, is this; that the Jews, whUe they were looking

401
for Christ, were also looking for Antichrist, a great
prince who should trample down the godly among
them in their final tribulation. It was plain in pro
phecy and so understood by them. In this ch. xxx. the
Spirit of God describes two enemies of Israel. First
in verse 31 it is said, " For through the voice of the
Lord shall the Assyrian be broken down which smote
with a rod." This is the king of the north that figures
in Daniel, typified in the early prophet perhaps by Sen
nacherib, who was the Assyrian of that day, but of
course only a foreshadow of the great northern enemy
at the close. Then, again, it is said, " And in every
place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the
Lord shall lay upon him, it shaU be with tabrets and
harps ; and in battles of shaking will he fight with it."
Thus, although there will be such sorrow and trial,
there will be joy too : "it shall be with tabrets and
harps.'' " For Tophet is ordained of old : for the king
also it is prepared." This I belive to be the force of it
— " for the king also." Thus, if the statement made be
correct, you have at the closing scene, the judgment
of God on these two great enemies of Israel — the
Assyrian, and " the king " who is introduced here
without a word of preparation. If we turn, further, to
Isaiah IvU., the same thing appears. I refer to it the
more, as perhaps some might argue that in chap. xxx.
¦" the Assyrian" and " the king" are identical. But in
chap. lvii. it would be impossible to maintain this. The
prophet has just been describing the appalling moral
evil of the last clays among the Jews. Then suddenly
he says, (ver. 9,) " Thou wentest to the king with oint
ment," &c. It is plain from this, that "the king" is some

402
special antagonist of God, not attacking the Jews from
without like the Assyrian, but setting himself up
within as king over the people of God. It was not
necessary to define what king, because it "was a familiar
idea to Israel, so that the Holy Ghost could introduce
him without a word of preface. They knew there was
the terrible king to come — the last great enemy of
God and the Jews in the land. The Assyrian is an
enemy of God and of Israel too, but not in the land ;
for he fights against " the king" who is reigning there.
The last wilful king is tbe object of attack to the last
mighty Assyrian. Outrageously wicked as both are to
be, they do not at all agree in their wickedness. ' They
stand in each other's way. There never can be lasting-
peace between them, and this is exactly what the
eleventh chapter of Daniel shows us. The 41st verse
is not at all a description of "the king." He seems to
be lost to view, and there follows the account of the,
proud king of Assyria. The Holy Ghost pressesonto the
end of the Assyrian's career, leaving that of "the king."
Looking now at the New Testament, we shall find
some new features about this king. In 2 Thess. U.*
* I take the opportunity of stating my conviction, which I have
reason to know Mr. Birks shares, that the Auth. V. is quite
justified in giving "by the coming (or presence) of our Lord Jesus
Christ," rather than "with regard to." So it is in the Aethiopic
probably, the Arabic, Gothic, Syriac, and Vulgate. Mr. Elliott,
and the commentators he follows, have overlooked the most
important elements for deciding the true meaning. It is not a
question of irrip only, but of v-?r4p with a verb of entreating, which
yields regularly the sense "for the sake of" or " by " (Matthiae's
Gr. Gr. Vol. ii. §. 582. Jelf, Vol. ii. §. 630). Bp. Ellicott avoids
the error of Mr. Elliott, who doubts whether vwip ever bears what
he calls this " adjurative sense;" but, while admitting that it is
"grammatically tenable," he contends that it is by no means
" exegetically probable," and that it is without precedent in the
New Testament. But the latter is an unreasonable objection;

403
we have the fullest account of him that the epistles of
St. Paul afford. In verse 3 it is said, " Let no man
deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not
come,] except there come the falling away first, and that
man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." There
is. first, the faUing away, that is, the special apostasy.
The man of sin is another and subsequent thing. The
apostasy prepares the way for the revelation of the
man of sin. The French revolution e.e:. answers to

because there is no other instance in the New Testament, that I
know, of iptoraw, or an equivalent word, with this proposition
(save 2 Cor. v. 20, which Wahl takes as = per, but I wave it as
doubtful) ; and therefore we must be regulated by its ordinary
force in such constructions. But we have frequently eo. with rrepl
there, which carries a sense entirely different. Again, the real
source of the difficulty is owing to the exegetical mistake that the
presence of the Lord is the same thing as His day. It would be
most unnatural, as Dean Alford argues, that the apostle should
conjure them by that concerning which he was about to teach
them. But the apostle does no such thing; on the- contrary, he
entreats them by "the coming" of Christ with all its cheering
associations and its bright hope — the gathering of the saints to
their Lord, that they should not be agitated by the terrors of "the
day," which false teachers pretended was actually present. Both
the Dean of Canterbury and Mr. Elliott agree with me that
ivio-rnKev means "is already come," and not merely "at hand,"
as very faultily represented in the English Bible. St. Paul had
already taught the Thessalonians their hope in the first epistle, as
he had also in his oral ministry respecting the man of sin and the
hindrance which actually operated against his manifestation. He
now puts these truths in their order, and beseeches them by
Christ's coming as a known motive, on account of which they
should not be moved by the false alarm, that that familiar and
dreaded day of trouble was arrived. It is the presence (rrapovoia.)
of the Lord which gathers the saints to meet Him above ; it is the
epiphany or shining forth of His presence which destroys the law
less one — a manifestly subsequent event, spite of Bengel, as appears
beyond doubt from comparing Bev. xix. The saints are already
with Christ and follow Him out of heaven, to the judgment of the
Beast and the false prophet and their adherents. The document
on which the errorists rested was a pretended letter of the apostle's,
not the first epistle to the Thessalonians, as some wrongly assert ;.
and the feeling they sought to excite was not the hope pf Christ's
coming, but the fear of His day. The criticism and the doctrine
of the Horas Apoc, I must say, as to this are unfounded and
misleading.

404
the apostasy rather than Romanism, which confesses
truths, but all of them put out of then- right place.
There will be a further and more terrible development
of the apostasy, though this illustrates it. But there
is to be more than that — the man of sin. Who is he?
The Lord Jesus Christ was the man of righteousness.
This is the antagonist — the man of sin — "the son of
perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshipped." Just the
same sort of moral features that we see in Daniel
about "the king," we have in this man of sin. " So
that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself
that he is God." There we have another point. He
is evidently one reigning at Jerusalem. He sits "in the
temple of God," which, I see no reason to doubt, means
the literal and well-known temple there. * At the same
time, if anybody likes to apply the principle of this scrip
ture to" such as may pervert the place of the church and
make it an engine and sphere for exalting himself in
now, I have nothing to object. I dare say that it may
legitimately be so applied — at least in part ; but I think
that it looks on to a person who arrogates to himself
the honour that is due only to God. "Remember ye

* The allusion is obvious and undeniable to Dan. xi. , which has
the Jews and their land in view, not the church. . This I consider
entirely confirmed by Matt. xxiv. 15, which certainly refers to a
thing and time subsequent to Christ's rejection by the Jews and
His rejection of them ; but as clearly, to my mind, looks on to a
time when He will again have a godly remnant, in the midst of an
unbelieving generation governed by a false king under Boman
iufluence. If, under such circumstances, the temple can be called
the "holy place," why may it not be also "the temple of God?"
The reasoning from what the house of God is now, while the
-church abides here, is quite nugatory. Compare also " the holy
city " in Matt, xxvii. 53. God's purpose is not revoked, spite of
Israel's guilt. '

40.")
not," the Apostle says, "that, when I Was yet with
you, .1 told you these things ? And now ye know what
withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work," &c.
Just as the Apostle John says, " Even now are there
many antichrists;" so here the mystery of iniquity
was already working, only there was a person that
hindered. "He who now letteth [will let] until he be
taken out of the way." I do not the least doubt that
the hindering thing is the power of the Spirit of God
uot merely dwelling in the church, but acting in the
way of control in the world, as the seven Spirits of
God sent forth into all the earth. If it were simply
the Holy Ghost dwelling in the church, the moment
the church was taken away, the man of sin would be
revealed. But it appears that the lawless one wUl not
arrive at his full stature and manifestation immediately
on the rapture of the saints. There will be an in
terval and a testimony which God will give. When
this testimony disappears or is put down by violence,
the man of sin comes out full-blown. This seems to be
the hour when the Holy Ghost ceases to restrain. He
lets men show out then just what they are ; and all
their wickedness comes forth. The Holy Ghost thus
no longer controlling the earth, Satan wUl be allowed
to mature his worst plans for a very brief moment.
This, I think, is the time, and such its' character,
when the hinderer or hindrance wUl be taken out of the
way. The early Christians used for many years to
pray for the continuance of the Roman empire, because
they thought it was the letting thing; that gone, they
expected the lawless one to be revealed forthwith.

406
And as its diabolical form is assuredly to arise after a
previous existence and extinction, there was a certain
measure of truth in their thought. But the Roman
empire has long been extinct, and yet the man of sin,
in his full development, has not yet been revealed.
The reappearance of the empire, not its extinction, is
the critical epoch ; and that will depend on the Holy
Ghost's ceasing to restrain. When it does take place,
all the evil of man and of Satan comes out without
measure or disguise. "He who now letteth [will let],
until he be taken out of the way. And then shall
that lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord shaU con
sume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy
with the shining forth of his presence."
Rev. xix. describes this destruction. In that chap
ter, (ver. 20,) after a previous description of the coming
of the Lord in judgment, it is said, "The beast was
taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought
miracles before him .... These both were cast alive
into the lake of fire burning with brimstone." They
are, without doubt, the same systems or persons already
characterized as the Beasts from the sea and the earth
in Rev. xiii. Now, it is plain that one or other
of these two Beasts is Antichrist. The question stili
remains, which of them is that man of sin? Is it the
great power of the world, the Beast that rises out of
the sea ? Or is it the other energetic Beast that rises
out of the earth imitating Christ in royal and prophetic
power? Disposed to think it is the latter,* I can

* So .Hippolytus Bomauus, a martyr under Maximin or Decius,
and said by Photius to have been a disciple of Irenaeus. It would
seem from Jerome that he wrote formally on the Apocalypse,

407
frankly allow that I see difficulties, and believe it is
not a tiring to be dogmatized upon. Indeed these
Beasts are so closely linked together in their actions
.and objects, and also in their final doom, that we cannot
be surprised if many find it hard to decide, or if
intelligent minds come to different conclusions. Bat
the more that I weigh what is said in St. Paul about
the man of sin, and in St. John's epistles about the anti
christ, my mind looks out for the Beast that has most
appearance of rivalling and opposing Christ. This I
find emphatically in the Beast that rises out of the
earth. Let us now consider a Uttle what the chapter further
gives us, bringing the Ught that we have gathered from
other parts of the Scripture to bear upon our enquiry.
After the description of the Beast in verse 11, we read
of the exercise of his power (ver. 12). " He exerciseth
all the authority of the first Beast before him" (i. e.
in his presence). He is the energetic power, the one
that cares much more for real influence and energy
than for outward show, which was what the first Beast
most valued. "He caused the earth and those that
dwell therein to worship the first Beast, whose deadly
wound was healed." Observe again here that those
tha£ dwell on the earth are abandoned to his delusive
power. Some, seeing that the second Beast works to procure
worship for the first beast, have conceived that 2 Thess.

beside the short treatise still extant irepl tou oaTijpos ¦hp.Sii' 'I. X.
Kal irepl tou avrtxpLo-Tov. In this last (§. 49) he thus speaks of
the second Beast : rb p.ev o$v 8-nplov avafialvov eV t?js yrjt tt\v
fia<ri\elav rrpi too avTixpltTTOv iaop,ivnv \tyei.

408
ii negatives the idea that the second Beast is the same
as the man of sin ; because there he is represented as
allowing no other object of worship than himself.
But it is manifest that there are three persons who areN
closely connected together in this scene — the dragon,
the world-power or first Beast, and the politico-religious
or second Beast. It appears from Rev. xrii. 4, that
the dragon is worshipped as well as the first Beast ; so
that whether we suppose the first Beast, or the second,
to be the Antichrist and man of sin, the difficulty
would remain nearly the same. In either case, the
worship is shared by another. In point of fact, they
are the Anti-Trinity, and find their bond in the unseen
power of Satan.
The second Beast is very important. He is the
really active power in the Holy Land. The Beast out
of the sea has his dominion over the wes£, with large
influence beyond it; but Palestine or Jerusalem is not
his sphere, save that he destroys the witnesses and falls
there. It is the second Beast that is the great power
known to the Holy Land. "He doeth great signs,
so that he maketh even fire come down from heaven
unto the earth in the sight of men" (ver. 13). What
imparts such deep and painful interest to the miracle
is this : it was the special sign whereby Elijah con
founded the false prophets of Baal. When the whole
question lay between God and Baal, what was the
turning-point that decided the claims of Jehovah
against the false god? It was this very firing — fire
coming down from heaven. It had been a famUiar
token in Israel, and one that they might justly connect
with the direct approval and power of God. For He

409
had caused fire to come down from heaven at various
times, as a signal proof of His approbation. Fire
came put from before the Lord when the priests were
consecrated ; the same thing too when the temple was
built and hallowed by Salomon. (2 Chron.. vU.)
"Now when Solomon had made an end of praying,
the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the
burntoffering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the
Lord filled the heuse." It was the crowning evidence
of Jehovah's presence connected with Israel; — of His
presence filling the scene and accepting their sacrifices.
Here, then, is this frightful imitator and antagonist
of the Lord Jesus, who sets himself up to be the God
of Israel as well as the, Christ./ The true Messiah was
the God of Israel, and here we find His majesty and
claims and power emulated ; the . Antichrist too must
cause fire to come down from heaven. I do not say
fire really from heaven, but the appearance of it ; in
the sight of men it was fire coming from heaven. As
Satan could imitate, so here was this wicked power T
whose presence was after the working of Satan, doing
apparently what Elijah had done. The same proof
that EUjah had given for Jehovah against. Baal, is the
one that he offers here in his own name. It is an awful
scene, and still more so ff compared with the passage
in 2 Thess: .ii, 9. , For, sad to say, the very same words
that are used in speaking of the miracles of Christ, in
Acts U. 22, are applied here by the Holy Ghost to the
man of sin. " Jesus of Nazareth," said St. Peter, "a
man approved of God, among you, by miracles, and
wonders, arid signs." . So in 2 Thess. the lawless man
is one, " whose coming is after the working of Satan,
d2"

410
with all power, and signs, and lying wonders." The
peculiar, signs of Christ, that men should know the
truth, are imitated by this impostor. He performs for
falsehood similar things, and men are completely taken
in and deceived.
What prepares the way for such an end is the
dissatisfaction that men will feel with Christendom as
it is. I acknowledge that they justly speak evil against
the state into which Christianity has got. When it
loses its heavenly separateness, and is mingled with
worldly principles, confusion is the result. They for
get that Satan is the god of this world. Henee he
has blinded them entirely as to what the chureh of
God is, and what is due to the name of His Son here
below. Christ is plainly left out of the question, and
even the truthfulness is wanting, which would be
required by men in the commonest things of this Ufe.
It is not that one would desire to say a word against
others; but God forbid that one should not judge, with
aU heart and conscience, a thing that is %ven beneath
common honesty in the things of this Ufe. When the
church, or the individual Christian, ceases to judge, or
if it condemn in heart, allows in practice, in the hoUest
things, that which a natural man does not in human
and social relations ; so that even the very world can
see that what clothes itself with the name of Christ is
all wrong — when such a time as this arrives, can God
longer refrain? Judgment is coming apace ; and what
a mercy it is that God has given us something sweet
as our hope and happiness, and not the perpetual dark
foreboding of most certain judgment ! Our portion is
outside the sphere of the world. Judgment there must

411
be before the werld can be fully blest. If a person
were merely to dwell on evil and its judgment, do
you think it would give power to act for good? It is
not the showing up of what is wrong, but bringing
grace and truth to act upon our souls that gives power;
otherwise, it might only be getting out of one form of
ovil to fall into anpther. The only real security is the
getting near to Christ: we help other souls just so far
as we put them in contact with Him.
We have seen, then, that this great enemy of God
will be permitted to do wonders in imitation of the
power of Christ, and in support of his claim to be
Jehovah. It is not surprising that he deceives those
that dwell on the earth. And what rapidly prepares
the way, and ripens men for all, is, that they are now
listening to Satap, who has been dissolving confidence
in the miracles ,of Christ, and the scriptures which re
late them. Thus, when men not only review, but see,
the horrors of what has taken place in Christendom
under then* eyes, and when they are left without the
love of the truth in then- hearts, they wUl be at the
mercy of Satan. Then, when men's desires are grati
fied without conscience, and God Himself, in righteous
retribution, sends strong delusion that they should
beUeve the Ue, (saying to them, so to speak, "You
have refused the truth that you might be saved: now,
then, have all you Uke,") — then this personage comes
forward, and these wonders are done that affect to be
signs from heaven. Is it amazing that they fall down
and worship the Beast and his image ?
It is Satan, of comse, who is behind the scenes;
but his slave, the second Beast, "deceiveth them that

412
dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which
,he had power to do in the sight" 'oi the Beast: saying
to them that dwell pn the earth,* that they shpuld
make an image to the Beast which had the wound
by a sword and did live. And he had power to give
Ufe (or breath) <fcc, that the image of the Beast
should both speak, and causef that as many as would
not worship the image of the Beast should be kUled."
(Verses 14, 15).
Observe, by theway, a further proof that this second
Beast is after the final rise, of the first Beast; for he
causes an image to be made " to the Beast which had
the wound by a sword and did live." " And he caused
all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond,

* I am not prepared to affirm that "the abomination of deso
lation," of which our Lord speaks in Matt, xxiv., referring to
Daniel xii. 11, is the same as the image" before us. It is absurd
to suppose that our Lord alluded to the defilement of the temple
by Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan.' xi. 31). This was long past;
whereas He is warning of another abomination yet future. and
final. Hence, too, it maybe observed that the phrase given by the
eyahgelistlahswers exactly (not to Dan. xi. 31, but to) chap. xii. 11
in the LXX. , In Dan. .viii. 13 it is another thing, "the trans
gression of desolation ;" and in Dan. ix. 27, though there may be
a link. of connexion,. it'is, I think, "because of the wing, i.e., (the
protection) of abominations [there shall be] a desolator " — a very
distinct statement, even if it be allowed to refer to the same time.
The sense is that Antichrist t sets up idolatry in the temple, be
cause of which a desolator appears in the person of the great
northern enemy of ,-Israel. , The effort to' apply it to the Romans
under Titus, or to the Pope, is utterly vain. ' The former is probably
due to the error of confounding Matt. xxiv. 15, &c. , with Luke
xxi. 21. It is the latter only who brings in the Roman siege and
captivity^ as he alone treats of the times of the Gentiles. Matthew
on the other hand, equally .inspired of God, leaves, out this part
of our Lord's great prophecy, and dwells at length on the closing.
crisis,1 in answer to the question of the end of the age, which Luke
accordingly omits.
+ It is possible that the meaning maybe, "that the image of
the Beast shouldbbth speak and act (or practise) ; in order that as
many," &o. If , so,. the statement attributes to the Beast's image
the same things which characterize the Beast in ver. 5.

413
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, the name of the Beast, or the
number of his name." (Verses 16,17). Thatmarkwas
a seal of subjection or slavery to the Beast.
' ' Here is wisdom. Let Him that hath understanding
count the number of the Beast, for it is the number of
a man, and his number [is] 666 (ver. 18)." I do not
pretend to solve any such question as this. It would
be easy to repeat what others have thought. Some of
the early Christians, especially the pious Bishop of
Lyons, Irenaeus, supposed that it was " the Latin
man." Others have found various names, in accord
ance with their polemics and prejudices. Romanists
discovered in it the enigma of Luther; Protestants,
the name of more than one Pope. Mahomet in
ancient, and Napoleon in modern times, have been
imagined. But are such notions better than conun
drums ? It is ; not the way of the Spirit to occupy
God's people with reckoning letters or numbers after
this vague fashion. May we not be satisfied that this
is one of the points of detail left for " the wise " of
the latter day, and that when the time comes, the
clue wiU be given, and all the light that may be re
quired? For there is in the ways of God a sort of
economy, at least when we come to matters of detaU
and application. Just as He does not give a saint the
strength to bear him through a special trial, tiU it is

* Literally, "that they should give them,"i.e. that a mark
should be given them. Compare Bev. x. 11, "they say to me,"
i.e. it is said. (See Luke vi. 38; xii. 20; xvi. 9, for a similar
usage, the first and especially the last of which are often misunder
stood. )

414
at the doors,, so the Lord may only vouchsafe the-
needed instruction about this number when the man
himself appears.
The application of the'prophecy to a particular person
will be the point then. ; It seems premature and use
less to discuss such a question till the parties are on
the stage. The wise shall understand then, and all
will be as clear as day to them, but not to the wicked.
(See Dan xU.) The general truth, howeveiy is plain.
There is this second "Beast," the active, energetic
power that opposes Christ; but when the day of
reckoning comes, and the judgment of the Lord is
upon him, he will be no longer spoken of as a Beast,
but as the "false prophet" that wrought miracles.
(Rev. xix. 20. ) Supposing the second beast to be Anti
christ, I am inclined to think that there is a spurious
imitation of Christ in his causing the first Beast to be
worshipped. The Lord Jesus spake and wrought for
the purpose of exalting God the Father, while the
Father Himself makes Christ the special object. " Let
aU,the angels of God worship him," (the Son,) and,
again, "that aU men should honour the Son, even as
they honour the Father." So it is with this Beast. He
wUl help to exalt the great world-power, but withal he
equally, and yet more in spiritual things, exalts himself.
He has horns- like a lamb. That is, he pretends to the
power of Christ. But he speaks as a dragori^i.e., the
expressien of his mind is Satanic.) Being a Beast, it is
intimated that he is invested with temporal authority;
whUe he is also expressly designated a false prophet.
Thus, it is a personal antagonist of what Christ was
and will be, rather than ef what He is. Pepery — Anti-

415
Christendom, if you wiU— is a travesty of Christ's
priesthood, and wUl perish with all that partakes its
sin in the gainsaying of Korah. But here (when Christ,
having closed His heavenly work, is about to assume
His earthly royal dignity), is one who opposes and
exalts himself in the city of the great king. For it is
the Holy Land that is the central seat of his power
and deceits. He is, I think, the person that the Lord
Jesus referred to in contrast with Himself, in a passage
just quoted in part, where He sums up all in a few
Uttle words (John v. 43); " I am come in my Father's
name, and ye receive me not; if another shaU come in
his own name, him ye will receive." The Jews would
not have Him who came from the Father. His sent
One and servant, though His equal in honour and
power, had so come and been refused. But there was
one whom they are to receive, one who wUl flatter and
exalt man in sin ; for he wiU own no authority higher
than his own, and this is the echo of man's wUl. Him
I beUeve to be the personage we have here— one who,
as to actual territorial dominion and external splendour,
may have a superior, but who, in point of spiritual
energy and weight, is pre-eminent.
Having already given so fuUy that which seems to
me the true view of the very important chapter wliich
has just occupied us, I need not say much of counter-
expositions, many grounds of which have been already
set aside by anticipation. Mr. Elliott is perhaps more
than usuaUy confident in his hypothesis that the Beast
from the sea represents the character and history of the
Roman Popes and Papal Christendom, and the two-

416
horned Beast the Papal clergy, with the image of the
Beast as the Papal councils. It is impossible to call
this, at least, the Protestant interpretation. For even
Luther made the first Beast to be the Latin secular,
the second the spiritual, power; whUe Bullinger viewed
the former as the Pagan Roman empire, as did Foxe.
Brightman, no doubt, was even more zealous than Mr.
E., for he makes both Beasts to set forth the Popes.
But what is of more consequence, the learned Joseph
Mede, and, as far as I can collect, Dr. Cressener, Jurieu
and Daubuz certainly, rejected these notions, regard
ing the first Beast as the Roman secular empire, and the
second as the ecclesiastical Beast, though with cha
racteristic points of difference. So, in the main, Sir
I. Newton. If we enquire of their successors nearer
our own day, the case is no better by Mr. E.'s own ac
count. " The explanation of this first Beast as the
secular Emperor and' Empire of Western Christendom,
and '. of the second Beast as the Pope and 'Pontifical
Empire, so as most of our . modern English expositors
have taken it (e:g. Faber, Cuningh'airie, Bickersteth,
ifcc.) I conceive, to have been one of the most plain,, as
well as most fatal, of Protestant expository errors."
(Vol. III. p. 100, note 1.) Surely, then, if so plain
and fatal, Mr. E.'s elaborate array of evidence, and
acute correction of the Potestant expository error, have
been successful with every fair mind ! Alas ! no.
Perhaps the chief independent exposition, since the
Horae Apoc, is the Rationale Appcalypticum of Mr.
Alfred Jenour (2 vols. 8vo, 1852); and there I read
that the wild Beast from the sea " must symbolize an
empire about to rise after the ancient Heathen empire

417
had been destroyed, and which would be, as it were,
that empire revived. It must represent too, I think,
obviously a secular empire, not a spiritual or ecclesi
astical dominion. There is nothing to indicate that it
partakes in any degree of a spiritual or ecclesiastical
character. And I cannot, therefore, but express my
astonishment that so many commentators should have
acquiesced in the interpretation which makes this sea
born wild beast the Papacy. There is not a single
feature in the description of the beast itself that can
with propriety be so applied. It is, as I have said, a
secular not a spiritual power we have here delineated."
(Vol. II. p. 75.)
On the one hand, then, I agree with Mr. Elliott that
it is impossible fairly to interpret the Beast from the
sea of the empire founded by Clovis and completed by
Charlemagne. Neither the seven heads nor the ten
horns, neither the dragon-character, nor, in any sense,
the duration, can bear a reasonable application to it
On the other hand, I am compelled to agree with the
earUest down to the latest, and including some of the
very ablest of Protestants, that not the Papacy is meant
but the secular Roman Empire. ' The conclusion is
irresistible. Allowing an inconclusive accomplishment
in the Papacy and its clerical supports, I steadily ad
here to the conviction that the future alone can exhibit
the fulfilment of all the. features predicted, without
constraint and in all their strength.
It is not true that the Papacy has the command of
the Western powers which is here supposed, .still less
practises for 1260 years with such unlimited dominion.
It is not true that the Pope has authority given him

418
over every- kindred and people and tongue and nation,.
even if you 'confound this with (instead of distinguish
ing it from) the dwellers in the Roman world. It is
not true that the Pope is the object of all the world's
wonder, nor that the confession is extorted, " Who is
able to make war with him ? " Nor do all, save the
elect, in Western Christendom worship him. Need I
show how palpably inapplicable is the second Beast to
those wplves in sheep's clothing, the Papal clergy ?
Do they exercise the enormous power, all the power,
of the first Beast ? And in what fair sense do they
perform great miracles or signs, so as to make fire
come down from heaven in men's sight ? Is it possible
that any person, save blinded by system, could be
content with such an accompUshment as the wicked
and idolatrous figment of the mass, or the lightnings
of the Vatican ?
The Lord grant that we may deny ungodliness and
worldly lusts, and this, not only for wrath but for con
science sake ! Yea, may we be separated to Christ in
a spirit of heavenly grace ! How base to think we
can take care when the time comes ? Baser stiU, if
possible, to plead that the church of God wUl be pre
viously taken out of the way to heaven — that because
all wUl be right then, we can afford to do wrong now 1
Remember, that meanwhile, as the Apostle said, are
there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the
last time. Now, if you are allowing the spirit of the
world, or are trifling with any of the influences of anti
christ at the present moment, what would you do if
exposed to all the fearful persecutions on the one hand,

419
and to aU the temptations on the other, of the day
when the man of sin wUl be revealed? God's grace
might strengthen me to face all danger, and to refuse
every blandishment, rather than abjure the true and
worship the false God and Christ. But is it not most
solemn and huinbling if I join (no matter what the
motive) in any fellowship with known evil ?
And here is the great, moral, present value of pro
phecy. I see the frightful faU at the end, and can
trace the stream that runs down to it. Perhaps the
way is long and winding, and the river does not seem
so perilous ; but look a little lower down, where the
word of God lifts up the misty veU which shrouds the
future, and behold the fatal speed with which all who
float there are engulphed to their utter destruction !
There are many currents connected with the world,
and I may not see, in their sources and first flowings,
the full extent of the evU wliich is the inevitable result.
In prophecy God graciously shows me the end from
the beginning ; so that, if I heed it not, I am dis
honouring the warning of His love, who would have
me " knowing these things before." Let us also be
ware not merely of one evil, but of its every form :
especially let us not meddle with it, wherever it assumes
a Christiike form in association with the world. Here
we have the end of the open, blasphemous power, as
weU as of the more active and subtle spiritual evU of
the crisis.* Men wUl be caught in one or other of

* It is not surprising that those who are greatly occupied with
present things feel the deepest amazement and abhorrence, not at
the Antichrist, as futurists depict it, but at Popery as it has been
and is, with its recognition of so much revealed truth, and withal
its destruction of the efficacy of redemption and of all immediate

420
these snares— the bold infidelity or the religious pravity
of the last days. However they may differ in appear
ance, they are found in the strictest, saddest, most
fatal union at the close. The Lord grant that our
hearts may be kept looking to Christ and waiting for
Him from heaven ! There is no fuU comfort or
blessing, except so far as the eye is single to Him.
relationship with God, not to speak of its hideous idolatries and
its systematic persecution of those who do not bow to it, let them
be saints or not. But the more such minds bring out its. subtle
hypocrisy, the more they seem to prove that Romanism corresponds
with the mystery of iniquity. Of course, its working in apostolic
days was but a germ of what afterwards went on, till it issued in
that frightful corruption, which Protestants have done faithful
service in exposing with unquestionable .vigour and earnestness.
Hence, in Rev. xvii, it is the corrupt woman (not the ravening
beast), whose name is "Mystery, Babylon the great,' the mother of
the harlots and of the abominations of the earth." And observe,
it was the sight of the woman, which caused John to wonder so
exceedingly.; Still, "the apostasy," as I read Scripture, implies
the public renunciation of Christian truth, not an orthodox
maintenance of the cardinal facts, at any rate, of the gospel, such
as Bomanism holds up ; and the session and worship of the man
of sin in the temple of God implies a defiance of Jehovah, under
the false expectation of Israel, which looks onward to another and
more daring form of Satan's power.

CHAPTER XIV.
This chapter is the concluding one of the episode that
separates the trumpets from the vials. We heard the
events under the last trumpet announced; but the
detaUs and the means of their actual accomplishment
were not revealed to us. There were songs in heaven
celebrating its results ; but the immediate effect of the
last trumpet on earth was only spoken of in a general
way ; and this, going down to the end of all, including
even the final judgment of the dead.*
Then the Holy Ghost, as we have seen, in chapters
xU. xiU., turns aside to show us the source, character,
and leading instruments of the last outbreak of evU,
on which the vials were to be poured out, after which the
Lord is to act in personal vengeance. We are come,
let us suppose, in some comprehensive history, to an
account of a battle which decides the fate of the world
at any time. The author stops to describe the previous
state of the parties and the causes that led to the crisis.
Exactly so with what we have here : the earnest of
* Hence, it is going too far, and indeed not only without proof
but inaccurate, to say that the vials are the evolution of the
seventh trumpet. It is of no weight to allege that the trumpets
are the development of the last seal This I doubt not, because
there is absolutely nothing under that seal, save a half -hour's
silence in heaven, and then the trumpets are given to the seven
angels, &c. But there is nothing analogous at the close of Bev.
xi For on the face of. the matter, chaps, xii. xiii. xiv. intervene,
the last of which contains the vision of a scene of judgment by
the Son of man, which is unquestionably subsequent to the vials.
Again, what more fanciful than the opistho-graphic theory (Horae
Ajioc, vol. i., p. 99; iii., p. 4), that is, the notion that the writing
without and witnm answers to the two-fold series of visions, one os
which, relating to matter chiefly secular, ends in chap, xi., and the
other of which, chiefly ecclesiastical, begins after that?' Certainly,
neither Ezekiel ii. 9, 10, nor Zech. v. 1-3 lends the slightest
countenance to it, but rather the contrary.

422
retribution, as it were, is given us under the vials.
Thus, chaps, xri. and xiii., not to speak of chap, xiv.,
show us what it was that led to such a dreadful out
pouring of God's wrath. So that, though they may
appear to, be an interruption, it was necessary for
impressUig on us adequately the horribleifLess of the,
evil the Lord was dealing with. We saw in chap. xU.
that Satan was the mighty and subtle spring behind the
scene, hating and opposing Christ and His people from
the very beginning. Then there was the war in heaven
between Michael and the dragon, with their respective
angels; and finally, the conduct of Satan, when cast
down unto the earth, was traced and explained. Again,
chap. xiU. shows us that, just as God revealed Himself
to man, not only in tables of stone, but in the person
of His, Son, in order that men might see divine grace
so as no tables of stone could display it, (but rather the
reverse,) and that they might hear it in their own
familiar tones ; so Satan finds a poUcy suited to his
ends, in taking up men on earth and making them the
instruments and expression of his wUl. Accordingly
he acts by the two Beasts wliich represent two great
systems or their leaders that wUl be at work during
the short season of our adversary's great wrath on
earth. The violence of the world and its pride and
blasphemy are set forth by the Beast that rises out of
the sea. The Beast from the earth is as much suited
to ensnare men who desire a religion which excludes
God and panders to man and the world, as the_ other
intimidated them by its power or enticed them by its
appeals to their ambition and love of outward show.
But then the question arises, If Satan is so busy

423
limself and his instruments, what is God dping? Is
He inactive — indifferent He ceuld not be-^all this
time? Chap. xiv. seems to me the answer to that
question. The perversion of everything God has
given to man, and of all Satan can devise, wUl come
to a fearful issue then in a few short months and
years. Dreadful as it all is, and though God wUl have
seemingly given up the world, just to see what Satan
and men together wUl make of it, yet none the less, God
even then and there will be at work. And, first, it is
not now the heavens, nor the earth, nor the sea : none
of these is the ground or scene of what is brought
before us in the early verses of this chapter. There is
.a new spot introduced — one not mentioned before, yet
a most important one and full of significance. " And
I looked, and, lo ! the Lamb stood on the mount Sion."
Now, let us just pause for a moment and enquire what
are the ideas that the Holy Ghost conveys by, or
connects with, the hUl of Zion. The Apocalypse
everywhere supposes an acquaintance with the other
parts of the word of God, from Genesis even to the
close of the New Testament. It would be difficult to
find any part of Scripture that is not required in
order to come to a full understanding of this wonderful
prophecy. Let us take the present allusion to Zion as an in
stance. If I do not know what God teaches elsewhere
by mount Zion, how shall I understand what is meant
by this opening vision of Rev. xiv. ? The first occasion
where Zion comes into view is in the history of David,
when he became king over all Israel. (2 Sam. v.)
And what was the state of the people then ? Israel

424
had previously chosen a king after their own heart ;
one that reflected them, that could go at their head and
fight their battles. " We will have a king over us,
that we also may be Uke all the nations." Saul was
their cheice, David the elect of God. Not that David
did not need the mercy and forgiveness of God (for
indeed after God's favour to him, he fell, grievously).
Beyond question, however, David entered into and
responded to the thoughts of God in a most remarkable
way. He sinned, it is true, but who felt and owned
his sin more thoroughly ? Who more than he vindicated
God against himself? - Neither, on the other hand,' did
God make light. pf: his sin because He delighted in
David. The -deed -was secret, but it was ^published
upon the housetop. He had dealt treacherously with
his faithful servant and had defiled his servant's house. .
And what a tale of sorrow did his own house show
for many a long year afterwards (2 Sam. xii.) ! It
was then under David, when Israel had been in con
fusion, when the priests had corrupted them and the
king had wrought no deliverance, when all were in
rebeUion against God and constantly exposed to the
razzias and tyranny of . their Philistine neighbours.
All was in ruin ; the sanctuary, in what a state was
it! The very tabernacle and the ark of God were
severed. Thus, in all respects, sacred and political,
great and small, public and private, the picture was
most dismal. And it was then that God began to
work energetically by His Spirit in the people. Justly
were they suffering under the law , which they had '
undertaken at Sinai. True, there was mercy and
faithfulness, too, in the midst of all, on God's part :

425
but still evil was fast increasing, and in Israel there
was no hope and no resource. And what then ? God
caUs David out step by step, and Zion acquires a
most marked place in his history. It was there
David's city was built, the seat of his royalty. It
may not be thought much of now in the world, but
in one sense all the blessing of this world as such is
suspended over that little spot ; and never will there
be rest or glory for the earth until the city (which was
a stay in the downward progress of Israel, and wa:;
meant to be a resting-place for faith), shall by and > by
be taken up by God. In the Psalms and the Prophets
it constantly reappears, the Spirit of Christ ever
leadirig on the hearts of the saints to anticipate the
fudl result which the early type promised, as it were,
in the germ.
In Heb. xri. the Holy Ghost refers to it, though
perhaps in a different way. Still, the great thought
is the intervention of God's grace. The passage con
trasts the position of Israel with that of the Christian;
and, after having described the vision of Sinai, with its
blackness, and darkness, and tempest — all most
terrible, even to the mediator, it proceeds: — " But ye
are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the-
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem," <fcc. Now there
we see just the same great and precious principle.
Israel had come to Sinai, and that was the mountain
that characterized their whole course from beginning
to end. And what was the result of it? As it began
with darkness and distance, so it ended with misery
and death. As they were and Sinai was, they could
not but shrink back from God ; for there God was in
e2

426
His majesty of judgment — not in the love that comes
down and puts itself under the burden, in order to take
it away. That could not be at Sinai ; for there it was
a just God in the presence of sinners only ; and there
fore He could but overawe and fill all with terror and
the forebodings of judgment. Bounds must be set
round the mountain. If even an unconscious beast
touched it, death was the penalty; and this was Sinai.
"But ye are come," says the Spirit, "unto mount Sion,"
the mountain of God's intervention in grace, as Sinai,
was of man's responsibility; and with Sinai, what
could be the effect for the sinner ? Only to press his
conscience with the terror of death. The Israelite
was as good as a dead man, when he stood there, being
•already a sinner ; and death would be as surely
-executed, after he left the burning mount. The
Apostle shows the christian ground of grace, the exact
opposite of man trembling before a God who right-,
eously demanded what the flesh could not do. Now, it
is God who has come down, it is God who has ac
complished His work of love. When Zion first
appeared by name, it was when Israel — people, priests,
king — had utterly faffed. Then God entered unsought,
estabUshed the king of His own choice in Zion, and
raised him and his son to such a pitch of glory as never
was or will be in Israel again, tUl the true David
comes and plants His royal glory on Zion, never more
to be moved.
The principle involved in Zion, then, is God's
activity for His people in the way of grace, when all
was lost under the law. This gives the mountain of
Zion its true force in Rev. xiv. It is the gracious

427
interference of God on behalf of those who sit with
the holy sufferer— the Lamb. God acts for His Son,
securing His glory on earth and gathering round Him
in heart a remnant, not merely sealed as the servants
of God (like a similar band out of the twelve tribes of
Israel in chap, vii), but brought into association with
the Lamb in Zion, i.e., with God's royal purposes in
grace. These seem to me sufferers of Judah, who
pass through the unequalled tribulation; which it is
not said that the other remnant do. This is what is
meant by their standing with the Lamb on the mount
Zion. There St. John saw them. Of course I do not
mean that in fact they will be on Zion, or that they
will necessarily understand what this symbol sets
forth. The question is, what God was conveying to
John's mind or to any who desire to understand the
sayings of this book. It was, I berieve, God's special
interference on behalf of His people in the last days.
He will associate with the Lord Jesus Christ as the
suffering Messiah, a full, numbered, godly remnant,
who will be brought into fellowship with Him.
There stand in the vision the hundred and forty-four
thousand, having the Lamb's name and His Father's
name written on their foreheads. It is not said that
they know God as their Father. The Revelation
never contemplates us in the position of chUdren,
much less does it so present the Jewish remnant.
Thus, even when speaking of the church, we are said
to be made kings and priests unto God and His
Father, rather than ours. And this is the more
remarkable in John, because no other evangelist takes
so much pains to show the relationship of chUdren in

428
which God has put us before Himseff now. Thus, in
John xx., directly the Lord is risen from the dead, the
message to His disciples is, " Go to my brethren, and
say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your
Father, and to my God and your God." Nothing of
this appears here; because the Revelation is not so
much intended to open our nearness of relationship to
God, as our Father, but rather His judgment and
glory, though with mercy for a remnant. I speak of
the prophetic and earthly portion— not, of course, of
that which gives us a glimpse of things above. Thus,
the name of the Lamb and the name of His Father
(for so it ought to be read), written on their foreheads
is in contrast with the name of the Beast in chap. xiU.
The Beast's name or mark was put on the right hand
or forehead of his followers. The Lamb's name and His
Father's these hundred and forty-four thousand have on
their foreheads — not in their hearts only, if we may
so speak; they were evidently and openly the Lamb's.
" And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of loud thunder:* and
* "A voice," says Mr. E. (H. A. vol. iii., p. 286), "as of many
waters, and of a great thunder, — that is of people and princes, —
uniting to swell it. There can be no question, I conceive, as to some
happy crisis in the earthly fortunes of Christ's saints and people
being so prefigured : — some crisis during the Papal Beast's reign,
or at least before his destruction." And this he goes on to expound
of the Bef ormation. Let the reader turn to Bev. i. , and ask him
self the consistency of such an interpretation of the " voice as the
sound of many waters." What room is there for dragging in
" people" here? and what more for "princes" in chap. vi. 1, where
the living creature, as with voice of thunder, summons the rider on.
the white horse ? No reason, indeed, is more decisive against so
earthly a view, than that which is furnished by the very text
which Mr. E. would have us compare (i.e. Bev. xix. 6); for surely
if ever there can be conceived a moment when princes and people
are not in unison with heaven's new anthem of praise, it is in the
crisis which follows the destruction of Babylon and precedes their
own still more awful fate in the war with the Lamb.

429
the voice which I heard [was] as it were of harpers,
harping with their harps. And they sing [as it were]
a new song before the throne, and before the four
living creatures and the elders ; and none could learn
that song but the hundred forty [and] four thousand
that were redeemed from the earth. These are they
which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins.
These are they that follow the Lamb withersoever He
goeth. These were redeemedfrom among men, firstfruits
to God and to the Lamb" (ver. 2-4). Thus they are cha
racterized, besides learning the new song of heaven,
negatively by their holy separateness from all the
various kinds of idolatry which will then prevaU on
earth, and positively by their faithful allegiance to the
Lamb, whatever the fiery trial. Instead of becoming
the slaves of the Beast, they were redeemed for the
earth's first fruits to God and the Lamb. They are a
very peculiar class, a sort of link between heaven
and the earth from which they were redeemed. They
were untainted by the corrupt influences of that evU
day, and especially are they free from the idolatries
that will be one of its most grievous marks. I do not
mean idolatry in a vague or virtual sense (as we are
warned against covetousness, which is such morally,)
¦but positive, literal idolatry. Many may think it
absurd to talk about the worship of idols reappearing
in lands neither popish nor pagan, but this would only
show how little man's heart is known and the power
of Satan. The word of God is perfectly explicit that
the last days wUl be characterized by the grossest spirit
of idolatry, and this in the most enlightened parts of
-Christendom, yea, in Jerusalem itself, which will then

430
put forth once more the highest pretensions. It is an
apostasy that the heart of man is quite capable of,, and
to which Christendom will be given up by God, as a
just retribution for refusing the love of the truth that
¦they might be saved. " And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a
lie." He wUl give them up to their own natural lusts;
and the heart prefers any and every thing to God.
The saints associated, to the prophet's eye, with the
Lamb on Zion, are said not to be defiled with women;
i.e., they were preserved from the corruptions that sur
rounded them. They walked in virgin purity. Neither
do they wonder after the Beast. These are they which
follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. " They were
redeemed from among men, first fruits to God and to
the Lamb." They were first fruits : the harvest would
follow in due course. (See ver. 14, 16.) "Andin their
mouth was found no guile, (or rather no lie, feOSos,) for
they are without fault." It is added in our common
Bible, "before the throne of God" (ver. 5) ; * but these
It is curious that Mr. Elliott, (H. A. III., part iv. ch. x.,)
though he rightly rejects or doubts the clause iv&nriov tou dpbvou
tov OeoO, nevertheless repeatedly, both in Greek and English, in
serts another clause which has absolutely no warrant, as far as I
know. He says in the text of p. 285, (and also in p. 296,) "they
were without fault before God," and then in the foot-note give?
ap.wp.oi evwiuov tov (tou) Qeov. He adds, " Compare my observa
tions on the words evoiinov tov Bijpiou said in Apoc. xiii. of the
lamb-like beast's responsibility to the beast Antichrist as his super
visor." Now, while I do not question that politically the second
Beast subserves the first, I demur to the proof drawn from this
phrase. Thus, Bev. i. 4 — the first occurrence of ivihirtov in the
book — is adverse. Subordination is not the idea. As little "does
the next occurrence, Bev. ii. 14, bear him out : indeed it refutes
the inference. Balaam taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block
ie/bre the children of Israel — certainly not under their cognizance
and judgment. Compare also Bev. iii. 8, 9; iv. 6; xii. 4, 10. Nay, in
Chap, xiii., the verse which follows the one on which Mr. E. dwells.

431
last words ought not to be there. The best authorities
leave them out ; and a slight consideration will show
how wrongly inserted they seem to be. " They are
without fault," or blameless, it is true ; but " blame
less" here refers, I think, to their practical conduct. If
compared with men from whom they were redeemed,
such they were. In their presence they were without
fault. But suppose God puts them before His throne
to search into what they have been here, measured by
His holiness — this is another thing. There I need
forgiveness : there I need to stand, not in my own
blamelessness, but made the righteousness of God in
Christ. If I stand as an individual, viewed not in
Christ, but according to my actual ways, shall I say
that I am blameless here ? It may make this a little
clearer, if we remember 1 John i., " If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us ;" we do not know the truth about ourselves, and
we have no fellowship with Christ in discerning the
evil that is there. But "ff we say that we have not
sinned," we make God a liar, which is far worse than
deceiving ourselves. We make Him a liar and His
word is not in us, for He has declared the contrary
over and over. But in chap. rii. of the same epistle,
what a change ! " He that committeth sin is of the
devil ;" and " whosoever is born of God doth not corn-

is, in my judgment, a sufficient answer. For while verse 12, if justly
so interpreted, would suit the papal supremacy, how square it
with verse 13 ? For there we have the signs or miracles wrought
iviinriov twv avdpiinrmv, before men. If Mr. E.'s theory of what is
"presignified by this little word" in verse 12 be applied to verse
13, it would teach the Protestant principle of private judgment,
quite as much as the other justifies " Coram Petro." The truth is
wiat the view has no foundation.

432
mit sin, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
In this the children of God are manifest and the chil
dren of the devU." How can we reconcile these two
things ? How account for the immense difference of
the language in chaps, i. and Ui. ? Most simply. In
chap. i. the Holy Ghost is leading the Christian to view
himself in the light of God's presence : be is before the
Father and the Son. He stands before God, if I may
so say — npt exactly before the throne — but before the
Father and the Son. And what will a man say when
he stands there ? Will he say, I have no sin ; I have
not sinned ? None there will say it. Whoever says so
here proves that the truth is not in him— that the word
has never searched him. But when God compares His
chUd with the world, i.e., with those who do not know
Himself, He says, " he doth not commit sin," and "• he
cannot sin." Look at Numbers also. There you per
ceive Israel in a state of great disorder and faUure^
every form of unbeUef and unfaithfulness in their
j ourneying. But the moment an enemy comes forward,
and comes to curse the people of God — that same
Israel which had tempted and provoked Him ten times
and more, what does he say then ? Why, that He has
not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither has He seen per-
verseness in Israel ! " The Lord His God is with him
and the shout of a king is among them." In the very
persons with whom He had found fault so often, when
speaking to themselves, He can see none now. Let
Satan and the world take in hand to damage His people,
and all His heart is in movement on their behalf.
As this verse stands now in the common text, with
the words " before the throne of God " added to it, we

433
could only understand it as being true in Christ ; but
here the sense requires, if I mistake not, that it be
practical conduct. God looks at them as undefiled and
truthful, because they have been kept by grace from all
the idols of Babylon and the delusive power of the
Beast ; and thus they are blameless. I only notice this
to show that many of these Uttle changes add to
the great sum of christian truth. Every blot or error
which creeps into the word of God will be found to
impair its accuracy and its perfect beauty.
The second thing that we note in the chapter is an
angel flying in the midst of heaven, having everlasting
glad tidings to preach unto them that dweU [or, Ute-
l-aUy, that sit] on the earth, and to every nation, and
kindred, and tongue, and people. I am aware that
some have appUed this to the great spread of evan-
geUcal missions to the heathen in these last days.
But is it the way to understand prophecy — ever
striving to find some present accomplishment of it ?
We must look at it as a whole. If no such thing be
admitted now as a new group of suffering Jews,
connected with Christ in the hope of the kingdom in
Israel, it is in vain to look for the angel' with the
everlasting gospel in the missionary efforts of the last
half century. Nor would the message itself in any
way suit the present purposes of God. The ground on
which the angel appeals to them is, that the hour of
God's judgment is come. Is this the case now?
Evidently not It is the day of grace, which is the
oontrast of the hour of judgment It is stiU true
that "now is the accepted time ; behold, now is the

434
day of salvation." As yet the door is open ; so that-
it would not be true to say " the hour pf his judgment
is come." But when the time for the accompUshment
of this arrives, it will be, of course, the word of the
Lord for men. For then the closing judgments are
about to be executed, and the outpouring of God's
wrath is just at hand. Now you cannot reconcile all
this with the day of blessing and grace, as if they
could both run on together. And yet there are those
who say we are in the midst of the vials ! But that
(where it is understood not partially, but in full and
finally) indicates the almost total eclipse which befalls
the truth in the minds of men, when they can suppose
that the day of God's grace and the hour of His judg
ment are the same thing, or can be at the same time.
And when we proceed a Uttle closely to examine the
message itself, we find that \t has altogether another
sound from the glad tidings which God is proclaiming
now. Does it call souls everywhere to repent, because
God has raised up a man from the dead by whom He
-will judge the world in righteousness ? (Acts xvii. 31:)
Thus Paul preached in his day; and thus it is right to
preach now a Christ dead, risen, and coming again to
judge the world. It speaks of the hour of divine
judgment, but there is not a word about a risen man —
nothing about a Saviour or His redemption. "Fear-
God and give glory to him; for the hour of his judg
ment is come: and worship him that made heaven,
and earth, [and the sea, and the fountains of waters
(ver. 7)." Now I ask, is this the kind of message-
that would suit to go about the country with ? Telling -
persons to worship God that made heaven, and earth,.

435
and the sea, and fountains of waters? Everlastingly
true as it is, is it the special message now? God
forbid that the creation-glory of God should be denied !
It is exceedingly important; but its proper application
is when God has finished the work, now in hand, of
saving and calling out the church (Christ's body) for
heavenly glory. When Satan has accomplished his
great purpose of making men not only reject the true
God when He came as man, but worship a man as
Gpd on earth, what wUl not be the urgent need and
value of that message then? It wUl be the contradic
tion given to everything the Beast and the dragon con
spire to bring in. When all this iniquitous false
worship is going on, it wUl require positive faith in
the one Uving and true God npt to give way and fall
under the power of the delusion. For Satan will have
made it to be at the peril of a man's life and
subsistence not to yield.
And so here is this message sent : " Fear God and
give glory to him." All the world had sunk in
idolatry, worshipping the Beast and falling down
before him. Satan could not prevaU on the Son of
God to fall down and worship him ; but he wUl have
the Beast as his tool, and all the world is drawn
after him. "Worship him that made heaven and
earth, and the sea and the fountains of waters.''
These are the claims of God to supreme worship at the
time when "the earth" will be completely carried away
by the anti-christian delusion.
But persons may ask, "Why is it called everlasting
glad tidings or gospel?" Perhaps because it is always
true. It has been so from the beginning, and up to

436
the close it must be unchanged. "Fear God and give
glory to him." The peculiar ground on wliich it is
put here ("for the hour of his judgment is come")
could not always apply. But still the word, "Fear
God .... worship him that made heaven and earth,"
(that is, the glory of God proved or witnessed in
creation,) is of course always a standing, fundamental
truth. But it will be emphatically regarded and
brought out when Satan has gained over the world to
deny the true God, and to worship a creature instead
of the Creator.
This 7th verse is pretty plain, but I add one word
more with regard to the term "gospel.". It is used in
Scripture with much more latitude than men are now
accustomed to.. The glad tidings to Israel in the
wUderness held out that they should inherit the land
of promise. It was glad tidings to Abraham that in
him should all nations be blessed. . (Gal. Ui. 8.) The
glad ' tidings in the time of John the Baptist, and
preached by him, meant in substance that the kingdom
of heaven was at hand. So also the Lord Himself
preached and His disciples during His ministry on
.earth. But the people would not have Him; and the
consequence was that, though the kingdom was set up,
it was so in a way that differed emphatically from what
the people expected who looked for it. It was set up
in the person of the rejected King in heaven, till the
King comes again, when it will be established mani
festly over the earth. Thus, you have different
messages, different glad tidings, according to ' the
various subjects or hopes that God was presenting at
different times. But the everlasting gospel necessarily

437
was before Abraham, or any other of these special glad*
tidings. It has always been, and must be, that God
is the only worthy object of worship. "There is none
good but one — God." And when the blessed day does
dawn — when the King comes in His glory — when the
kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world
wUl be enjoyed — when God will have His blessed ones
around Him from the north and south, from the east
and from the west (not only the risen ones, but also-
those in their natural bodies who will be spared and
be blessed on the earth, at the same trine that the
risen saints wUl enjoy heavenly glory under the head
ship of the only One who can concentrate all in
blessing), what will be the due and needed message
previously? Why this : "Fear God and give glory to-
him." Evidently then it is called, with perfect reason,
"the everlasting gospel." You wUl observe that it is
sent " to them that dwell on the earth" as well as "to
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,"
thus keeping up the distinction that we have noticed
before. They will both hear the testimony; but if
those "who dwell on the earth" wUl not receive it
through the mercy of God the nations, kindreds,
tongues, and people will in part receive it. Compare
Ps. xcvi. and Matt. xxiv. 14 with the results in chap.
xxv. 31-46.
After this comes another message — the fall of Baby
lon. I do not mean to dwell on it just now, as we
shall find a great deal about that city in other chapters
of this book ; for Babylon was so important as to re
quire a special notice to itself. But as it was evidently

438
the active source of corruption, intoxicating men and
drawing them away from the living God, so now He
sends this, the death -knell of Babylon. The obj ect here,
probably, was to give its place in the order of God's
dealings at the close of the dispensation, its relation to
what went before and to what follows after. (Ver. 8.)
In the next place, we have the solemn warning to
those who worshipped the Beast and received his mark,
the sure and everlasting torment of all who were thus
carried away by him. There are many who apply these
prophecies about Babylon and the Beast in an exclu
sive way to Rome ; but while the seven-hilled city has
many of the principles of Babylon and the Beast, yet it
is impossible to find their complete and united fulfil
ment in Popery as it now is or has been. Besides, the
Beast and Babylon are not the same thing : for the
Beast destroys Babylon. And will Rome destroy itself?
Certainly, the elements of Babylon are to be found
there; but ff the matter be looked at more closely, all
cannot be found in Rome. For my own part, I believe
that Rome, more than any other system, already is, in
a very true moral sense), Babylon, and that it wiU yet
contain and manifest all the elements of that vile cor-
rup tress. But for this very reason it cannot be the
Beast; for the Beast it is which destroys Babylon, and
after that the Beast, falling into its own worst and open
rebellion against God, perishes. The worst state of the
Beast is after Babylon has been destroyed ; for then it
exalts itself to heaven, only to be cast down to hell ;
but we shall have the fall of both fully by and by.
" Here is the patience of the. saints." (Ver. 9-12.)

439

The fifth division is the word touching the saints
that die in the Lord. " And I heard a voice from
heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit,
that they may rest from their labours ; and their works
do follow with them." (Ver. 13.) It does not mean
those who die throughout the present dispensation.
When Christian people die now, it is blessed ; but here
the Spirit speaks of a future class, all of whom will
die. You must take these things connected together as
a whole — not a little bit that suits present circum
stances, leaving out the rest which does not. What is
the real meaning of the verse ? What is God's mind >
It is the saints who die in that day. Many will be killed:
the blood of the saints wUl flow. The everlasting glad
tidings had been announced; the hour of judgment was
come, as the angel proclaimed ; so that it might seem
a dreadful thing for persons to be killed, just
when God is going to introduce His kingdom. But, on
the contrary, the voice says, " Blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord from henceforth." Do not be
alarmed by it. They will only get a better kind of
glory. What will be the portion of those that die in
the Lord then ? They wUl reign with Christ and His
heavenly saints. Chap. xx. proves that those who die
under the persecutions of the Beast wUl be raised again
to join the heavenly saints that will have been taken
away before. "Blessed are the dead," &c, cannot in
strictness apply to the church, because all belonging
to the church wUl not die. Some wUl be alive and
remaining to the coming of the Lord, who are to be
changed without passing through death ; whereas these

440
are persons who all die, as a class. It refers exclusively
to those who die in the Lord at that time ; and show&
that, instead of losing their place in the kingdom of
Christ, they will gain an advanced position of blessing.
Their company, also, is complete, and their full
blessedness 'just coming without further waiting — ;,
blessed from henceforth. (Ver. 13.)
The spirit of it may be applied now ; but the in
tention of the Holy Ghost seems to have been the;
comfort of persons who will die before the Beast is,
judged and the heavenly glory appears. It might, be,
thought that they had lost something. But no. The ,
voice from heaven says, " Write, Blessed from hence
forth the dead that die in the Lord : yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their labours ; and
their works do follow them." The Holy Ghost adds-
His " Yea " of sweet sympathy, true to the saints in,
joy and in sorrow, groaning with their infirmities, and
rejoicing with their speedy triumph and reward.
Then follow the two closing scenes of this chapter.
The first is the vision of one Uke the Son of man*
sitting on a white cloud, "having on his head a
golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle." It is-
a vision grounded upon the idea of a harvest : that is,
it is a separating judgment. (Ver. 14-1G.) There is"
* Mr. Jenour revives a doubt as to " the Son of man, " and suggests
an application, symbolically, to the Jews then to be converted,
and the great evangelists of that day ! just as Vitringa long ago
applied it to those princes, &c, whom God employed, at the
Beformation, in executing his dealings in providence ! But there
is no force in the objection that St. John would hardly have said
of Christ "one like to the Son of man." For it is exactly what
he does say in chap. i. , where beyond controversy our Lord alone
can be meant. Likeness to a character, rather than to a person, is :
meant; and hence the phrase is anarthrous, as in Dan. vii. 13:

441
that which must be cast away, and that which will be
gathered in. Perhaps with this we may compare what
is said in the gospels — " one shall be taken and the
other left ; so shall it be in the day when the Son of
man is revealed." (Luke xvii.) In the next judgment,
we have a different character of dealing. It is the
vintage of the earth, not its harvest. There is no
good, and therefore no separation here. In the harvest
there was ; but when you come to the vintage, a more
serious state is found. • It is not the genuine vine,
but the " vine of the earth." The Lord Jesus Christ
is the only true vine : and if we are fruit-bearing
branches, it must be by abiding in Him. But here it is
"the vine of the earth." And what does the Lord do
with this vine of the earth and its clusters ? There is
nothing but unmixed judgment- — no mercy whatever
to mitigate it. The fruit is gathered and cast into the
great winepress of the wrath of God. Then follows
the image of unsparing judgment. " The winepress,
was trodden without the city, and blood came out of
the winepress, even unto the horse-bridles, by the space
of a thousand and six hundred furlongs."* It is an
awful figure of carnage — blood flowing in a deep
stream for about 200 miles. This is not to be taken
in a mere literal way ; but the great idea which God
presents is that of a judgment where there is nothing
but wrath, to the very uttermost, upon the apostates.
Who ever heard of such a thing in any history of

* Jerome remarked the coincidence of this with the length of
Palestine, and Fuller, Faber, &c, apply it literally to that land, as
the great future Aceldama. Mede, on the other hand, (as we are
told in the Horae Apoc. ) suggests the fact of a similar length in
the States of the Church from Bome to Verona.
f2

442
human events ? It is entirely beyond aU that man
could execute. When the reaUty comes, it wUl be still
more terrible than the figure, which passed as a pro_
phetic picture before the eye of the prophet. (Ver.
17-20.) The bloodshed might be of reUgious apostates
from all parts of Christendom; but it appears to be
especially Jewish, as the scene is the land. The wine
press was trodden without the city — i.e., as I suppose,
Jerusalem. Compare Joel Ui.
In Isa. lxUi. we have the Lord treading the wine
press, but it appears to be a more distant scene. There
He is coming from Edom, with dyed garments from
Bozrah. Here it is " without the city," and vengeance
on those who had been religiously guUty in connexion
with it. They had heard of mercy, but it had
been despised ; and now the judgment is come, and for
them there is nothing else. The mercy had been
only abused ; and what is there that God so feels and
judges ?
In this chapter, then, we have the full outline of the
dealings of God in the latter-day crisis. There are
seven divisions of it. First, there is the full remnant
of godly Jews associated with the Lamb on Mount
Sion, in sympathy with His sufferings and waiting for
the kingdom. Secondly, a testimony to the GentUe
nation scattered all over the world as well as to those
seated on the prophetic earth. Thirdly, the fall of
Babylon. Fourthly, the fearful doom, both in this
world and in the next, of such as should worship the
beast and his image, or receive the mark of his name.
Fifthly, the blessedness from that time of those that
die in the Lord. Sixthly, the discriminating process

443
of the harvest. And, seventhly, the awful infliction
of vengeance on reUgious apostasy — the first, at least,
of these two last acts of judgment being executed by
the Son of man, which necessarUy supposes the very
close of the age: the wrath, not of God only, but of
the Lamb.
Thus the seven-fold series appears in this sketch of
the final ways of God, whether of mercy or of judgment.
It is thoroughly in accordance with the Revelation.
We have had seven seals, seven trumpets, as there
are also seven vials. Here, too, though not formaUy
numbered, we have the seven dealings of God that
make up a complete account ; but the detaUs, as they
are given afterwards, may come before us another
time. Although it is not about us, yet what a mercy
it is to feel that we do not always require to think
about ourselves when reading the Bible ! Many
suppose it a very spnitual thing to be always asking,
What is there for me ? But we ought to desire all
the blessing that God can give us, and not merely a
Uttle Zoar. "Open thy mouth wide, and I wUl fiU it,
saith the Lord." If I desire to have my cup running
over, and thus to be strengthened in serving Him, I
shall want to know all that God can teU me about
-Christ. And is it not something, and good for me, to
know that Christ is to have His complete remnant, not
merely when glory comes, but, before it comes, asso
ciated in their measure with Him in suffering — Uke
David when he came to Mount Zion ? Then who were
they that shared his honours ? Those who had been the
•companions of his rejection. So here with these
144,000. They wUl not have the same heavenly glory

444
that is reserved for the church of the first-born ; for
either we have the very best blessings now, or none.
All Christians stand now in the most glorious privileges.
which it is possible for chUdren of God to enjoy.
Whatever its pretensions, it is a time when Christ is-
thoroughly rejected by the world. God desires that I
should find treasure enough in Christ to despise the
world — to put its tribes under my feet. The hard
thing is to take the place of the rejection of Christ,,
and to be happy in keeping it.
And now that we have viewed this chapter as the
closing scene of the earth, the end of the age, more-
particularly God's working therein with reference to
the evil of that day, it may be well to glance briefly
at the historical application. None could learn the
new song, it is allowed, but the 144,000 — none but
those converted and illuminated by the Spirit of God,.
a company elected out of the Protestant nations (as,
before, out of' the Christianized nations under Con
stantine); and yet, with singular inconsistency, the
voice of the waters and great thunders implied "the
uniting of both nations and princes in the song." (H.
Apoc. Vol. III., pp. 288, 289.) Were the Protestant
nations ever the election of grace? Mr. Jenour, not.
unreasonably dissatisfied with the mere repetition of a
simUar class in Rev. vii. and xiv., tries to vary the tune,
and suggests that those in the former chapter are a
lewish elect remnant, these in our chapter a Gentile
one.* Now, I would press one question upon those
* Mr. M'Causland (Latter Days of Jerusalem and Bome, pp. 154-
160, 398-400) falls into a singular cycle of errors :' first, that the

445
inclined to either of the views mentioned : how could
a Christian election (either under Constantine or at
the Reformation, whether an election out of Jews
or GentUes), be styled first fruits to God and to the
Lamb ? If the church, strictly so called, wUl be then
•completed, nothing is more intelrigible; but on the
scheme which regards the testimony and the body
formed thereby as the same continuously, a reasonable
explanation does not appear. If it be a special gather
ing out of Judah, associated with a suffering Messiah,
and anticipating the kingdom, what clearer ? Hence,
there is no need for interpolating the declension of the
eighteenth century into the prophecy, no room for
such additions to the words of this book as that " the
voice of the 144,000 waxed fainter and feebler, and
the tokens of their presence more obscure in all the
¦ continental Protestant countries and churches" (the
light of England burning brighter) !
Of the second division — the angel with everlasting
glad tidings — enough has been said already to show why
one cannot allow anything save a general reference
either to the era of the Reformers, or to that of recent
missionary societies. And I take this opportunity of

same company are intended in Bev. vii. xiv. ; secondly, that they
are the faithful Jews before Christ's first advent ; thirdly, that the
second company in chap. vii. (ver. $-14) are in no way Gentile, but
a yet future class of the redeemed of Israel to be taken out of the
nations, &c. , whither they are now dispersed ; fourthly, that these
in chap. xiv. have the name of the Father on their foreheads —
not the name of Christ, whereas the true text (represented by all
the known uncials, iS, ABC. , upwards of forty cursives, nearly all the
ancient versions with the Greek and Latin fathers) expressly says
"having Ids (the Lamb's) name and his Father's name." Besides,
the insertion of lis, " as it were," before " the new song," is by no
means certain. It is omitted by N the Vatican uncial and nearly
forty cursives, most versions, Origen, Methodius, Arethas, &c.

446
stating my conviction that the Reformation (blessed as:
it was in breaking the dominion of Popery, in spread
ing the Bible and Bible-reading far and wide, and in
asserting strongly, if not clearly, justification by faith);
did not bring out the Ught of God even as to regenera
tion, and maintained substantially the same clerical
system as. before. That is, reformed doctrine and
polity faU utterly, as a confession of the truth of the
Holy Ghost's operations, whether in quickening souls
or yet more in His sovereign action in the Christian
assembly. Justification, as then understood, did not
necessarily suppose perception of God's mind as to the
operations of the Spirit. It is to me clear and certain
that the reformed national bodies have never been free
from fundamental error on these subjects, which are of
capital moment both to individuals and to the church.
One might have expected that, if the proclamation
of Babylon's fall (ver. 8) had been fulfilled, those who
so think would have tried to make out some show of
facts to account for its appearance here, after the epoch
of evangelic missions. It may be alleged that it is
something yet future. But such does not appear to
be Mr. E.'s opinion, because he joins on the message
<tf this angel, with hardly a shred of comment, to that
of the angel evangelist; and he distinctly dwells on the
third flying angel as yet unfulfilled. May we not then
press the query: What has just taken place at alb
adequately answering to the second angel's mission?
As to the third flying angel, Mr. E. thinks its pre-
figuration requires, among other things, a sufficiently
general agreement among Christ's faithful Protestant
servants, as to what is meant both by the Beast and.

447
the Beast's Image to give weight to the judgment de
nounced against their worshippers. That is, if I under
stand him, ought there to be a general acquiescence in
the system of the Horae Apocalypticae, an abandonment
of all reference to the secular Roman empire, and an
adoption of the discovery that the Beast's image menns
the general councils of Papal Christendom, especially
of Trent. I am assured that the impression on the
mind pf most intelligent Christians is growingly
opposed to such theories, and that the absoluteness of
the warning as to any individual who worships the
Beast, <fec, cannot (save by a violence which convinces
uo dispassionate person), be said to be fulfilled in
Popery, abominable as the system is. In the crisis of
Antichrist it wiU be literally true. Compare 2 Thess.
ii. 10-12.
The harvest and the vintage call for no especial
remark, as there is no question of their futurity, and
Christ is admitted to be viewed therein as the initiator
and completer of these final judgments. Why they
should not indicate the time of His great predicted
second adventjdoes not clearly appear (H. A., Vol.
iv., p. 11): in reality, there is no ground to doubt it,
as far as I see. The fact of a distinct subsequent vision
of the conflict with the Beast does not hinder this.
They may all well be various parts or acts of judgment
when He comes in the clouds of heaven.

CHAPTER. XV.
We are now come to a new division of the book; The
last three chapters (xU. xiU. xiv.) formed a most import
ant portion to themselves; they gave the whole history
of the closing dealings of God, and of the last, plans
of Satan, as far as the present dispensation is con
cerned. And not only that; but before either Satan's
ways or God's dealings were brought out, the
hidden source of both was entered into. We saw in
chap. xii. the victorious man-child born, and the dragon
and his angels cast down from heaven. Thus, we
have the two great parties in the scene with their
chiefs opposed face to face. Whatever might have
been the instruments of Satan's power here below,
seen in chap, xiii., and whatever the ways of God in
His grace or in His judgments in chap, xiv., all flowed
down from that man-child, the object of Satan's fear
and hatred. Then we come to a new subject. There
was a great wonder or sign spoken of in chap. xU. 1.
Here it is said, "And I saw another sign in heaven,
great and. marvellous, seven angels having the seven
last plagues; for in them is filled up the: wrath of
Gpd." We are resuming once more the course of
historical events. Under the last trumpet you may
remember the word was, " the nations were wroth, and
thy wrath is come." Now I think it must naturally
strike any one, that here God's wrath is come, and the
nations not merely angry but blaspheming to the last
degree. So far each fresh stroke of God instead of
humbling man, only drew out this intensity of enmity
against the Lord. The seventh trumpet brought us

449
up to the close in a general way; and here we have
some of the detaUs, but not all. There were two
parties described under the vials that we have more
particularly afterwards. Chap. xvii. refers to Babylon
and the Beast in their mutual relations. In chap.
xvUi. we have the destruction of Babylon, and in chap.
xix. the judgment of the Beast.
There is another remark also I must make. Chap.
xiv. gives us these events all together. We had there
what may be called the religious actings of God — His
• dealing with man on the earth, as accountable for the
use or abuse of revealed light and responsible to own
and worship God alone. These vials take up rather
the outward civil history or secular condition of man,
though the same thing may, in certain cases, have
both a reUgious bearing and a secular one. For
instance, look at Babylon: she is evidently the great
corrupt and corrupting thing in rerigion ; but this
does not hinder Babylon from meddling largely in the
things of the world. And, in fact,- this is one of the
evUs which form Babylon — the bringing in of the
things of the world even in spiritual questions, and thus
producing confusion, hateful to God and most seductive
to men. Hence we get Babylon in chap. xiv. as well
as in chap. xvi. Chajiter xiv. gives us a summary of
God's dealings at the end of the age in respect of
reUgious matters, whether bright or dark : grace, testi
mony, and judgment. It thus helps us a good deal as
to putting the closing events in the order in which
they come to pass. Fpr instance, the fall of Babylon
is the third link brought before us in the chain of
chap. xiv. First, there is the complete remnant of

450
godly suffering Jews — a holy remnant, associated by
grace with the Lamb, i.e., on Zion. Then, there is the
testimony of everlasting glad tidings to the earth and
aU nations. And, thirdly, there is the fall of Babylon.
On the other hand, in the vials, the fall of Babylon
is the last of the seven. From this we gather, that
the judgments set forth by the preceding six vials-
must be before the fall of Babylon. That is, the first
six vials may be successively accompUshed while the
Jewish remnant is being formed, and the everlasting.
gospel is going out to the GentUes. The last vial
involves the fall of Babylon, wliich answers to and is
the third link in the chain of events given us in chap.
xiv. This is of importance, in order to hinder con
fusion. The warning as to the worship of the
beast, the pronounced blessedness of those who died in
the Lord, the harvest, and the vintage of the earth, are
events clearly all subsequent to Babylon's fall.
Having had, then, the general and orderly view of
God's ways both in mercy and judgment, now we learn
in chap. xvi. a part of these ways, the detaUs of some
of which are connected with chap. xiv. 8, and perhaps
simultaneous with what precedes that verse. It must
not be supposed, therefore, that the vials take place
after chap. xiv. ; the earUer ones might be poured out
while the remnant there spoken of is being formed,
and the testimony going on. Or they might occur
rapidly after these, and before the fall of Babylon, buty
certainly, the last vial includes the faU of Babylon;
and its fall is, as clearly, before the very solemn events
which follow that announcement in the latter part of
chap, xiv.

451
But, now, let, us lopk a Uttle at the scene intro
ductory tc the vials. "I saw, as it were, a sea of
glass mingled with fire." This is a type borrowed,
though with changes, from the temple.* The taber-

* Simple as this may appear, the force of the sea of glass has
1 oen, in my judgment, entirely misunderstood both here and in
chap. iv. by Mr. Elliott and others. Thus, in the Horae Apoc. i.
pp. 79, 80, the singular error of Vitringa is adopted, which con
founds it with the firmament like the terrible crystal of Ezekiel ;
and in a note it is objected to the true reference, 1. that John is
describing what was in the inner sanctuary, not in the court
without ; 2. that it is represented as of glass, not brazen ; and 3.
ihat there is no allusion to the laver in any of the Apocalyptic-
visions. The reply is obvious. 1. The Spirit of God distinctly
applies the position of souls under the altar in chap. vi. to the
s-ouls of martyrs in heaven. Now, the altar and the laver were
equally in the court. Compare also chap, viii., where both altars
are found in the same heavenly scene, in contradistinction to the
earth. 2. The vessel is not denied to be made of glass, but the mean
ing is that the sea, or what answered to it, was of glass, not water.
:>. The last is not a reason, but an assumption of the very question,
I should be disposed to put the converse, and to ask, whether it
would not be strange in the midst of temple-scenery so marked to-
have nothing answering to the molten sea. If the " sea" here be
the counterpart of the "sea" in Kings and Chronicles, then the
laver is alluded to in these visions. — Next, it is agreed (H.A. iii.
pp. 436, 437), that were the "sea" in Bev. xv. a re-mention of
that in chap, iv., the definite article ought to have been prefixed ;
nay, that oven on its first mention, it was entitled to the article
because of its notoriety. Here again, the answer is manifest. The
seven golden lamp-stands of Bev. i. nobody doubts to be an allu
sion to the well-known candlestick of the Jewish sanctuary, and
yet there is no article on their first occurrence. If the reason of
its omission here, as distinguished from the altars and the ark, is
due to the striking difference between them, (the Jewish one being
single and seven-branched, the Apooalyptic consisting of seven
separate lamps,) the same remark applies to our matter; for
water was the point in the Jewish temple-sea, glass is as express in
the Apocalyptic — because the purifying of those in relation with
it was complete. So, again, it is no wonder that in chap. xv. the
ai-tiole is not prefixed, seeing that another change appears there.
It is, for the first time, a sea "mingled with fire," emblematic of
tiie excessively severe trial through which the victors had passed.
The analogy of Apocalyptic usage also confirms this ; for the
' ' Beast " is anarthrous in chaps, xiii. 1, xvii. 3, though, as I agree
with Mr. E. , it is the same power already mentioned in chap. xi. 7.
And what is offered in lieu of the temple-sea ? The burning lava
of a volcano, or overflow of French revolutionary fury inundating
the Anti-Christian territory of continental Europe ; and, naturally,

452
nacle had the laver, the temple its molten sea — a
larger vessel, but of a simUar nature, in which the
priests used to wash their feet and hands when .they
went in to do the service of the Lord. In this case it
is a sea of glass, and therefore not used for purifica
tion. It was not a sea of water, but was solid. Its
being of glass indicates a state of firm and settled
purity. It was not that which was used to cleanse,
but the image of purity that nothing can defile. These
saints are no longer in the circumstances where they
have need of cleansing through the washing of water
by the word. That was over. Now it was " a sea of
glass mingled with fire;" showing plainly through what
circumstances those connected with that sea had passed.
They had experienced fiery tribulation, they had glorified
God in the fires. This plainly does not refer to the
church. " In the world ye shall have tribulation :"
that is true of us. But this refers to a special tribulation
— "the tribulation" ofwhich Scripture frequently speaks.

the harpers, represent the triumphs of living revived Protestantism
in insular England under Wilberforce now (as formerly there had
been for others under Augustine and Luther) ! As a sea of lava or
even of water would be an incongruous place whereon to stand,
one cannot be surprised that "on the sea" has been changed into
by, which I admit the preposition will bear. On my view,
however, its more ordinary meaning holds good. — Mr. E. lays
stress on £k tou 8. k. t. A. as implying not only conquest over; but
separation from, the party conquered. Can it be, because his
supposed harpers were not in any way within the fiery scene of
tribulation? I should rather infer that they had been in the
furnace, but were come victors out of all. Again, the reasoning
on the present participle is unsound (H. A. iii. pp. 433-435), for
nothing is more common, when accompanied by the article, than
its abstract use. Thus, to take the first which presents itself, in
Matt. ii. 20, oi fijroO-res certainly does not imply, that they were
still in the field. Compare also Bev. vii. 14, said of a multitude
which is anticipatively viewed as already in the rest of God. It is,
I believe, just the same in chap. xv.

453
"I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire : and'
them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and
over his image," (clearly, then, they are contemporaries
of the Beast), " and over his mark, and over the number
of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps
' of God." Thus, what is referred to here is not washing
in the sea, but standing on it. Their earthly circum
stances characterize them ; but the scene of conflict is
now past. The Spirit of God anticipates all which
marks those who had been troubled by the beast, but
who are viewed as victorious over him. They were
persons that had been cleansed already; they had done
with the present scene, and were now out of it all.
They were standing on the sea of glass. Not only this,,
but they had " harps of God." That is, they are
occupied with divine joy and praise — the contrast of
aU they had passed through.
I would just observe, though it be a slight circum
stance, that there is a little clause here which should
be left out. It is said in verse 2, "them that had
gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image,
and over his mark, and over the number of his name."
But the clause of " over his mark" has no business
here whatever. The same thing occurs iu chap. xrii.
17 : " 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." Now the truth is that the little word "or"'
inserted there before the clause "the name of the beast"
ought to disappear. The difference in the sense is that
" the mark" might be either the name of the beast or
the number of his name; not some third thing distinct
from these two, as the ordinary text might suggest.

454
There were two ways in which the beast marked his
followers ; one was by his name, and the other by tho
number of his name : but there would be no sense in
.saying, " the mark, or the name of the beast, or the
number of his name." The number was his' mark,
though not the only one ; there was the name besides
— the one, I suppose, being closer and more appropriate
.than the other. Here, then, were those (chap, xv.)
who had gotten the victory over the beast, and over
his image, and over the number of his name. Even in
the English Bible, the word " mid over the number"
is printed in italics, and only adds to the confusion
with the words, "over his mark." I refer to it to show
that, wherever there is even such a little word as " or"
introduced by man into the Scripture, the sense is
impaired. In the language which the Spirit uses, it is
but a letter that makes the difference : but you cannot
.even put a letter into the word of God, without so far
inj uring its beauty and perfectness. Throu gh the mercy
¦of God, His chUdren may get little harm through such
blemishes ; but it is in part, because they do not think
.enough about it. If they were to work a system out of
them, they might fall into some serious mistake in not a
few cases. But happily (this is the way God mercifully
shields them) theydonotreaUy receive the false doctrine;
they do not know what it means, and therefore leave it.
But evidently God does not intend that persons should
merely escape error because they do not understandit.
It is the mercy of God thus to preserve His people
from evil; but it is His overruling band rather than
the intelligent guidance of the Spirit. The Book of
Revelation has suffered more than any other from' the

455
•carelessness of man ; and as we are looking into its
contents, and it is so desirable for God's children to
have clear thoughts about His word, I thought it better
to notice it, however small a matter it may appear. I
remember having myself been preplexed to make out
the difference between the mark of the beast and its
name and its number. But having examined the
question more closely, I found that there was really
nothing to decide about. A little fox had slipped in
and spoiled the vine. In short, the mark was not
something different from the name or its number, but
was the general term for both — the name expressing
probably a more intimate and entire subjection to the
beast than the number of his name.
Those who had won the victory over the beast
were not his creatures or slaves ; far from it — they
were the servants of God. Here they were seen stand
ing in conscious victory, outside all the scene of their
.conflicts, having the harps of God. And they sing — it
is intelligent praise. "They sing the song of Moses, the
.servant of God, and the song of the Lamb." There is
.a double character in their praise, quite different from.
the song of the elders. It is very blessed, but not the same
thing. The strain of the elders was far deeper. These
.saints are not here spoken of as priests of God, much
less the heads of heavenly priesthood; nor have they
the emblems of royal dignity. They sing the song of
Moses. They were true saints, but with an un
doubtedly Jewish character. They sing the song of
the Lamb too. If they did not know the Saviour,
, they would not be saints at all. But withal they sing
the song of Moses. They wUl not stand exactly in the

456
christian position that we now enjoy. They wUl be-
in circumstances of trial, when the church Eas passed
out of the scene into heaven. But still the Lord will
have a company of saints then who will suffer for Him
even unto death; for the beast has power to slay- — and
it may be thus, that, by their own blood, as well as by
the blood of the Lamb,* they gain the victory over him.
Here they are seen at rest, like Israel of old, on the
triumphant side of the Red sea, to which there seems
an allusion; as the plagues of the next chapter clearly
refer to those that fell upon the land of Egypt.
"They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God,
and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvel
lous are thy works, 0 Lord God, the Almighty ! just and
true are thy ways, thou King of the nations (ver. 3)."
Now ff we look at Psalm ciii. 7, we find that the Holy
Ghost brings into prominence these two things — the
ways of Jehovah and His acts. " He made known his
ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel."
The distinction is between the deep hidden ways, of"
the Lord which Moses knew, and the public acts which
were conspicuous before all Israel. Here these saints-
take up, not His ways first, but His displayed works.
"Great and marvellous are thy works, 0 Lord God,
the Almighty." And then they rise to celebrate His
ways. "Just and true are thy ways, thou King of
the nations" — I must say so, for King of saints is a
thing unknown in any part of the Bible. But King
of nations, given in the margin, is most true. It is a
reference to Jeremiah x. : " Thou art great, (ver. 6,}
* Of course, the Lamb's blood alone avails for sin with God.

457
and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear
thee, O King of nations ? "
Just to show the general truth, I would observe
that, whUe Christ is King, yea King of kings and
Lord of lords, and whUe it is our joy to acknowledge
it (for Christians, indeed, are the only persons now
who rightly know the Lord Jesus Christ to be King),
yet it is remarkable how the Holy Ghost avoids
calling Him King in relation to the church. I am
aware that well-known hymns may speak of Him as
"Our Prophet, Priest, and King." Scripture often
caUs Him King, but never in that relation to MS.*
Of course, the object of God's word is not to weaken
our subjection to Christ. Whatever weakens that
comes not from the Spirit, but from Satan. But is it
not plain, that the relation of a king and people is not
so close and binding, neither is it so full and all-
embracing in its authority, nor does it involve such
elements of affection as the relationship of Bridegroom,
or of the Head 1 And this is the way in which Scripture
views the church. There is the deepest and most
constant subjection, but it is that of members to their
Head, of the bride to the Bridegroom.. Thus is the
church subject to Christ. It is true that we are
translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son; but in
what capacity? He has made us kings in it. So we
are represented as singing, in the first chapter of this
* Mr. E. hesitatingly inclines to "JCing of ages" in his text (H.
A. iii., p. 440) ; but in his note he ventures the opinion that the
(undoubtedly false) vulgar reading aylwv seems "best of all to
suit the context." To me this reluctance to bow to the best
reading (supported by the Alex, and Vat. uncials, forty-five cursives,
the Aethiopic, Arabic of the Polyglotts, Coptic, Slav, mss., Greek
and some Latin fathers,) is not happy.
G2

458
very prophecy, " Unto him that loveth us and hath
washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath
made us kings and priests unto God and his Father."1
WhUe it is perfectly certain, then, that we are in
the kingdom, yet are we there not as subjects, though
assuredly subject. We joyfully own Christ as our
Lord, whose grace has made us kings with Him, and
not as a mere people at a distance under Him. This ¦
in no way lessens our responsibility to obey Him, any
more than it takes from His glory. It puts us in the
place of showing obedience on a firmer ground and
from higher motives; it is not the weakness of flesh
under law, but the heart purified by faith and strength
ened by grace. He fills us with a sense of the ¦
glory, of which we are joint-rieirs with Himself. He
raises us in hope to the throne; but the effect is that,
even in heaven, we shall fall down and cast our crowns
before Him. He loves that our obedience should take,
as it were, the form of worship. So we see how the
Lord preserves these two things intact. On the one
hand, He delights that we should look up and know
that the Lord Jesus is ever immeasurably above us.
but then, on the other hand, Christ has set us now in
earnest of the Spirit, as by and by in possession, on
thrones, that He may show that it is not merely as
servants, nor as a people that we are subject, but as
those whom His perfect and divine love has associated
with Himself; for we ai# one with Him. He wUl
put uS on thrones around Him — on His own throne ;
but even then subjection to Christ can never disappear.
Never will it be anything else, whether in the king
dom or in the eternal state. Wherever you look, never

459
-can the church so far forget what she owes her Lord and
Bridegroom as to wish it otherwise. It were to abuse
His grace, to take from His glory; and the church
must and ought to resent that. If the elders, at the
¦sight only of His taking the book, fall down before the
Lamb and worship, much more should the thought of
any indignity offered to Him call forth the strongest
feelings of indignation and horror. The church may
be and is loved of Christ : but in anywise to take equal
ground with Him were to display that spirit of
antichrist, "whereof we have heard that it shall come,
and even now already is it in the world."
"Just and true are thy ways, thou King of nations."
If I apprehend aright, the reason why "nations" are
introduced here is that these vials were about to be
poured out very particularly upon the Gentiles. Under
the trumpets, and in chaps, xri.-xiv., we had the Jews,
or at least the Jewish remnant, in an especial way the
object of covenant mercy. The very phrase (chap.
xi.), "the ark of his covenant," connects itself with
that nation, for the covenant was made with them.
Therefore we saw, too, that the woman in the next
chapter (chap. xU.) represented Israel. Then we had
the remnant of godly Jews (chap, xiv.) But now
these saints are celebrating the righteous ways of God
with the Gentiles, or nations. He is King of nations
— -not merely of the Jews. Jewish relationships
.appear in both, but they are distinct visions, opened
oach by a very different sign.
'- 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' were

460
made manifest." The word used for "holy" here, is
an unusual one. It is the same that is used where
Scripture speaks of the mercies of David, and its
Hebrew counterpart is frequently found in the Psalms.
For there are two words in both languages to
express holiness. -There is the common word for "holy,"
which, for instance, occurs in Rev. iv. " Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God Almighty." It always impUes
separation from evil — absolute separation. The
holiness spoken of here implies mercy, which is-
exceedingly sweet. We are about to hear of the vials,.
and the first thought would be, " how dreadful ! "
God's wrath is going to be fulfilled. But wrio and
what is the God whose wrath is about to be con
summated? He whose holiness is full of mercy..
"Thou only art holy." It is the holiness of mercy.
" For all nations shall come and worship before thee ;.
for thy judgments were made manffest." They look
through the judgments, and they see the end always is
that "the Lord is^very pitiful and of tender mercy."
So that, though this storm of judgment may be
about to fall, they[look to the end from the beginning,
and they celebrate accordingly the holiness of the One
who in judgment remembers mercy. No doubt there
must be wrath^and God must complete it, because the
first outpouring of it will only make men more
hardened. But let it be observed, it is not a question
of Christ; there is no such thing as the wrath of the
Lamb here, not even in men's minds ; it is the wrath
of God. In chap. xiv. He who reaps the harvest is the
Son of Man. But [here God acts according to His
own j ar^ before Christ comes from heaven to execute-

461
wrath. This indicates that the vials end before the final
judgments of chap. xiv. commence, because the close
of the chapter shows us the Son of Man cerning Him
self to execute judgment.
And therefore they can say, as they look up, " Who
shall not fear thee, O Lord ?  for thou only
art holy : for all nations shall come and worship before
thee : for thy judgments are made manifest." (Ver. 4.)
Another important truth ; for, as we are told in Isaiah
xxvi., as long as God is showing mercy, what does
man ? He takes advantage of it and refuses to learn
righteousness. But the time comes when the Lord will
1 ift up His arm in j udgmen t ; and what then ? ' ' When
thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the
world will learn righteousness." So here, "All nations
shall come and worship before thee ; for thy judgments
were made manffest." Such would be the ultimate
result. The prophet, again, looks, " and the temple* of the
tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened."
(Ver. 5.) Mark the difference. In ver. 19 of chap.
xi. (whieh introduces the scene of chaps. xU.-xiv.
before the vials) the temple was opened in heaven,
and the ark of His covenant seen, but no ark appears
now. There it was the fit pledge of the security of

* It is extraordinary that the author of the Horse Apoc. should
say that vabs or temple is sometimes used more largely of the
whole, including the altar-court ; stranger still that he should cite
Bev. xi. 1, 2, in proof, seeing that the altar and the outer court
are so expressly distinguished there (as I believe always). There is
another word to comprehend all, namely iepbv, which is never used
in the Apocalypse, though it occurs repeatedly in other parts of
the New Testament. So, also, the door of the tabernacle and the
hanging at the court-gate are not confounded in Scripture.

462
God's faithfulness — of His uncharging purposes to
wards His people Israel. But here His enemies are
in question, rather than His people; and there is
nothing but the tabernacle of the testimony, which is
inaugurated, as it were, in judgments on the men of
the earth. It is opened for wrath as yet, not for
gospel triumphs. It is God's testimpny judiciaUy to
the condition of man. Man is guilty: what then
could result? "The seven angels came out of the
temple." And terrible to say, they come out of that
in which no ark was now seen. And what would be,
what is, the effect? Nothing but wrath — the more-
awful because it flows from the sanctuary. They
".came out of the temple, having the seven plagues.''
This was all that God could do for man now.
" Clothed in pure and white linen, and having their
breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the
four living creatures" — the great presiding executors-
of the providential judgments of God — "gave unto the
seven angels seven golden vials." The word means
bowels, or cups, and is taken from the vessels used for
pouring out drink-offerings, &c, before the Lord. It
is not drink-offerings now, but wrath coming down
from God — " seven golden vials fuU of the wrath of
God who Uveth for ever and ever. And the temple
was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from
his power; and no one was able to enter into the
temple, tUl the seven plagues of the seven angels were
fulfilled." Thus, neither present worship of God nor
intercession was any longer possible. It was vain for
any one to attempt entering there : the smoke of the
fire of God's righteous anger filled the temple, the

463
smoke proving the fire that was there. Thus there
was no possibUity for any one, not even for a priest,
to enter. None could draw near now : wrath, the
smoke of judgment, filled it. Just as at Sinai, where
smoke is represented as going up from the mountain
as the smoke of a furnace ; and, as in Psalm xviU.,
" There went up a smoke out of his nostrUs and fire
out of his mouth devoured." So, now, there is the
image of God's offended majesty against sin. There was
nothing He looked upon here below that called for
mercy on their behalf. The time was past for inter
cession. Accordingly the judgments rolled forth, and
the wrath of God is finished. (Ver. 6-8.)

CHAPTER XVI.
Now I must say a little on the details of God's
judgments in chap. xvi. It is a painful subject and
humbling, when we think that this is the declared end
of man's vaunted progress. I wUl endeavour, then,
briefly to glance at these seven plagues. "And I
heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the
seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of
the wrath of God unto the earth." (Ver. 1.) Wrath
is no longer restricted to the third or fourth part, but
the whole scene is given up to judgment. There is not
only an increase of severity, but the whole of that
which had once the light of God, and had far and wide
enjoyed outward privUeges, is in complete apostasy,
and given up to His wrath.
" And the first went away and poured out his vial
unto the earth ; and there came a noisome and grievous
sore upon the men which had the mark of the Beast,
and them which worshipped his image. And the
second poured out his vial unto the sea," &c.
The first four vials resembled the trumpets in this,
that they both fall on the earth and sea, on the
rivers and fountains of water, and finally on the
sun. There may be certain differences; for in the
trumpet it was the third part only of the sun that was
smitten. Here it is simply said, "the sun." Still it was
the same sort of sphere. Further, I think the objects
¦of these plagues, the earth, sea, &c, are not to be taken
in a merely literal way. The language is symbolical.
Not that there would be, to my own mind, the slight
est difficulty in believing that God could do these

465
things in a literal way, if this were His will. He
has done so before now. He has turned the waters of
Egypt into blood, filled a kingdom with darkness, and
inflicted plagues similar to what we have here: so
that there is no difficulty in conceiving such a thing
again. But the only question, is, whether this is what
we are to gather from the chapter before us. I think
it is not ; and that God here alludes to plagues that
were once literal in the land of Egypt, but that are
now referred to symbolically, representing certain
judgments of God. First, the ordered and settled
parts of the world are smitten, as with an. ulcerous
distemper, where men were branded with subjection
to the apostate civil power and his idolatry. Next,
there is a judgment on the sea; that is, on the out
side regions, where profession of life quite died out.
The third, I conceive, represents by rivers people
formed into a separate condition or nationaUty, like
waters flowing in a distinct channel, under special
local influence; and by the fountains rather the springs
of a nation's prosperity. All the active principles
assume the form of death. The third judgment comes
down to smaller details than the former ones. The
fourth is on the public supreme authority.
In verses 5-7 we have a word or two, which, when
corrected or- rightly read, adds to the full force and
clearness of the passage : " Thou art righteous, O Lord,
which art, and wast," &c. I noted (on chap, xi.) that
the words, " and shalt be," were of no force at all
here, and that another word is the best attested — " the
Holy One." It is the very same word that occurs in
the fourth verse of chap. xvi. — the less usual one for

466
" holy." Before these vials are poured out, God is
celebrated in His merciful holiness. " Thou art right
eous." This was plain, for God was pouring out His
wrath upon men in their iniqujty, just because He was
righteous. But more than this — "Which art ¦ and
wast, the Holy One." Before the vials are poured out
and now again, while they are in course of pouring out,
that remains true. The angel of the waters attests
His graciousness, even while He was judging thus,
which might have seemed to contradict it. He, too,
from below, answers to the song above. If the saints,
at rest on the sea of glass, celebrate Him as merciful
in holiness, the angel confirms it.
" For they have shed the blood of saints and pro
phets, and thou gavest them blood to drink ; they are
worthy." (Ver. 6.) There was righteous retribution
— they were worthy in an awful sense. " And I
heard," not another out of the altar, but " I heard the
altar say." (Ver. 7.) It may seem extraordinary to
speak of "the altar saying," and no doubt the other
words were put in because people thought it so strange.
But there is nothing really contrary to prophetic
usage if it be taken in a symbolical way. No perspn
wpuld intentionally foist a difficulty into Scripture :
but it is too common to try and remove that which is
not understood out of the word, thus to make it plain
according to ordinary modes of thought. Besides, you
have what might prepare the way for it elsewhere. In
chap. ix. 1 3, it is said, " I heard a voice from the four
horns of the golden altar which is before God." Here
(chap, xvi.) the figure goes farther : the voice is said
to be that of the altar itself. To me it confirms what

467
we have had various occasions to remark — the tact and
impropriety of men's meddling with Scripture. " I
heard the altar say" has great force for this reason.
In an earUer part of the book, the souls of those that
were "slain for the word of God, and for the testi
mony which they held," were seen under the altar.
Now here, that altar which had witnessed their blood
is said to cry out to God and to own that His judg
ments are true and righteous. In the first book of the
Bible, the earth is spoken of as crying out to God about
the blood of Abel : much more should not the altar
cry about the blood of God's martyred saints ? To my
own mind it is uncommonly pertinent. If it had been
merely an angel, this would have been a comparatively
distant link ; for an angel, though ministering for them
who shall be heirs of salvation, does not enter so
directly into their sufferings, and can scarcely be said
to have immediate sympathy with them. But God
not only had seen the bones of His slaughtered saints
scattered upon the cold mountains, as poets sing, but
regards His saints as so many burntofferings rising up
before Him, whose blood, or rather the altar which
witnessed it, calls for indignation and wrath. The
Lord may seem to slumber for a season, but when He
awakes, as one out of sleep, He will surely avenge their
blood on them that dwell on the earth. And now it
is at hand. Great Babylon had not yet come into
remembrance, though, from the beginning, the special
corruptress of the truth, and drunken with the blood
of the saints. But meanwhUe the altar could not hold
its peace, and the Lord listens and hears. For the
God who heeds the groans of the creature wUl surely
answer the altar's cry about His slain ones.

468
" And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the
sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men
with fire." (Ver. 8.) It is a judgment on the sun, the
figure of supreme government; so that what ought to
have been the means of light and. comfort — that greater
light which rules the day — now becomes the means of
scorching men with fire. The effect of its tyranny is
intolerable. '" And men were scorched with great
heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which had
authority over these plagues : and they repented not
to give him glory." (Ver. 9.)
" And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the
throne of the beast," &c. (Ver. 10.) We are now
entering upon a somewhat different class of judgments;
for the last three vials differ from the first four, just
as the last three trumpets had a different character from
the rest. And so with the seals also. It is evident
that the fifth, sixth, and' seventh vials are apart from
the preceding four. The judgment falls upon the
throne of the beast and upon his kingdom — not upon
the beast Himself, who is apparently untouched by
these vials. He is reserved for the judgment of the
Lord Jesus Himself at His coming, and will be de
stroyed by His appearing. Here the stroke is
merely upon the seat of his authority; and just as of
•old, king Pharoah was hardened, so here men blas
phemed the God of heaven, and repented not of then-
deed's (ver. 11). When God manifests Himself as the
God of the earth, this will not be possible.
"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the
-great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was

469
dried up, that trie way of the kings :' — not exactly of
the east, but — "that are from the east might be
prepared" (ver. 12). The Euphrates was the great
eastern boundary of the Roman empire : it was the
regular line to which they carried their conquests.
So that the drying up of the Euphrates would seem to
mean that this side of the empire would be left open
as a way for the eastern powers to come and mingle
with those of the west, or to assault them. One effect
of this vial, then, would be the removal of the eastern
barrier, and thus the way of the kings from the east is
prepared, probably for the great closing conflicts.
But there is more th:ui this. '• I saw out of the
mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the
beast, and out of tha mouth of the false prophet, three
unclean spirits like frogs."* (Ver. 13.) It is just
before the end. These murmuring spirits issued out of

* Most readers of the Home Apoc : will remember that, after
giving evidence of the working of the froglike unclean spirits in
England, (the draconic spirit of heathenlike anti-social infidelity,
the Popish spirit, the Tractarian spirit,) Mr. E. recurs to the
hopeful strain of a bright future for his country, and conjectures
that France may be the country called to the bad pre-eminence of
being the chief secular power employed by these demons to gather
the world's powers to the last great war of Armageddon. "There
is a curious heraldic fact (he adds, vol. iii. pp. 499, 500) accordant
with this view, which, considering how frequently such national
emblems have been had in view in the Apocalyptic figurations, I
cannot permit myself to pass over in silence, though I wish by no
means to insist much on it : viz. that, as the three spirits do each
and all most assuredly energize in the French nation aud priest
hood, so their Apocalyptic symbol the three frogs, are the old arms
bf France. " And then we have a plate in illustration of the alleged
fact, with some subjoined annotations. Now, it happens that
natural history comes in as an awkward witness here, for the
"fact" turns out that Mr. E. confounds crapaud with g renouille ;
or, as the Encyclopedia Metropolitana says, the arms of France,
as some affirm, bear three toads sable, &c. In a word, in order to
convey correctly such a reference, the Greek should have been (is
ippvpoi, rather than jSdrpoxot.

470
the mouth of the three powers which we have seen in
chap. xiii. : out of the dragon, the open enemy of
Christ; out of the beast, the revived Roman Empire;
and out of the false prophet, the ecclesiastical beast
that had lamb-like horns, imitating Christ's power, but
now spoken of only in his deceptive religious cha
racter. "For they are the spirits of demons, working
signs, who go forth unto the kings of the whole
habitable world, to gather them unto the battle of
[that] great day of God the Almighty." This confirms
what I have just stated about the Euphrates. It is a
general collision of the kings of all the habitable world.
Not only the western powers are arrayed for the;war,
but the eastern also. It is the great day.
But now comes an important parenthesis. As was
shown under the sixth seal and the sixth trumpet, so
here we find an interruption also. " Behold, I come
as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth
his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his
shame " (ver. 15). It is the Lord coming, but then
He is coming in judgment to surprise the earth ; and
this is the reason why the figure is used. The thief
comes unexpected and unwelcome : stUl more un
palatable wUl be the Lord's coming to the earth. But
there wUl be saints to whom it wUl be welcome, to
whom His appearing will bring deliverance by the1 ,
judgment of their enemies. And they are enjoined to
watch closely the daily life. " Behold, I come as a,
thief." Not so the Lord presents Himself to us,
save as telling us how He will appear to the world or
the professing mass cast into it. When speaking to us
He says, ."Behold I come quickly : hold fast that which

471
thou hast, that no man take thy crown." Need one
say how much more blessed is this word ? The idea
of coming as a thief involves surprise. To us He will
come as a gracious One, who loves that we should have
the rest of our affections and our glory in and with
Himself: this is our own proper portion and hope.
Here it is not rapture to heaven, but Jewish deliver
ance by judgment.
Then, after closing the parenthesis, it is said, " A nd
he gathered them together into a place, called in the
Hebrew tongue, Armageddon." It might seem strange
that it should be said, "He gathered ;" for in the 14th
verse the evil spirits, or spirits of demons, were those
that went forth to gather the kings together. The
reason is this. In the language that the Holy Ghost
employed, the word is capable of meaning either lie or
t/tey gathered. There are certain cases where, in that
language, it is doubtful whether "they" or "he" be
meant; and this is one. The word "demons" is of such
a nature, that the verb which has it for its subject
might be either singular or plural. Here the subject
is not expressed, so that it is quite optional as far as
this is concerned : all depends upon the sense of the
context. If it be " He gathered," the reference of
course is to God Almighty, who might be said to do it
through the intervention of these unclean spirits. If
it be " they gathered," it would simply mean that the
spirits of demons had accomplished the purpose for
which they were sent forth. In verse 14, they
proceeded to gather the kings; and in verse 16, the
kings are gathered together.
The place of gathering that is mentioned here, called

472
in Hebrew Armageddon, is, I think, an allusion to
Judges v. 17. " The kings came and fought; then
fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters
of Megiddo." It was not that Megiddo was a place of
any great size or note: God looks to the principle at
issue. Israel was in a low state. There was a pro
phetess that the Lord used to inspire them with
courage : and when encouraged by her, a great victory
they won over their enemies. The same place is refer
red to in 2 Chron. xxxv. 22, when Josiah received his
death-wound in battle with the king of Egypt. But I
doubt that this is the incident referred to by the Spirit
of God here. For Megiddo in the day of the Judges
was a momento, of joy and triumph to Israel. In the
time of Josiah it was a place of gloom : all Judah and
Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. It was "the mourning
of Hadadrimmon in the valley* of Megiddon" (Zech.
xU. 11), which led, historically, to the writing of the
book of Lamentations. For this reason I think that
Armageddon (i.e., the mountain of Megiddo) here
refers, not to the, sorrow for Josiah in .2, Chronicles,.
but to the gathering and defeat of the Gentile kings in
Judges. For here it is the Lord beating down the
nations. He had been acknowledged as king of the
nations in Rev. xv. ; and, therefore, to make this an
allusion to a time when the godly Jewish monarch was
slain by a Gentile would be little appropriate. But
* A mountain of course implies a valley. The singular variation of
A. (TOTapAv, river) may have been either taken from the waters of
Megiddon in Judges v. 9, or more probably was a blunder for
t6ttov, just as in chap, xv., AC. three cursives, not to speak of
some mss. mentioned by Andreas, Bede, &c., support \l8ov stone !
for \Lvov. The Harleian cursive of the eleventh century (5537)
exhibits the still stranger Xt/vSv

473
to derive it from the day when Israel had been led on
to victory even by a woman well fits into the scene
that is here described, when the kings of the whole
world wiU be gathered only for a more terrible des
truction. A few words must suffice for the last vial. " The
seventh angel poured out his vial upon the air ; and
there came forth a loud voice from the temple [of
heaven], from the throne, saying, it is done " (ver 17).
This is a more penetrating judgment, and one more
affecting men and their very life-breath than any we
have yet seen. It is on the air, necessary to the
existence of men. Symbolically it represents a judg
ment on something that is as essential to the life
and comfort of men as that which we breathe. All is
over as regards God's wrath here poured out.
" And there were Ughtnings and voices and thunders:
and there was a great earthquake, such as was not seen
since a man was on 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," <fcc.
There was a vast and unexampled convulsion of civil
associations — breaking up, not only what is called here
" the great city," (which means all that was established
within the Roman Empire), but more than that, the
cities of the nations fell ; that is, it was the ruin of
aU that the nations, outside Rome, had built up poUti-
caUy. And furthermore, Babylon the great — that
counterfeit of the bride, and hitherto successful system
of reUgious evil, the mother of harlots and abominations
of the earth; Babylon the great — came up in remem
brance before God to receive from Him the cup of the
h2

474
wine of the fierceness of His wrath. The latter term
Babylon the great refers rather to moral character or
idolatry. " And every island fled away, and the mountains
were not found. And there fell upon men great 'hail,
about the weight of a talent, out of heaven, and men
blasphemed God," &c. (Ver. 20, 21). It is not neces
sary that I should speak particularly of the explanation
offered by the leading historicalists. The hailstorm
Mr. E. used to apply to some fearful infliction of
France, the most northerly of the Papal kingdoms,
much as he had surmised in the minor judgments, as
he would say, of the seventh trumpet. And so it yet
stands in the text of Horae Apoc, vol. iv., p. 23. But
in a note he observes that many expositors prefer to
explain it of the Russian power. " And in revising
my work, and comparing this prophecy with one in
Ezekiel xxxviU. xxxix., which seems to point to
Russia's taking part in the great pre-mUlennial con
flict as will ''be noticed in the end of my next chapter,
I cannot but incline to the same view. I observe'that
the great hail is here predicted as fairing after, not
before, the great city's tri-partition." Having already
expressed my opinion on the similar case of Rev. xi.
19, and shown the error of connecting this verse with
the seventh trumpet, which is the assumption of these
writers, I need only remark that the reference to
Ezekiel is pecuUarly* unhappy, beeause the scene there
is Palestine, notthe Papal empire orthewest; andthat
the issue is not the infliction of a plague on others, and
God blasphemed- in consequence, but the utter discom
fiture of the Prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, with

475
liis vast company, and God sanctified thereby. " And
I will plead against him with pestUence, ;and with
blood ; and J will rain upon him, and upon his bands,
and upon the many people that are with him, an over
flowing rain, and great haU-stones, fire and brimstone."
Thus, it is God who plagues the invading Russian with
great hail-stones, not they whoso fall on others. "Thus
wiU I magnify rriyself, and sanctify myseff (not then
men blaspheming Godbecause of the plague of the haff);
and I will be known in the eyes ef many nations— and
they shaU know that I am the;Lord." Indeed, the
reader has simply to examine the context of the Jewish
prophet in order to be satisfied of the absurdity of con
necting that scene with the haU-storm of the seventh
vial. For the Jews, nay Israel as a whele, are sup
posed to be at that time restored and united in their
own land, when Gog invades it through lust of con
quest: There is no aground to think that such is the
case underithe vials. Neither does Mr. E. sojudge, if
I understand his remarks on the first occurrence of
" HaUelujah " va. Rev. -xix., which che >views as aniin-
dication of the conversion of the Jews, after the final
catastrophe of Babylon, when the outpouring of the
vials is completed andlhas^marked the trineforit.
iBefore God' establishes His purposes in power, you
see a moral accompUshment working either in His
people or in' the world. Thus/if 'God is to'bring about
& separation of His people>by judgment, which we had
in chap, x v., I doubt riot that His people are even now
being- separated graciously by the Spirit of God. If,
on the other hand, there is to be a delusion over men's
hearts, so that even the judgments of God wUl only

476
aggravate the evil to aU appearance, something analo
gous is at work in our day. Is it not a fearful sign
that Christians, in the face of such words as these, can
look for any real ameUoration of things as they are ?*
Here we have the true closing scene disclosed by God
after all the efforts and boasts of men. The most
favoured part of the earth, its civilized and moral
centre, is to be full of apostasy, and the wrath of God
must be finished there. This must be ere the Lord
Jesus Christ will come in glory to set up His kingdom :
for He it is in person who shall deal with the Beast.
Under the vials it is God chastising in wrath. But
what is the effect ? Men blaspheme God. Instead of
repenting, they become worse and worse at every step.
It is a terrible thing to see this evil morally spread
ing over the world ; but the Lord is also separating, by
faith and affection, to Himself. May we hold fast
grace ! We shall need it. It is the only place, not
merely of privUege, but of security. What should we
think of the man who would merely go as far as he
thinks he must not to be lost — who wants to be saved,
but withal to be aUowed to sin as much as, in his
opinion, he may, so as to escape at last ? But as the
Lord is separating by personal affection to Himself,
where there is faith, so, on the other hand, the oppo
site of it we find where faith is lacking. God gives up
men to delusion, and all that He does in the way of
judgment only hardens them. Preparatorily this is
going on now : men are yielding to and choosing then-
own delusions. The full pure truth is distasteful and
dreaded. So that, in spite of God's Spirit working to
present truth with all simplicity to His people, men

477
are obstinately comforting themselves with the dream
that things, after all, are not so bad ; that ff there are
things to be regretted, the remedy is at hand. For
now there are so many ways of helping on the poor —
such delightful minglings of the rich with them —such
promising unions which invite all men to come together
.and join, spite of their little differences, for the great
object of social advancement, the improvement of Chris
tendom, and the regeneration of the world. But all this
is founded on the miserable delusion which ignores and
denies that God's wrath is to be filled up and poured
•out upon Christendom. It is impossible that Christians
who realize that such judgments are near, could lend
themselves to schemes which assume the very reverse.
Suppose a person going to execution — what would be
thought of a Christian man who, knowing this, would
occupy the criminal's time with chemical experiments,
or a lecture on mechanics ? Much less would one who
feels the solemn truth that the world lies under such a
sentence as God's word declares. Christ alone is the
power of God to set things right. When He comes,
and not before, the tide of evil will be stemmed, and
Satan bound : but not even divine judgments, apart
from Christ, can avaU.
May we be in earnest, always seeking to connect
Christ with our testimony ! That is the great practical
purport of all for the present moment. Sometimes
we may hinder blessing by presenting the truth, but
not in Christ, if I may so say. The heart must be
sadly perverted, if it refuses Him. The Lord grant
that we may keep these two things before our souls —
thorough separation from all that is of the world, and

478
this place of victory held with joy, our hearts taking:
up the song of which the Lamb is the subject,- as He
alone gives us the power to sing it. May we ever
think of the world as a judged scene; conscious of the
terrible wrath1 it cannot escape' ! This will not make
us- distrustful of the power of Christ to deliver indi
viduals, but it will preserve us from any insensibUity
as to either the world-'sevU, or the divine judgment
which' awaits it.

CHAPTER XVII.
The Spirit of God has shown us the destruction of
Babylon under the last vial. We are now to learn- in
the chapter before us what was her special evil, what
there was so hateful to God in Babylon; not only what
her own conduct was, but what there was in her
connexion with others, that God could endure it all no
longer — why it was that He singled her out above
others for His. vengeance. And this is not a thing
that we can put aside from us, as perhaps some others
may be in the Apocalypse, as comparatively foreign or
distant. ,For though there may be, and, I deubt npt,
wUl be, a further develepment of Babylon, yet God
looks at it as a moral whole ; as a system of corruption
that has been at work,( and that is still at work.
When judgment can delay no longer, it may have
taken a peculiarly aggravated form ; but the evU exists
and is active. Babylon is not so much the snare of a
profane man, as it is. that of one who, having a certain
idea of reUgion, seeks to reconcile it with the world.
It is then that the corrupting mfluence becomes a
source of chief danger, to the soul..
Now we shall find that, first of aU, the chapter gives
us the vision which the Apostle John is taken to see;
and next we have a certain explanation of that visioni,
The angel's word commences more particularly in this,
way at the seventh verse, while the first six verses are
occupied with recounting the vision. One other remark
I would make before proceeding farther. This chapter
does not carry us forward as a matter of history. It
is rather the Holy Ghost looking back upon the
character, conduct, and relationships of that Babylon

480

which had been already shown as the object of the
judgment of God. This is worthy of note, because, if
not seen, there is inevitable confusion in our thoughts
of the book. In chap. xiv. we had the fall of Babylon
in connexion with the evU workings of Satan, and
with the dealings of God in goodness or power, in
cluding the Son of man's judgment at the close. Now,
it is of no little moment to have -the precise niche
where this intervention of God is to be looked for,
and that we had in the next place. For we have seen
in the providential judgments of God — by which I
mean those which are executed by angels, and not by
Christ directly — Babylon reserved for the last stroke
of His wrath under the seventh vial. It is God
acting — God still employing angels. The Lord Jesus
is thus far quiescent, if I may so say; not acting yet
in vengeance personally upon the earth.
In Rev. xvU. the Holy Ghost stops to enter into the
detaUs of the moral cause of Babylon's terrible fall.
" There came one of the seven angels which had the
seven vials, and talked with me, saying, Come hither;
I wiU show unto thee the judgment of the great whore
that sitteth on [the]* many waters " (ver. 1). It is
described as a harlot here ; not only as a woman, but
as a corrupt and licentious one. And I suppose that no
dispassionate person would doubt that this term is
used in special reference to religious corruption. A

*The article (twice) is omitted byn A, seven cursives, Hippoly-
tus and Andreas. I have therefore bracketed it as a mark of
doubt, though disposed to lean towards its reception, spite of its
absence in the Sept. V. of Jer. Ii. 13, Ac. It is strange that any
should imagine a reference in Dan. vii. 2, or Bev. xiii. 1 any more
than here, to the literal Mediterranean. In Hebrew (or Chaldee)
the great sea" when used of the Mediterranean is a totallv
distinct phrase.

481
Uttle lower down, in the third verse, Babylon is said
to be sitting on the beast; here she sits by the many
waters. There is a slight difference in the Greek.
Sitting by the many waters dees not mean that she
was literally or locally thereupon, but beside them.
Thus, you may say, for instance, that London is seated
on the Thames. Now, no one of common under
standing would suppose the meaning to be that London
was actuaUy situated and buUt over the bed of the
river, but that the Thames is the stream which char
acterizes London. So here, in the same way, you have
the whore described as seated on (i.e. beside) the many
waters. These are explained in verse 19. "The
waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth,
are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues."
The figure implies the wide-spread influence which this
.abandoned woman exercises. But there is more than
that. In the second verse it is said, " with whom the
kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with
the wine of her fornication." This is something more
than her seat by the mass of waters. It is immediate
intercourse of an evil kind carried on with the kings
of the earth — her power in drawing away and seducing
the affections from Christ, who is the only worthy
object of all love and worship. In the sphere where
God's light had been displayed, the chiefs or leaders
are led away by the corruptress, and the people are
entirely ruined as to all discernment of the mind of
God. Nothing, then, can be plainer than the general bear
ing of these few verses. We have the vast influence

482
of Babylon set forth by the figure of a woman seated.
beside many waters ; next we have the great leader^of
Christendom, the kings of the earth,, who, have com
mitted fornication with, her ; and then the inhabitants
of the earth stupified withthe wine of her fornication.
There are different degrees of guUt, but aU were the-
result of connexion more or less intimate.-with Babylon..
" So he carried, me away in the Spirit into the wUder
ness" (ver. 3). In spite of aUher pride and worldly
glory,, to. the saint of. God the wilderness is the only
place where the, Spirit leads him to behold her. Had
John, gone in his own spirit (.so to speak), it might
have carried him to look at Babylon, not in the,
wUderness,, but rather in the mirage of some garden of
the Lord. But, he, was carried away by the Spirit of
the Lord into the wilderness, and there he. sees the
harlot sitting, upon a, searletcolpured Beast ;. a cleser
thing, . and of more ominous import, as we noticed, than
. her description at the end, of verse 1. This, shows, us
the actual ppsitionofthe woman. She has supremacy
over the, Roman empire. For there ean be no legiti
mate question that the- beast here brought before us is
that, same Roman empire, of which we have heard, such
terrible doings, and so portentous a, doom,, in previous
chapters. It is the beast that-isj fuU of the names of
blasphemy,, as his heads were so- viewed in! chap. xUi.
1. Babylon, is a whore or. corrupting system; but
blasphemy is, what belongs tothe beast It is. a more
open and audacious evil. The woman's way is more-
seductive, and one that lays hold pf the affections.
But blasphemy is the expression pf a power that fears
neither* God nor man. As for the woman, though

483
seated on- the beast, glad to be exalted through him,
and wUUng.- to use him for her own purposes, yet i»
she distinctively the reUgious system of the world. She
is " arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked
with gold and precious stones and pearls :" the obvious
figures of all that the world counts great and glorious and
beautiful here below. But she has also " a golden cup
in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her
fornication" (ver. 4). In spite of all her glittering,
gaudy splendour, how the Holy Ghost brings out
together with it,, what is most nauseous ! He has no
words too strong to express His sense of what He sees
in. the cup. It is " full of abominations and the filthi
ness of her fornication." By " abominations " in
Scripture regularly is meant, idolatry. This: is the
gravest distinguishing feature in Babylon. As the
Beast was full of names of blasphemy, so wasthe har
lot's cup full of abominations. But besides the idols,
there was this corrupting influence, here caUed the
uncleanness of her fornication. They are two distinct
things. There might be the depraving influence with
out the idols ; but in Babylon both, are actively at
work. In the ^Apocalyptic churches' it was observed that
Ut Pergamos appears the doctrine of Balaam,- who-
taught, among other things j to commit fornication.
When we came to Thyatira, there we saw Jezebel, who
imposed idolatry by force. Here in Babylon, both are
united. The evUs that crept into Christendom in those
earUer days, discerned in Pergamos and Thyatira, bpth
appear concentrated and undisguised in the cup of this
wicked woman. They were budding then ; now they

484
axe full-blown in all their hatefulness before the pro
phet. They may be tricked out in all the meretricious
tinsel of this world ; but nothing could change or hide
their real character before God.
" And upon her forehead a name written Mystery,
Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of
the abominations of the earth " (ver. 5). There was
great pretension to truth — a masterpiece of the enemy
in counterfeiting the revealed waysof God. The mystery
of Christ and the church had been revealed ; now there
is the mystery of this anti-church ; not the mystery of
faith and godliness, but of lawlessness' — -Babylon the
great, seated on the .Beast, the awful contrast of the
church which is subject unto Christ. Here she rules
the Beast. The holy city, Jerusalem, comes down out of
heaven from God, having the glory of God, — not "that
great city,"* but the holy city, which is the true way
in which God characterizes the bride, the Lamb's wife,
the glorified church. This religious system, on the
contrary, sprang from the earth, — not to say more than
that, — enticed into its defiling embrace the kings of the
earth, and extended its malignant influence far and
wide. Such was Babylon, the mother of harlots, and
abominations of the earth. Whatever evU thing was
used by Satan for the purpose of ensnaring the affec
tions from Christ, whatever idolatrous object took His
place, she is the mother of them all. Babylon is the
great parent of all the worldly systems, and of the
idolatries used by the enemy to draw away souls
¦entirely from the Lord.
But there is another thing mentioned in the vision

The common text of Bev. xxi. 10 is faulty.

485
stUl more extraordinary to the prophet's mind. He
could not doubt the religious character of this woman,
Babylon the great; he sees her, at the same time,
drunken with the blood of the saints. He could well
understand a religious system becoming corrupt. Jeru
salem itself had alas! become as Sodom and Gomorrah,
first for guilt, and afterwards well-nigh for judg
ment. But that the woman should be drunken with
the blood of the saints was what filled even John's
mind with great astonishment. Bad as passion is, it
is not the worst thing that the heart of man is capable
of. The deceivableness of false religion is that Ui
which Satan displays his direct power. For the very
thing which God has given for Ught and blessing, to
win the heart and to bring into fellowship with Him
self, is abused by the enemy to make a man a worse
man than ever — twofold more the child of hell than
before. But astonished as John must have been of old to
hear such a sentence upon beloved but guilty Jerusalem,
here he has to wonder still more when he learns that
the woman who had assumed the place of the church
should not only end in the same blood-guiltiness, but
should be drunken with the blood of the very martyrs
of Christ Himself. This was what filled his mind with
amazement indeed. (Ver. 6.)
And we now come to the explanation which the angel
furnishes of the vision. It is of deep importance ; for
you will find that when God interprets, He not merely
opens to us that which needed solution, but He gives
us truth more abundantly. " And the angel said unto
me, Wherefore didst thou marvel ? I will tell thee the

486
mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth
her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns "
(ver. 7). This 'is, in fact, the main subject of the
chapter ; it is a description of the woman more
particularly, and of 'her connexions with the Beast,
the Roman empire. For manifestly and beyond denial,
the woman and the beast are two distinct things. For
ff the beast be the Roman empire, as those wUl have
seen who have followed me through this book, the
woman cannot be. She may be seated upon the beast,
but for that very reason, she is not the same thing. And
not only the woman is distinct from the beast, but, as
we find afterwards, the beast turns against the woman
and takes his part in destroying her.
Therefore it is quite evident, that it is impossible to
suppose the woman and the beast to be the same thing.
In the end they are so violently opposed, that the one
becomes the destruction of the other. So that the
woman must necessarily be some power distinct from
the empire. We shaU find more reasons that confirm
their distinction.
" The beast that thou sawest was, and is not ; and
is to ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into
perditipn; and they that dweU on the earth shaU
wender, whose names were not written in the book of
life from the foundation of the world, when they
behold the 'beast that was and is not and shall be
present" (ver. 8). I have no hesitation in saying
that so runs the last clause of the verse. This would
not be questioned by those who are sufficiently
acquainted with the subject to form an opinion.
Persons may differ in the explanation of the verse ;

487
but there can be no doubt that such is the true reading.
The common text here is almost contradictory of itself,
and affords no just sense.
Now let us consider a little what is taught 'by this
verse. The beast is the Roman empire, as we have
before seen. But we learn here that that empire was
to cease to be. 'The countries and peoples that com-
pesed it would remain ; but its imperial uriity would
cease to exist. The fractional parts would be there,
each nation having its own independent government,
but there would be no corporate bond. Such is their
condition in our day, as it has been for more than a
thousand years. " The beast which thou sawest was
and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit."
The angel characterizes this empire as no other empire
ever has been or could be. It was first found in its
strength, then to cease, and afterwards to rise again.
But there is an exceedingly grave feature that attaches
to the reappearance of the empire ; it is to have a
diabolical character. And as it comes 'from Satan, so
must it end with Satan : it shaU "go into perdition."
These things could not be said in the same sense or
strictness of any other empire. Npne that has appeared
yet upon earth, but what has had itsrise, its splendour
for a little while in full power, and then its extinction,
sudden or gradual, never to rise again. I am not
aware of any example to the contrary. Most peculiar
is the lot of that empire Which was so prominent in
the Apostle John's mind. It existed in the time of
John : under it indeed he was personaUy suffering.
But it was to terminate its career ; and then, after a
condition of non-existence, "to rise out of the bottom-

488
less pit." "They that dwell on the earth shall
wonder.  when they behold the beast that
was and is not, and shall be present." When this
beast reappears in its last Satanic phase, men would
be carried away by their excessive admiration of it.
" Here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven
heads are seven mountains, on which the woman
sitteth" (ver. 9). This is a material point, though
simple. It is a local mark, intended to indicate to
the wise mind, where this woman has her seat. There
ought not to be the least doubt, that it is a reference
to Rome. The word " Babylon " had been used, it is
true, in speaking of it, as Sodom and Egypt were
figuratively applied to Jerusalem in chap. xi. ; but
the Chaldean capital had nothing to do with the city of
Rev. xvn. That had long passed away as an imperial
city; whereas, in verse 18, it is said of this Babylon
that "it reigneth over the kings of the earth." More
than this, the literal Babylon in Chaldea was buUfc
upon the plain of Shinar. Here the woman was seated
on seven mountains; and all the world is aware that
such is the weU known characteristic of Rome. In
prose or in poetry, if any city were described as being
seated npon seven hiUs, every one would say, That
must be Rome.
But we have an additional explanation in the follow
ing verse. " There (or they) 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 "
(ver. 10). Here the Holy Ghost, without entering
into detaU, refers to the various forms of government
which had succeeded each other in this famous city,

489
Rome. There were seven heads or kings; not contem
porary : for five, as it is said, were fallen ; one is, and
the other is not yet come. This implies succession.
Five different modes of government had already passed
away. "One is," namely, the imperial form then sub
sisting, when the apostle lived — the Une of Caesars.
Another of the seven was not yet come, but when it
did, it must continue a short space.
" And the beast that was and is not, even he is the
eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition"
(ver. 11). There is this peculiar character attributed
to the beast here, that in one sense he would be of
the seven, and in another he would form an eighth or
extraordinary beast. It would, in certain respects, be
a new form of power altogether, whUe, in others, it
would be but a revival of what had gone before. The
" reason is, that the beast, at first, might be like any
other empire. It might owe its rise providentially to
human revolutions; for men, when they have tried
democracy, are apt to grow weary and disappointed,
and then some vigorous arm takes advantage of the
reaction, and a despotic power is the not unnatural
result. I have no doubt this wUl be the history of the
west. The eighth head, though an individual ruler,
is spoken of as the beast or empire, because he is mor
ally the empire, directing, as supreme, all its authority.
He is of the seven, for there will be a continuance or
taking up of some such form of power as before. But he
wiU be the eighth, because there wUl be something so
peculiar as to deserve a name to itself. That new feature
may refer, perhaps, to the diabolical power that stamps
the beast in his last or quasi-resurrection state.
i2

490
"And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten
kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but
receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
These have one mind, and shall give their power and
authority to the beast." It is not that we are to
suppose "one hour" to mean mystically, or literally,
sueh a brief division of time, as it has been the vain
attempt of so many persons to try and make out. But
the meaning is that these are kings who receive power
as kings for one and the same time* with the beast.
Abstractedly, ever so many years might be meant, or
* Quite agreeing with Mr. E. that the notion of horal brevity is
untenable, I must utterly reject his statement (H. A iii. pp. 74,
75, and often elsewhere) that "at one and the same time" is either
the most natural or the true rendering. It is almost past com
prehension how a scholar could have committed himself to what
he says in his notes : "there is no doubt that accusative of time
may (!) . signify duration ; but seldom, I believe, except after verbs
signifying action such as may imply time; not often after verbs, .
like ~kap,fiava, of action instantly completed." The truth is, as
every person of learning must know, that as a rule the temporal
.accusative distinctively denotes duration, while the dative is just
as notoriously used for a point of time, and the genitive when time
is conceived as the necessary condition of the action, and therefore
antecedent to it. Nor is this confined to certain words only.
"All verbs imply' a notidn of time (says Jelf, vol. ii. p. 377) over
which the action, extends, coincident and co-extensive with it ;
whence all verbs may have an accusative case of this coincident
notion of time, if it be required definitely to express it." That I
may not appear to have drawn the distinction of the Greek cases
for controversial purposes, I must cite further from Jelf, §. 606,
Obs. 2. "The genitive, accusative, and dative, therefore, are all
used to express relations of time, and they differ as follows : the
time is represented by the genitive as the antecedent condition of
the action ; by the dative as the space wherein the action took place ;
while the accusative expresses the duration of the action. So compare
rairns rrjs fyifyas o£ f 'EXXTpes ip.ax£o-avTo, this day giving them
the occasion, with Tavrrj ttj ijfi^pa on this day, and Tairijv rhv
¦ht^pav, throughout this day." These general principles find the
fullest illustration in the Hellenistic of the LXX. and the New
Testament, as well as in classical Greek. See, for the time at
which, (the dative,) Gen. ii. 2, 3, 17; iii. 5; v. 1, 2; vi. 4; vii.
11, 13 ; viii. 4, 5, 13, 14 ; xiv. 4, 5 ; xv. 16, 18 ; xvii. 26 ; xix. 33, 34,
35 ; xxi. 4, 8; xxii. 3, &c. But why thus run through the occur-

491
only a short period. It is not a question of what an
" horn- " means. These ten horns should not merely
have their period of power, but they receive it for one
and the same time with the beast. This is most import
ant *to the due understanding of this verse. It over
throws all the prophetical systems which have
attempted to make out that this chapter has been
•exhausted in the past or present. The common view
of the chapter may have a certain measure of truth;
because, as I fully believe, the book of Revelation
was intended to be partially accomplished all through

rences ? It were to cite from every book of the Bible, wherein
epochs are spoken of. I will only therefore refer to the Apocalypse,
as it may be alleged that the Greek is peculiar there : Bev. i. 10;
ii. 13; ix. 6; x. 7; xi. 13; xviii. 8, 10, 16, 19. On the contrary, when
duration is intended, the accusative is employed with equal regu
larity: Gen. iii. 14, 17 ; v. 3, 4, 6,-7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, kc, passim,
vii. 4, 12, 17, 24 ; viii. 10, 12, 22 ; ix. 28 ; xi. 11-26— in every verse,
.&c. So, in Bev. ii. 10 (in the text of B., thirty-two cursives,
and apparently the ancient versions, Arethas, and the Catena,
while AC many cursives„Andreas, &c, have ypep&v); vi. 11 ,• viii.
1 ; ix. 5, 10 ; xi. 2, 3, 6 (so in ABC, most cursives, Hippolytus,
Andreas — save in one manuscript, — Arethas and the Catena), 9 ;
xii. 6, 14 ; xiii. 5 ; xvii. 10 (not to speak of 12); xx. 2, 4, 6. It is
certain, therefore, that the most natural rendering of fdav &pav is
not at but for one hour. (Compare Dan. iv. 9 ; Matt. xx. 12 ;
xxvi. 40.) As to the action expressed by the verb, the ob
jection isi futile. If the angel bound Satan for a thousand years,
the ten horns may assuredly receive kingly authority for one and
the same time with the beast. . It is mot the mere act of binding
or receiving, but the effect which spreads over the -given time. Is
it denied then that the point of time is ever found in the accus
ative? Not at all; "but this only (says Jelf, § 571. Obs. 1) in
.general notions of -time, such as seasonably, lastly-, where the
accusative stands for the cognate substantive." Nobody can pre
tend that such is the case in the disputed clause. And in- my opin
ion it is more than questionable in the three exceptions, which are
produced (as if they were the ordinary construction !) from the New
Testament: Johniv. 52, Acts. x. 3, and Bev. iii. 3. As to Actsx. 3
we know that the best manuscripts, the Alexandrian, the Vatican,
the Palimpsest of Paris, the Laudian of Oxford, not to speak of
some twenty-five juniors and other good authorities, insert irepi,
as all do in ver. 9. As to John iv. 52, may it not be accounted for

492
the dispensation : but the complete fulfilment is only
at the close. The barbarian hordes came down from.
the north and east of Europe and Asia, about the
fifth century, and overspread the Roman empire,
bursting over Europe from all points, and attacking it
within and on every side^ so that the empire, already
too extended, and crumbling under its own weight,
found it impossible to hold up against these vigorous
and repeated assults from so many quarters. By de
grees, the Goths and Vandals, &c, settled themselves
in the various parts of that which was once united.
They were the enemies that destroyed the empire.
But this is not what is shown us in the chapter.
It tells us that these kings receive power for one
by a reference to the question of the nobleman? He enquired the
hour,T7/i' apav, ivy. The servants answer, Yesterday e'pSbp.vv &pay.
Then he knew that it was H iKeiv #tij Spa in which Jesus had spoken
the word of healing power. So, again, I think Bev. iii. 3 is perhaps
due to a sort of mixed construction dependent on yvibs. It may
not be known generally that this is one of the instances alleged by
unfriendly criticism in evidence that the Apocalypse employs the
accusative of time contrary to good usage. But this, says Pro
fessor Stuart, is the only instance of the kind in the whole book.
He explains it thus : '¦ That time which is at the ultimate extent of
his coming is here the prominent idea, and therefore the accusative
is allowable." (Comment. Apoc. p. 204). Matt. xxiv. 41, 42,
43, 44, 50 ; Luke xii. 39, 46, show plainly enough the usage
undisturbed by special causes. The difficulty is merely technical
in the exceptional cases, which entirely differ from the text in
question. As to it I see no ground for a doubt, nor have I any
theory to uphold by it; for the true rendering implies the same
starting point, but it also determines the equal duration of the
beast and the ten horns. The Aethiopic and Arabic understood
the phrase as expressive of duration, the Syriac and Latin as a
point of time. But why attach such moment to the Vulgate on a
nicety like this, when the words which conclude the verse contain
the gross blunder of rendering p-era tov 8. as if it were p~ rb 8.1
Some copies add "et" also — " [et] post bestiam." Cyril and
Theodoret do not touch the question. Can Mr. E. produce a
single instance from any correct writer, where P-iav Sipav or
ijpApav by itself is used save for during one hour or day ?

493
hour with the beast. Supposing that these barbarian
kingdoms had been exactly ten in number, even this
does not answer to what we have here; because we
are told that these ten kings receive power for one and
the same time with the beast. They only received then-
power when the beast was dead, when the Roman
empire had fallen. They destroyed the beast first,
and then erected themselves into independent king
doms. Nothing can get rid of the sure and simple fact that
these powers were not kingdoms in the empire while
the empire lasted. They had not power with the
beast, much less did they give their power and strength
to the beast. For nothing is more certain than that
when they became kingdoms, it was at the expense of
the empire. When it was gone, they took up the
broken fragments, and converted them into separate
kingdoms, France, Spain, &c. — but the empire as such
was fallen. The beast that is described here acquires
power as an empire at the same time that these kings
receive their power as kings. In other words, they
are contemporary powers, the beast and the horns, and '
not that which we find in history at all. This prophecy
shows us that the empire is only formed as such again
at the same time that these ten kingdoms have their
final power. They are co-existing, and have their
dominion together — each of these several kingdoms
working to a common end under the beast.
Thus, in the facts of the past, first of all there was
an united unbroken power, when the Roman empire
governed the western world,* and did not admit of
* That is, the properly Eoman part only of the empire, as we
gather from Dan. ii. 34, 35, and chap, vii — not to speak of Dan.

494
different independent kingdoms within its own limits-
There was no such thing then as the kings of Spain,
France, Italy, &c. It was an all-absorbing power,
and would never have allowed such separate kingdoms
to cluster round the imperial city. But the peculiarity
of the future revived empire, is that it will admit of
distinct kings. Two things wUl be united which never
were before. First, there has been the empire without
kings — at least, so it was in the West, which is the
question here. Then there were kings without the
empire. The new feature will be this: neither the
beast without the kings, nor the kings without the
beast; but both the beast and the kingdoms going on
together. This is what never has existed before.
Hence the chapter gives us a view of the Roman
empire as it will be resuscitated by the power of Satan,
and shows that then it is destined to have the peculiar
stamp of the enemy upon it. God Himself allows
him to have his way for a short space, and to per
petrate all his wickedness before the end. Just as
Judas was filled with Satan when he was about- to
betray the Lord for the price of a slave. He was
under the influence of Satan before; but it is said
then that Satan entered into him. He or his high-
priest was the son of perdition : and this is the very
name that is given to the future power that will rise
up against the Lord from heaven. This empire is to
rise up out of the bottomless pit, and to be clothed
with a diabolical character and energy; and when it

xi. ; from all which it is plain that the iron-clay kingdom does not
refer to what was once under the Eoman sway outside Europe, but
to the western part wliich never belonged to Greece, Persia, or
Babylon.

495
comes up, there are to be ten kingdoms or kings,
exercising regal power for the same period with the
Beast. The next verse (13) shows us the poUcy common to
them. "These have one mind, and shaU give their
power and strength unto the beast." They are not
jealous of the beast; then- great object is to exalt him
and to aggrandize his power. And what is the issue ?
what the use they make of their combined power?
"These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb
shall overcome them (for he is Lord of lords and King
of kings), and they that are with him, called and
chosen and faithful" (ver. 14). So it is evident from
this, that the heavenly saints are already gone to the
Lord. It is not that the Lord receives them now ;
they are with Him in the conflict, and before the
conflict begins. And this is confirmed by chap. xix.
14. " And the armies wliich were in heaven followed
him upon white horses, clothed in fine Unen, clean and
white." Whence did they follow Him? Is it not
from heaven? Christ is coming to attack the great
adversary upon the earth whom Satan employs. But
it is heaven that opens, and thence not only Christ
comes, but "they that are with him, called and chosen
and faithful."
This is not a description of angels : for though angels
may be said to be "chosen" or "elect," they are never
said to be "called." "CaUed" is a title only used of
men, and supposes the working of grace. Angels are
not, and, I think, could not be, "caUed;" for ff an
angel were in a position of evU, he could not be de
Uvered out of it; and ff he were in a holy position, he

496
would not need "calling." Calling always presumes a
condition out of which the called are brought. The
believer is brought from a place of sin and misery
into one of salvation and blessing. This is true of
man alone. He is the only creature of God that is
called, through God's grace, out of a state of ruin into
the blessedness and glory of redemption. And as in
chap. xvn. 14 there is this expression which shows us
positively that saints and not angels are spoken of, so
in chap. xix. 14 we are told that the armies, which
follow the Lamb out of heaven, are " clothed in fine
linen, white and clean." Now it is said in the same
chapter (ver. 8) that fine linen is the righteousness of
saints. People may ask, are not angels said to be
clothed in linen? Ves, they are; but it is not the
same term that is used (e. g. in Rev. xv. 6). The
Spirit of God employs a different expression to des_
cribe it, never confounding the two things. The plain
inference then is that the glorified saints are in
heaven, with the Lord, before this conflict begins — not
that they then meet the Lord in the air. When the Lord
comes, we do meet Him in the air. Then it is that He
wUl take us to heaven. But when He comes in order
to judge and make war, we come with Him from
heaven. How long a time may have expired whUe
we are in heaven, and before we appear with the Lord,
we do not know ; but the coming of the Lord for the
saints is an event that takes place some time before
He comes with them. When He comes with the saints,
it is for the purpose of judging the beast, and his ad
herents. The church will come with Him then, and
the Old Testament saints too, for they will have been

497
¦caught up to the Lord at the same time that we are, I
doubt not. " These shall make war with the Lamb''
—but the victory is sure. — •" and the Lamb shall over
come them,  and they that are with Him,
called, and chosen, and faithful."
" And he said unto me, The waters which thou saw
est, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multi
tudes, and nations and tongues. And the ten horns
which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the
whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and
shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire" (ver. 15,
16). This is another verse of great value for under
standing the chapter. The common text thus says,
" the ten horns which thou sawest upon * the beast;"
* Here is another flagrant proof .of Mr. E.'s proneness to prefer
a manifestly spurious reading which his hypothesis requires, to the
reading which has the support of the best authorities and the suf
frages of, perhaps, every critic of weight. ' ' I think, (he says, )
with Daubuz, that this reading (/cat) is most unlikely. He writes
thus : ' This (/cat) is the reading of the Complutensian edition ;
"but the rest have «rt to 8-npiov instead of /cat to 8-npiov. This last
is not consistent with the description, or distinction, of the ten
horns and beast ; and therefore I have received the other in my
translation. For the beast, as such, can never (!) be said to hate
the whore ; but the horns upon the beast may.' p. 795. Vitringa
too adopts the reading eirt, ' decern cornua quae vidisti in Bestia,'
without even noticing (!) the other. It is the reading of the Vul
gate : ' Decern,' &c. Bellarmine urges the reading /ecu, in defence
of the papacy against Protestants. ' For how can Bishops of Borne
be Antichrist,' he argues, 'when Antichrist is to join with the
ten kings and destroy Borne ?' But the infallible Vulgate, we saw,
as well as his brother Eomanists Bibera, ALapide, Malvenda, Ac,
are here against him. The prophetic sword's edge cannot be so
averted from Borne. Ballarmine admits the Beast to be Antichrist,
and the woman of the seven hills to be Rome. And what their pic
tured relation to each other in the vision, but that of the closest
intimacy and alliance ? If /cat be read, what is said of the Beast's
hating the woman, &c, can be understood only of the city of Rome,
not the church of Borne. For the apostate Church's False Prophet
continues with the beast to the end. So Apoc. xix, 19. Compare
what is said of treading the winepress without the city, p. 15 supra\"
,<H. A. Vol. iv. p. 27, note.)

498
but it ought to be read, "the ten horns which thous
sawest and the beast." The importance of the change-
is this (and there is the best authority for it), that when
people read, " the ten horns upon the beast," they
might have imagined that, the Roman empire being
gone, then these ten horns took its place. This would
very well have suited the past history. But, as we
have seen before, that the ten horns receive their king
dom for the same time with the beast, so here the
Spirit of God says, " the ten horns which thou sawest
and the beast." Thus any person who weighs this with
verse 12 would perceive how mistaken the usual
thought is. " The ten horns which thou sawest, and

That Daubuz, (1720,) should have laboured under a mistake, as
to the comparative claims of the. two readings, one can conceive ;
that Vitringa, spite of his historical lore and general ability in ex
pounding, should have ignored the best witnesses then known, is
not perhaps very wonderful. But it is passing strange that in the
face of the unanimity of critical editors, presenting every shade of '
religious prejudice and prepossession, such as Bengel, Griesbach,
Lachmann, Matthaei, Scholz, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Vater, &c,
who had no preconceived notions to blind their judgment, Mr. E.
should persist in an opinion so unfounded. It is not a small mat
ter to slight the evidence of the. three uncials, forty cursives (some
of the highest character), of the Aethiopic, Arabic of the poly-
glotts, Syriac, &c. If WSliins is to be depended on, the Coptic, it
seems, should he added. As to the Vulgate Mr. E. is misinformed.
The common printed text, no doubt, has "in bestia;" but the very
ancient and best copies (including the Amiatine in the Laurentian
Library of Florence, Fuld. Demidpv. Toi. &c.) read "et bestiam."
Whatever may be the inconsistency of Popish apologists, I cannot,
admire Protestant special pleading which contends for a reading
that is utterly, indefensible. In this instance, at leastj it is plain .
which of the two is most open to the charge of blunting the edge.
of the prophetic sword. Borne is Babylon ; but the ten horns AND
the beast (hardly the Pope !) are yet to unite in destroying her. .,
It is not the first intimacy or alliance wliich has closed in hatred .
and violence. The false prophet continues with the beast to the ¦
end; but this neither proves nor disproves that Babylon is, the
Bomish church. Why may there not be a new form of religious
wickedness in the Holy Land, even when Borne, city and church,,
shall have disappeared ?

499
the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make
her desolate," &c*
A little sample of this, not of course executed by
the beast or by the kings, but by the wiU of the
people, appears in the French revolution of the last
century. There you had an infuriate people rising up
against the woman (the ecclesiastical power that had
ruled the earth being completely given up to the rage.
of the multitude, and men enriching themselves at her
expense). But we must never meet one wrong by being
guUty of another. The Christian way to deal with
evU is ever by grace lifting us above it. Events that
* The attempt of Protestants is vain to reconcile this statement
with their theory that the woman and the beast refer to the church
or city of Borne, and the Papacy. Thus, it has been recently ar
gued that the woman is the Boma Dea, both Pagan and Papal, the
scene representing Borne itself, in the latter point of view, the
angel's explanation including also the previous pagan history. Ac
cordingly, the idea is that the ten horns wndiademed are the Gothic
powers desolating Borne, diademed are the same kingdoms giving
their power to the Pope. For certainly the barbarians ravaged
the empire as a whole, not the city exclusively, and out of the dis
membered empire formed their own independent kingdoms. That
is, the beast was that which they spoiled and destroyed much more
than the Woman. Nor were they united in a common feeling of
hatred towards Borne. Envy, covetousness, lust of conquest
would more aptly characterize the motives of the particular bar
barians who attacked the city. Still less can it be said that,
diademed or not, they gave their power to the Pope. It would
be more true to say that they derived it from him, as their ecclesi
astical and spiritual head. For my part, I altogether admit the
principle that the explanation gives us, not merely the key to
what was orignally seen, but additional truth. Only, as I have
shown, the absurdity is in supposing that the fresh information is
something about the past pagan form of Borne. On the contrary,
it really furnishes the future closing aspect, when the beast and
the ten horns have a common policy, first, in wreaking their hatred
and indulging their avarice on the whore, and then, in mustering
their forces with one consent for the final conflict with the Lamb.
The beast is to ascend from the abyss, and the Lord of lords de
scend from the throne of God. The chapter gives us character
and description, not dates. The history is resumed in chap, xix.,
first, as to heaven, and next, as to earth (chaps, xvii, xviii. form
ing a descriptive episode).

500
have beeri seen on a small scale wiU be then realized
on a larger one. Good men — men worthy of honour
and in other respects wise — have not only desired to get
rid of Babylon, but have been too apt to sanction any
means with that aim. I say not that sairits are not to
rejoice in her fall ; but that they ought not to mix
themselves up with the instruments of it, nor to
-cherish unfounded hopes of blessing then and thence.
Rome wUl always be the central city of this corrupt
system. " The woman which thou sawest is the great
city that hath sway over the kings of the earth " (ver.
18). There will, no doubt, be a further development
of it before the close ; for she who sits as queen has
driven proof even in our own days, that she can invent
new doctrines, and boast new miracles, developing
wickedness without conscience and with feeble protest,
nay, in the midst of all but universal acclamations.
And it wUl be true, I conceive, of Rome, as in all
other cases, that before the judgment comes, her cup
wUl be full. It was so with the iniquity of the Amo
rites, when God judged them. But God wUl employ
the powers of the earth to deal with Babylon. No
doubt the kings will think well of themselves for
getting rid of such a scandal; but then the means used
may be as bad as that evil itself. And what wUl be the
issue ? The millennium ? Quite the contrary — they
will make war with the Lamb. They will not only
have got rid of Babylon, but will combine against
Christ in the most direct and deadly way. Wrien
this day comes, man, instead of bemg any the better
for having turned against Babylon, will give all his
power to the beast: and, bad as Babylon is, the

501
beast is more openly wicked. Nothing is more hate
ful to God under the sun than religion, where it is
used as a cover for corruption ; and this is Babylon.
But as for the beast and the false prophet, they wUl deny
God altogether. As we read in the Psalms, "The
fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Baby
lon is not that wilful rebellieus spirit. Therefore,
after having destroyed Babylon and eaten her flesh
and burnt her with fire, after having enriched them
selves at her expense, and having destroyed her, we
find that those avenging powers will go to fight with
the Lamb ; they wUl set themselves in open opposition
to the One of God's choice, the holy and heavenly
Sufferer. " For God hath put in their hearts to dp his mind,
and to do one mind, and give their kingdom to the
beast, until the words of God shall be finished (ver.
17)." How remarkable it is to observe that thus it is
man accomplishing the words of God, when his only
thought is that he, in hatred to God, is blotting out the
most corrupt sham from the face of the earth ! No
doubt Babylon will have deserved it ; but the kings,
without knowing how, are but doing servile work for
Him whose authority they disown. In vain they wUl
have had all God's dealings under the law before
their eyes ; they wUl have had the whole Christian
revelation of grace, and holiness, founded on and shown
in the cross of Jesus, only to despise it ; they will have
heard and rejected the latter-day testimony, the gospel
of the kingdom, which wUl be given by other (and I
believe by Jewish) witnesses, after the church has been
taken to heaven. Anything pretending to be a new

502
testimony, whUe the church is on earth, must be false.
But when the church is gone, God will take up His
people Israel again, and will give a testimony, not so
much meeting souls so as to put them in connexion
with Christ in heaven, which He is doing now, but
sending out, far and wide through the habitable world,
as a witness to all nations, the glad tidings that God's
King is coming to set up His kingdom ; " and then
shall the end come."
It is fellowship with Christ as the suffering One
which gives us deliverance from the spirit of the
beast, the spirit of proud independence. How shall
we overcome with the Lamb ? We must be with Him,
.and this is what gives the victory now. Our strength,
in whatever comes before us, is to ask, How does the
Lord feel touching it ? Supposing I am invited to go
to some great sight, to join in some movement that
may be very attractive naturally, the question is,
Does the Lord sympathize with it ? Is he there 1 And
if this applies to all other questions, still more does it
decide in what concerns the holiest things, as, for
instance, worship. What does the Lord sanction and
sympathize with? What is most according to His
heart and mind ? What reaUy, and intelligently, and
obediently gives Him honour ? Such is the sole key
for faith in this world ; it unlocks many a difficulty,
and through the opened door there is a plain path for
our feet. ,
The Lord grant that none of us may put aside those
solemn truths ! To neglect His warning is the very
thing that tends, so far, to bring about the state of
things of which we have been speaking. That which

503
-carries away in this direction now is slighting the
words of God ; though we shall, in the end, be fulfill
ing them to our own shame. We shall be provmg
how little we have known of real heart-subjection to
•God — how little we had appreciated the grace in
which we stand, and how little rejoiced in the hope of
His glory. We shall manifest that we have not
.counted it an honour to bow, and to give, up what we
may like, or what others might like for us, where it
was really a question of God's wUl. For to us this
should decide all ; because " we are sanctified unto the
obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ "
(i.e. to the same character of obedience which marked
the Lord Jesus here below). It is not Christian to obey
¦Christ merely because we must. Christ never obeyed
thus. If a man only does a thing because, if he does
it not, he knows he will be punished, it shows plainly
that his heart is not in it — he does not want to obey.
Christian obedience is the desire of doing a thing
because it is the wUl of God, and the Holy Ghost gives
us power through presenting Christ to our affections.
Remember that to this we are sanctified. Cleansed by
the blood of sprinkling, instead of its being a menace
of death, as in Exod. xxiv., we are sanctified unto the
obedience of Jesus Christ. We are not under the law,
but under grace, and led of the Spirit of God. May
we enjoy the power of His Spirit, and the fulness of
His salvation ! Bear in mind, however, that we are
thus saved, not for ourselves, but to obey after the
same pattern and measure of obedience as that of
Jesus.

CHAPTER XV.
I think that the case of Babylon illustrates strik
ingly how a judgment which is said to be God's may,
at the same time, be executed by men. In chap. xvU.
we saw that God wUl make use of the ten horns or
kings, into whose dominions the Roman earth, at the
close of this dispensation, wUl be divided, and will give
especial prominence'to what is called "the beast" (i.e.,
the power that gives a bond to those otherwise broken
parts). The greatimperial chief, and the various separate
but no longer independent powers, his vassals, will be
the instruments that God will employ for inflicting His-
judgment upon Babylon.
Now in chapter xvUi. not a word of this occurs ; and
the difference is so obvious and great at first sight, that
some have laid it down with decision that the j udgment
in chapter xvU. is previous to that in chapter xviii.; that
the destruction of Babylon in the former is merely a
human one ; that her doom in the latter is subsequent
and directly from God. But I would not dogmatize as
to this explanation, conceiving, on the contrary, that, in
the same judgment, you may have God's and man's side
of the matter, God dealing providentially, and men as
His hand in striking the blow. If there be a real dis
tinction, the "faU" precedes the final destruction; a
total degradation of her state ensues upon the assault of
the civil powers, followed by an urgent call to God's
people to come out; and then her utter everlasting
destruction on the part of God.
If we look at Babylon in the Old Testament, justly
did the prophets speak of its destruction as the day of

505
lie Lord upon it. " This is the work of the Lord of
losts in the land of the Chaldeans." (Jer. 1.) At
le same time it is quite certain that the medium
irough which God brought about the ruin of Babylon
as the celebrated Cyrus, the leader of the Medo-
'ersian army In the same way, in Rev. xvii, we see
je actual human instruments. The influence of
iabylon extended much beyond, but the ten horns of
ie Roman earth were those powers that radiated as it
ere from her very centre. And therefore it may be
Lat God mentions in that chapter that these powers
hich seemed to be so linked with Babylon as her
iject slaves (the imperial power itself having been
it a beast of burden to her) are to turn round at a
rtain time appointed by God, and to wreak their ven-
sance, scorn, and hatred upon her. They have human
>jects, no doubt, but they are accomplishing this work
God's righteous retribution. God will have it put
to their hearts to agree and give their kingdom to
ie beast, untU His words be consummated.
But in chap. xviU. human instruments disappear,
Ld when this other angel comes down from heaven,
i says not a word of those that God had employed as
e means of the fall of Babylon ; they are left out,
d the Lord God it is that judges her. God could
st as easily have destroyed Babylon without the ten
ngs as with them. They were in no way necessary.
ut it is a part of His government of the earth, if she
id reigned over kings and committed fornication with
em before, to employ the ten horns to humble her
the end. They might be bad men with bad objects.
is therefore necessary to show the saints distinctly
k2

506
that God is against Babylon. Let us now consider a
little this new point of view, in which we have only
two parties presented in the scene. There is Babylon
upon earth, and there is God in heaven; and the Lord
God is against the proud queenly city that had been
the constant enemy of God and of His people — that
had been the instrument of Satan to entice and draw
away her victims into an evil alliance and into idolatry.
Such is the way Babylon is looked at here. And yet
this Babylon is the one that arrogated to herself the
place and function of making God known. For the
great city is no longer a heathen power : not like Baby
lon of old, a stranger outside, and used of God as a
means of inflicting chastisement on His people Israel.
I conceive that the Babylon of Revelation is most
clearly a reference to Old Testament Babylon, but
applied to New Testament subjects. In the Old Testa-
merit, the great thought of God was His people and
land : and there was also a city on which His eye
rested with special affection. For not only He loved
the people but was interested in what He gave the
people. But that has entirely passed away since the
rejected Christ was crucified. From that moment
till now there has been no one place more holy than
another. That which had been the holy city was
now the very field that became stained with the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But God's eye saw that
in process of time the great city of the earth would pro
fess Christ's name, and would take advantage of His
own revelation, and out of the corrupted and fallen
state of Christianity would make a system of its own —
borrowing all that it could take from Judaism, and,

507
mingling it with its own Gentile evU, so as thus to work
out a system most hateful to God, and seducing to man.
I have no doubt, therefore, that in this chapter it is
Rome that is the peculiar object of God's judgment.
Not that Rome is all that is meant by Babylon, but
that Roriie is the centre of it ; because it is, of all others,
the most guUty in God's sight. Not Rome in the
pagan form; not merely Rome in our own days, bad as
it is, and becoming increasingly wicked. But I think
that the Babylon of the Apocalypse is not merely that
systein which is now opposed to Christianity, but
Babylon when it wUl have opposed the last testimony
that God wUl send — this testimony of the Son of Man's
kingdom that is about to be set up over His beloved people.
For God never gives Up His purpose. It is part of the
¦character of God never to repent of His gifts and call
ing. Where it is hot a purposeof mercy, out a threat,
God may 'and loves to'bend. That He does so we know
from the case 'of Nineveh (though the blow wks then
struck and will be again at s'o'me future time). ' He
will allow men 'to say that He has changed his mind
-wiienit is a question of delaying a punishment for sin;
but wherever, on the other side, it 'is' Gdd's purpose to
bless a people, He never'gives up that. This is worthy
of God. He is full of mercy. He wUl allow His
prophecy against Nirieveh sent through His servant
Jonah to appear to be set aside ; He does not mind what
men 'say about that. He is quite wUling for them to
think that He has in mercy changed His mind, and
that the sentence of destruction has been set aside,
where there has been humblirig and repentance before
God. But the blessed thing we find is this, that, though

508
man's failure, the church's failure, and the Uke may
seem to have jeoparded the blessed purpose that God
has in Store for His people, and for his own glory, all
that is of God comes out only the brighter another day.
Let us look at Babylon in its past history, and con
sider how that name was suited to express the special
evil that was to grow up out of the corruption of
Christianity. In Gen. x. we have the first mention of
Babel. And there we have it connected with a wilful
man, who had first shown his cunning with regard to
brute beasts, and who soon began to turn against his
fellows all the craft and experience he had acquired in
a lower sphere. Nimrod is the first person with whom
you have Babel associated. It is man concentrating
power in himself. But in the next chapter (Gen. xi.) we
have another idea. It is not only one man exalting
himself and others subjected to him by fraud or force,
but a grand effort of men gathering themselves together
to build something permanent and strong and high —
a tower that would reach toward heaven, and gain
them a name upon earth. Here, then, we have the two
thoughts that are always more or less connected with
Babylon. It may take the form of an individual who
exalts himself, or of men combining for some notable
enterprise ; or it may be a mixture of both principles.
Now this ypu have further and stiU mere plainly de
veloped, when you come down to the history of the
Jewish nation. God called them out as a people,
and gave them special privileges and blessings. They
fell into idolatry, the sin which sprang from Babyfon
as its great and primitive source; and Babylon becomes
the chief means of judgment for the people of God, and

509
the scene of Judah's captivity. There again you have
Nebuchadnezzar, the golden head of the image, answer
ing to Nimrod, and the great city that he built, which
answers to the tower of Babel — the two ideas being-
united, as indeed they soon became at first, for Babel
was the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom. The natural
heart covets present .exaltation for man on the earth,
and this too clothed with a reUgious sanction, but with
an idolatrous intent.
Now the Holy Ghost in the New Testament takes
up the term " Babylon" and applies it to the corrup
tion that was to issue in professing Christendom.
When God saves souls, He does not allow them to
choose their own path in the world; still less can He
own their choosing their own path in the church. He
who understands his place as belonging to God has his
-will broken. He is privileged to treat his nature as a
dead and evil thing; not on the ground of a slave
working for something and because he must, but in
the liberty of a son of God — of one who has been
blessed by God, and who has the interests of his
Father at heart. But it is not his Father's wUl that,
at the present time, he should meddle with the world,
or have a place in it. In fact, in God's mind, the
world is not good enough for the Christian, because it
is practically under the power of the enemy. There
is a time coming when the world wUl be put under the
children of God, when they will judge the world. But
this can never be until Satan is set aside, and Christ
pubUcly exalted over the earth as well as in heaven.
Meanwhile, the saints have to wait in faith and
patience. And this is the argument which the

510
Apostle urges in 1 Cor. vi. why brethren in Chrislf
should have nothing to do with the„ world's judgments
now. It was beneath their dignity as children ( of
God to carry their differences there,; it was vain to
try to reform the world. Such a thought never
entered the Apostle's mind. For faith, while it delights
in the deUverance of poor sinners, looks at the world
with God, as already judged, and only, waiting for the
execution of the sentence at Christ's coming.
But whUe the Apostle exhorts to subjection to the
powers that be, he never says, You brethren, that have
posts of honour in the earth, you are to continue, there,
This wpuld have been to defeat the object of God,
whose children are not of the world, even as Christ is
not of the world For God is not now undertaking to
govern the world, save in His secret providence of
course. When the kingdom of this world as a fact
becomes His, He begins by judging the corrupters of
the earth, and more particularly every iniquity done
under the name of Christ. This is not what God does
now : He is rather testing the souls of His people, in a
place of temptation, where everything is contrary to-
His name. If they are faithful, they wUl suffer per
secution ; if unfaithful, they may be made much of by
the world. They may have its ease and honour, but
they assuredly will be used by Satan to keep all
quiet ; for nothing gives such a sanction to evil as a
gopd man who joins the world and gives it countenance.
Remember Lot. He was in the gate of Sodom, the
place where justice was administered. His position
there was as dishonouring to God as it was miserable
to himself. He had to be forced out of it at last ; but.

511
even before he was taken out of Sodom, the well-
watered plains had' lost then- value in his eyes.
Remember also Lot's wffe.
His righteous soul was vexed with their unlawful
deeds, he himself was the object of their taunts. "This
one fellow," said they, "came in to sojourn, and he will
needs be a judge." They saw the incongruity of his
position, as worldly men generally are quick to per
ceive the faUures of the belie.ver. Alas ! it is easy to
understand how a man may be godly in the main,
and yet found in circumstances wherp a Christian
ought not to be, and that so far he is not a true witness
for God. Whether I look at the individual Christian
or at the church, I see that God's object is to have a
testimony to His own glory in the world ; to have
those who are for Him, not in the wayi of putting
down the world, much less of seeking to get the honour
and riches of the world; but willing, for Christ's sake,
to abandon what they liked best, because theylppk not
at the things which are seen, but at the unseen ^nd
eternal. This is grace's triumph, and so far as it is true
of us, we are real witnesses for Gpd. On the pther
hand, if we are seeking to gain or retain the world
along with Christ, the principle of Babylon is begun.
No doubt, Rev. xvii. xviU. go much farther than
this, and show that a vast religiously corrupting sys
tem is meant. This is made very plain by comparing
chap. xvU. 1, 2, 3, w^th chap. xxi. 9, 10, 11. In
chap. xvii. 1, it is said, "There came one of the seven
angels, .... and talked with me, saying, Come hither ;
I will shew thee the judgment (i.e. sentence) of the
great whore, that sitteth by the many waters." But

512
again, in chap. xxi. 9, we have another scene. "There
came unto me one of the seven angels, and talked
with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the
bride, the Lamb's wife." Now it is evident that the
Holy Ghost uses the same kind of introduction for
these two women, for the purpose, I think, of our con
necting them together. The same guide, one of the
seven-vial angels, takes John, and shows him in the
wilderness this earthly ' and corrupt woman ; after
wards, in the closing scene, he takes him to an exceed
ingly high mountain, and shows him a heavenly one.
As the heavenly woman is the symbol of the heavenly
church, so is Babylon of a corrupt religious body. It
is that which takes the place of the church, and of
being the witness for God upon earth, whUe it carries
on every wicked commerce with those who are exalted
here below. There is first, as usual, the carnal and
earthly, then the spiritual and heavenly. After the
false system of men and Satan disappears, the true is
displayed in the glory of God.
Now, though we may look for a future development
of Babylon, as opposing God's final testimony of the
kingdom to all nations before the end come, yet I think
that, even at the present moment, there need be no
difficulty in judging where the features of Babylon
are found most fully. It is a religious system that
governs a number of kings ; not an establishment
that is at the mercy of the secular government. This
is sin, but it is not the wickedness spoken of here.
Babylon is an incomparably darker, deeper, and more
wide-spread system of reUgious corruption — arrogating
to itself the name of the church of God exclusively,

513
setting itself above kings, intriguing with them, but at
the same time maintaining its supremacy above them
aU; stupefying the masses with the poison of her excit
ing falsehoods: arrayed in all the meretricious splendour
of the world ; the fountain-head of the worst idolatry
under the sun ; and, finally, manifesting a spirit of
blood-thirsty persecution against the true saints and
witnesses of Jesus, under the awful pretence of His will
^.nd authority. There is one that does claim this place
— one that takes it as given by God — one whose seat
and centre are found in the very heart of what was
once the Roman empire — a reUgious system that affects
universal dominion, and that, in order to accomplish
it, either wins by every enticing art, or extinguishes
all opposition in the blood of heretics so-called, her
victims. " By thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of
saints, and of all that were slain, upon the earth."
(Verses 23, 24.) For any unprejudiced person who
reads this description of Babylon calmly, and asks
himself, What is that professing Christian body so
abounding in idols, so authoritative over the kings of
the earth, so indulgent to the wicked, and so cruel to
the righteous? it is impossible not to see the answer.*
* The effort of the celebrated and subtle Bossuet to turn aside
the application of Babylon in Bev. xvii. and xviii. from Christian
ised or Papal Borne is not weak only, but, when duly sifted,
brings out the truth mof e evidently. His argument is that the
•church being married to Christ, the guilty church would be an
adulteress rather than a harlot. The answer is, not merely that
fornication is the generic term, as every one may see in both Old
and New Testaments, but that, even applied with the utmost
rigour, a harlot most correctly describes the present sin, because the
church is now espoused to Christ, not married. The marriage,
according to the Apocalypse, is not only consummated after
Babylon's final judgment in chap. xix.

514
As to the Greek and Oriental churches, as to the-
English, Scotch, and pther reformed national establish
ments, they are, more, or less, notoriously subservient
to the government which has to do with each of them.
This may be, and I believe is, evil. But there, are
two ways in which a reUgious system may act contrary
to Christ : either by a guilty subjection ti> the world,
or. by a still more guilty supremacy over it — in short,
by being the world's slave or the world's mistress. At ¦
the present time there is only one reUgious system
which pretends to have kings as its, feet ; and this is
the church of Rome, wliich, therefore, answers to
Babylon. It is a great mistake te suppose that we
have done with it., or that its day is over. Rome may
yet have a short-lived triumph. Its emissaries are
actively abroad all over the world, and the foundations
pf Protestantism are. being undermined everywhere.
Those who are looking for Christianity, as things are,
to overthrow all its adversaries, on earth, are, in my
opinion, in great danger of being deceived, through
the unscriptural hope of getting a church as. great or
greater, in gopd than that of Rome is in evil. For
there will come a fearful struggle yet, and Rome, as I
conceive, wUl acquire universal mfluence, and wUl put
down every contrary voice, except the feeble whisper
of the few witnesses spoken of here, who either die by
her or come out of her. God wUl hear them, but as
far as all open or pubUc testimony for Him is con
cerned, it will be swamped by Babylon. And as to
putting Babylon down, it is not by the gospel, or by
the force of truth that it will be done, but by the will
and wrath of men. Wherever Romanism gains the-

515
day, infideUty is the necessary consequence ; and, there
fore, Babylon always prepares the way for the last
effort of the beast againstthe Lamb. But before the
close, the beast gets thoroughly the upper hand, and
Babylon becomes food for him and' the ten horns.
Is this what is introduced to us here ? Man is left
out; the ten horns are not once alluded to in chap. xvUi. ,
though the kings of the earth are. The difference is
this. "In the kings of the earth," I apprehend, are
embraced all those, rulers of Christendom with whom
she had been on terms of bad intimacy, or who had
had evil connexion with her. The ten horns are the
chiefs of the final divided state of the empire and the
active instruments of her devastation, as we were told
in chap. xvU. The kings of the earth are her mourners,
not her burners. Here in chap. xvUi. her hour is
come, and it is the Lord God that has judged her.
You will observe the voice from heaven here : " Come
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (ver. 4).
The receiving of her plagues is not the divine motive
for separation. Men would be anxious enough about
that. But the great thing that God looks for from
His people is this — that they should not be partakers
of her sins. I would put it to every Christian, how
far is he in sympathy with God's mind, touching Baby
lon and its sins ? How far does he feel the evU of it,
and judge it?
Babylon does not seek heaven, but the earth — not
the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should
follpw; but to sit as a queen and to see no sorrow.
Babylon is content with worldly exaltation. If you

516
steer clear of this, Babylon has no attractions for you ;
and the present danger of every soul from Babylon is
the gradual caring for and allowance, in Christians, of
what man values on the earth. Of late years there
has been no little change in the thoughts of Christians
as to the present enjoyment of prosperity and pleasure
in this world. But there is amazing danger in it. For
what is the great thought of it all? Man rising, pro
gressing, exalting himself — man showing what he can
do, and how improve ; and this is sought to be connected
with the name and sanction of Christ ! Alas ! it is
Babylon the great. (Ver. 9-19.) In her we see the end
of the heart's desire, along with Christ, to enjoy all
that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life. I do not wonder
at an unconverted man seeking to make the world
pleasant : Cain did it, and there is such a thing now as
going in the way of Cain-. These are the people that
handle all sorts of musical instruments, and the arti
ficers in brass and iron. It is true that these thing's
sprang up in a very early hour of the world, but stUl
the Spirit of God does not tell us for nothing that they
were in the family of Cain, not in the famUy of Seth.
Every child of man stands responsible to God, whether
converted or not, to own his outcast state as a sinner :
he has no right to drown his conscience in the pleasures
and glory of the world. But bad as this may be, the
thing that God most hates, and that He will judge in
. an awful and public manner, even in this world, is the
tacking on the name of Christ to the indulgence of
worldly lusts. Is it not the desire, even of many
'Christians, to have the grandeur and riches of the

517
world at their back? I do not doubt that they
heartily wish to have people converted, but they would
like them to bring their earthly influence along with
them. This is the spirit of Babylon. What the Lord
looks for from us is doing the wUl of God, suffering
for it, and taking it patiently. Any of these things-
which the heart covets will be found to involve the
wiU of man. There is not a single position of dis
tinction or of glory in the world, but what requires a
man to give up a good conscience towards God. In
other words, you cannot be a member of the world,
and act faithfully as a member of Christ. If you
value and wish to foUow the world, you wUl make all
sorts of excuses, and argue for a compromise ; but
this only shows how far the leaven of Babylon has
affected your soul.
God gathers souls round Jesus — that is, Jesus rej ected,
and gone up to heaven. Therefore the Church is
based on these two fundamental truths. She has
got the cross, and she is united to Christ in heavenly
glory by the Holy Ghost sent down. And the cross
and heavenly glory wUl not mingle with the world.
This is the very thing that puts my heart to the test.
If Christ is my object, I shall not want the world ; I
shall be looking up, it may be feebly, but stUl looking
up to heaven ; and there will be the one object that
God uses to strengthen me by, giving me wiUingness to
suffer in the consciousness of having Christ in the
glory. Whenever the church craves after something
else, as the esteem and honour of the world, or even
social improvement, she denies her proper glory.
Popery mistook the true character of the church,

518
followed the Jewish system, and thought that people
ought to bring their gold and sffver and precious
stones and goodly things to honour the Lord with.
(See verses 12-14.) But God was wiser than men,
and shows that all this pretence of honouring God is a
mere Sham, and that what people really want is to
honour themselves. They are seeking what attracts
and makes them an object of attraction, whilst they
cover up their real object under the plea of the name
of Christ. This is what God wUl judge, and what
infects the whole of Christendom increasingly bef ore j udg-
ment comes. You may ask me how that can be possi
ble, when there are so many societies growing up, and
such an active energy, reUgious and moral, dealing
with the various forms of pubUc evil throughout the
world. I am not telling you what / see, but what
God's word shows — the all but universal prevalence,
before the close, of a corrupt system, which plainly has
its centre in Rome, though taking a larger compass, so
as to embrace every religious institution* which, how
ever opposed it may seem to popery now, does not link
a soul with heaven. There is no safety for any person
Who is building on the earth. The heavenly saints
wUl be taken away before the judgment faUs upon
Babylon. They are not referred to in that word,
"Come out of her, my people." This is spoken of
God's earthly peoplet by and by. But at the 'same
* Babylon is hot only herself "the great, harlot," but "the
mother of the harlots and the abominations of the earth." There
are more of kindred corruptions in religion, though Borne is pre
eminent, " the mother and. mistress)," as she claims, of others.
t Hence there is no need to adopt Vitringa's odd notion, that
verse 6 is addressed to the kings, nor to destroy the distinctive
practical calling of the church, by supposing that she is to be the

519
time, its principle fully applies. For the essence of
Babylon is the union of the world with the name of
Christ. " Wherefore coirie out from among them, and
be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the un
clean thing; and I wUl receive you."
The Lord wUl not hold any man guUtless who has
a conscience of what is due to Christ and does riot fol
low it. To such I would say, this is what you wUl
prove : you wiU go on for a time and be troubled with
the truth, for it wUl condemn you ; but, ere long, you
wiU find that all taste for it is lost ff you will tire of it
and even turn against it, and then wUl become morally
ripe for Babylon when it bids seriously for you. If I am
guUty of the spriit of Babylon, this is what God
looks at, as far as I am concerned. The person who
travels in her path, cannot but be a partaker of her sin.
And who so oppose the truth, as those that corrupt it ?
Who so hate, as those that are condemned of them
selves ?
There is a great work, not only of dissolving and
breaking up what is old, but of uniting and amalgamat
ing for various purposes, going on now ; and as this
was found in Babylon at the very beginning (Gen. xi.)
so, in the long run, it wUl be found to serve the pur
pose of that great city before the Lord God has for ever
judged her.
There wiU be, I believe from various Scriptures, an
astorri^hirig mixtm-e of professing Christianity with
Judaism : and the latter, as judged by the new and

avenger of Babylon's wrongs. God's retributive justice will send
its more fitting appeal to His people, the Jews who are to be the
witnesses of His righteous government here below.

520
full revelation of Christ in the New Testament, is no'
better than heathenism. (Gal. iv.) We know how
tender the Spirit was in bearing with the weakness,-
the scruples, the attachment to old religious habits in
such of the Christians as had been Jews (Rom. xiv.);
but it was a very different thing when teachers sought
to impose Jewish ordinances on the Gentile converts.
The same Spirit treated a ritual borrowed by Gentiles
from Jews as the same thing in principle as old and
open pagan idolatry. "But now, after that ye have
known God, or rather are known of God, how turn
ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, of the
world, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years."
Popery is the most salient and hateful exhibition of
this amalgam now; but greater abominations shall
appear. Sacramentalism and Rationalism, in these
and other Protestant lands, are each provoking the
other to excesses previously unexampled. When, too,
was ever known such public indifference, which desires
leisure for commerce abroad and social development at
home ? The result will appear in the last stages of
Babylon and the beast.
In the scene before us we have had the lament of
kings, merchants, and all who had to do with the un
holy traffic of Babylon. Heaven, and especially the
" saints" (for so it should be read) and the apostles and
the prophets, are called to rejoice at God's judgment,
"God hath avenged you," or literally judged your judg
ment " on her." In the mighty angel's solemn act and
word, which closes the chapter (ver. 21, &c), not only
are set forth the violence of her ruin and its totality,.

521
but the reason pf it as regards the nations — deceiving
them all by her sorceries. The last verse adds another
and awful cause — Babylon's inheritance of Jerusalem"
in blood-guiltiness. " And in her was found the blood
of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain
upon the earth."
The Lord grant that, instead of merely looking
without and occupying ourselves with condemning
others, we may take good care that our own souls are
preserved from the contaminations of Babylon. May
our affections be kept true to Himself — the only real
guard against the seductions of the enemy ! We are
espoused as a chaste virgin to Christ. " Little chUdren,
keep yourselves from idols."

CHAPTER XIX.
We are now approaching a brighter and happier
portion of the book. The providential judgments of
God, whether more secret Uke the seals, more loudly
summoning men to repent like the trumpets, or more
positive and distinct wrath Uke the vials, have had
their full course. And now, when Babylon who
had set herself up to represent God in His grace and
truth arrogated to herself, exclusively, the name of the
church, the spouse of Christ — when she was set aside
for ever, there was a burden gone — a heavy, burden
that had long grieved the heavens and corrupted the
earth. There was freedom, so to speak, now for God to
make good the precious things which He had in His
heart for poor beguiled men ; and that too, as it ought
to be, through, and to the praise of the Lamb. Hence
you have two things connected together at the begin
ning of this chapter. The first is the call to rejoice.
" The great whore" had presented an obstinate barrier
to blessing; not simply because she was evil, but
because her profession had been all that was holy and
true, while in effect she it was who, above all, had
been active in corrupting grace and truth as far as pos
sible; she had utterly and systematically denied Christ
in effect, though parading every where the outward
symbol of His cross. In vain for rier had God's
character shone out in Christ; in vain had God pro-
ncunced on man and the world, in vain begun a new
creation whose Head took His place in heavenly glory.
She associated Christ with the flesh and the earth, -and

523
there sought and laid up her treasures. In vain had
God brought light and incorruptibility to light by the
gospel. She plunged men into deeper, uncertainty and
more positive error than ever, teaching them that every
gift of God, and even salvation may be bought with
money; cheating souls to sleep by the hope that all
would go on well, and that the Lord was not yet com
ing in judgment. Thus had she shut up, as far as
could be, the streams of blessing from the world. But
now the true and righteous judgment of God had
smitten her, and there is rejoicing in heaven.
In ch. xviU. there was universal earthly sorrow.
The kings of the earth who had committed fornication
with her lamented. The merchants that had been
enriched by her were wailing. Indeed, there was no
class free from her snares, and now all that had had
to do with her were full of sorrow over Babylon. But
heaven was called to rejoice, and here we have the
answer : "I heard, as it were, a loud voice of much
people in heaven," not exactly, I heard a great voice
of much people, but " as it were a loud voice," &c.
The words "as it were" have been dropped, but I
believe they ought to be inserted; just as a little lower
down, in the 6th verse, it is said, "I heard as it were
the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many
waters," &c. "And her smoke rose up for ever and
ever." As far as Babylon was concerned, this was
her sad amen, ff I may so say, to the joy of heaven.
But we are not left with a vague rumour of praise
and gladness, not knowing from whom exactly it
comes. There appear the twenty-four elders, who had
understanding of the mind of Christ, and the four

524
living creatures, that had been from the beginning-
associated with the providential judgments of God, or
at least a certain part of them. These " fell down
and worshipped God that sat upon the' throne, saying,
Amen; Alleluia" (ver. 4). It is not Christ, who has
taken His place upon His own throne yet, but they
worship "God that sat on the throne," &c. "And a
voice came out of the throne," for- all must speak
now, "saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants,
and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I
heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as
it were the voice of mightyjthunders, saying, Alleluia;
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be
glad and rejoice and give honour to him; for the
marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made
herself ready," (ver. 5-7).
This is the second part. Not only is the harlot's
day over, but the consummation of the bride's blessing
is come. It is important to observe that this is not
the moment when the Lord conies to receive the
heavenly church. It is a scene in heaven, not the
Lord Jesus meeting His saints in the air. A few
verses lower down we do get heaven opened, and
Christ comes out of it, and the saints follow Him.
Nothing, therefore, can be more simple or certain than
the inference that the saints were already there. They
must have been in heaven before, in order to follow
Christ thence when He comes to judge. Now, I ask,
how did they get there ? They are not said to be now
taken up to the Father's house. We have the old
familiar parties in heaven. But we have a new fact :
the bride is married in heaven — the one for whom

525
Christ reserves the brightest grace and glory — she gets
ready ; and now is announced, not merely the song of
triumph, because of the judgment of evil, but the
marriage of the Lamb. " Let us be glad and rejoice. " It
is grace that flows out to others. "And to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean
and white." As for the other woman, she had, some
how, fine linen too, with her pearls and her other
adornments. (Chap. xvUi. 12.) But it was never
said of Babylon that it was granted her. We do not
hear how she got it. But to the Lamb's wffe, to her
it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen.
The fine linen is the righteousnesses of saints. (Ver. 8. )
God does not forget the work of faith or labour of love.
" And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they
which are called unto the marriage-supper of the
Lamb." There is evidently a peculiar solemnity in
winding up triis account. We are called upon to pause
and listen and weigh. " These are the true sayings of
God." To the suffering one, the one that had shared
the Lamb's path of sorrow upon earth, to her was now
given the fullest joy above. But the marriage- scene
of the Lamb is only intimated, -and not described here.
The purpose of the Revelation is not to show us the
Father s house, nor its innerjscenes. God is never
even called our Father in this book, because it opens
out, not the intimacy of His love to us, but rather the
righteous ways of God — the establishment of the
kingdom and the end, when He is all in all. True^
there must be the stern unsparing judgment of all this
evil, and this we have had. But when God's part
comes, and the full blessedness of the Church, there is

526
but an announcement of it — the bride has made herself
ready. It is left there, comparatively hidden. We
are told of the invitations- to it, as it is said in verse 9,.
" Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage-
supper of the Lamb."
And now I would just ask you to pause before
going farther. Is it too much to suppose that the
bride, the Lamb's wife, is a different symbol, i.e.,
represents a class of saints different from these blessed
ones who are invited to her marriage ? Who is it that
God means by these two distinct symbols. As to the
bride, the Lamb's wife, few would have the least
difficulty. Almost every one sees in her the church —
the one that is constantly presented in the New
Testament Scripture as the heavenly bride of the Lord
Jesus Christ. One turns to Eph. v., where this.
relationship is brought out, and the development in
her behalf of the fulness of Christ's affections.
Observe, by the way, that there it is not merely a
question of a future epoch, because the Holy Ghost
shows that this is a relationship established now.
"Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it."'
It is true, from the very first moment when God began
to form the church on earth by the presence of the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
The church is always regarded as a real and subsist
ing body, because, wherever the Holy Ghost is, there is
the church. The Holy Ghost was sent down, and it
is His personal presence that forms the church. That
is the reason why those saints who depart to be with
Christ are not directly spoken 'of as the church. Of
course, individually, they are members of the church,

527
but the scriptures which speak of the church contem
plate its existence as the body of Christ on earth. Or
dinarily, men talk of the church visible and invisible,
mUitant and triumphant, and think that if Christians
depart to be with Christ, there more particularly, and
in the truest season, is the church. Yet the word of
God never so speaks, but predicates the church of
such as are called even here below, and are baptized
by one Spirit into one body. No doubt, when all are
gathered together, as a fact, in heaven, it wiU be the
church, and is so spoken of in Eph. v. 27, and perhaps
a few more texts. But in general in scripture, where
the church is spoken of, it means the actual assembly
of God on the earth at any given time. The Holy
Ghost was there; and wherever the Holy Ghost dwells,
He knits and joins the body into one. This is a weighty
truth, and involves the most important consequences.
For I repeat, we are put into this relationship with
Christ at the present moment. It is not that we have
the hope merely of being made the bride of Christ by
and by: we are espoused to Christ now. We shall
have the marriage or the actual consummation by and
by, when all the members are brought in. But the
great and blessed and practical thing for our souls is,
that we are brought into this position of union now.
It is not only that the affection on which the marriage
is grounded is true now; but more than this, the
Holy Ghost is on earth uniting the saints to Christ in
heaven, and making them as truly one with Him now
as they ever will be. When Christ comes, there wUl
be the removal of all hindrances — the putting aside of
what Satan employs to make us forget our relationship

528
to Christ, and the change of our vile body according to
the body of His glory. But it is important to remember
that our oneness with Christ as His body depends on
the presence of the Holy Ghost," who has knit us up
with Christ in heaven. We are one with Him now.
Here then, the Holy Ghost seems to show that there
are others to be there, not as the bride, but as guests,
so to speak. These are the called to the marriage-
supper of the Lamb. You may remember John the
Baptist speaking of himself as the friend of the Bride
groom. I presume that those who are here said to be,
invited to the marriage-supper of the Lamb answer
somewhat to the friends of the Bridegroom. They are
not angels, for the word " called unto the marriage"
would not be said of angels. These last are never
characterized as "called," because the elect angels have
always abode in their first estate. The calling of God
comes to those who are in a low place to deliver them
out of it. We have all, I suppose, been in the habit
of assuming that if a man is a saint of God, he neces
sarUy belongs to the church, and that there is only one
common blessing for all saints of all times. Here you
find the contrary laid down plainly, and upon the face
of scripture. You have here a marriage-supper, and
one singled out for especial joy, called the bride, the
Lamb's wife (composed, it may be, of myriads of people,
but here recognized in unity of blessing, being united
under one term that of "the Bride," to show that
they have the same portion of love and blessedness).
But this is not true of all saints, for there are others
who are not in this position ; they are present as guests
at the marriage-supper of the Lamb, not as His bride.

529
" And he saith unto me, These are the true sayriigs
of God." What strikes me is the remarkable way in
which that solemn appeal comes in, anticipating, it
seems, that man would depart from it. John was
going to worship the angel ! — the other extreme.
We had a similar caution in the beginning of the
book. The Holy Ghost there says, " Blessed is he
that readeth, and they that hear the words of this
prophecy, and keep those things which are written
therein." He knew well that many would treat the
book lightly and, not understanding, would count it
dry and unprofitable. Alas ! for such as say, " There
is nothing for my soul there !" There is no book in
the Bible where the Holy Ghost so encourages you, at
the very threshold, to hear what God says therein, as
the Book of the Revelation. And what makes it the
more striking is, that the same kind of admonition
occurs at the end, when we have been brought to the
close of all the dealings of God, in the last chapter.
" And he said unto me, These things are faithful and
true .... Behold, I come quickly : blessed is he
that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book :''
not merely that keepefh the sayings of some particular
and choice parts of it, but of the book as a whole.
There is the broadest statement : " Blessed is he that
keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book."
Thus the Holy Ghost seems to have taken especial
pains to warn us against the unbelief of our hearts, as
well as against our idolatry. (Ver. 10.)
In the particular case (verse 9) it would seem that
we have a guard against the indiscriminate notions
which have generally prevaUed, even among Christians.

530
" Write, blessed are they wliich are called unto the
marriage-supper of the Lamb. And he saith, unto
me, these are the true sayings of God." Besides the
Bride, there are other blessed persons, who wiU be
there. Now, ff I look at Heb. xU. I find that, in
the roll of blessing, there are other classes besides the
church of the first-born ones. " But ye are come unto
Mount Zion, and unto the city of the Uving God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable com
pany of angels, the general assembly." For I must
say, that such is the true meaning and connection of the
verse. "The general assembly" does not belong to
" the church of the firstborn," but to " the innumerable
company" in verse 22. It may help to make it plain to
any reader if it be borne in mind that the word
"and" is always the connecting link, which in
troduces every fresh clause. And this is allowed by
those who have no pretensions to what is called dis-
pensational light — that is, by men who simply give
their opinion on the genuine structure of the
sentence. This being admitted, observe what you get
here next : "Ye are come .... to the church of the
first-born ones, which are written in heaven, and to
God the judge of all, and to the spnits of just men
made perfect." I am aware that there are persons
who say that all this means the same thing ; that the
heavenly Jerusalem, and Mount Zion, &c, and the
spirits of just men made perfect, are substantiaUy
no other than the church of the first-born. But just
look at the passage again, and tell me if such a thought
is allowable for a moment. God Himself is spoken of
here, and Jesus the Mediator, and myriads of angels.

531
Does any man mean to say, that these are all the same
thing? And yet this might as well be said, if the
other objects in the scene are not expressly distinct.
Let us look at the real meaning of these verses.
" Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." When
Mount Zion was referred to, a Jew would naturally
think of the earthly ci,ty around that celebrated
mountain. But the Holy Ghost says, this is not your
portion. You are come to the heavenly Jerusalem ;•'
not to the city of dying David, but to the city of the
Uving God. Then we have " an innumerable company
of angels ;" and this is called " the general assembly."
Here, then, we have different objects of mUlennial
glory to which the saints were already said to be come
in spirit There is the Mount Zion. There is the
heavenly city, the image of the glory that is coming
by and by — the city for which Abraham and the other
patriarchs waited. Next, we have the angelic host :
and, then, the church of the first-born, not merely the
local scene of heavenly glory, but the complete assembly
of the heirs who are written in heaven, in contrast
with the earthly first-born, Israel. Next, we rise up
to God, the Judge of all. The Spirit has led us up
from the Mount Zion. And now we are brought
down from God in His judicial character to the spirits
oi just men made perfect. It is a very remarkable
position in which these are put. We probably, if we
had had to do with it, might have set them first ; but
* It is not seen here as in Bev. where it is the symbol of the
glorified church itself, but rather as the blessed and ordered home
of the heavenly saints, as I think it is in Heb. xi. 10, 16. In the
epislle the glory is objective, in the Apocalypse subjective.

532
the object was tc correct the Jewish tendencies of
those he was addressing, and to give prominence to
what was heavenly. Then, having the heavenly seat
of glory, and the church in their due place, we get
God Himself as the Judge of all, and, following this,
those saints who had known God as so acting on the
earth. Hence they are called here the, spirits of just
men made perfect. They are, I think, clearly, the
Old Testament saints. (Compare chap. xi. 39, 40.)
For they, and not the church, are a class that could be
most aptly described as the spirits of just men made
perfect. They were in the separate condition then,
.and are so still. This will never be true of the
church as a whole. When the moment comes for the
church to leave the world and meet the Lord, there
will be a part of the church upon the earth, not in
the condition of spirits at all : there will be those that
are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord. Of
the church, it is said, " We shall not all sleep." So
that this description never can apply to the church of
God as such.
We have had the church already separate and
distinct from the spirits of just men made perfect. It
is not more certain that these are saints, than that
they are not the church. Carry the light of this back
to Rev. xix. We read there of the church having
made herself ready, and are not surprised to read also,
as a distinct symbol in the same circle, " Blessed are
they that are called unto the marriage-supper of the
Lamb (ver. 9)." Let me not be misunderstood. I
do not assert that the guests in our chapter are the
Old Testament saints. It may be so ; but I wish not

533
to go beyond the light that God has given me. Possibly
the marriage-supper may extend (though I doubt it)
through the millennium, and this would greatly affect
the character of those invited. Still, Heb. xii. shows
us a class of persons, that will be blessed in the risen
state, yet distinct from the church. And here, in
Rev. xix. is a scene in heaven, and the bride, the
Lamb's wife, is there ; and, besides that, we hear,
" Blessed are they that are called unto the marriage-
supper of the Lamb." They are blessed, and invited
here. Once they were sinners, but they have been
drawn out of that place by the grace of God. Are
they present, as guests,* at the nuptials of the Lamb 1
* Mr. B. promises, both in his text and notes (Vol. iv. p. 48), to
consider the question whether those called to the Lamb's marriage-
supper were a class the same as, or distinct from, the Bride her
self ; but no trace appears, that I can see, either in chap. iii.
following or anywhere else.
The note of Daubuz will interest many. " It is one thing to be
married, and another to be invited to a marriage feast. This is evi
dent; and the Holy Ghost distinguishes very well the different
states of these two sorts ot persons. The Bride, to whom Bysse [fine
linen] is given, being the persons to whom a perfect justi
fication and the effects of it are awarded, are persons in a state of
resurrection, to whom Christ has performed His pre-contract.
But they who are only invited to the feast cannot be the same as
those that are married. They who are glorified with Bysse, and
thereby declared fully justified and holy, must of course be happy;
but this happiness is pronounced to another soft of persons. Who
are they then? Even the converted nations, (?) all such men as,
having not yet tasted of death and appeared before God's judg
ment seat, till Death and Hades are removed, are still in this life
and in a state of infirmity as to their flesh; not being indeed
impeccable, but assisted very much by veiy great and extraordinary
effusions of grace. However, the Holy Ghost doth not pronounce
them holy, which in this place would be taken for perfect holiness,
but barely happy; whereas those who have a share in the first
resurrection are blessed and holy both. This blessing and hap
piness consists, as it is expressed in chap. xxi. 24, in this, that
they walk in the light of the New Jerusalem," &c. (Perp. Comm.
p. 869.) Beaders may differ in the measure of then- acquiescence
with these thoughts; but who will not admit their interest and
acuteness ?

534
But now we have another scene. It is no longer
what is going on above, but heaven is open : " And
behold, a white horse ; and he that sat upon him was
called Faithful and True, and in righteousness- doth he
judge and make war." It is not a door opened in
heaven, nor the prophet caught up there, as we had
-seen in chap. iv. Nor is it anything that had been
done then or there. But now heaven is open, and
the symbol of the power appears which comes to
subdue the earth, not without the signs of victory.
The horse is always the symbol of power connected
with the earth ; and it has the colour of prosperity.
It is a white horse. None, I trust, would be so fooUsh
as to imagine that, when this blessed scene really comes,
it will be a question of horses literally. It is. the
symbol that passed before the eye of the prophet,
employed to show certain realities that will take place
by and by. Heaven is seen opened for the purpose of
victory over the earth. And the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself is plainly referred to as the rider : He is the
one who directs the power — " He that sitteth on him
[called] faithful and true, and in righteousness doth he
judge and make war," (ver. 11). This is the subject
of the chapter. In the next chapter it is not a white
horse that is se£n, but a throne, which is the symbol
of another character altogether. The throne is for
rule, not conquest : the horse is for conquest, not a
reign. The Lord Jesus is here seen putting forth His
power to put down His enemies ; as in chap. xx. we
have the picture of His reign. " His eyes were as a
flame of fire." That is, there is divine discernment in
judging. " And on his head were many diadems" —

535
or royal crowns. " And he had a name written, that
no man knew but he himself," (ver. 12). It is not
merely in a certain conferred glory that He comes
forth, but in the exercise of His own divine power.
It is quite true that He has a name given to Him, as
we see in Phil. U. "Wherefore God hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name." But here it seems not to be that name
of Lord which we all confess, but one " which no man
knew but he himself." He has a glory that is
essentially His own, distinct from that which was His
reward and incapable of being shared with others ; a
glory which He has in His own right as a divine
person. The name of the Lord here appears to express
this, what He really is in His own nature. So, speak
ing of His person, it is said in Matt, xi., "No man
knoweth the Son but the Father." And it is remark
able how this is stated, in order to guard against the
workings of our minds. Wherever there is a question
of His Son, God is ever jealous about it. When
speaking about the Father it is added, "and he to
whomsoever the Son will reveal him ;'' but it is not
said that the Father reveals the Son to any one. "No
man knoweth the Son, but the Father" — and there we
stop. May we not say that thus God guards against
the familiarity with which man would venture to
analyze the person of Christ? There is nothing so
offensive to God as this irreverence. The humanity
and the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ are
brought out plainly in Scripture. But there is no
person in the Trinity whose divine glory is more
strongly maintained than the Son's — perhaps none so

536
much. It is remarkable that while the same sort of
expression is used about God as such in Rom. i. 25,
and about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ in 2 Cor. xi. 31, as about Christ in Rom. ix. 6,
yet there is a further expression about the Lord Jesus
that is not used about the Father. God the Father is
said to be blessed for evermore, and Christ " God over
all blessed for evermore." The Holy Spirit knew that
man was prepared to outrage the person and envy the
glory of the Son, and foresaw that, even where they
professed to know Him, He would be crucified afresh
and put to open shame. Therefore it is that there is
no one thing the Holy Ghost more insists upon, than
the glory of the Lord Jesus, as indeed He is the con
stant object of the enemy's attacks. It is the true
key to almost every question of doctrinal difficulty
one meets among the children of God. Whenever we
get our souls firmly fixed on God's thought of glorifying
Him, all the power of Satan will be used to hinder in
vain. When Christ's person and will are fully seen,
difficulty, whatever it may be, is at an end. And so
-with our practical dilemmas also : the moment we
catch the connexion with Christ, the difficulty is
clean gone. Satan would hinder our having anything
to do with Christ about it. He shuts out the glory
and the word of Christ from oui- eyes ; and when that
is the case, we are ready to fall Uito any snare : for
the same blinding power that destroys a worldly man,
darkens and hinders the Christian.
But to return. We next hear that the Lord " was
clothed in a vesture dipped in blood," (ver. 13). It
is not now suffering, but avenging. He is coming, to

537
execute righteousness and takes His well-known title
in revealing God to us. " The Word of God" had been
peculiarly the namewhen the subjectwas the manifesta
tion of grace and truth, which He used for bringing us
round Himself, and putting us in His own position.
Here He is the Word of God as manifesting divine
judgment. I do not think the Holy Ghost refers to
that name in the verse before. It appears to me that
the name written which no man knew but He Himself
is purposely left in obscurity, that we may not forget
the perfect, divine and essential glory of the Son of
God. Now we learn that the Lord for judgment did not
come alone. When He came out of the opened
heaven, there were armies that followed. " And the
armies which were in heaven foUowed him upon white
¦horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean," (ver.
14). And observe, that the words, " which were,"
though they are written in italics, are rightly inserted.
The sense would be substantially the same whether you
read it with those words or not ; and therefore the
English translators, seeing that it ought to be under
stood, but not knowing that it was really a part of the
text, inserted the phrase in italics; but it ought to be
adopted. " The armies which were in heaven followed
him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white
jind clean." I have no doubt that angels wUl be in
the train of Christ, for in some other parts of scripture
angels are mentioned as coming with Him, and not
saints, (as for instance Ui 2 Thess. i. 7.) In this passage
saints are mentioned and not angels. Such is the way
of the Lord. He does not state things as man does.
m2

538
He has always a moral object in view, and therefore
just brings out that part of the truth which bears on
the particular subject in hand." Thus, in Matt, xxv.,
where the Son of man is seen seated upon the throne
of His glory, all the holy angels are mentioned as being
with Him. And why? Because the angels have a
special connexion with Him as the Head of human
glory. (See Matt. xiU. 41 ; xvi. 27 ; Luke ix. 22.)
If the Queen of England were setting out upon some
great poUtical occasion, she would be accompanied by
ministers of state. But if she were going to visit
her army, those officials need not be there ; but she
would require the presence of the great military author
ities. If this is so among the things of men, much
more is there a suitable order in the things of God.
The Lord is called the Son of man in reference to His
glory as connected with the earth : and when He takes
the worid under His government, He has got His angels
whom He employs as the messengers of His power.
But He is not called her£ "Son of man," but "the
Word of God," and angels are not mentioned in con
nexion with that name. As the Word of God, Christ
makes Him known. Here He expresses God in the
way of judgment. He had shown Him in the way of
grace ; as we have in the gospel of John. Thus the
Lord Jesus is the expression of all God's ways, whether
in perfect grace or perfect judgment.
Here, then, the armies that followed Him out of
heaven are saints.*" This very chapter decides the
* It is difficult to say how Mr. E. understands this. He asks,
parenthetically (Horae Apoc. vol. iv. p. 49), "were they not His
saints, ' the called and chosen and faithful ?' " But in what con-
/ dition ? "Were they already changed ? Or are they still imagined.

539
question it seems to me ; because in the eight verse,
the fine linen with which they are clothed, (and it is
the same word that is used,) is said to be the righteous
nesses of saints. Others might be there, but could not
well be mentioned where the Lord is described as the
Word of God. Whereas, the mention of the hosts of
heavenly saints is very important ; and for this reason :
the chapter gives us the deeper connexion of the saints
with Christ. You have the Bride of Christ, the
marriage of the Lamb, and the consummation of the
Church's joy in heaven. As far as the world is con
cerned, no stranger intermeddles with that joy.
to be in the separate state ? It does not appear, that I can per
ceive, what his judgment, as to this important question, may be.
We know, from p. 46, he infers that no translation of the living
saints, or resurrection qf the saints departed this life, will have
taken place up to the time figured by the chorus of song at the be
ginning of our chapter, and this became the scenery of the inmost
temple, with its throne and seated Divinity, and the elders and living
creatures attendant near it, the mystical representative of the expectant
church in paradise, remain still figured in vision as before. That is,
he deduces consequences from the most unreasonable assumption,
which he had stated, though hesitatingly, in commenting on chaps.
iv. v., that the crowned and enthroned and complete heads of
heavenly priesthood mean that portion of Christians who are gone
to be with Christ, separate spirits, not glorified men. This error
arises from denying the transitional period, filled with the most
momentous changes, which spans the interval between the coming
of the Lord to gather His saints to Himself, and the appearing of
His coming whieh destroys the Lawless one and all that company.
••(Compare 2 Thess. ii. 1 and 8.) It is meant, I ask, that at the
marriage of the Lamb when the Lamb's wife had made herself ready,
there was no more than spirits separate from the body ? To me,
all this is quite simple, because I firmly believe that what is pro
perly called the church had been translated and in the glorified
state ever since chap. iv. But, on Mr. E's hypothesis, all seems
inextricable confusion. If I catch the meaning of his note 4, vol.
iv. p. 194, he dissents from Daubuz, who contends, from the dress
of the hosts that followed Christ, that they were the risen saints,
now associated with Christ in judgment and afterwards in reign
ing. But text and notes of Part vi. ohap. iv. present hardly any
thing but a jumble of times, places, persons, and dealings of God.
I am sorry to speak in such strong terms ; but the truth should
be dearer to us than conciliation.

540
But now God is going to put down all the wicked
ness of man and of Satan on earth'. Hence the Word
of God comes from heaven; and those that had been
the companions of His rejection are now the compan
ions of His judgment. .As it is said in chap. xvU. 14 ;-
"The Lamb shall overcome them  and they
that are with him, called, and chosen, and faithful."'
There was the announcement that, when the battle
came, He would not be alone, but that the saints -
would be with Him — called by grace, elect, and faithful
ones; and accordingly here they are. "The armies.
which were in heaven followed Him, clothed in fine
Unen, white and clean." They may not be all who
wiU follow, but it is of importance to see that these,
are saints. .
The description proceeds : " Out of his mouth goeth.
a sharp sword, that with it he may smite the nations;
and he shall rule them' with a rod of iron: and ,he^
treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath
of Almighty God," (ver. 15). This is a simple
description of the various judgments that the Lord
will execute when He comes. First, there is the word
of power set forth by the sharp sword going out .of
His mouth. If any must be destroyed, it is enough
for the Lord Jesus Christ to speak. "He spake and
it was done." The judgment was, executed. But
besides, "He shall rule them with a rod of iron.";
This is the judgment which is referred to in chap. U.,.
where there is a promise to those of Thyatira who
overcome, that they shaU hav.e feUowship with Christ
in this judgment of the nations. "And he treadeth
the winepress of the fierceness of ' the wrath of

541
Almighty God." This is the unsparing judgment
that we have seen before in chap. xiv. It is vengeance
on religious wickedness, which is always reserved
for the severest stroke that God can inflict. "And he
hath upon his vesture and upon his thigh a name
written, King of kings, and Lord of lords" (ver. 16) —
the same title that we have seen in chap. xvU, 14.
But while there was an invitation to the marriage"
supper of the Lamb, there is another and very different
supper, the great supper of God. Here it is not the
blessed whom God's grace invites. An angel' speaks
obedient to His word, and the . instrument of His
power, standing in the sun — the symbol of supreme
authority. For it is not now a thing done in a corner.
There are no terms of forbearance : all must be
thoroughly open. Nor is ft now a partial but a com
plete and final judgment. "And he cried with a loud
voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of
heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto
the great supper of God (for so it shpuld be read) ;
that ye may eat the flesh ef kings, and the flesh of
•captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh
of horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh
of aU men both free and bond, both small and great"
(ver; 17, 18). It is the same sort of contrast, I think
that we may have seen in Rev. xiv., where we had
the firstfruits at the beginning of the chapter, and
.afterwards the harvest before the chapter closes.
Here you have the supper of the Lamb above; and
the great supper of God, that He wUl make for
those that prey on the remains of the dead.
"And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth,

542
and their armies, gathered together to make war
against him that sat on the horse, and against his;
army. And the beast was taken and with him the
false prophet,* that wrought miracles before him," with
Which he deceived them that nad received the mark
of the beast, and them that worshipped his imagd"
(Ver. 19, 20.) You wUl observe that one' is here
called the false prophet He has apparently lost his
world-power,' and is therefore not presented now as
the second beast rising from the earth with lainb-like
horns, (i.e. the imitator of Christ's power) ; He is the
false prophet simply. Whatever dominion he had is
now merged, and he is seen in his ecclesiastical char-
acter, as a teacher of lies — in the capacity of foe to
God's truth. Babylon was gone, but there was stUl
this wicked ecclesiastical power who had wrought with
* Mr. Birks seems to be, I will not say accurate, but less under
the influence of human system and bias than most of the Protes
tant school. Thus, in his "Two Later Visions of Daniel" (p.
337), he admits that "it may be inferred, from a careful com
parison of several Scriptures, that at this time the temple de
scribed in Ezekiel will have been built, and that then this fierce
and mighty king will seat himself as a sovereign, and claim to be-
the object of a Divine adoration." I doubt as to the identity
with Ezekiel's temple, but this is a question of detail. Again,
in the following page, he says, "The Papacy, denoted by the
wilful king,, in its last hour will fill up the measure of its-
apostacy, and gather to itself those partial features of Antichrist,
which are now to be seen in the Mahometan delusion^ and its
open rejection of the Son of God. At the same time, a leader
will arise, the last personal head of the compound system of evil,
and the heathen Antiochus, the Pope, and the Turk contribute to
supply the features of his iniquity. The wilful king, in this last
stage of his power, and represented now by this leader, will
gather on himself the predicted character of a king of the north,
and then come down .like a whirlwind on the land of Israel."
Here there is the most palpable confusion of two opposed chiefs,
the wilful king in the Holy Land, and.the northern king who-
assails him there. But I cite the passage to show that fairminded
men, spite of preconception, are obliged to admit the all-
importance of the future crisis in Judea.

543
the beast, and both now meet with the same tremen
dous judgment at the hand of God. "These both
were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with
brimstone." There had been two men singled out from all others
for special mercy and glory. One was in the early
antedUuvian world, when it was fast coming to its
close. " He walked with God, and was not, for God
took him." And when the world had grown older in
sin, and God's separated people had far departed from
Him, God did interpose again, and would show that
there are no times, however evil, when His servants
may not walk with Him. Thus, when Israel was
altogether debased in sin, and God had put His servant
in the midst of that wicked and corrupt and apostate
people, Israel; then and there it was that Elijah gave
his testimony, and he, too, without dying, was chosen
of God to be taken up to heaven.
And here, in most miserable contrast, we find two
singled out from all others, -^-two men as remarkable
for Satan, as Enoch and EUjah had been for God.
And these men, the heads of their respective powers
of wickedness (the open blaspheming power of the
beast ; and the more intriguing, corrupting energy of
the false prophet, who had specially set himself against
the Lord Jesus Christ), are found together. If God
had interposed to show signal mercy, in bringing alive
to heaven, so now God interposes to send alive down
to hell. They had been leaders in evU; they had
worn down the saints and overcome them before men.
Now their day comes — -"And the beast was taken
and with him the false prophet, that wrought miracles

544
before him." "These both were cast alive into the
lake of fire burning with brimstone!"
The Lord judges their followers too, but not with
so terrible a doom. They remain to be judged another
.day — they must stand and appear before God. Mean
while they " are slain with the sword pf Him that sat
upon the horse, and aU the fowls were filled with their
flesh." But as for the twain, God requri-ed, as it
were, nothing more: they were the worst leaders of
the world's lawlessness, and therefore judgment takes
its course summarily and for ever. I know of no
judgment so tremendous in scriptures as that these
men, untried, should be cast into hell before Satan
himself! Yet the goats or GentUe rebels in Matt.
xv. approach it.
And solemn thought ! the time is fast approaching.
It is difficult to realize that such will soon be the
doom of the rulers of these western lands. They wiU
be found gathered for battle near Jerusalem. For, as
Christendom began with Jerusalem, so the last and
terrible end of Christendom will be there. As the
Roman empire will reappear, so there will be found a
chief of its political power sustaining and sustained
by the religious chief of the east. Such is the crisis
which, as God shows plainly in His word, awaits the
world. And I have the firm conviction, without pre
tending to fix the time, that the train is being laid
even now. Thus we see the remarkable prominence
which, in our day, is given to the east, and its growing
connexion with the west. These are facts before our
eyes; but it is well known to many readers that these
same things have been affirmed years before any of

545
these facts had taken place.* They were stated with
the same confidence, and to some of those who read
these pages. Thus, what is going on in the world
comes in as a remarkable confirmation of prophecy.
It is not the circumstances which enable us to judge
aright; but taking the word of God alone, we may
have a fuU persuasion in our souls. For whether we
see the events or not, no man ever believed the word
of God and was ashamed. "The days are at hand,
and the effect of every vision."
The Lord grant that we may remember that there
will be a power of deceit in the world that will carry
men away ! Men may fancy that they will discern
and reject the beast and the false prophet. This only
shows that they have very little idea of the influence
and working of Satan. His most dangerous power
lies now, not in that which lcoks outwardly bad, but
in what seems quiet and fair. Thus is it still, as it
was when Christ was here. The man possessed with
a legion of demons received deliverance and blessing.
But what did the Gadarenes do ? They besought the
Lord to depart out of their coasts.
Let me ask you, do you not prefer somethmg to
Christ? You may not show active enmity to His
name. You may hear the gospel : but have you re
ceived it? If not, you are rejecting it. God does not
allow one to say, there is something to be done first.
He has done everything. Therefore, it comes to be a
question of positive rejection — bidding Christ depart.
The Lord grant that such may not be your present
guUt and eternal misery !
* This was written about thirteen years since. I need hardly add
what fresh and strong evidence is furnished by the late war (and
poaoe) in Italy.

. CHAPTER XX.
The first three verses of this chapter are closely con
nected with the one that goes before. For there we
see the judgment of the beast and the false prophet,
and of their adherents. Here we have what God saw
fit to inflict for the present upon the real unseen
leader of all the mischief — the devil. But there is
this difference, that it is not Christ whp deals with
Satan. It was the shining forth of His coming that
destroyed the beast and the false prophet. They
were taken and were both cast alive into the lake of
fire. And so we learn in chap. xx. 10, when Satan's
turn came for being cast there also; it is into that
lake where the beast and the false prophet already
were, and where they shall be tormented for ever and
ever. But it, was not yet1 the time for the last and
most terrible judgment of Satan. God's trial of the
world was not quite over, and therefore, perhaps, God
did not interfere by Christ in person; but through an
angel. Before Christ inflicts the last crushing blow
upon Satan, an angel is employed to limit his power
and liberty for a certain period. This is what we
have here. Satan is restrained for a thousand years.
Many persons have raised difficulties as to this chapter,
as indeed in all the rest of the book, on the ground of
the figurative language. But no objection could be
less reasonable; for figurative or symboUc language is
used in Scripture from the first book to the last. So-
that ff you neglect one part of God's word on this
ground, you are in danger of slighting all. It is the
commonest thing possible. Take the language of God

547
Himself in Eden, the words which the Holy Ghost
used for the comfort and salvation of souls from the
day that man was fallen by sin. Even there, we find
that God used highly metaphorical language. But ff
a soul was needy, and through grace desired to under
stand God, there was always a sure way. God waited
patiently and taught and led on His chUdren. No
doubt there was room for growth ; but then there was
room for unbelief too, and the evU heart could readily
find difficulties to stumble over. But faith always
finds out the way to understand God. Not but that
there are things hard to such as we are; yet faith
pursues its narrow path through obstacles and dangers,
because God has said, "they shall be all taught of
God." Nevertheless, the language in which God was
pleased to pronounce judgment on the enemy and to
iritimate a Redeemer, was so figurative that an un
believing Jew like Josephus could pervert it and
apply it merely to the natural dislike that men have
to serpents and their desire to get rid of them wherever
found ! Of course such a notion sprang from not
understanding the mind of God, and the Jewish histo
rian was ignorant of Scripture and of the power of God.
And remember that I do not use the word
"ignorant," here to describe the lack of human learn
ing, any more than Scripture does, when it says of
certain persons that "they are unlearned and unstable."
They might be as wise as Plato and prudent as
Aristotle, but they were not learned in God's wUl and
in the knowledge of His mind. This is the learning
that we should value and cultivate — a thing that
never can be gleaned in the schools of this world..

548
On the contrary, ff a man prosecutes human learning.
-as a means of understanding the things of God, he is
sure to go astray, because this per se is never from
the Holy Ghost. Dpubtless, he, who has got human
learning may make use of it for God. But the great
point is, that the man of God must make learning and
everything that is of man to be his servant; whereas,
the mind of man, as such, makes learning his master
and becomes its slave. Hence the danger of all such
things proving positive hindrances, even tc the Chris
tian, save so far as he is led by the Spirit of God.
The only possible way of understanding God's word
is by subjection to the Holy Ghost; and the test is
¦Christ, because the object of the Spirit is to exalt Him.
Therefore it is that you never can separate growth
in the things of God from the moral state of the soul.
It is true that a man who has learned a great deal of
truth may sUp into a bad state of soul : but, in general,
sound knowledge of the things of God and a wise,
gracious application of the truth flow from communion
-with God.
I have made these few remarks not doubting that
many of my readers know them to be true from their
own experience; but some perhaps may learn from
them 'why they make small progress in the things of
'God. The true way is to seek the glory of Christ.
Where a man is bent upon this, he must learn, no
.doubt; but all is open and clear before him, because
he is in the current of the Holy Ghost, whose office is
to take of the things of Jesus and to show them unto
us. "When He is come, .... He shall glorify me :
for He shall receive of mine and shall show it unto

549
you:" for Christ, not man, is the aim and end of the
Spirit. They, then, as to the earliest book of the Bible,
Genesis, all wUl acknowledge it to be a perfect model
of perspicuity. It is the most simple book, containing
profound truth, that ever was written. In this book
where God was putting us in His nursery school, yet
what do we find? Not seldom bold and figurative
language. Hence, ff I am to give up the Scriptures
because of figures, I must give them up from Genesis
to Revelation.
The revelation of the woman's Seed that was to bruise
the serpent's head was the very word on which
salvation hung; the blessed truth that faith laid hold
of at all times. Take a case. Abel's faith, that
expressed, itself in the offering which he brought, was
grounded upon this word. He beUeved that the Lord
Jesus was coming, (though he did not yet know that
name,) who would be bruised in order to destroy the
serpent — One who would suffer, whose heel would be
bruised, though eventually He would crush the bruiser.
This shows that faith is a very distinct thing from
the abUity to explain the figures of a passage, the
general sense and certainty of which may yet be clearly
seen. So much so, that even now, if you were to take a
Christian and ask him to explain aU the particulars of
that verse — what was meant by the Seed of the woman
and that of the serpent, the enmity between them
and the bruising of the head and of the heel, though
he might be perfectly certain that it speaks of Christ
and might understand the general meaning of all, yet
he would find a great deal of difficulty in explaining

550
what each thing meant. But there lies the blessedness
of God's Word, that people are not saved by having
clear thoughts on the obscure; but God knows how
to direct every soul that is saved to the right object
Their hearts rest upon a Christ who has suffered for
them and completely destroyed the destroyer. They
may not be able to bring out their thoughts clearly to
others; but the faith of the taught knpws the truth
perhaps as well as the teacher, though the latter alone
can develop it with ccnvincing plainness. This shews
that even where God employs these figures, the general
thought is sufficiently plain. To expound them, by
words might be an insuperable difficulty to the soul
that has no question of the general sense.
Here an angel comes down out of heaven. This
angel, in the prophetic vision, has the key of the abyss
and a great chain hanging on his hand (ver. 1). He
is seen laying hold of "the dragon, the ancient serpent,
who is the devil and Satan," the well known-enemy of
God and man; and then follows the use of the key and
the chain, the* key for shutting him up and the chain
for binding him fast. Obviously these are figures, but
they are famUiar to the simplest mind. There is no
one, however ignorant about some things, who need
misunderstand what is meant. The Spirit of God
takes advantage of the commonest things of every-day
life to describe an act of judgment that is about to be
accomplished in His providence by and by. God
intends to restrain Satan, and will not suffer his going
about to deceive the world as he does now; but it wUl
be only1 for a season (ver. 2, 3). He is not thrown
into the lake of fire at once, but is a prisoner in, the

551
bottomless pit, which is the expression of the place,
under the control of Satan ordinarily, that wUl then
be made the place of his confinement. (Compare
ohaps. ix., xi., and xvii.)
It is certain from. God's word that Satan is not yet
shut up — on the contrary, that he goes about now,
seeking to deceive and to destroy souls. The New
Testament always supposes this. It is perfectly clear
that Satan is an enemy stUl at large- — that he is active
in his rebellion against God, in the falsehood that
he spreads among men, and in the death and ruin that
he causes everywhere. But this is to close, when, for
a certain Umited time, the earth will be freed from his
deceits. This is all that I need to draw from the
passage. I am not going to discuss whether the
thousand years are to be taken literally or mystically,
for this is a question of detail and degree only. But
beyond a doubt the period has a beginning and has an
end ; nor can it have begun yet, because Satan is not
bound. The New Testament epistles suppose that Satan
still carries on his devices, hinders the work of God,
has to be resisted, and is going about as a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour. So that there must be
a vast change when the time comes for his restraint.
And God wUl have to cast His people upon other parts
of His word, which would not apply to the past or the
present. The saints then wUl be in many respects in
a totally different state. In that day Christ will be
reigning over the earth, having it under His direct
control; and assuredly the change will be incalcul
ably great. Satan, too, wUl be bound, and God's people
then will not require the same discipline through the

552
word of God as those do now who have to encounter
the assaults of Satan and his accusations. God wUl
deal with them according to the condition in which
they wUl be placed, and for which His word provides.
Allow me to repeat that it is chiefly the influence of
prejudice, with which persons approach the book of
the Revelation, that makes it appear so difficult.
People say that so many good men have made mistakes
in interpreting it, that there is no sure way for the
simple to take it up profitably. But this is to the
dishonour of God ; for He has given the book to be
understood by His people at large, peculiarly com
mending it to His servants. Special promises of
blessing He attaches to such as read, hear, and keep it,
foreseeing the delusion abroad with regard to its
obscurity. But why is it the devil's object to hinder
people from reading this book? Why is it that, in
what are called Christian churches, every other part of
the Bible is read, while the book of Revelation is
scarcely looked at ? Even the Apocrypha is read by
some, while of the "true sayings of God" only a few
fragments here and there are used for public services.
The reason is, because there is no book in the Bible
that Satan fears more, and justly too. It announces,
first, his sure humiliation by angeUc power, and then
his destruction afterwards. Other books show his
partial temporary successes ; this dweUs on his over
throw, and therefore must he dread it. Again, if you
have here the account of God's putting down Satanv
you have also, very fully brought out, the awful height
of power to which he rises before the end. For the
divine principle is never to judge evU until it has
rejected all the patience of God, abused His goodness,

553
and become thoroughly unbearable. Had Christians
felt that Satan's object was to conceal his own wUes,
and power, and ruin, by leading them to neglect this
book, they might have been more on their guard. But
that is the last thing he wants people to suspect ; for
then they at once get upon the ground where the
Spirit of God can lead them on; whereas, if they
assume that the book is so dark as to be practicaUy
unintelligible, they are, so far, exposed to his delusion,
though God is faithful who wiU not suffer them to be
tempted above that they are able.
In the next verse we get another thing, the portion
of the blessed. What wUl Christ be doing, and what
they who are with Him, now that the victory is won ?
" And I saw thrones ; and they sat upon them, and
judgment "was given unto them." (Ver. 4.) The
heads, civil and ecclesiastical, of the evU in the world,
had been summarily judged ; the hidden source of all
was next set aside " tiU the thousand years should be
finished." But now the Lord Jesus has taken the
kingdom of the world. StiU the object here is not so
much to show us Christ 's reign, because that was a
familiar truth, found throughout all Scripture, and one
that was weU known to the Old Testament saints.
And so habituaUy were they waiting for the Messiah,
and so prevalent was the expectation of His kingdom,
even in the mass of unconverted Israel, that Satan
took advantage of it to make men refuse the grace of
Christ coming in humiliation. Here His reigning is
of course implied, as the central pivot of the blessing ; :
but His people, or at least His sufferers, are specified
with the utmost clearness.

554
This, then, may be one reason why prominence is
here given to those who reign with Christ. God felt
deeply for His saints. They were under keen trial
And temptation. He takes pains to show that,, if they
had suffered, they were also to reign with Him. And
therefore, as it seems to me, it is not there said, I saw
a great throne, but "1 saw thrones."* As the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself had said to the disciples, " In
my Father's house are many mansions." He does not
speak of one peculiar mansion there for Himself, but
He says, "In my Father's house are many mansions :
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you.'' Was it not in the same
spirit that the prophet here had the vision of these
thrones? And they were not vacant. "I saw thrones
and they sat on them, and judgment was given unto
them." They were now to exercise judgment.
Evidently this is an accomplishment of the word
in 1 Corinthians vi. The apostle there, addressing
the saints at Corinth, says, "Do ye not know that the
saints shall judge the world?" And here they are judg
ing the world. But more than that. The Lord had
said to the twelve apostles, "Ye shall sit upon twelve

' * Daubuz notices another distinction, well worthy of remark,
but in a way which needs correction. "These thrones, whose
number is not defined [as in chapter iv.], are to be very carefully
distinguished from the twenty-four thrones here mentioned."
(Perp. Comm. p. 925.) So say I; but when he goes on to teach,
that the state of the Christian Church, and its primitive and
militant institution, were signified by the enthroned elders, I
reject such an explanation, as do almost all Christians. Yet that
there is a notable difference, between that state of things and the
millenial one before us now, is manifest." The only satisfactory
solution, I am satisfied, depends on the rapture of the heavenly
saints, previous to the fulfilment of chap, iv., and the interval
spent before they appear with Christ in glory, as we see in chaps.
iix. xx.

555
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Many per
sons think that this will only be fulfilled in heaven.
But there can be no such state of things there. The
twelve tribes are not above. They are only known as
such upon earth. Here below they wUl be found as
an object of government; and so the prophets speak.
What wUl there be for saints to judge in heaven?
When the glorified are there, where will be the men to
judge above? All will be blessed there. These will
have passed out of the scene of judgment
It is plain therefore that this scene is one that cannot
apply to heaven: and that it supposes the earth as a
sphere of judgment. Those in question reign over the •
earth. I say, "over the earth," for there is no reason
to believe that this world will be the home of the risen
saints of God. They may visit it from time to time,
as we know the Lord Himself will ; but their proper
dwelling-place will not be the earth. Even now our
blessing is in heavenly places in Christ; much more
. evidently will it be, when we are glorified. The
blessing is heavenly in its source, character, and
sphere. But whUe we shall thus have blessing in
heavenly places, the earth will be the lower and sub
ject province — full of interest and glory to God, but a
comparatively outside domain. Just as a man who
owns an estate, may have a grand famUy seat in it;
but this does not hinder his having property outside,
which he must leave his house in order to see. And
so it will be hereafter. The glory above wUl be the
rest and centre of the heavenly saints; but besides
that, they will judge the earth.* Accordingly it is
* There is no doubt that the earliest Christian writers show
hat a personal millennial reign of Christ was the early prevalent.

556
written here, "I saw thrones and they sat on them
and judgment was given unto them." They were the
destined assessors of the Lord in judging or government.
But that was not all. "And [I saw] the souls of
them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and
for the word of God." Mark the words, "the souls of
them," (fee. There are many who, in the main, agrees
ing that this vision represents a judgment exercised by
heavenly saints over men upon earth, understand the
" souls" spoken of here to mean persons, according to
a common usage of Scripture. But I do not believe
that this is the true explanation. Why not take the
word "souls" here as meaning those who were in the
separate state? Thus, the Apostle John saw in the
vision, first, thrones with persons seated upon them ;
secondly, a certain number of disembodied people, tho
souls of them that had been beheaded for the witness
pf Jesus and for the word of God; and, besides

doctrine But truth needs no exaggeration. It is painful that such a
man as Mede (Works, book III, p. 533, 4th odition) should havo
insisted on interpolating a negative in the statement of Justin
Martyr (Dial, cum Tryph. §. 80), where the father, after con
fessing _ the faith of himself and many othors in a future
rebuilding of Jerusalem and the literal roign and blossodneBfi
of risen saints with Christ, admits on tho other hand that
there aro many holding the truo and godly dootrine of Chris
tians who do not acknowledge it. The faot is that thore
is not the slightest manuscript authority for the insertion, and tho
internal evidence is, in my opinion, deoidodly against it. Thirlby
has very properly pointed out that ,1 ustin distinguishes botwoen two
sots of the orthodox, as may be soon by oomporing tho close
of the same seotion : one of them, in all respeots (koto rc\vra
right minded, has no doubt about tho millennial reign, &o. ; tho
rest were sound in general, but opposed to ohiliasm. Nevertheless,
Medo's oi has been followed by many in England from Tillotson
down to Mr. Bickersteth, and Daille's /mj (De Poenis et Satisfact.
p. 493) has f6und favour abroad till recently. Even Mr. Jonour
(Eat. Apoo. Vol. ii. pp. 318, 319) oontinues to cite the pasBivge in
its corrupted form, and without remark.

r»

557
thirdly, a class of those "the which had not worshipped
the Beast, nor yet his image, and had not received his
mark upon their forehead, or in their hand." Had he
meant persons in their ordinary state, he might have
said, I saw the souls that were beheaded for the witness
of Jesus, &c. ; but not " I saw the souls of them that
were beheaded." Just as it was said of Jacob, " All
the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt .... all
the souls were three-score and six." It is not said
there "all the souls of them," or "of the people that
came," &c. (Compare Rev. vi. 9.)
Here, then, John beheld in the vision some that
were already risen from the dead and seated upon
thrones. " I saw thrones, and they that sat upon
them." The reference seems purposely general, and
impUes " the armies " previously described (chap. xix.
14). Those who followed the Lord from heaven to
war are now His companions in His government of
the earth. Next, he saw a company " that had been
beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the wprd of
God." These were not yet raised from the dead but
were stUl in the condition of separate spirits. And
there was a third class — -persons who had not wor
shipped the Beast, nor submitted to his pretensions in
.any form or degree. The two last were distinct but
connected classes of people, who, when first seen, were
in the separate state. " And they lived, and reigned
with Christ a thousand years." That is, they were
reunited to their bodies ; for this of course is what is
meant by "they lived." It might have been thought
that they had missed then1 blessing, or at least the
privilege of reigning with Christ during the thousand

558
years. There were thiones, and persons in their risen
bodies who already occupied them. What then was
to become of those who, after the removal of the
former to heaven, were beheaded for the witness ,pf
Jesus and for the word of God, and who were not
till long after raised from the dead ? What was to! be
the portion not only of these, but of the last class that
at a still later day refused to worship the beast or
receive his mark? "They lived." They are now
seen, just before the reign, united to their bodies; and,
together with those that had been previously raised
and already seen enthroned, they reigned with Christ
a thousand years.*
* "I cannot consent (says Dean Alford) to distort the words
from their plain sense and chronological place in the prophecy, on
aocount of any considerations of difficulty, or any risk of abuses
which the doctrine of the millennium may bring with it. Those
who lived next to the Apostles, and the whole Church for 300
years, understood them in the plain literal sense; and it is a
strange sight in these days to see expositors who are among the-
first in reverence of antiquity, complacently casting aside the
most cogent instance of consensus which primitive antiquity pre
sents. As regards the text itself, no legitimate treatment of it-
will extort what is known as the spiritual interpretation now in
fashion. If, in a passage where two resurrections are mentioned,.
where certain \j/vxal i^r\o-av at the first, and the rest of the veKpol
only at the end of a specified period after that first, — if, in 'ifyo-av
such a passage, the first resurrection may be understood to mean'
spiritual rising with Christ, while the second means literal rising
from the grave;— then there is an end of all significance in lan
guage, and Scripture is wiped out as a definite testimony to any
thing. If the first resurrection is spiritual, then so is the; second,
which I suppose none will be hardy enough to maintain ; but i£
the second is literal, so is the first, which, in common with the
whole primitive Church and many of the best modern- expositors,
I do maintain, and receive as an article of faith and hope."
(Vol. IV pt. ii.) I have only to add, as to "chronological place,'
that as the sitters on thrones, or first group in this vision, are not
represented as souls, so they are not meant to be included in
"they lived." Their living and destiny to reign with Christ was
plain enough from their session on thrones. Of the subsequent
martyrs, and the confessors in the final crisis, it is now said,
these join the others in resurrection, and share the reign just be
ginning.

559
Thus we have a bright and interesting Ught thrown
by and on the Revelation. For there are passages in it
which this verse helps to clear up ; whUe they, on the
other hand, throw light back on a verse which is
not intelUgible unless these distinctions are seen.
Let us consider, yet a little more, the different
classes here spoken of. " I saw thrones, and they
sat upon them." Evidently these first objects are intro
duced most abruptly. We are not told where they
came from, nor who they were — probably because the
Holy Ghost takes for granted that we know enough
about them through the previous statements of the
book. Just before they had come out of the opened
heaven. (Chap, xix.) When the rider on the
white horse, the Lord Jesus, came out as a man of
war, the armies that were there followed Him on
white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. I
have already tried to prove that these were the saints
who had been already taken up to heaven, and ever
and anon shown to be there from the commencement
of chap. iv. They were seen then and repeatedly
afterwards under the symbol of the twenty-four
crowned elders. It will hardly be disputed that these
elders represent the heavenly saints. I do not pre
tend to decide whether it is the church exclusively or
not. Very likely both the church and the Old Testa
ment saints are included ; but one thing at least is
very clear, that heavenly saints are meant. They
follow Christ out of heaven when He comes, to make
war with the Beast, &c. ; and now, when Christ takes
His throne, when He is not merely seen on a
white horse gping forth to conquer and subdue, but

560.
He takes the throne to reign triumphantly, they too
are seen on thrones along with Him. " I saw thrones
and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto
them." Every believer knows that in some sense Christ is
to sit on His throne and to judge : but some might
think that it was too high a place- for Christians to be
on thrones with Him; while others, who have ethe-
realized into mist the direct meaning of the mass of
Scriptures that treat of the hopes of the saints and
the prospects of the world, imagine that they will be
merely in the vague distance of heaven, enjoying ever
lasting happiness with Christ, but having nothing
whatever to do with the earth. For my own part, I
do not believe that governing the world is by, any
means the highest part of the saint's glory; but it will
be an important element of Christ's glory, and there
fore surely not beneath the church. • None can over^
look or deny this without loss to their soul. When
rightly held, it has no little practical influence. For
if I am to judge the world then, God would not have
me meddling with the world now. This was the
very argument that the Apostle Paul used when
blaming the Corinthian believers, because they went
before the judgment-seat of men. It is beneath the
Christian calling. Of course, I do not mean by this
in any way to slight the powers that be. A Christian
ought to be ready any day and in all things to show
them respect. He can afford to be the humblest man
in the world because he is the highest one. He has
got a better exaltation that will shine most when this
world has come to nothing. What a wonderful thing

561
that we are anointed kings now, before tho actual
glory dawns, like David, who was consecrated king
long before, as a fact, he was exalted to the kingdom !
The holy, royal oil was upon him, even when he was
hunted about by king Saul upon tho mountains. So,
in a yet higher sense, wo too are anointed by the Holy
Chost, and this not only that we may be able to enter
into the things of God, but as made kings and priests to
God. Hence God looks for us not only to offer spiritual
worship to Him now, but under all circumstances
to preserve the sense of our dignity as His kings.
(Compare 1 Potor ii. 5, 9). The world may mock and
call us fanatics, but the world has done worse to God
Himself. Alas I evil communications corrupt gopd
manners, and Christians have fallen frpm the truth
that is according to godliness as to this.
They have sought to have tho world and Christ too.
Poople may object that at bout it is a hope so jnirely
future as to have no present bearing. But the Spirit
of God addrosses us as possessing this treasure now, as
having, in principle, all that Christ is going to display
in us in His kingdom by and by. Hence we are
responsible to God to walk in the faith of it now. It
was so in the highest way in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He know that He was a king; and when Satan came
and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the
glory of them, offering to give them to Him if He fell
down and worshipped him, tho Lord utterly rejected
all. But Satan, as it wore, repeated the offer to the
church, and she at length accepted it.' In seeking the
glory of the world, she has sought honour where Satan
is the princo. Can any man road his Bible and not

562
own the truth of this ? What did the Lord Jesus do
when men wanted to make Him a king? He departed
from them. When He stood before Pilate,' He
admitted that He was a king, but said, " My kingdom
is not of this world .... Now is my kingdom npt
from hence." By and by it wUl be. " The kingdom
of the world shall become our Lord's and His Christ's."
And when it passes into His hands, the reign ' of
Christians will begin. His people will share the king
dom along with Him. Hence faith waits for this: and
meanwhile we are put to the test now, "as having
nothing, and yet possessing all things."
To some it wUl appear presumption to claim such a
privilege now. But not so. It is faith, and its fruit
is growing separation from the world. The principle
is the thing of value. For if a man only strive for the
simplest thing in this world that is an object to him, —
for some present (even if it be a petty) distinction, there
is the trace of the enemy's work. God looks for holy
separateness from the world in all His saints': they are
not of the world even as Christ is not of it. Let it
only be in proportion to a man's spirituality and
intelligence. Thus, when a Christian begins his path
of faith, God does not say to him all at once, You must
cut off this and renounce that; He leaves room for the
exercise of grace and progress in truth. In the day
that salvation came to the house of Zaccheus, the Lord-
said not a word of his odious position in the world, as
a Jewish tax-gatherer. Nor are we told, in the case of
Cornelius, that he' must forthwith give up his place as
a centurion of the Italian band; because the whole-
blessedness of God's ways would be destroyed by laying'

563
down and enforcing rides in that fashion. The church
is not governed by a code of formalities. She is led on
by the power of the Spnit of God according to His
word. Just as with a chUd; when of tender years he
speaks as a chUd, understands as a chUd, and thinks as
a chUd. One could not wish babes to assume the ways
of adults. So is it with spiritual chUdren. The Lord
does not look for such to be occupied with the things of
men and fathers in Christ. He leaves room for growth
in grace. Now, if a man is in a bad state, he takes
advantage of grace, and asks, Is there any harm in ibis ?
Is there any command for that? Sometimes a soul only
refrains from evU doings, in the thought that if he
persists, he is in danger of being lost. But what God
values is simple-hearted obedience; the doing God's
wUl because it is His will, because it is a delight to do
His wUl, because it glorifies Him. He saves us by His
grace, and saves us so as not to see a single fault in us.
And now He says, If I have saved you and put you in
such soreness and perfection of blessing before me, the-
thing that I look for is your heart, its confidence in my
love and wisdom, your worship and your obedience.
But God also gives us the knowledge of the coming
kingdom that we are to share with Christ our Lord.
It is weU to remember that the Spnit of God does not
bring about the kingdom. Not He, but the Lord
Jesus only is the king. Thus, Christ's presence is
essential to the kingdom, at least in the full manifested
sense. It would be a kingdom without a king, if
Christ were not personally there ; and therefore it is-
said, " They Uved and reigned with Christ a thousand
years." Christ Himself was present, and He is the

564
-centre ef all glory, and blessing, and joy. In chap.
xix. we had Christ and them coming out of heaven in
judgment, and thereon in chap. xx. the kingdom is
established in peace over the earth.
This may answer the first question, as to who they
are whom John first saw sitting on the thrones, and
of course in risen bodies. • They are heavenly saints,
including (if not exclusively) the church. The next
•question is, Who are those whose souls were seen not
at first united to their bodies ? The answer is plain.
If Rev. iv. v. show us glorified saints under the
symbol of the twenty-four elders, and corresponding
with those first mentioned in our verse, chap. vi. lets
us into another scene. It tells us that there will be
saints called to suffer after that, whose souls John then
saw under the altar. They 'had been slain for the word
of God, and for the testimony whieh they held, and
they caU upon God to judge and avenge their blood ori
them that dwell on the earth. Who are these saints
that appeal to God's vengeance ? It is not the church
there, one can answer with the utmost positiveness.
It could not be, indeed; for the church had been
already removed to heaven. But, besides, is the
church ever said, in Scripture, to call upon God to
judge and avenge the blood of saints shed on the
earth ? It would falsify the very design of God in the
church, and in the individual Christian too. We are
the epistle of Christ, called expressly to show out His
glory in Christ, and His grace towards the world ever
since the cross. And as God has allowed men to put
to death His own Son, and, so far from judgmg the
guilt, has only made it an occasion for showing more

565
grace stUl, so the church is called to suffer, and, if
need be, even to death for His name's sake, without'
such a thought or wish' as calling for vengeance.
Take a plain and signal example of this in
Stephen. He was most grievously trodden down :
they cast him out of the city and stoned him. But he
kneels down and cries, " Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge." It was with a loud voice, too, for it was not
a thing that his heart did not feel earnestly; and the
Holy Ghost desfred that those who were round him
should know his heart's desire about them, guUty as
they were of his blood. Was this calling upon God
to avenge his blood? The very contrary ; and so all
through. Look at the Apostles Peter and John,
whp, when they were beaten, depart from the council,
rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame
for the name of Jesus. Look again at the first epistle
of Peter ; and what do you find there ? This is the
principle : "If when ye do well and suffer for it, ye
take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For
even liereunto were ye called."
On the other hand, the world could not go on
for a day, on such a ground as this ; it must go to.
pieces, if evil were not to be punished, and those
who did well and suffered wrongfully were merely to
stive thanks. But such exhortations were not intended
for the world. And there is the mistake so pften
made. Men forget that the church was called to be a
witness of heaven — was meant to express the mind
and grace of Christ, whUe walking upon the earth.
This is our " one thing' — our business here below. Of
course, this need not hinder the providing things

566
honest in the sight of all men. It is right for the
Christian to do this, but let him weigh well how he
does it. Our behaviour in the most ordinary employ
ment should be a testimony to this — that we are not
of the world ; that we look not for honour and credit
in the world, but to glorify Christ in heaven ; that
instead of seeking to help on the plans of men, and to
be an ornament in the world, our mission is to make
Him known to it, and to do His will during the Uttle
whUe we are here.
But to return. We have seen that though the
enthroned elders are in heaven (Rev. iv. v.), there'afe
afterwards saints on earth, new witnesses who are
called to suffer unto death for the word of God and
the testimony of Jesus : but who, when they die, cry
for God to avenge their blood on their enemies. Nor
is that wrong in them ; though it would be foreign to
us, because it is not the will *of God concerning us.
But when God has formed the Church, and, after it
has been taken to heaven, has raised up fresh witnesses
for Himself on earth, He wUl begin to deal with the
world, judicially Himself. And therefore when these
holy sufferers cry to God against their adversaries, they
will have communion with Him ; and this is what
faith always seeks — communion with God in what He
is actually doing or about to do. God does not thus
interfere to judge the world now, and therefore His'
saints should not ask Him, as these do, to judge arid'
avenge. God now endures in perfect patience the
wickedness of the world ; and therefore a Christian
should rather ask God to turn His long-suffering into
salvation for souls. But when Rev. vi. is being ful-

567
fUled,,God wUl pour down judgment upon judgment ;
and the witnesses for God in that day wUl ask God to
judge, and rightly. They take up the language of the
Psalms, in general so misunderstood and misapplied
now, but then most appropriate and prophetically
provided of God.
This shows, then, that there is to be a very different
state of things after the church has been taken away.
Gpd begins then to act in the way of judgment, and
those ' whose hearts are converted, and desiring His
glory, wUl be in great darkness compared with the
church. Still, their godly testimony wUl be intolerable
to the powers of the world, who wUl spUl their blood
like water. The sufferers wUl cry to God for judgment,
and He wUl hear them. Look at verses 9, 10, 11, of
chap. vi. : "And when he had opened the fifth seal,. I
saw under the altar the souls of them that had been
slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which
they held." Observe how this agrees with the two
classes mentioned in chap. xx. 4 : "I saw the souls of
them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and
for the word of God." For mark the answer. They
cry, " How long, O Lord, holy and true," &c. " And
white robes were given unto every one of them ; and
it was said unto them that they should rest yet for
a little whUe, until their fellow-servants also and
their brethren, that should be, killed as they were,
should be fulfilled." When the earUer sufferers,
after the removal of the church, had been called out
and slain, they were told of another and subsequent
class who should be killed as they before the full
judgment.

568
This is exactly what we find in our chapter xx.
First, there are those who sit on the thrones,;
invested with royal judgment. ; next, there are those
who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for
the word of God; and, thirdly, their brethren who,
as it was said in chap, vi., had yet te be completed,;
These, when the beast brought out his idolatry, &c,
and it was a question of being kUled or of worshipping
him, refused : they were faithful unto death. Well,
here they are. " I saw .... and those who. had not
worshipped the beast, nor his image, and had not
received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their
hands." This the Revelation gives us the full answer,
as to these three classes. The twenty-four elders
correspond with those who sit on the thrones; the,
second class are the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Jesus, <fec, we had in chap. vi.;; and
then the latter part of the book shows "their brethren
that should be killed as they themselves were," and
for whom they were told to wait. In Rev. xrii. %, it
is said that it was given to the beast to make war
with the saints, and to overcome them. And more
than that. The latter half of the chapter supplies
another part of the description, and shows us how
these saints came to be characterized in Rev. xx. as
those who had not worshipped the beast nor his
image, neither had received his mark on their fore
head, or in their hand. In ver. 14 the second beast-
is said (chap. xiU.) to deceive "them that dwell on the
earth, on account of those miracles which he had
power to do in the presence of the beast; saying to
them that dwell on the earth, that they should make

569
an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword
and did live. And he had power to give breath to the
image of the beast, that the image of the beast should
both speak and cause that as many as would not wor
ship the image of the beast shold be kUled." Now
this most clearly pertains to the last or third class.
Those referred to in chap. xiv. 12, 13, are probably
the same. But, again, see chap. xv. 2: "I saw as it
were a sea of glass mingled with fire : and them that
had gotten the victory over the Beast, and over his
image, and over the number of his name, stand on the
sea of glass, having, the harps of God." Thus the
Revelation answers fuUy the question, Who are these
saints? It shows us, first, the risen saints, who had
been taken up to heaven, and who come out with
Christ. This is one reason why they are seen separate
from the two other classes. They are .viewed on
the thrones at once, because they are already changed
into the likeness of Christ's glorious body. But the
others are merely seen, up to this moment, as souls,
and of course not glorified. We hear of glorified
bodies, but never of glorified souls in Scripture. The
soul of the believer goes to be with Christ after death,.
but it has to be reunited with the body, before it can
be spoken of as in a glorified condition. The only
perfect state is, when we shall bear the image of the
heavenly; when -wje shall be raised or changed into
His likeness.
If we look at 1 Cor. xv. we shall see that quite
plainly. It is said there, "The first man is of the
earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy;
o2

570
and as is the hea verily, such are they, also that.
are heavenly; And ; as we have borne the image
of the earthy, we shaU also bear the image of
the heavenly. Now this . I say, brethren, that flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither •
doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew
you a, mystery: we shall riot all sleep, but we shaU be
changed. . . and the dead shall be raised incorrupti
ble, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible,
must," not merely put off corruption, but "put on
incorruption," "and this mortal'' must not merely sUp<-
off this mortal coU, as men say, but "put on • imnurrv '
taUty." "So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption j and this mortal shall ': have put on
immortaUty" — evidently the glorifiedstate^ — "then shall
be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is ¦
swallowed up in victory." Death is not "swallowed up
in victory when a Christian dies, and goes to be with'
Christ; but when He comes, and the dead are raised^
and the living changed. What was done individually-
in the case of Enoch and Elijah, wUl be done on a
grand scale at His coming. All the Uving saints then '
will be changed, and will go to be with the Lord,
without passing- through death. These, risen or
changedj'are they who, having been taken up to heaven
wiU come thence with Christ, and here seen on thrones.
But what, next, is the history of those saints
on earth, who are called after the previous saints
have been removed to meet the Lord? The Revela
tion shews us their sufferings for righteousness, '
sake,, and their death. What becomes of them after
wards? The church had been already raised andglorified

571
;and these sufferers are slain before the reign of Christ
¦commences. Are these, then, who have suffered, not
to reign? Are they to forfeit their blessings, because
they ¦ have resisted unto blood, striving against sin ?
That could never be. "I saw the souls of them that
were beheaded, .... and they lived and reigned with
Christ a thousand years." They, too, are raised from
the dead; they join the others already glorified, and
all reign together with Christ in "the kingdom."
¦ I apprehend, but ' I only give it as an opinion, that
their resurrection takes place at or about this time.
The beast and the false prophet have been put down;
Satan has been cast into the abyss, and the mUlennial
reign of Christ and His risen saints is now about to
commence. The Lord waits, as it were, for the very
last moment. He wants not a soul of His holy
sufferers to be left out of this their special reward.
The beast had persecuted up to the last, and God de
lays tUl that moment, that every one Who has suffered "
with Christ be included in the privilege of being
glorified together. If the account of the resurrection
had been given, when the previously-risen saints were
translated to heaven (i.e. before Rev. iv.), there might
have been doubt and anxiety as to the fate of those
who suffer after the church was taken up. One can
understand why this notice or resurrection is put here.
It was the special object of God to comfort those who
subsequently had to suffer and die for Christ, and to
shew that they would not be forgotton by Him. They"
are now raised to join the saints already risen; "and
they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."
God puts off their resurrection till just before Christ's

572
reign, and then those that had meanwhUe suffered for
Him are raised up.
"But the rest of the dead lived riot tUl the thousand
years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
"The rest of the dead :" — who were they ? The be
ginning of verse 4 includes, as I conceive, not only the
church, but the Old Testament saints; that is, all the
heavenly saints taken up to be with Christ, when He-
wiU have come to receive them unto Himself in the
air. Next, we had the first band of sufferers before
the beast came to the height of his power ; and, then,.
the last band that suffer because they wUl refuse to
worship him. These were the three classes' of saints-
now alike Uving and reigning with Christ. "The
rest of the dead" must then be wicked dead, because
the first resurrection included all the righteous dead,-
It answers, in fact, to what our Lord caUed " the
resurrection of the just" (Luke xiv. 14), save that it
is more detaUed, if not more comprehensive. So,
then-, there is a special ^resurrection that belongs to the
just, and this without a word about the unjust. There-
is a resurrection of the unjust ; and when the Apostle
Paul spoke in Acts xxiv. before Felix, he testified to
his belief in the resurrection both of just and unjust.
But when the Lord Jesus was raising the. consciences-
of his disciples to what was good and of value before
God, He set forth the resurrection of the just alone..
But this is not all. There were men trying to bring
the doctrine of the resurrection into ridicule.
We find, on another occasion, that certain of the
Sadducees came to Him, putting a drinculty, because
of a woman supposed to be married to seven brethren.

573
In the case reasoned on, these seven successively died,
-and last of all the woman died also. In the resurrec
tion then, they ask, whose wffe should she be of the
-seven ? The Lord at once points out that the difficulty
was founded on ignorance of scripture or of the
power of God. In the resurrection they shall neither
marry, nor be giving in marriage, but shall be like the
angels (that is, like them in that respect, not in all
things, for they will judge angels; but like them in so
far as this, that there will be no distinction of sex —
neither marrying nor given in marriage). " Neither
oan they die any more." But He adds, " They which
shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world [or
rather "dispensation"], and the resurrection from the
dead," &c. This would be an extraordinary expres
sion, if all were raised at the same time. " They that
shall be counted worthy to obtain that age '' for the
last word does not refer to the material world, but to a
special dispensation or age, which the unworthy do not
obtain. Weigh the force of the phrase. The resurrection
of the saints is in an age peculiar to themselves. " They
which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that age
(the other dead are only raised after it), and the resur
rection from the dead." The resurrection of Christ
was not merely a resurrection of the dead but out of the
dead. He left them undisturbed in their tombs.
There were certain saints who rose with Him, or rather
came out of their graves after His resurrection; but
the great mass of the dead were so far unaffected by
Christ's resurrection. And so is it with the saints
in principle. Tlieirs is to be a resurrection from
-among the dead. The rest of the dead must rise at

574
another time : but they who shaU be accounted wcrthy
shall obtain that age, and the resurrection from- the
dead. .They shaU not die any more. Could God show
more strongly, than by this language, a distinct and
prior resurrection of the saints of God ?
'Hear also the language of Paul in Phil. Ui. 11. "If
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
from the dead." In common Bibles, no doubt, it is
'.'the resurrection of the dead ;" but I have no hesita-
_tion in saying that this is a complete mistake. The
true and only irieaning of the verse, according to the
best authorities, is, " If by any means I might attain
to the resurrection out of (or from among) the dead.""
It may seem , to some but a slight change ; but if we
want to know the mind of God, it makes a weighty
difference ; because, if it is " resurrection from the
dead," it impUes that whUe the rest of the dead re
main in their graves, there is a resurrection not
common to all mankind, bad and good, but belonging
only to those that are dear to God. The Apostle con
sidered this resurrection to be so bright and blessed,
that he says, in effect, I care not what the sufferings
and trouble may be, let' the road be what it may — if I
am but there ; this is what I wait for and desire at aU.
cost. For when he said, " If by gny means I might
attain," not a shade of doubt is implied as to his' hav
ing part in the first resurrection; but rather that he
so valued the prize as to mind not what the path of
suffering might be, that led to the goal.
Now let us carry the Ught ef this back to the
Revelation. The reference in "the rest pf the dead"
is to the wicked dead. A resurrection was shown of"

575
aU the departed saints up to the display of the king
dom. "But the rest of the dead Uved not again, until
the thousand years were finished " (ver. 5). There
is no difficulty, reaUy, in the passage; but men have
their own thoughts and opinions, and cannot make
scripture square with them, whereas all is as plain
as God could make it. "This is the first resurrection,
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection " (ver. 6.) How beautffuUy this answers
to what the Lord had said to the Sadducees, "They
that are accounted worthy to obtain that age, and the
resurrection from the dead!" So, again, St. Paul:
"H by any means I might attain to the resurrection
from the dead."
"On such the second death hath no power." Mark,
once more, the force of the Lord's words in the gospel:
"Neither can they die any more." As for the persons
left to be raised after the thousand years are over, they
are to die another and most woful death — the second
death. By it all those who had not part in the first
resurrection are to die. Theirs shall be the second
death — meaning that extinction of aU hopes of blessing
when all else is blessed in heaven and earth, and they
perpetually abide under the wrath of God. They are
cast into the lake of fire. As for those who have
part in the first resurrection, " they shall be priests
of God and of Christ, and shall -reign with Him a
thousand years;'' and afterwards shall they reign in
Ufe by Him for ever and ever.
The last three verses that we looked at form a
kind of parenthesis in the chapter, something Uke
what we saw in chap. xU. There the war in heaven

576
and the consequent casting down of Satan came in,
and then the history which had been alluded to before
(ver. 6) was resumed in ver. 13. Here is something
similar, for the seventh verse continues the history that
had been already begun just at the close of the third
verse. We find there Satan bound for a thousand
years, and consequentiy his power of seducing the na
tions into rebeUion against God intercepted for a time.
After these things, we were told, he must be loosed
for a Uttle season. The seventh verse anticipates his
loosing and its effects. "When the thousand years are
expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall
go out to deceive the nations which are in the four
corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them
together unto the war : the number of whom is as the
sand of the sea," (ver. 8). Evidently, therefore, verses
4-6 form a parenthesis — important, no doubt, but stiU
a parenthesis, and not a part of the regular history
found here. One reason why it is given here may be
to show that, during this same period when Satan is
bound, there is the blessed side — not only the evil one
restrained, but Christ and His saints reigning over the
earth. It is never said that we shaU reign on the earth.
In Rev. v. 10 I have already shown that the com
mon version of that verse, which conveys this, is
somewhat inaccurate, and that the true thought of
the Spirit of God is; not the place where the saints of
God then dweU, but the sphere of their reign. "They
shaU reign over the earth." The importance of the
change is not so much as an isolated fact, but because
it is connected with the whole scheme of truth; and
it is a part of this scheme that the heavenly saints are

577
never to be mingled with people on the earth. The
promise of the first place of earthly blessing belongs to
Israel, and therefore it would make the utmost con
fusion, if the heavenly, glorified saints were jumbled
with men in their natural bodies in this world. In
fact, one pf the strongest objections that many Chris
tians urge to the reign of Christ over the earth is
founded on the notion that premUlennialism supposes
the glorified saints to be mixed up with the people
then ahve here below. But this is a great mistake.
The church will have its own proper glory; but withal,
there wiU be two orders or spheres of blessing, and one
of a higher character than the other. All things in
heaven will be gathered under the headship of Christ,
but, beside this, all things on earth will be at the same
time under the same government. Such is the
peculiarity of the mUlennium. There will be the
heavenly portion above, and the earthly one below,
connected together, but not confounded. This is
distinctly taught in Eph. i. 10, where the apostle says
that the mystery of God's will has been made known
"according to his good pleasure which he hath pur
posed in himself for the administration of the fulness
of times, to gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him." I am aware there are many who suppose
that it speaks of the gospel dispensation now going on.
But this is unfounded. The church is not a gathering
of aU nations, but, on the contrary, an elect body out
of them all. It never was and never will be a gather
ing of aU natipns, peoples, and kindreds, and tongues,
into one. Besides, the verse speaks of a gathering of

578
all things. There is a gathering together of the-
children of God; for Christ died that -He should gather
together inone the children of God that were scattered
abroad. But here it is. a question not of persons, but
things. When the , glorious .administration takes
place, of which the Apostle speaks, all things are ' to
be put under Christ's headship. He has aU under
His, headship now, in title, but not as an actual dis-
-played fact.
'Daniel does < not , say that aU was to be put ; under
the Sou of man, nor does the Holy Ghost reveal that
secret of God's wUl in the Old Testament. There was
the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven.
But the New Testament, shows us more ; it teaches us
that, at the very same time when aU things on earth
will be put under His .government, all- things in heaven
wUl be put under Him too. Nor this merely in a pro
vidential way as now, but directly and personally.
The Lord, of course, is above Satan, the, god and prince
of the world that now is. He does act providentially
now ; and, beside that,! He has .the full personal title
to exorcise all glory, heavenly and earthly. But the
time when He enforces the title, and takes all things
under His hand, is future. If He had taken it, now
in an immediate way, all wickedness would be put
down. None could sin without judgment ; neither
would there be such a thing as righteousness suffering,
or iniquity exalted. All this is a proof that, in the
foil actual sense, the Lord Jesus Christ is not yet
reigning, however true it may be to faith. Look, • for
instance, at Psalm xcvU : "The Lord reigneth."
People quote this, as if applied when the Holy Ghost

579
wrote, or now at ¦ any rate. But the next words
refute this; because, when the Lord does reign, as
here meant, the earth wUl rejoice, &c. Whereas, it is
plain from Rom. vUi., not to speak of every day's
experience, that the earth is groaning in misery, and
that the whole creation travaUs in pain until now,
which is the very reverse of rejoicing. But when the
Psalms meet their full accompUshment, all creation
wiU be delivered and wiU rejoice under the reign of
Jehovah. Faith can say that the Lord reigns now :
but He is not yet exerting royal power over the earth.
When Christ comes in His Kingdom every opponent
will have to be put down, and consequently there
must be judgment. The, beast and the false prophet
were set aside, as we see in chap, xix., and then comes
the reign. And although every one is not, to:- be
converted, no open sin wUl be permitted. It may, be
•a 'ffeigned obedience" that is rendered by a large part
of the people upon the earth, but stUl, in some sort, it
wUl be obedience even from "the sons of the stranger."
That is the true thought of the millennial reign. It
means a time, not when there wUl be no evil, but
when evil wUl be suppressed by the presence of the
Lord; when the heavenly glory wUl be in immediate
connexion with the delivered and gladsome earth ;
when the earthly people will be restored to their own
land, converted, and owning that blessed. One whom
their fathers crucified; for in Zech. xii. -xiv. we see the
very circumstances, at least as to the earth, that 1
allude to. In the last chapter the Lord is "king over
all the earth : in that day shall there be one Lord and
his name one." This is precisely the mUlennium.

580
All nations are seen coming up to own the Lerd : if
-any refuse, they are te be chastised. The Spirit of
Ged particularly notices the punishment, viz., the
withdrawal of rain from such nations as should not
-come up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In Egypt,
where such a want would not be felt, the land having
other sources of fertility, there should be another:
punishment, "the plague wherewith the Lord wUl
-smite the heathen," &c. Plainly, then, the prophecy
shows us the earthly glory under the reign of the Lord.
But Ephes. i. points us not merely to the heavenly
glory, butto the union under Christ of the heavenlies and
the earthlies — of all things both which are in the heavens
and wliich are on the earth. It is not that all are to
be reduced to the same level, but that aU must be
gathered in one united system, as having one head
over aU, even Christ. But the church is not included
in any of these things. We are not confounded with
either; on the contrary, we are spoken of as those who
have obtained an inheritance in Christ over all. The
church is not to be a glorious people only, over which
Christ is to reign. We are heirs of God, and joint-
heirs with Christ — not merely heirs under Christ, but
with Him — according to the blessed type given at the
very beginning of man's history, where, whUe Adam
liad the glory of being head over this lower world, his
wife shares the dominion in virtue of her union with
him. The church is the spiritual Eve of the Lord
Jesus, the bride of the last Adam. ' This may somewhat
explain the force of the words in Eph. i. 10, 23, and
it shows us the importance of the day we are looking at
in Rev. xx. For "the thousand years" answer to this

' 581
very period, when the administration will be in the-
hands of the Lerd Jesus, the exalted and manifested
Head ever all things, and the church wiU share all
along with Him.
There is another remark that I would make. It is-
the New Testament alone that gives us the statement
of the period of the reign. It is there that we find
its duration of a thousand years defined. Almost all
prophecy refers to it, but here its bounds are assigned,
and its relation to the eternal state which succeeds.
In one sense Christ will reign, and the saints also,
for ever and ever. So it is laid down doctrinally,
apart from time, as in Rom. v. 17, where it is said,
" they shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." This-
does not refer to the mUlennial reign particularly,
which is only a part of the reigning in life by Christ
Jesus. Our life in Christ, being an everlasting one,
involves, to my mind, that, in a certain real and im
portant sense, there wUl be a reigning blessedly and
gloriously with Christ for ever and ever. But, on the
other hand, where we hear of a kingdom given to
Christ, which He surrenders before the end to God
even the Father, this special reign for a Umited time
has also a bearing on the heavenly saints. Of course
the proper divine glory of Christ is distinct from these
glories and can be communicated to none. But God
spoke of a special reward — the reward of suffering
for Christ. " If we suffer, we shall also reign with
him." " If so be that we suffer with him, that we may
be also glorified together." All this bears on the
mUlennial reign. Christ wUl be then pubUcly exalted
in the world — in the very place where He was despised-

582-
and rejected. And the saints wUl be pubUcly exalted -
with Christ in the place of their shame and sorrow,
where they have followed Christ with feeble and falter
ing steps, but where they clave to the name of Jesus,-
in spite of loss and reproach. But besides these ' special
rewards, there is the glory, blessedness, and joy which
will never pass away.
The mUlennium will be a time when many saints
are to be brdught to the knowledge of the Lord.
It will be the great harvest of blessing — the time
celebrated with such rapture in the Psalms and Pro
phets, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover
the earth, as - the waters cover the sea. This does not
imply necessarily that every person who knows the
glory of Jehovah will know His grace, and be con-'
verted. Nevertheless, many will be brought to - the
Lord. But there wUl also be a true and real know
ledge of God given at that very time. For the Holy
Ghost will be poured out from on high in a special i
manner, of which the day of Pentecost was, in com
parison, only Uke the former rain, whUe that wUl be as
the latter rain. It was the foreshadowing of future
fulness of blessing — greater at least in extent — wliich
will be realized in the millennium.
Now the saints of "that day" will never suffer as ai
privilege, — never know- what it is to follow Christ in '
reproach, and to be cast out with Him. Consequently
they wUl not reigri in' the kingdom. All saints from
the beginning, and up to the millennium, wUl have
suffered with Christ more or less. But tbe church
having pre-eminently known the fellowship1 of His-
sufferings, will have special glory. And those

583
saints who will be brought in after the millennium
has commenced, and who have never known His suffer
ings; will not so share the kingdom. Those before
it will be brought into the scene of glory, and
changed, because corruption never can inherit incor
ruption. Therefore, when they are brought in where
God makes all things new, there can be no question of
their bearing the likeness of Christ, because they are '
part of the family of the last Adam, and as being in
connexion with Christ, and having His life, that Ufe
will have all its way as to both body and soul : they
wUl be changed into His likeness. It is true that we
have no positive statement as to the millennial saints,
when this change will take place. But we may gather,
I think, from general principles, that it wUl be iri the
interval after the millennium is over, and before the
new heavens and new earth appear with their blessed '
inhabitants. But this silence of scripture has left
rcpm for spme to be beguiled into the strange notion
that the millennial saints will remain in their natural
bodies, marrying and giving in marriage, throughput aU
eternity ! Such a nction as this has no warrant what
ever in tho word of God. It resulted from always
interpretmg the expression "for ever and ever," as if
it must mean eternity necessarily and in every case.
In some places it does, but in others it does not.
Supposing that God is speaking of an earthly state of
things, and- uses the expression, "reigning for ever and
over," as in Dan. vii. and Luke i., it cannot be under
stood absolutely. The words must be limited by the '
subject-matter of which God is speaking. Thus, in
human things, if a man buys a house " for ever," it

• 584
does not mean throughout eternity, but as long as the-
world goes on in its present form and way; his right
holds good whUe the earth subsists as left in the hands
of man. So God uses the phrase, "for ever and ever,"
when speaking of earthly things and people. Only
the case is far stronger than in ordinary human trans
actions ; for a revolution may despise and destroy
every such deed of conveyance. But the kingdom of
Christ, before which all opposing authority must bow
and become nuU, is that which secures Israel, &c, in
aU the promises of God. Thus, " reigning over the
house of Jacob " cannot but be modified by this — as-
long as the house of Jacob exists as such. But when
the expression is in connexion with the new heavens^
and earth, in the full sense, Israel is no longer found
nationaUy earthly : such distinctions disappear, when
men are raised from the dead or changed. When
eternal life or eternal punishment is spoken of, we
must take the expression in the largest sense, because
these things have nothing to do with the earth ; they
belong to the resurrection-state. If appUed to earthly
things, it must be taken in a limited sense, but when;
appUed to things outside this world, it must be taken
absolutely in all its extent. Now in Daniel vU. 27,
"the kingdom under the whole heaven," which is
given to the people of the saints of the Most High, is-
said to be an everlasting kingdom. This, I apprehend,
is the same period that is called here the thousand years.
The Holy Ghost, in the New Testament, gives us
the winding up of all the ways of God, and shows
us that what may have appeared to the Old Testament
saints to be an absolutely everlasting condition, is

585
limited and quaUfied by further revelations, which
make known to us two stages, as it were, instead of
one. Thus, the earthly kingdom, spoken of in Daniel,
is to be " everlasting" in this sense, that it wUl never
pass out of the dominion of Christ — never be taken
out of His hands and given to another (as previous
empires had been taken from their respective rulers),
hut it wiU remain, as long as God has an earthly king
dom at all, in His hands, and in the hands pf the
saints of the Most High. When the earthly state
ceases, and that kingdom is given up, Christ reigns
everlastingly, though in another way. For in the
eternal state it will evidenfly not be a question of all
people, nations, and languages serving Him.
This chapter passes cursorily over the mUlennial
state, as far as men on the earth are concerned. If
persons wish to look at the earthly part of the thousand
years, they must search into the Old Testament. There
it is sppken of constantly as " that day " — when the
GentUes wUl be brought in and blessed — when God's
name will be exalted — when there will be a suspen
sion of all warfare and strife. It is the day when the wil
derness shaU rejoice and blossom, like the garden cf
Eden, and when the ransomed of the Lord shall come
to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their
heads — and all sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
These words are descriptions that the Holy Ghost gives
of this blessed period in the kingdom. Many
have been disposed to take the prophetic accounts
of the mUlennium figuratively : but they must allow
that these figures may be much more fully accomplished
than they suppose. In other words, I take the glow-
p2

586
ing accounts given of the mUlennium in the Old
Testament prophecies as emblems of real and abundant
blessing on earth. These figures may have a sort of
spiritual meaning too. But, allowing this, we do not
take away the simple and natural meaning of the
phrase. For instance, scripture speaks of the wolf
and the lamb, and other animals that now devour one
another, Uving together in union and peace. They
may be applied as figures te describe what wUl be
morally true of men — though I do not myself believe
that this is the real intent.
For why should not God bring back the creatures
that He has made, and about which He takes a
far greater interest than men suppose, to a state
at least as good as that in which they were
created ? Why should not God root out all the evU
consequence that sin has brought in, physically as weU
as morally ? Because the sin of Adam had effects far
beyond his own race : all that was put under his
dominion got into ruin and disorder. And this is
not a mere imaginative notion of ruin, nor a fanciful
exposition of Old Testament prophecy. It is the
doctrine plainly and positively laid down in Rom. viU.
It is written there, that "the creature was made sub
ject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him
that had subjected the same." There you have the
fall of him that was over the creature. He fell ; and
creation, being under the headship of Adam, fell along
with him. It was he who made it subject to vanity ;
misery and death came in through him. For there is
no reason to suppose that death would have reigned
with regard to the brute creation of the Adamic

587
wprld, any more than with regard to man, if sin had
noft entered. I am aware that the wise men of this
world often speak of fossil remains which show the
doath of animals before man was created. Into such
disquisitions I do not enter, but would only say
that there was not the same state of things under
Adam. Supposing, now, the facts and inferences of
geologists to be sound — whatever living creatures may
have been made and destroyed in the earth, before
Adam was created, scripture is entirely silent about ;
:amd so I desire to be in expounding it. They are
questions of no moral importance, and, therefore, a
-•Christian need not meddle with them. I add that
these theories, if true, do not contradict scripture in
the slightest degree. For there is not a trace of man
• connected with that state of things which preceded
Adam ; and scripture passes over it, hastening to what
is immediately connected with him. When the
human race begins upon the earth, the moral dealings
of God are gradually developed. But man quickly
foil, and then creation was degraded through its fallen
head. Death, as far as regards the Adamic werld, en
tered through the disobedience of Adam — death,
directly as to men, and as a consequence, its ravages
spread throughout all the lower living creation.
When the Second Adam, exalted above the heavens,
shall come again, He wUl not merely have such a
dominion as tho first Adam had, when all things in
heaven and earth shall be put under His glorious
sway. There is not a single spot nor creature of God's
universe but what will feel the effects of His glorious
power, whereby He is able to subdue even all things

588
unto Himself. Thus, if once man fell bringing in sia
and death and misery, and if aU the attempts of the
race to remedy the mischief, outward and inward,
have been but expedients and no real cure, the Lord
Jesus wUl be the good and sovereign and almighty
Healer of every evil and sorrow of creation. And.
God will have such joy — His own joy — in relieving
all the -wretchedness that sm had brought about accord
ing to His estimate of the worth of His Son. And
if all, up to this trine, wUl have been but the filling up
of man's cup of woe, how blessed will be the time when
God reverses the history, and when His awn Son, n°-
longer rejected and despised, shall fill the throne of
His earthly and heavenly glory ! When all wicked
ness shall be put down, and righteousness for ever
exalted,* not by bare power and glory, but by the One
who in grace had borne all the sorrow first, and suffered
the consequences of all the wickedness, according to-
the fuU hoUness of God, upon the cross ! And how
sweet to think that God wUl there show that there is
not an evil, nor a degradation, nor a pang for which
He has not some suited and glorious answer in and
through His Son ! For He wUl then put forth all His
might to glorify His own Son in the presence of all
flesh, even of those who sent the message after' Him,
"We wUl not have this man to reign over us." But
when the Blessed One returns, having received the
kingdom, and will reign as the risen exalted Son of
man, all creation will feel the gladdening effects of the
Saviour's headship and rule.
The Lord will exalt Israel on earth and make them,
who have been so peculiarly His bitter enemies, to-

589
lead the song of praise with their once rejected Mes-
Hiah, now in the midst of the congregation. Then it
is that thoy will take up Psalm c, the psalm of thank-
giving, and will invito all lands to come and praise the
Lord; yoa, to enter His courts with praise. What a
contrast to all that has gone on, or is going on still !
ITow different from tho hatred which tho Jews have
over shown against tho mere sound of grace going out
to tho 0 entiles I Kor when Paul tolls them how the
Lord had said to him, as ho prayed in tho temple at
Jerusalem, "Depart, lor I will send thee far hence
unto tho Gentiles," thoy heard him to that word ; but
it was more than their proud hearts could brook, and
so thoy lifted up their voices and said, "Away with
such a follow from the earth : it is not lit that he should
live." I tut hpw will grace havo changed and enlarged
l,ho narrow hearts of Israel, when they will them
selves go forth with the invitations of mercy to the
Gentiles, who had insulted them in all their weary
wanderings over tho face ef the earth, and who had
trodden down Jerusalem during thoir appointed times !
The Jews, like Cain, have the mark of tho Lord
on thorn, that they shall not bo utterly extinguished,
iu spite of their blood-guiltiness. But the Lord will
give them ropontanco in the latter day, and thence
forward they will be the suited and blessed heralds of
His grace to the uttermost parts of the earth.
This time of blossodness under tho Messiah is what
is found so often and so fully in the Old Testament
scriptures. Tho Gospels, too, open with similar
oxpoctulions on the part of tho Jewish saints. But
further light begins to dawn, as tho rejection of

590
Christ becomes more decided, tUl at length, redemption-
being accomplished, the Holy Ghost was sent down
from heaven, and He brought out the full mind of"
God. Then it was that the distinction between the
kingdom and the eternal state was made plain. (1 Cor.
xv. 24-28.) It was shown that the earthly reign of
Christ, which in the Old Testament might have a]>
peared unlimited, wiU, in reality, come to a close when
He shall have put down all rule, and all authority,
and power.
There are many who think that the millennial state
of things is to be gradually brought in by the preach
ing of the gospel, and other agencies that are now in-
operation. No doubt they look for God to bless thenr
in a still greater degree ; for no Christian, perhaps,
would say that present appearances warrant such ex
pectations. But they think that if, instead of the few,
there were many servants of God, and that if it
pleased God to bless the word to the conversion of
multitudes everywhere; and if a spirit of greater love
and union and devotedness prevailed among those
that love the name of Christ, generaUy, there and
then would be the reign of Christ on the earth.
Now, I would ask, How do we know that there is
to be a millennium at all ? You answer, From the
word of God. But, how is the millennium to be
brought about? HumUity would answer, We must
learn this, too, from the word of God. We all acknow
ledge that the earth is to be filled with the knowledge
of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. — How is this
to be effected? It is remarkable that, in the very
scripture (Isa. xi. 9) where these words occur, the

591
Holy Ghost intimates that judgment must precede
this time of blessing. (See ver. 4.) In that passage the
universal spread of the knowledge of the Lord is made
to foUow His smiting the earth with the rod of His
mouth, and His slaying the wicked with the breath of
His Ups — the very scripture that the Apostle Paul
applies in 2 Thess. U. 8, to the destruction of Antichrist,
the man of sin. The Lord shall consume him with
the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy him with
the brightness or manifestation of His coming.
It is perfectly true, then, and agreed, that there is
to be a millennial time of blessing on the earth; and
the answer to the question, how ib is to be introduced,.
is this: the same scripture which reveals that blessed
change tells us that it is to be brought in by the Lord's
coming and smiting the wicked one (in other words
by judgment, and not by the preaching of the gospel.)
The gospel is of all importance for calling souls from
earth to heaven; but it is not the means of dealing
with the whole world, and filling it with blessing. It
is the means of gathering the church out of the world
to Christ. When judgment has had its fuU course,
then the. Lord will send out His servants. The Lord
will give the word, and great will be the company of
those that publish it. " Out of Zion shall go forth
the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."
The present dispensation is one of gathering out in
separation from the world. The gospel ought to be
preached to all, but not with the vain hope that all are
ever to believe it. Thus the Lord, in Mark xvi., whUe
bidding His disciples to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature, takes pain to add,

592
" He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but
he that believeth not shall be damned." He prepares
them for an individual and partial reception of it.
Thus they would not be cast down, if they found but
a few here and there who received the word of life.
It might be but a Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a
woman named Damans, and others with them. And
what were they to the crowds wdio listened to the
Apostle on Mars' frill ? It was a matter of joy and
thankfulness to hear of any who believed to eternal
life, for it is thus that God preserves His servants
from being cast down. It is well to know that all
are not going to receive the gospel, but that God is
accomplishing His own purposes. Therefore, when the
Lord bleSses the word and awakens the conscience of
a poor sinner here and there, it is a cause of rejoicing.
But we know that as a whole, evil wUl increase, and
" evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived." How can that be, if the mUlen
nial blessing is to be the result of the present Or such
like efforts of Christians in the gospel ? But the Lord
is to smite the earth with the rod Pf His mouth, and
to slay the wicked with the breath of His lips, which
is Said to be like a stream of brimstone (Is. xxx. 33).
Is that like the gospel ? It is the exact opposite — a
figure of destructive judgment. The gespel deUvers
from Tophet, but the judgment ef the Lord casts into
it irrevocably. Clearly, then, it is a judgment from
the hand cf God Himself, and net one which man,
much less the church, wUl execute. It is not the
business of the church to cast into Tbphet. No power
but God's can consigri to hell.

593
But there is another thing that characterizes the
millennium — the binding of Satan in the abyss. Can
the church bind Satan ? WUl any one tell me that
Satan can be absolutely hindered from deceiving the
world by men ? But there can be no universal blessing
for the world till he is bound ; and every Christian
must acknowledge that God alone can either bind or
crush Satan. He may employ an angel, or associate
the saints with Himself, as it is said in Rom. xvi.
20, " The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your
feet shortly." The church is united to- Christ, and
then will be actually with Him, who, as the woman's
Seed, is to bruise the serpent's head ; but the power is
in Christ, and not in the church. He wUl put down
.all adversaries when that day of judgment comes; as
it is said, " He will smite the nations, and rule them
with a rod of iron." (Rev. xix.) And we shall do
the same in vritue of our association with Christ.
(Rev. ii.) In the reign of peace (Rev. xx. 4, 6) we
shall still be associated with Him. It is by the church
in its heavenly condition, not whUe we are on the
earth, that Satan wUl be thus bruised.
But it is perfectly clear, on the other hand, that the
mUlennium is not exclusively the reign of the glorified
. Saints ; the earth, as such, with its inhabitants, will
be brought into deUverance and blessing. This wo
saw m Eph. i. 10, where the true key to its character
appears — the union of heavenly and earthly glory
under one and the same Head, in whom also we, the
body, have obtained an inheritance. There wiU be
Jews and Gentiles, blessed as such in their natural
.bodies on the earth, the subjects of the kingdom;

594
while the glorified saints wUl be the instruments of
blessing to the earth.
Now the earth is made miserable, and men hardly
know how far they are gone in rebelUon through sin.
This is not all; for there is an unseen enemy, a
dark and untiring adversary of God and man, who has
his hosts of wicked angels subject to himself (Rev,
xU.), and use them as the instruments of his seduction..
AU this will pass away ; and those very scenes which
are now filled by wicked spirits, the heavenly places
(not of course the place where God dwells in His un
approachable glory, but the lower heavens that are
connected with the earth) will be a part of the do
minion of the church in glory, and the heavenly saints
wUl be as much used to be the means of joy and bless
ing to the world, as the wicked spirits are now the-
chief agents of all its misery. They may for a little
season emerge from their prison, after the millennium
to lead the distant nations of the earth into a last con
spiracy against the Lord ;but they wUl never regain
their former access to the heavenly places, where their
influence was the more subtile and dangerous.
Then wUl dawn the day of the greatest glory for
the world. Of course I am not speaking of the cross >
for there is no exaltation Christ wUl ever have given
Him that can be compared with the real, deep glory
of His death. It has, as it were, put it into the power
of God to show mercy, according to His own heart;
and, therefore, there is not a single joy of the mUlen-
nium but what wUl flow from the cross of Jesus.
Nay, it has eternal consequences, and not for the mU-
lennium only. But the age to come, or millennium,.

595
whUe very important, and a time of wonderful bless
ing, wiU be imperfect. And for this reason. There
-will be men stiU in their natural bodies upon the earth,
many of whom wUl be unconverted. Accordingly,
this very chapter shows us that, after the termination
of the thousand years, " Satan shall be loosed out of
his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations
which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and
Magog, to gather them together unto the war ; the
number of whom is as the sand of the sea." (Ver.
7, 8.) We do not read this in the Old Testament ;
for as it does not intimate the close of the reign, so
neither does it show us the epoch when Satan will be
let loose. The terms in which the judgment upon the
evU one is spoken of there might be construed into a
single stroke, which made an end of the matter.
From Isa. xxiv. we learn thatthe scene of the punish
ment of the high ones is to be on high, as the kings of
the earth will be punished on the earth. It is evident
that by the host of the high ones the Spirit of God
does not refer to exalted men on the earth, (for they
are in contrast with the kings of the earth,) but to
the powers of evil in the heavenly places. (Compare
Eph. vi. 12.) This is exactly what we find, though
with fuller detaU, in Rev. xU., xix., xx. The kings of
the earth meet with their punishment on the earth,
while Satan and his minions suffer, the host of the high
ones, on high. Satan is cast out to the earth, and
his angels are cast out with him. Their place is found
no more in heaven. The particulars are not given
tiU the Revelation. That day wUl see the judgment
of all foes above or below. For that this is the mU
lennial day requires no proof.

596
Next in Is. xxv. 6 it is said, "And in this mountain
shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of
fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things,
full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined."
It is a time of blessedness never known before. Nor is
it confined to a certain number gathered out as now,
but " in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make
unto all people a feast," &c. " This mountain" is said
of the land of Palestine, [because it will be to the whole
-earth the spot where the Lord wUl be exalted. Of
course, this is to be understopd morally, not physically.
Remark what we have in the next verse. "And he
will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering
cast over all people." The Lord wUl destroy the dark
ness that is over the face of all nations now, " and the
veil that is spread over all nations." But this era wUl
be also characterized by the resurrection. " He will
swallow up death in victory," evidently referring to
the first resurrection spoken of in the Revelation;
Then only is the victory complete. (Compare 1 Cor. xv).
" And the Lord God wUl wipe away tears from off all
faces ; and the rebuke of his peeple shall he take away
from off all the earth : for the Lord hath spoken it."
It is the time of blessing for the Jewish people, "And it
shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God ; we have
waited for him, and he will save us." Here, beyond a
doubt, it is persons upon earth that need to be saved.
The church is saved already, and we do not wait for
"that day" to come that our God should save us.
They wUl be saved in the day of glory; we are saved
in the day of grace. "This is the Lord: we have
waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his

597
salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of
the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down
under him, even as straw is trodden down for the-
dunghill." There we have one of the neighbouring
enemies of Israel trodden down ; for it is to be a day
of judgment as well as blessing.
In ch. xxvi. it is written, " In that day shall this
song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong
city," &c. In the latter part of it, which I would refer
to because of its importance, Israel says, " We have been
with chUd, we have been in pain .... we have not
wrought any deliverance in the earth," &c. " Thy
dead men shall live," (the words "together with"
having no kind of business there,) "my dead body
shall they arise." "Thy dead men," that is, the
Jewish people, who are regarded, in a figure, as
being dead; just as in Ezekiel, where they are
represented as not only dead but in their graves. But
as the Lord causes His wind to pass over those dry
bones, and they live ; so here, "Thy dead men shall
live, my dead body shall they arise." Not merely thy
dead body, but Mine. I own them— they belong to
Me. Jehovah appropriates them as His, dead though
they may have been. They are to be so no longer ; they
shall arise. " Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust :
for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall
cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into
thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee." This
is not like the church. The heavenly saints do not
enter into their chambers on earth, but are taken
away to be in the Father's house in heaven. But here
is a question of the Jewish people. They are com-

598
forted, and are told to arise out of their degradation,
"for thy dew is as the dew of herbs," " Come^
my people ...... hide thyself as it were .for a little
moment, untU the indignation be overpast," The
indignation that God had so long against His people
wUl be turned now into indignation against tiieir
enemies. The Assyrian, used heretofore as God's rod
for chastening Israel, must now meet with his own final
doom. " For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity :
the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no
more cover her slain." And yet this is manifestly the
time when He introduces the millennium, nojb after
it is over. The Lord comes out of His place to punish
the inhabitants of the earth. Is this Uke the gospel,
where, instead of proclaming the remission of their sins
He comes to punish them ? Not at all. Further, "In
that day the Lord, with his sore, and great and strong
sword, shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even
leviathan that crooked serpent : and he shall slay the
dragon that is in the sea." Doubtless there is a general
reference to the wicked one, Satan, the ancient serpent.
Only here he is not seen as one that had a place on
high, but defeated and rejected here below. He is not
spoken of with the same minuteness as in the Reve
lation, which gives us the full light cf Gpd upon the
subject and the details.
Moreover, we find that at the end of the mUlennium
God will show that the" day of glory (the thousand
years, which from the part of the day of the Lord, when
Satan is bound, and the Lord Jesus reigns manifestly)
wUl no more convert souls of itself, than the day of

599
grace and the publishing of the gospel to the ends of the
earth. For if the day of grace requires the immediate
power pf Gpd to save an individual soul, of course the
same power will be requisite here below in the day of
glory. . Whilst the Lprd is there, evil will be kept
dewn ; there wUl no leader pf man in his evil. But
the mement Satan is allowed te ccme eut pf his place,
and again exercises his power, we have plain proof
that the heart of man is unchanged. He goes out to
the four ccrners pf the earth te deceive the nations,
and gathers them together for destruction.
These nations are called by a symbolic name, which isa
sort of allusion to the enemies of Israel spoken of in Ezek.
xxxvUi. xxxix. But they are not the same, and must be
carefully distinguished. Fer in Ezekiel Gog is literally
an individual person — the prince of the vast north-
•eastern territories and peoples, known in our time as
the empire of Russia. Gpg is to be the then leader
of that country, which is called in scripture "the land
of Magog." Indeed this is the positive meaning of
the words rendered in our Bibles "chief prince." It
ought to be "prince of Rosh." But when the Scriptures
were translated into Latin, (which had a great influence
upon succeeding versions,) the Russian empire did not
exist and could not be known by that name. For the
north of Europe and Asia was then merely inhabited
by hordes of wandering barbarians, called Sarmatians,
Scythians, &c. So when the corrector of the old Latin,
Jerome, came to the Hebrew "Rosh," he thought it
muBt be taken not as the name of a people, but as a
common noun, meaning "head" or "chief," just as the
Franks, besides giving their name to a neighbouring

6,00
country which they conquered, also meant, "free nlen-f"
Hence, probably, in pur version "Rpsh" wagjtwislated
chief, which the Hebrew wcrd , might equally well
bear, if a proper name were not required byjtiip con
text; for ."prince of chief, Meshech and.Tubal" makes
no good sense. Therefore, I suppose, the fj^skvto^sj
not knowing what .better fo make pf it, put thejc-laU'Sfe-
clpwn vaguely as "chief prince of Meshech and TubaL"'
However, it,, is well known, that learned persons who
had no light,, or a very partial one, on prophecy^-;
scholars who examined the subject a hundred., years
ago, , concluded that Russia was meant. But wjhat is
much more important, the Greek version, or Septo-aginV
which was made two centuries before Christ, left it, as
'Ms, They did n°t know what place or race was meant ;t
but seeing that Meshech and Tubal were given as pro?
per names, they understood the preceding word,
sinrilarly. Thus, Gog is really to be "the prince of,
Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal," which will all her found,
in the Russian empire.*' Ezekiel then shows that,
when God restores Israel and plants them in their own
* So even Gesenius in the later results of his researches. It
lias been objected on the authority of LuitprandVOhronicle, that
the only people then called Russians by way of distinction were
the dynasty of Norsemen, who, under Rurie, acquired the "throne
of Muscovy. But I do not see the forqe of the argument. , If.
Ezekiel predicts that the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal shall
come up to Palestine in the latter day, what has the- origin of the'
name, Rosh, to do with it ? If Cush or Phut is to suffer in Egypt,,
or in the lower Euphrates, it matters little from what pointthey
first migrated. , The prince of Rosh may have sprung, .from the-
Northmen, and acquired sway over the descendants of Meshech
and Tubal. How does the coming of the Russi from Scandinavia
hinder this ? Besides, there is no doubt of the emigration of a
large part at least of the Northerns from the East. The Cushites,
Goths, Scyths, are pretty nearly at bottom the same people* as the
Druidical religion is of an Oriental source, the north of India
having been one great settlement.

601
land, Russia is te be the last great enemy that cemes
up to attack them, and meets with its own demolition
from the hands of God on the mountains of Israel.
His prophecy, I think, does not bear on recent
events, save as these may lead on to it; much less is it
to be confounded with the gathering of Gog and Magog
described in verses 8, 9. It cannet mean the same
as these; for the Jewish prephet speaks of a vast
confederacy before the millenial, or at least at the very
beginning of it ; while in the Revelation it is after
the thousand years are past.
Gog and Magog here are symbolical expressions,
founded, it is true, upon the prophet of the Chebar,
but entirely distinct. The wcrd by Ezekiel has its
accempUshment when Israel is restored. (See chaps.
xxxvi. xxxvU.) Geg ccmes up when they are dwell
ing in their unwaUed vUlages, and thinks to make
tbem an easy prey : but the Lord interferes. Gog is
put down and Israel live and flourish quietly in their
land. Here they are symbols borrowed from Old
Testament circumstances, but appUed to a time long
subsequent. The last enemy which Israel had to
encounter before the millerinium was the literal Gog ;
the last rebellion after it derives its name from that
well-remembered effort of the outside nations. Count
less swarms from the four quarters of the earth, under
the guidance of Satan, will repeat (never to be repeated
again) what the Russian chief will have done before
them. They wUl go up on the breadth of the earth,
and compass the camp cf the saints abeut and the
beloved city. Of course the earthly people and city
are meant; for Israel wUl then be a body of saints,
Q2

602
a holy people, and Jerusalem WiU be the beloved' city,
not in' mere name, 'but then, in truth, 'the 'city of
the great King. These nations come1 up and -surround
them, and-God wUL/if I may so say, be' coiripelled- to
destroy them for ever. "Fire came down from' God
out of heaven and devoured them." ' (Ver. "9.)1 ' Fire
is always the figure of God's judgment. Thus do
they perish. Their leader is not touched by this
judgment : a worse fate is reserved' for him: f And
the devil that deceiveth them was cast' into the lake
of fire and brimstone, where also [are] the beast, and
the false prophet ;> and they shall be tormented day
and night for ever and ever." His followers are des
troyed by a divine judgment upon earth, butthe devU,
who had led them by his deceits, is cast into the lake
of fire and brimstone. ";
But there is another scene that foUows— the ' most
solemn for man where all indeed1 is solemn. "And I
saw a great white throne, and him that sitteth on it,
from whose face fled the earth and the heaven ; and
there was found no place for them," (ver. 11). Mark
it well. There are many persons who suppose this to be
the time of the coming of Christ, and who consequently
put the millennium before His coming. But this wiU
not bear the Ught ef Scripture. Without going to
proofs outside the chapter, I would just take another
ground, which is short and simple, and, to my mind,
perfectly conclusive of the question. When the Lord
Jesus comes, He comes to the earth from heaven.
This is the the universal belief, as far as I know, of all
persons who have any defined thoughts about the

603
matter. But such is not the case here. For the Lord
.sits , on a great white throne, and instead of His
coming from heaven to. earth, both earth and heaven
are aU gone. It cannot be His coming to the earth,
for there is no earth to come to. The entire system of
«arth and heaven, as they now are, will have vanished
out of the scene — npt annihilated but destroyed ; for
there is a great difference between those two thoughts.
However, the earth is ne longer found filUng its own
place ; it lias disappeared. The great white throne is
not therefore on the earth at all; for, from the face
•of Him that sat on it, the earth and the heaven fled
away, and there was found no place for them. Lest it
should be thought that their fleeing away was a mere
figure of speech, it is added that " there was found no
place for them." And it. is said in 2 Peter Ui, they
shall be dissolved and their elements melt with fervent
heat. Observe, then, that when Christ is seen seated
on the great white threne, the earth and the heaven
are fled away. What are we to draw from it ? Either
the Lord Jesus Christ must have come before this, or
He wUl never come to the earth at all ; for it weuld
not be the same thing to suppose that He merely comes
ito the new earth, after aU judgment: — even ef the
wicked dead — is over. Now we know that "the
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all
judgment unto the Son" — " ordained of God to be the
Judge of quick and dead." The general faith of
Christians is that He will come back to this earth.
His feet shall stand in a day yet future on the
Mount of OUves which is before Jerusalem on the
•east, and which thenceforward is to be, net destroyed,

604
but divided in the midst as a witness of ii ' These-
circumstances cannot apply to what St. John calls the-
new heaven and new earth, but before the last physical
change. When the great white throne is found, the
earth is gone, and therefore the coming of Christ to
the earth must have been before that final scene of judg
ment. In point of fact, ' too j' we have had the coming
of Christ already described in chap. xix. and His reign-
in the early part of chap. xx. This gives distinctness-
to the character of the great white throne.* Nothing
can be more simple, if you take it in the order in which
God arranges it.' But man is ever perverse ; and so-
he blots out the coming of Christ from chap. xix.
where it is given, and imagines it in chap, xx.' LY,.
where it is not and cannot be.
Observe, also, that the judgment ef the great white-
throne is not a general judgment, any more than the-
resurrection spoken of here is a general resurrection.
In fact, the mixed idea is mere imagination. I hold
that every soul pf man (i.e., of those that have died)*

* Most extraordinary is the error for which the 4th edition of
the Horae Apoc. (Vol. iv. pp. 206-208) is distinguished from its
predecessors: the great white throne is now supposed to have
been in exercise at the opening, as well as close, of the thousand
years. The late Duke of Manchester, and a few others had
endorsed the same fancy. If Mr. E. "does not see anything in
St. John's description" of the blessed reign over the earth, ' in
contrast with the fleeing away of heaven and earth in the subse
quent picture, to negative the idea, reasoning, I fear, would "be
vain. The omission .of a detailed account of the Lord's throrie in
the previous verses is no real difficulty." His reign, and thai \ of
the glorified saints generally, we have seen to be distinctly implied
in verse 4: they had been amply promised and predicted elsewhere.
The needed revelation in this place is exactly what God provides
— the comfortable assurance that those called to testify and suffer,
after the translation of the Old Testament saints and the church,
would equally reign with Him during the thousand years, not to-
speak of eternal blessedness, which was a matter of course.

605
must be in one or other resurrection. But Scripture
:shpws us that the resurrectipn of the just is a totaUy
different thing and at a different time from the resur
rection of the unjust : they have nothing in common,
rsave .that in both cases soul and body must be reunited
for ever. There is no Scripture for an indiscriminate
rising of aU. A' few passages are used to make out a
show of proof. The Lord says in John v. 28: "The hour
is coming, in the which aU that are in the graves shall
hear his voice,* and shall come forth, they that have
done gpod, unto the resurrection of life; and they
that have done evU, unto the resurrection of judgment."
But tius does not show that they wiU rise at the same
time. The hour is coming in which both these
classes shall rise ; but, instead of saying that they are
all to rise in one common or indiscriminate resurrec
tion, He takes pains to state that they that have done
gopd are to come forth from their graves for a Ufe-
resurrectipn, and they that have done evil for a
judgment-resurrection. There are two resurrections,
then, not a common one. The very passage that men

* Not a syllable intimates, that there will be one majestic uttered
.summons, as Dr. Brown assumes (Christ's Second Coming, 4th ed.,
pp. 193, 194). Nor is the last trump, or the trump of God, con
nected with any save the righteous. This trumpet-sound, we
know from Scripture, is one. The voice of the Son of God,
Scripture with equal distinctness informs us, is to call from the
grave both those that have practised good and those that have
done evil ; but the passage itself indicates two contrasted resur
rections, which are separated by a distinction far deeper than,
though confirmed by, the difference of their respective epochs.
The question whether His voice is to be kept up through a
thousand years, is a mere cavil. There is nothing to forbid, but
on the contrary everything, in my opinion, to strengthen the
thought, that the Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard
in closing judgment aftej the millennium, as in crowning grace
before it.

Oi?
606
cite te prove a" general 'resurrection teaches, in fact,-
the reverse. St John's gospel shows' their distinctness
in character; his. Revelation shows their "distinctness
in, time. , , ' , ' ,
Persons may say, "the hour is coming" implies that
all' are to be raised much about the same time., But
the word "hour"' is often used iri Scripture (and indeed
everywhere eise)'£in a large sense. ' It might .coni-'
prehend a thousand years or more; so that if one-'
resurrection took place at the beginning of the mUlen-
nium arid the other at the end of it, it might still be
the same "hour," "The hour is coming arid now is,
whierithe dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,.
arid they that hear it shall live." (John v. 25). This'
refers to what has been going on ever since Christ was-
on earth' up to this very moment. "The hour"'
there takes in nearly two thpusarid yeiars ; and surely
it is not too much to infer that " the hour" in verse 28'
might embrace, ff necessary, a period equally long!
Scripture decides it. The same John who shows us
the rise of all the flesh from the grave, divided into two
contrasted resurrections of men characterized by opposite
moral qualities, shows us with no less plainness and
certainty the interval between these resurrections. The-
chapter that we are now examining in the Revelation is
the answer to the question, and proves that there wUl be
an interval of at least a thousand years between the two.
But this is not aU. There is a deep fundamental
difference in the nature of the resurrections, as "well as
a distinction of time. In the gospel of John, the first
is said to be a resurrection of Ufe, the second is one
of judgment. In the former are the righteous ; all who-

607,
arejudged in , the latter are ttte.eyU. , Om\ translators , •
call it the- resurrection of '.'-damnation" though the real
meaning of the word is "judgment." It is, the same
word that is used in a verse or. two- before. (Ver.' 21,
27). . " The Father judgeth noiman, but hath committed
all judgment unto the Son . j .."...„. and hath given.
him,, authority to execute judgment also, because he is
the Son of man." And.it is necessary to, bear this in
mind,, that Christ, whUe as the Son of God He gives
life, as Son of man comes to execute judgment in His
kingdom. , He gives life to the beUever, and executes
judgment on the unbeliever,,, So there are two resur
rections answering, to these titles. There is the resur
rectipn of life or the resurrection of the beUever. It
is the appUcation to his body of that power of life
which he has already in his soul. But those who
have refused Christ, what will they have ? The resur
rection of judgment. They have despised Christ now ;
they cannot escape the resurrection of judgment then.;
Looking then at Rev. xx., is not this what we have
here ? First there was the resurrection of life, of
"those that have done good." "Blessed and holy is
he that hath part in the first resurrection;" What
was said about them ? They lived and reigned with
Christ a thousand years. It is a life-resurrection. But
look at the others, the wicked — " they that have done
e-vil." "The rest of the dead lived not again tiU the
thousand years were finished." What have you here ?
" The rest of the dead lived not again till," &c. So they
do rise. ' ' I saw the dead; small and great, stand before
the throne." None but dead are there, and how
differently do they appear before the throne ! ' ' And the

608
hooks were opened; and another book was opened,
which is thebeok of Ufe: and the dead were judged out of
those things which were written in the books, according
to their works," (ver. 12). Now I fully beUeve that the
saints of God wiU have all their werks examined : what
they have done in the body wUl come out. We shall
have praise or censure acccrding tc our faithfulness or
unfaithfulness, when the Lerd Jesus takes His place
on the judgmentseat, and we stand before Him and
are manifested there. It is St. Paul that tells us this.
(Rom. xiv.; 2 Cor. v). But the object of the Holy Ghost,
by St. John, is to contrast the two resurrections. There
fore not a word is said, in the account of the first
resurrection, about our appearing before Him, that each
may receive the things done in the body, whether good
or bad; but we are represented as judging others. Such
is the way in which the Ufe-resurrection is described^
" I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment
was given unto them." They do, of course, give an
account of themselves to the Lord, and receive ac
cordingly; but the Holy Ghost has Hia own wise
reasons for omitting all allusion to it here. It is a
resurrection of life in the Gospel, and of Ufe in
Revelation. But when you come to the rest of the dead
that have not done good, when they are raised and
stand before the throne, it is the very opposite of a
life-resurrection. They have only done evU; and when
the book of life is opened, no name is to be found
there; for this is not a resurrection of life, but of
judgment. They are to be judged according to their
works, written in these other books; but their works
are calling aloud for judgment. Their works being

609
only and always evU, they are judged according to
jthem; and what is the result? There might be a
difference among them in some respects : there were
great arid small. But they were aU alike in this — they
were not found written in the book of life; and
whosoever was not found written there, " was cast into
the lake of fire." Not a word is said or hinted, that
were written there. This is a resurrection of those
who have no part in that book, and they are cast into
the: lake of fire. It is, as if God were saying, The books
of their works call for judgment : is there nothing to be
said in defence of these wretched men ? The book of life
is accerdingly opened; but they are not found there :
the last hope is gone, and if " any one was not found
written, in the book of life, he was cast into the lake
of fire." (Ver. 15). It is the resurrection of judgment.
There is nolffe, no mercy there. Those that had then-part
in the life-resurrection had been raised long before, and
never come into judgment at all ; for it is said (John
v. 24), " He that heareth my word and believeth on
him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
«ome into judgment (the same werd as in verses 22,
27 ^ 29), but is passed from death unto life."
Nothing then can be more certain than that this is
:a separate resurrection, distinct in character, and long
severed in time. The resurrection of life had taken
place leng ago, and now comes the resurrection of
judgment. "And the sea gave up the dead which
were in it." The depths which man could but imper
fectly explore cannot hide for a moment longer. Nay,
the unseen world, over which he has no control is also
forced to give up its miserable inmates. " Death and

610' ¦
Hades deUvered up the dead that were intbemy arid
they were judged' each 3 according to their works;"
(ver. 13). And their werks condemn them. Npt a
word is said. about:, them in- the bopk of life, and they
are> cast into the lake of fire. This is the second"
death, the lake- of. fire. They are raised from their
first death to be cast for ever into that place • of tor^'
ment, whence there is no escape.
The other scripture of most weight, often used for
the purpose of proving, a general resurrection, is the
one in . Daniel . What do we find there ? It is written
in chap. xii. 1 : "And at that time shall Michael'
stand up, the great prince which standeth ¦ for the-
chUdren of thy people (meaning Daniel's people, the-
Jews); and there shaU be a time of trouble, such as
never was since there was a nation even to that saine
time." Evidently, this is not the mUlennium. "And
at that time thy people shall be deUvered, every one
that shall be found written in the book." This is not
the time when the church is deUvered ; for we have
been deUvered long ago through the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But since the cross of Christ, the Jew^
ish people have only been in misery : that cross was
their guilt. They cried "His blood be on us and on
our chUdren." The time of their greatest suffering
is to be immediately before the hour of their deUver-
ance. (Jer. xxx. 7.) Our deliverance, as theirsj is
through the sufferings of Another; but what we suffer
is after our deliverance. For the Jews it is a different
destiny. They have a tremendous tribulation to go
through, yet; and it is to be the worst they have ever
had* But immediately.- after this their final deliver^

611
ance comes — "At that time thy people shall be
delivered," &xs. They will not only be delivered as a
people, but they will be saved and converted indi
vidually, accbrding to God's purpose — ¦" every one
that shall be found written iri the book." "And
many of them that sleep in the dust pf the earth shall
awake, seme te everlasting life, and some to shame
and everlasting contempt. "
This is cohimphly applied to the resurrection ; but
I am persuaded that it does not apply to the rising of
the body. It is a figure which is taken from it indeed,
and which supposes that great truth to be known.
But it is the same kind of expression, and applied to
a simUar subject and end, that I have referred to, in
Isa. xxvi. 19, where Israel Was described as "my
dead body," and was called on, as one dwelling in the
dust, to awake and sing. So here it is said, "Many
of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and ever
lasting contempt." This does not suit any scheme of
interpretation, if it be applied to a literal bodily
resurrection of' good and bad at the same moment.
You will observe that this is before the millennium.
It is evidently before the time of deliverance and bless- -
ing. There is a time of trouble, immediately after
which Daniel's people are delivered, and those who
might have been forgotten (sleeping, as it were, among*
the Gentiles), reappear, but not all for the same end-
some to shame, and some to everlasting life. (Compare,
also, Isa. lxvi. 20, 24.) This does not answer the
" purpose of those who quote the text. For their idea
is, that there is the millennium first, and then the

612
resurrection of good and bad. This , resurrection,
literal or figurative, is before the miUennium, and after
it is a time of greater trouble than Israel ever knew.
My conviction,, therefore,, is that Dan. xii refers to)
the Jews. First, in ver. 1, those who are tQ., be
deUvered are spoken ef in connexion with= the
land of Palestine. Then, lit is shown tl^tjmany
of them who have been sleeping in the dust of earth,
wiU come out of their degradation, wUl awake,
seme te everlasting lffe, &c. Some of those Jews,
that are to come forward out of their hiding-places aU
over the earth, would prove to be rebels, and- be
treated accordingly; whUe others wUl learn, that
the Lord has wrought with them for His name's
¦sake. We may compare this with Ezekiel xxxvU.,
where the dry bones set forth the house of. Israel.
No doubt can be left on any serious mind as to that
passage; for the Lord- Himself has interpreted it
as the figure of the future resurrection of Israel.
" Behold, O my people, I wUl open your graves, and
¦cause you to come up out of your graves." And, if
in Daniel it is said that some are to have everlasting
lffe, Ezekiel says that the Lord will put His Spirit in
them. It is a spiritual as well as a national restora
tion. So the passage in Daniel refers to a figurative
resurrection of Israel, when some wiU awake out of
their moral death.
We may now come back to Rev. xx. with the in
creased conviction that the doctrine of one general
resurrection is a total mistake, and that God's word
teaches a resurrection of the just, and another of the un
just. This which is spoken of at the close of our chapter,

613
is solely of the wicked dead; it is a resurrection of judg
ment. I appeal to you, whether you could rest the
salvation of your souls on your works? I admit
that Our works wiU be examined, and that we shall
receive accordingly; but this is not the same thing as
being judged accordingto cur wprks. In the one case the
person is accepted, but his wcrks are reviewed for
praise or blame; in the ether, the person is judged
according to works that are not mingled but altogether
bad. For a natural or unconverted man has no Ufe
towards God; therefore he can have nothing but evil
-works to be judged for. Not so with the believer.
No doubt there are works sometimes mingled, some
times even worse in him; but he has a standing beyond
aU that, painful as it is. He has the new nature that
God has given and wUl not take away. His works
wUl be examined, and they have a most important
bearing on the position that the Lord will assign
nim in His kingdom. To be saved or lost is never a
question of reward, but of the grace and power of
Christ. When you talk of reward, it is a debt due
for work done; but when of salvation, it is never
spoken of in Scripture as a reward of works. It is
the work of Christ — the fruit of another's work and
suffering, which God has given to us in sovereign love.
And when we stand before Christ, it wiU not be to
take our trial for condemnation or acquittal: this
would be to deny our justification and the value
of His own work. AU our ways wUl be manifested
in God's Ught, and the Lord wUl bring us triumph.
aritly through; but He will not pass over a single
thino- that has been done against Him. And as ;t

... 6.14
Christian, now can, bpfore Ged, examine his, ways,
if pass ..judgment upen them, .and i thank | God,,, for
His faithful discipline, so it|WiU ^ in a stiU ^tighter
and more. blessed an|i perfect way before the. judgment-
„ seat pf Christ. , It wUl tij^he no question of being saved
only, but pf vindicating tiif ford's .glory and, goodness.
•This is not a, thing that we ought to dreach ¦ it. is what
we shall, have, to be thankful, for -through all eterjnty.
For self-judgment even now is- the best thing, next^ to
the joy pf worshipping God and serving Him, faithfully
through grace. We shall :not have a fword to say in
defence, of ourselves, but the Lord wUl have much to
say for us. He will bring out all that we fhave
done, and we shall receive according to it, For evil
we shall suffer loss, for good we shall get reward. ,, ,
But what a difference is here! The dead that
stand rbefore the throne; they have no Ufe — nothing
but dead works., They had not Christ, and what do
their works | deserve? They are cast into the lake*of
fire. Death and Hades, are now no longer needed ;
they are personified as the enemies ef Gpd and man,
and as such, are, in the vision, (ver.. 14,) cast into the
lake of fire algo.*

* Some will be startled to hear that Mr. B. (H. A. , VoL iv. , pp.
188-195) applies Matt. xxv. 3, &c, to the rapture of the living
saints, the dead ;having been immediately before raised and caught
up. Then follows, as lie conceives, the catastrophe of an unprece
dented disruption of the earth's crust, as far as the Roman world
is concerned, the risen saints being perhaps (!) the attendants of
the Lord's coming and judgment. In a note to page 291, it is said
that though there may be a primary reference to the judgment of
the living at Christ's coming, yet secondarily a more extensive
judgment of the dead too may be included. The truth is, that all
is confusion. In fact, the sheep are distinguished from the King's
¦ brethren, as well as contrasted with the goats. Not a word implies
resurrection or rapture to heaven. It is a glorious scene on earth,

615
subsequent to Christ's appearing, and therefore to the removal of
the heavenly saints, aid a judicial dealing not with the dead but
the living ; and not with all the living, but all the nations or Gen
tiles whO|are disposed of on the grpund of their behaviour to, Tthe
iKihg, as presented by His brethren who had announced -the kingdom
(cf. chap. xxiv. 14) before the end came. Tjhere is not a trace of
resemblance to the scpne of the great white throne, nor any. judg
ment of the -dead. There is no issue beyond the solemn and final
one, for those concerned, of .honouring or despising the King in
His messengers. Besides, the insuperable difficulty for Mr. E. and
•for most expositors, is the 'place which the revelation ;of the first
resurrection occupies: viz., after the destruction pf the beast.
The non-recognition of a previous 'rupture of 'saintsjto whom the
Apocalyptic sufferers are added just before the miUennium; is the
occasion of these errors, the denial of the true and proper character
.of the church being probably the grand source of all.

CHAPTER XXI.
It would have been a happier division of these chap~
ters, if chapter xxi. 1-8 had made a part of the same
series of events which was given in chap, xx., foUow
ing it in unbroken succession. There is a very decided
termination of the chain, at the close of the 8th verse
of this chapter. Thence to the end, .and taking in the
first five verses of chap, xxn., we have another con.
nected portion. The first eight verses refer to a totally
different time from what foUows. From chap. xxi. 9r
we have to go back again to the millennium; whereas
the previous verses of the chapter are the fullest ac
count that the word of God furnishes of the new
heavens and new earth in the proper sense of the
words. This is subsequent to the thousand years'
reign, to the great white throne, and of course to the
complete dissolution of the heavens and earth that now
are, which were found when that throne was set up.
Then, when this account of the eternal state is closed,
the Spirit of God supplies a very important appendix,
if I may be allowed the expression, on the state of
things during the miUennium, which was not given
when that epoch was noticed in the historical sequence
of Rev. xix., xx., xxi. 1-8.
But, perhaps, it may be asked by some objectors,
What is the authority for dividing the chapters thus?
Why not take the whole of chap. xxi. (as it was pro
bably understood by those who made the division), as
one and the same time ? Why not suppose that the
account of the New Jerusalem in verse 10 refers to
the same date as the mention of it in verse 2 ? The

617
answer is simple. In the eternal state God has to do
with men. All time-distinctions are at an end. There
is ' no such' thing then as kings and nations. Accord
ingly, this we do find in the first eight verses. Take,
for examplo, the third verse: "And I heard a loud
voice out of heaven [or the throne], saying, Behold
the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he shall dwell
with them, and they shall be his people, and God him
self shall be with them, their God." Whereas, if we
look at the latter part of the chapter, we have again to
do with nations and earthly kmgs. "And the natipns
shall walk by means of its light; and the kings of the
earth do bring their glery," &c. When eternity begins,.
Gdd has done dealing with things according to the
order of the werld — kings, and nations, and the like
provisions of a temporal nature. All this implies
government, as government supposes that there is
evil which requires suppression. Consequently, in the
latter part of our chapter, it is not the eternal condi
tion which we have, but a previous state, the early
verses (L5) ef chap. xxU. being the continuation of
this description. There a tree is described, "and the
leaves of the tree [are] for healing of the nations."
That is, at the time of which the verse speaks, not
only are there nations, but they are not removed from
the Weed of healing, and God supplies what they want.
This must convince any unprejudiced mind that the
Spirit 6f God, in chap, xxii., does not refer to what
follows the last judgment, when all that is connected
with the world is entirely closed, but that He gees
back to a previous state when Gcd is still governing.
It will be observed also, that in the portion relative
r2

618
to the millennium (i.e. from ver. 9 of chap, xxi.) we
have dispensational names, such as the "Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb ; not so in chap. xxi. 1-8,
which discloses eternity, where God shall be all in all.
But it may help souls still further to remark, that
it is the manner of God, in this book, to take a re
trospect. I say this to show that I am not at all
arguing for something without precedent, in the order
in which, as I conceive, these events are arranged. Take,
for instance, chap. xiv. There we had seen a regular
seven-fold series of events, in the course of which the
fall of Babylon occupies the third place. After that
comes the judgment on the worshippers of the beast ;
next, the Holy Ghost pronounces the blessedness of
those that die in the Lord ; then, the Lord's coming
in judgment, presented in two ways, as reaping the
harvest, and as trampling the winepress (the harvest,
a judgment of discriminaticn, and the vintage one of
pure vengeance). Babylon there has got its place
assigned very clearly. But long after this in the pro
phecy, when the Spirit of God has given us the seven
vials of God's wrath, we have Babylon again. The
fall of Babylon is under the seventh vial. And this
is important: for the Holy Ghost then proceeds to
describe the character and conduct of Babylon, that
required such a fearful visitation from the hand of
God. In this case the Holy Ghost has carried us
down in chap. xiv. to events subsequent to Babylon's
faU, and even to the Lord's coming in judgment; and
then He returns to show us detaUs about Babylon and
her connexion with the beast, and the kings of the
earth, in chapters xvU.-xviri.

619
Now it appears to me that this exactly answers to
the order of the events in chap. xxi. There is a striking
analogy in the way Ui which Babylon and the heavenly
Jerusalem are introduced, and though, of course, there
is the strongest and most marked contrast between the
two objects themselves, still there is enough to make it
manifest that the Holy Ghost had them together in
His mind, as it seems to me. Thus, in Rev. xvU. 1 ,
it is said, " there came one of the seven angels that had
the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and
talked with me, saying, Come hither, I wUl shew
thee the judgment of the great harlot that sits by
tlie many waters." Such is the announcement, where
the vision goes back to describe Babylon and her
doom. Just so are we introduced to the counter
part of this vision in chap, xxi., which looks back at
the bride, the Lamb's wife. "And there came one
of the seven angels that had the seven vials full of
the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying,
Come hither, I wUl show thee the bride, the Lamb's
wife." As Babylon had had its place defined in the
historic line of events, and then, that Une being com
pleted, the Holy Ghost stopped to disclose, retrospec
tively and at full, those moral ways which had forced
God, so to speak, to judge her ; so exactly the Lamb's
wife, the New Jerusalem, had been seen in both
capacities, in the final sketch of the history up to the
very end. And now the Holy Ghost goes back to
describe the same New Jerusalem, with reference to
the mUlennial reign, and the kings and nations then to
be on earth. We have seen the bride, the Lamb's
wife, that had made herself ready, in chap. xix. 7.

620
We have had, in chap. xxi. 2, the New Jerusalem spoken
of as cerning down from God out of heaven, still fresh
in bridal beauty, after more than a thousand years have
passed away. But now, in xxi. 9, the very important
fact comes out, that the bride, the Lamb's wife, z's the holy
city Jerusalem. ' ' There came unto me one of the seven
angels  and talked with me, saying, Come hither,
I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he
carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and
high, and showed me [not that great city, but] the holy
city Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God."
John was called to see the bride, and looking, he saw
the heavenly Jerusalem. Thus, if we had the bride- in
relation to the Lamb, in chap, xix., and as the holy
city, New Jerusalem, in relation to the eternal state;
verse 9 and the following verses of this chapter show
us that, during the interval between the marriage of
the (Lamb, and the new heaven and- earth in the eternal
state, she has'-a very blessed place in the eyes of God and
man. It is the 'dhurch's imUlennial display.
These few prefatory 'remarbsmay clear the way, and
prove that I am not assuming more than can be
demonstrated in taking the first eight verses as the
proper sequel of the series of events found in chap: xix.
xx., and the rest of this chapter from verse 9, as a
retrogressive description of the millennial state. There
are, evidently, the strongest reasons for it, and indeed,
any other interpretation, is, I conceive, out of the
question, if the context be duly weighed. It is
impossible for an unbiassed and instructed person, who
carefully considers the circumstances here described, to
suppose that what follows the 9th verse can synchronize

621
-with the section which immediately precedes. They
are, as already remarked, two irreconcUeable states of
things.* What is it that the Holy Ghost shows the Apostle,
after the old heaven and earth had disappeared, and the
last judgment? " And I saw a new heaven -and a new
earth : for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away ; and the sea was no more." These words
are not to be taken in a mere preparatory and moral
sense. The prophet Isaiah had spoken in that way.
In Isa. lxv. a new heavens and a new earth were
announced : but how differently ! There the language
must be taken in a very qualified sense indeed. " For,
behold (ver. 17), I create new heavens and a new earth;
and the former shall not be remembered nor come into
mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which
I create : for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing,
and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and joy in my people ; and the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There
shall be no more thence an infant of days,, nor an old
man that hath not filled his days : for the chUd shall

* Had , Mr. Elliot sufficiently weighed these considerations, I
cannot think that he would have left the readers of the Horae
Apoc. (Toi. iv., pp. 201-208) in such perplexity as to the chrono
logical place of these visions of the New Jerusalem. The reason why
"sucli strong arguments," as he confesses, "press antagonistically"
for the millennial and the post-millennial reference, is, because
each side has a measure of truth left out of the account by the other.
On the one hand, it is not only the cursory but the most care
ful reader, who is compelled to allow that chap. xxi. 1-8, fairly
interpreted, is post millennial. On the other hand, the internal
evidence from verse 9 is equally conclusive that, with this new
vision of the Seer, we begin a retrospective glance at the same city
during the millennium, though, of course, its own intrinsic
Wessedness and glory will abide for ever.

622
die an hundred years old, but tbe sinner being an
hundred years old, shall be accursed." Clearly this is
a very bright change, but it is an earthly condition.
There are infants and old men here; and, though the
description is purposely contrasted with anything the
world has yet seen, stUl it is a time-state of blessedness,
and not eternity. The Apostle John shows us, in the
Revelation, the new heaven and the new earth, not in a
relative sense but in the most absolute. In the Old Testa
ment they are limited, because connected with Israel'
upon the earth. So it is said of the Lord, "He shall reign
Over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom
there shall be no end." This is an Old Testament
hope, though said in the New, and it means, of course,
that He shall reign over the house of Jacob as long as
it exists as such upon the earth. When the earth
disappears and Israel is no longer seen as a nation,
they wUl be blessed, no doubt, in another and better
way; but there will be no reign of Christ over them-
as an earthly people here below; so that this kingdom,
while it has no end as long as the earth subsists, riiust
necessarUy be limited by the earth's continuance'. It
is thus that I understand the new heavens and the
new earth spoken of in Isaiah. The New Testament
uses the phrase fully and absolutely, as an unending
state ; but in the Old Testament it is tied down to the
earthly relations of which the Holy Ghost was then
speaking. What makes it still clearer is, that the next
verse (Isa. lxv. 21) goes on to say, "And they shall
buUd houses and inhabit, them ; and they shall
plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. ' Thtey

623
shall not build and another inhabit ... . mine
elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They
shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble ;
for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord," &c.
Now all this is most cheering. So again, " The Wolf
and the lamb shall feed together  They shall
not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith
the Lord." Glowing and beautiful as this picture is
of what the Lord can accomplish, it is in connexion
with the earth and an earthly people. It is not the
eternal state, but an exceedingly glorious day, when
death wUl be tbe exception and life the rule. I say
that death will be thus rare, at least in the Holy Land,
because of that verse, " The child shall die an hundred
years old, but the sinner being an hundred years
old, shall be accursed." The meaning is, that if a
person dies at a hundred years old, he will still be
comparatively a child ; and that even when death
occurs at that age, it is only as the result of an
express curse of God. Thus will it be during the
-millennium. And this seems to answer a question often asked r
What will become of all the righteous people during
that wonderful reign ? If the first resurrection is then
past, and in the second resurrection none but the
wicked dead are raised, what can be the destiny of the
righteous who live during the millennium ? The truth
is, there is no Scripture-proof that such die during the
thousand years. What is said supposes the contrary.
Therefore, if they die not during the mUlennium,
there are no righteous to be raised at the end of it.
The resurrection at the end remains, consequently,

624
for the wicked dead solely. The righteous will be
raised before the millennium, the wicked after it.
The just who Uve during the reign of Christ are not
called to die at all, as far as Scripture informs- us.
We may be sure that these mUlennial saints wUl be
changed into the Ukeness of Christ, they will be
transplanted into the new heavens and earth. We
are not caUed upon to conjecture how this wUl be; It
is sufficient for us to know that (though they are not
described as dying during the mUlennium, and therefore
do not need to be be raised) yet, when the new earth
appears, men are found upon it, quite distinct from
the New Jerusalem, (i.e., the symbol of the glorified
heavenly saints). I believe that verse 3 warrants this
statement. " Behold, the tabernacle of God (or the
city that descends) is with men" &c.
Another proof that Isaiah does not speak, of the
eternal state described here is this. When the new
heavens and earth are seen by the New Testament
prophet, the old are said to be passed away, and the
sea no longer exists. Not so in Isaiah's prophecy.
There it was rather the spirit or pledge of the new
that came into the old ; a shadow of what was to be,
and not the very image or accomplishment of the
thing. They are said prophetically to be "new,"
because of the great joy and blessing that God will
give to His people Israel and their land. In the
Revelation "there was no more sea." In the Old
Testament, on the contrary, "the abundance of the
sea (it is said) shaU be converted unto thee ....
Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of
Tarshish first." (Is. Ix.) There can be no just doubt

625
that this chapter speaks of the same time as chap. lxv.
" For thy Ught is come, and the glory of the Lord is
risen upon thee." This and other passages prove that
there is stUl to be sea at the time spoken of by Isaiah :
the isles and ships necessarUy suppose it; and "the
isles afar of" are introduced between the two state
ments of the new heavens and new earth in Isa. lxv.
and lxvi.
Here, in Revelation, not merely the present dispen
sation, but the present heaven and earth have passed
away, and give place to "ad things made new." Doubt
less the new heaven and earth wUl be made out of the
old. Just as the resurrection-body wUl be formed out
of the present bedy of humUiation by the power of
God, so are the present earth and heavens destined to
a kindred transformation. After the dissolution, they
wUl reappear in the form of the new heavens and earth.
"No more sea" would be impossible without a miracle,
.as long as Ufe in its present condition has to be
maintained. The sea, as my reader knows, isabsolutely
neoessary to animated nature as it is. Man could not
exist without it; and se with regard to every animal
and even vegetable upon the face of the earth, not to
speak of the vast world of waters. But when time is
done — when there is no longer the natural life that is
sustained by God — when the millennium shall have
yielded the brightest witness to this, as well as to
every other fruit of His wisdom aud goodness and
power — a new state of things altogether wiU ensue,
.and this perfect and everlasting. There wUl be new
heavens and a new earth; for the first heavens and
first earth are passed away, and there is no more sea.

626
But that is not all. Into this dwelling-place and
scene of order that God will have made, so remark
ably distinguished from all that has been before, and
even from that which accompanies the reign of His
own Messiah, John sees the "holy city, New Jerusalem
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud
voice out of heaven, saying; Behold the tabernacle of
God [is] with men, and he shall dwell with them, and
they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be
with them, their God," (ver. 2, 3). I apprehend that
the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God. It is
where He abides in a very special sense. And this
tabernacle of God descends out of heaven to be with
men. The heavenly saints compose the tabernacle of
God ; while those that are found upon the new earth
are simply described as "men." They are no longer
Jews and Gentiles then, as in the millennium ; this
wUl have all passed away, with "the first or former
things." Every distinction which had to do with time-
is at an end. When a saint is risen or changed, he is
no longer a Jew or a Greek ; he is a man, though
bearing the image of the heavenly. So here God has
to do with men, and "he shall dwell with them, and
they shall be his people ; and God himself shall be
with' them, their God." Instead of regarding it from
a distance, God wUl not merely come to visit the scene
that His hand has made for man, as of old in the
garden of Eden ; but He will dwell eternally in their
midst. '• And God shall wipe away every tear from
their eyes ; and death shall be no more ; and no-
sorrow, nor crying, nor pain shall any more be ; for

627
the first things are passed away," (ver. 4.) Unques
tionably the figures that are used to describe this state-
of things are derived from Isaiah — figures which the
Spirit of God had appUed primarily to mUlennial'
blessedness. Isaiah predicts a glorious but earthly
condition, which God wUl make true of the just dur
ing the millennium. Blessedness will then be the-
rule, sorrow the exception. Similar terms, but with
striking differences, the Holy Ghost now takes up and
applies in a far deeper and really unqualified sense.
And if we look for a moment at 2 Peter Ui. we
shall find, I think, a link between Isaiah and Revela
tion. It is written in 2 Pet. iii. 10, " The day of the
Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth,
also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt
up. . . . The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." Now
it appears to me plain, that this is what takes place at
the epoch of the great white throne. For the moment
the Lord is on that throne, the earth and heaven
flee from before his face, and there is found no place
for them. It is a part of " the day of the Lord ;"
which day comprehends the whole time from the Lord's
interference to judge the world, taking His great
power and reigning, until He delivers up the kingdom,
after the millennium and the subsequent judgments
are over. * " Seeing then that all these things shaU
* My friend, Dr. Brown, will forgive me for thinking that the
argument, even in its amended shape, (Second Advent, p. 289,-)
which he " believes it to be impossible to answer," is a complete
and obvious fallacy. I deny that the day of the Lord, as St.

628
be dissolved, what manner ef persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation and godliness ; looking for
and hasting unto the coming of the day of God,
wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved;
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to his promise,, look for
new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness." Now this is the state of things described, with
fuller details of time, &c, by the Apestle John. The
new heaven and earth are what we find in the begin
ning of chap. xxi. These are the new heavens and
earth, " wherein dwelleth righteousness." Righteous
ness is at home there, because there God dwells, and
this can only be because righteousness is the pervading
feature. It is plain that the Holy Spirit in St.
Peter refers to the passage of Isaiah, as it is said,
"We according to his promise." But still He gives it
a larger and deeper meaning. And St. John, the last
of the New Testament writers, takes up the same
thought, and puts each detaU in its place. He shows
us that while the mUlennium may be a partial fulfil
ment of it, the full force of the expression will not
come out till the millennium is over; and then, when
.all is according to divine thought and purpose, God
wUl rest, and men — not Israel only, but redeemed and
glorified men — shall be His people, and He their God.

Peter uses it, is the mere epoch of the Lord!s coming, but rather
the entire period covered by His reign and judgment. Hence the
millennium, as well as the final dissolution of the actual heaven
and earth, may and do occur within the compass of His day,
while His coming may precede them both. His mistake lies in
identifying the day with the coming of the Lord.

629
One other Scripture I must refer to, in order to
connect the vaiious passages which bear on the
eternal state. In 1 Cor. xv. 23 we read that every
one is to be raised in his own order : " Christ the first-
fruits (who is raised already) ; afterward they that
are Christ's, at His coming. Then cometh the end,
when He delivers up [which is the true reading] tiie
kingdom to God, even the Fatiier, when He shall put
down all rule and all authority and power." This is the
task of Christ during the millennium : He will abolish
all opposing rule, subjecting to Himself every adversary
and all things unto the glory of God the Father, for
such is the ultimate object of His exaltation, as we see
from PhU. U. " For he must reign, tUl he hath put
all enemies under his feet The last enemy that shall
be destroyed is death." This exactly harmonizes with
Rev. xx., xxi., where we find, first, the reign of Christ,
then death destroyed, and after that the new heaven
and earth, which is the time when Christ is said in
1 Cor. xv. 24 to deliver up the kingdom to God, even
the Father. Not that Christ will cease to reign divinely:
but the special human reign of Christ will terminate-
that is, His reigning for a given period over an earthly
people, and the world at large, wliich the heavenly
saints, in glory, wUl share along with Him. This wUl
end. All the righteous wUl at last be in a risen or
changed condition, all the wicked dead cast into the
lake of fire, and the kingdom closes. Its surrender to
God the Father in no way touches the personal glpry
of tiie Lord Jesus. The kingdom that Cluist has during
tiie mUlenium is not what He has as God, but as the
risen man  as the One who was humbled, but has been

630
exalted. This He deUvers up to God even the Father,
(Himself also as man taking the place of subjection in
glory, as of old He did in grace on the earth,) that
God — Father, Son, and Holy Ghosts — may be all in
all — God, as such, having the place of supremacy
throughout eternity. But although the human and
mediatorial kingdom of Christ will terminate, not so
the divine kingdom ; and therefore we, being made
partakers of the divine nature, are said to reign for
ever and ever. (Rev. xxU). So, in Rom. v., it is said,
"We shaU reign in Ufe by one, Jesus Christ." Of
.course, partaking of the divine nature does not touch
the incommunicable glory of the Godhead. But it
remains true, that we have an eternal Ufe, and that its
endless character flows from the fact that it is given to
us by One who, though truly man, is a divine person,
by Him who is the Uving One and was dead, and,
behold, is aUve for evermore. " We shall reign in Ufe
by one, Jesus Christ " — a reign which is not limited in
time any more than sphere.
You will observe that it is God who is prominent
through this portion, exactly answering to what we saw
in 1 Cor. xv. 28. " And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he saith
[to me,] Write ; for these words are true and faithful."
(Ver. 5). He speaks that sits on the throne. We
do not get the Lamb mentioned. It is the glory of
God in the fullest possible sense that we have here.
" And he said to me, they are done. I am the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning and the end. " No doubt
Christ is the Alpha and the Omega too, as we find in
.chap. xxU. 13 ; but it is not the Lord as such that acts

631
and speaks here, but God. " I will give him that is
athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He
that overcometh shall inherit these things ; and I will
be a God to him and he shall be a son to me." (Ver.
6, 7), Nothing can be plainer than that it is God as
such who is speaking all through. "But for the
cowardly, and unbelievers, and abominable, and mur
derers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters,
and all the false, their part [shall be] in the lake that
burnetii with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death." Ver. 8). A most awful word of warning, and
especially as used here ! For mark the force of it. It
is then God shall be in all — God who is love. But He
is not merely love, which is a false and infidel thought ;
He is light, as well as love. It as much appertains to
God to be holy as to be gracious ; and it is the very
same portion of the word which teaches us both truths.
And here is the final proof of it. In love He comes
down to be with His people. They may. be men, but
they are no longer in weakness and sorrow, for God
Himself has wiped away every tear from their eyes.
But He is light, and therefore in presence of all things
new, .where righteousness dwells in peace, when there
is no evU or sin, but separation from it for ever by the
power of God ; even then the portion of the wicked
is in the lake burning with fire and brimstone. Note
well that this is the eternal state. Remember that in
the eternal state there is the doom, the never-ending
doom, of those who have rejected Christ and taken
their stand on their own miserable self. Here is the
award from God Himself. Their part is the second
death, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not

632
quenched, as the Lord Jesus so touchingly expresses it.
No declaration more solemn than that of Rev. xxi. 8,
not only because of its character, but because of its
place. When God will have rest in the new heavens
and earth — when He will ccme down to abide among
men, because there wUl no longer be any evil to check
His dwelling with them — then it is that the awful
scene presents itself of evU and its hopeless unending
torment. This is what God teaches us in His picture
of the eternal world. There is not only the bright side,
but none the less the lake of fire, which has its course;
nor does a word intimate that its horrors will ever
come to an end.
But now the Holy Ghost, having brought us to
" the end " in the most absolute sense, leads us back
again. We have seen the new Jerusalem coming
down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband, when this eternal condition
begins. But what is its relation to the mUlennial
earth ? If we had only the previous revelations, we
could not have answered this clearly. The bride, the
Lamb's wife, has had her joy consummated in heaven;
then as the New Jerusalem after the mfUennium, she
has taken her place as regards the new heavens and
earth; but what is her relation to those here below
during the millennium? This is now made plain.
" There came one of the seven angels that had, <fcc. . . .
and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I wiU shew
thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me
away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and
shewed me the holy city Jerusalem, descending out of
heaven from God, having the glory of God. Its lustre

633
[was] like a stone most precious, as a jasper stone
crystal-clear." It appears to me that this account of
the city's bright lustre like a jasper has a very close
connexion with what had just before been said of it.
as having, "the glory of God." For when God Himself
was seen on the throne in chap, iv., He was in
appearance like a jasper and a sardis. Here the New
Jerusalem has God's glory, and its lustre is jasper-like.
But this is not all. " It had a wall great and high,!'
and after this we are told in the 18th verse, that
"the building of its wall was of jasper." Hence it is
plain that this is peculiarly the stone which is used to
describe the glory of God, as far as it can be seen by
a creature — not that glory of God which the creature
cannot see. For God has a glory which no man can
approach unto. But He is released alse to display His
glory suitably to the capacity of a creature ; and the
precious stone used to set this forth is, in the book of
Revelation, the jasper.
Besides this, we are told it had " twelve gates, and
at the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed, which
are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of
Israel." The number "twelve" is particularly men
tioned throughout the account of the New Jerusalem.
It was just before said that the city had the glery of
God, in the hope of which we rejcice (Rom. v. 2).
Here we find that this hope, for which we wait and in
which we rejoice, is enjoyed. But God is pleased to
remember that He is dealing with people on the
earth, and the New Jerusalem has a very special rela
tion to men during the mUlennium. Accordingly,
there are twelve gates with the names of the twelve

634
tribes of Israel written upon them. At the gates
stand twelve angels, showing their subordination. In
this day of glory the angel is happy to be a porter at
the gate of the heavenly city — happy, if he do not
enter, to have his work and mission outside. " Unto
the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to
come, whereof we speak" (Heb. ii) "Do ye not
know that the saints shall judge the world? ....
Know ye not that we shall judge angels !" (1 Cor. vi)
" And the wall of the city hath twelve foundations,
and on them the names of the twelve Apostles of the
Lamb" (ver. 14). Eph. ii. 20 gives us, I think, the
force of the symbol. " Now, therefore, ye are no
more strangers and foreigners, but feUow-citizens with
the saints .... and are buUt upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being
the chief corner stone." No doubt the whole building is
growing up into an holy temple in the Lord But we
are built upon "the foundation of the apostles and
prophets," both of the New Testament. If Old Testa
ment prophets had been meant, they would, naturaUy,
to avoid mistake, have been set before apostles ; but
the expression, as it stands, seems purposely framed
to guard against such a misconception. The prophets
of the Old Testament were the filling up of the law
besides testifying future things, judgments, the new
-covenant, cfcc. The law and the prophets, as it is
said, were until John (see also Matt. v. 17). Their
.authority never can be destroyed. But when Messiah
was rejected by Israel, and redemption was accom
plished on the cross, there was a new foundation laid
for a new work of God, entirely distinct from what

635
the law, or the prophets, or even John the Baptist,
contemplated. It is the foundation of the [New Testa
ment] apostles and prophets, and it is upon this that
the NeW Jerusalem is built. Now God has brought
out His full mind as a foundation of truth.
Certain things were yet reserved in Old Testament
times. Look at Deuteronomy (chap. xxix. 29).
"The secret things," says Moses there, "belong unto the
Lord our God: but those things which are revealed
belong unto us, and to our children for ever, that we
may do all the works of this law." Revealed things
here have to do with the law and its consequences, for
the purpose of enforcing obedience. But the secret
things, which then belonged to God, are themselves
now revealed — the resources of grace, when all was
ruin under the law. And this is what the Apostle
Paxil lays such stress on, while he tells us how that
by revelation, God made known to him the mystery or
secret, " whereby, when ye read, ye may understand
my knowledge in the mystery of Christ; which, in
other ages, was not made known unto the sons of men
as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit." And so Col. i. 26. The Holy Ghost
had brought out what had been a secret thing in the
days of old. The mystery is revealed. This full
revelation of truth appears to be called the foundation
of the apostles and prophets on which the Church
is buUt. Therefore it is said, in 1 Tim. iU. 13, that
the Church is " the pillar and ground of the truth."
The truth has come out, and God has, as it were, no
secrets now. All that He chose to reveal, all that
would be of service to the creature, and to the glory

636
of His own Spn, God has brought out ; so that, in this:
sense and in every other, it may be said, that "the-
darkness passeth, and the true light now shineth.""
So then, upon this broad and deep foundation- — where
not merely the dealings of God with individuals, or a
people connected with His promises or His government
are shown out; but where all that can be known of
God by the creature has been revealed in His Son —
upon this foundation the Church is built. And this-
is now made manifest to His saints, which was hidden,
but is now revealed. " The wall of the city had twelve
foundations, and on them the names of the twelve
apostles of the Lamb." They were the instruments of
this revelation.
" And he that talked with me had a golden reed as
a measure, that he might measure the city, and the
ga,tes thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth
quadrangular, and the length is as great as the
breadth,. . . . The length and the breadth and the
height of it are equal." (Ver. 15, 17.) It,wasth,e image
pf, the perfection of a city " wlipse, huUder and, maker
is.G.od," I dp> net mean that, thjs, description is- to be
taken as, if it. were pf. a Ute/ral city. I conceive that, it
is a purely symbolical picture as ijo certain relations
of the-, bride, the Lamb's^ wife. . The Scripture itself
mpst positively says thajt , it is (net; the dwelling-place
of the redeemed, but) the bride herself described as a
city. Just as the apostate church, the vast idolatrous
ecclesiastical system so often spoken of in this book,
was symboUzed as the great city, Babylon ; so here the
glorified Church is characterized as the, bride, the Lamb's
wife, in contrast with the great harlot, and as the holy

637
¦city descending out of heaven from God, in contrast
with the great city which rules over the rulers of the
•earth. When we read, then, of the city forming a
quadrangle, of equal length, breadth, and height, it is
rimply to be understood as figurative of its perfe'ctness.
At the same time these symbols must not be run into
one another. For immediately after it is said, " he
measured the wall thereof, of an hundred and forty-four
cubits, — a maris measure, that is, of an angel." Ver.
17.) Now the city's height was previously given as
-equal to the length and breadth, i.e., twelve thousand
.furlongs. This of course is enormously greater than
144 cubits, which is expressly made to refer to the
height of the wall. First, we have the general idea of
a city which is every way square, a cube, in fact; then,
when we come to the detaUs of the wall, a height is
given, which shows that we are not to look .for mere
Uteral consistency as if it were a portrait. The number
twelve keeps up the idea of a perfection in refererice to
man. "And the buUding of its wall was of jasper; and
the city [was] pure gold, like clear glass." (Ver. 18.)
We have already found the meaning of these two fig
ures, the gold and the glass, in an earlier part of the
book. The Lord counselled the Laodicean church in
its fallen state to buy of Him " gold tried in the fire."
It is invariably the figure of divine righteousness — of
righteousness that can stand the searching fire of God's
judgment. Human righteousness could ndt bear it,
and sois never represented by gold, but rather by white
linen. God could cleanse this and leave it without
spot or stain. But fire would be destruction to it ;

638
whereas, with regard to the gold, it would only bring
out its perfection. Accordingly this city is of pure
gold, " like clear glass." Holiness, now fixed and with
out flaw, also marks the city. With regard to our
need of holiness, the means of it are represented under
the figure ef water, because it is a question of cleansing
from defilement in a practical way. In the Revelation
this is not the case ; for from the fourth chapter the
saints who are put in connexion with holiness are risen
saints, and consequently are beyond the means of
cleansing. They are therefore represented, as also ni
the case of that body of saints mentioned in chap, xv,,
as on a sea of glass, because it is purity that now is in
a fixed unalterable condition. Their state is no longer
that which «night need to be cleansed. It is holiness
that repels everything defiling. So here the city is of
pure gold, like unto clear glass. In Rev. xv. it is
remarkable that the sea of glass is said to be mingled
with fire, which was not the case in Rev. iv. ; and this
because the saints, spoken of here, had not only gone
through this complete purging, and were now in a state
of unalterable purity, but they had gone through the
last terrible tribulation, of which the fire there, is a
figure. From this tribulation the raptured saints of
Rev. iv. had been exempt. Thus, then, we have the
city of pure gold, like clear glass ; that is, divine
righteousness has its full way now, and holiness that
nothing can touch.
"And the foundations of the wall of the city were
garnished with all manner of precious stones : the first
foundation jasper, &c  And the twelve gates
were twelve pearls; each one severally of the gates-

639
was out of one pearl,* and the street of the city was
pure gold, as transparent glass." (Ver. 19-21.) With
out pretending to give the spiritual meaning of the
various precious stones, we may learn thence that Ui
every variety of beauty wUl God array His people in
that day of glory. There will be different rays of
His glory reflected through them, set forth by these
different precious stones. In God's own case it is not
so. His essential glory is not described after this
fashion. It is full concentrated light. It is not what
is broken up into a variety of hues, if we may so say,
as in the case of the glory He confers on the church.
God is light, and He dwells in light which no man can
approach unto. The rainbow of many colours was the
sign by which God showed His covenant with creation?
and His various ways with poor man. But when it is
the lustre of the saints in heavenly glory, and the way
in which God wUl display the beauty of His people, —
for He does see beauty in them, — these precious stones
are the emblems employed.
"And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one-

* Some readers will be astonished to hear that a man of
Michaelis' reputation should adduce this as an instance of " false
translation." (Int. N. T., Vol. iv., p. 507.) It is not uninstructive
to mark the process of mind it betrays — the very same which leads
many to reject the Bible, and this writer himself to asperse the
Apocalypse. "A pearl, whether we consider the rotundity'of the
figure, or the softness of its mass, is very ill-qualified to become
the gate of a city, even if that city exists only in poetical descrip
tion." But what if it be morally didacticin a symbolic prophecy?'
"The word used in the Greek is p.apyaptTvs, and that ought to be
rendered precious stone ! ! for this is the meaning ascribed to the
word in Chaldee. . . M. is used perhaps in the same sense, Matt.
xiii. 45,46." To refute this seems to me quite needless. Everyone
can see how definite is the! Seer's description of the various
precious stones, and the spiritual man will feel the blank created
by the absence of the "pearl."

640
severaUy of the gates was of one pearl." Such they
appeared to men outside : something quite beyond
nature. It is a description that alludes to the earthly
Jerusalem; but in the latter city, what is really found
existing in nature wUl be brought to adorn it. Here
the beauty of the church is set forth by a supernatural
imagery : each one of the gates was made out of one
pearl. They are symbols which set forth the perfect
and divine beauty that God will put upon His people.
This is already true of them in Christ, but actually
and personally wUl they thus shine in that day. Each
gate being of one pearl would show, I suppose, the
special likeness of Christ and fellowship with Christ,
which God wUl grant to His people — to the church.
In Matt. xiU. we have, as I conceive, the Lord Jesus
as a merchantman in quest of goodly pearls; who,
when He had found one pearl of great price, went and
sold all that He had and bought it. It is the beauty of
the church, as viewed in God's mind, which, if one
may say it, fascinated the Lord Jesus, so that He
parted with all His earthly glory to get that pearl : a
strong expression indeed, but not too strong to convey
His appreciation of the church. But we know that, if
the Lord saw any beauty in the church, it was all
derived from Himself. He saw the church as she
was in the mind and purpose of God, and sells aU,
that He might purchase this pearl of great price, which
after all is but the reflection of His own beauty. So
here, the spotless pearl, the perfection of moral beauty,
that had been so precious in the eyes of Christy is the
figure of what, even at the entrance, wUl appear in the
eyes of men and angels.

641
"And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God,
the Almighty, is its temple, and the Lamb." (Ver.
22.) This is very important. For perhaps some one
may say, What has all this to do with the saint now?
I answer, The world must wait for the day of glory to
see the beauty of the church. And we, Uke the
world, are so often unbelieving, that we are apt to see
only the dark painful circumstances of the church, ff
we escape the delusive dream of an improving Christen
dom. Which of us carries habitually constantly, in
our hearts the delight of the Lord Jesus in opening-
out what the church is going to be — nay, what it is
in His eye and to His heart? Our unbelief as to this
is one main secret source of our murmuring and
rebeUious spirit. I do not say that we ought not to
feel the failure of God's church, as things are on
earth: God forbid such a thought! But we might feel
it more lovingly and more keenly too, bad we a deeper
sense of its nearness to Christ and the glory it is soon
to shine in. A good deal of what we feel, when evil
is seen in the chUdren of God, is because self is
touched. We are all inclined to deal hardly enough
with a person's vanity, pride, or things of the kind.
Why? Is it not too frequent] y because it wounds us?
We have possibly not had the share of respect and
importance to which we fancied ourselves entitled, and
we are readUy sore about it. But this is not according
to Christ. Not that we should be insensible to the
ways of the flesh and the world, but we should feel aU
with Christ and not for ourselves. What can enable
us? Nothing but the heart filled with Christ and the
exceedingly blessed place in which He puts uS. We

642
are called to exhibit the Lord Jesus now. It is "not
merely that we are to be members of His flesh, and
of His bones, but that so we are now; and therefore-
love and desire for God's glory would lead us to seek
ways answering to this in the Church and before men.
What God wUl show to the whole universe by and by,
He would have us to look for in His people now.
When that day comes, there wUl be no hindrances •-
but the action of the Holy Ghost is to make good in
us what wUl be perfectly manifest then, and what is
true in principle now. If there is a spot upon another
who is to shine along with Christ then, this stirs up
our affections that the evil may be removed in God's
way and for His glory. And this it is which so
increases our sense of shame, that such blots should
be upon ourselves. It is evident to me that the Holy
Ghost reveals the description of the divine glory that
is to be in the church, in order to act with great
practical power on our souls now, the word being mixed
with faith in them that hear it. The real reason why
it so little profits us is that we are such unbelieving-
beUevers. We are beUevers; but is it not humiliating
that we can pass over such precious fruits of Christ's
love, such bright visions of assured glory, as if we did
not need them now, or as if they were not the faithful
and true words of God? We shall be in glory by and
by, and know as we are known; but it is revealed to
those who are not in it yet, that their souls may be-
full of the joy of it now, and that tbe effects of it
may be manifest even to the world that despises
them. The Holy Spnit is the earnest of the inherit
ance, as weU as the seal of redemption.

643
But this is true not of the beauty only in which the-
church is to shine then : there is another thing, which
ought to have a mighty influence upon us now. There
is an immediate relation to God in the way of worship :
and what then? The symbol here used is of a city, and
therefore we are not described as priests. If we were
spoken of as persons, we shordd be described as brought
near to God, that is, as priests; and so we are in chap.
xx. 6. But here it is a city — and a city in which
there is no temple : not because there was no special
seat of the presence of God there, but because His
presence fiUed it all and equally. The access to
God is immediate. But this also is a truth appUca
ble now, (Hebrews x.) Here below there is no temple,
uor priests now between us and God. Undoubtedly
we have above the great and faithful High Priest — a
minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle
which the Lord pitched, and not man. But there wUl
be below, during the future kingdom, for those on earth
that need Him, when " He shall sit as a Priest upon
his throne." Thus, to the Christian, there is neither
temple nor priest on earth now. We stand, as to our
faith, in the immediate presence of God, with His
perfect favour shining on us. If persons do not feel
this, it is because they do not beUeve it We must
always believe a thing on God's word first; and the
more simply we believe, the more shall we enjoy the
comfort, strength, and fruits of the truth.
" And I saw no temple therein : for the Lord God,
the Almighty, is the temple, and the Lamb. And the
city hath no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that
they should shine on it."- No earthly nor even

644
heavenly rights of the old creation are wanted there.
"For the glory of God lightened it, and the Ught
[Uterally, lamp] thereof is the Lamb." (Ver. 23.)
How wonderfuUy all this description faUs in with a
few words in John xvU., to which I must refer before
going farther.
In His astonishing prayer (ff we can call that a
prayer, which is more like the Son unbosoming Him
self to the Father) the Lord says, " The glory which
thou gavest me, I have given them." It was divine,
but not His Godhead glory, for this never can be
given, belonging to God, and none else. ' The Lord
Jesus had Godhead glory, but not given to Him,
because He had it essentially; He had it in His own
right, as being God, from aU eternity. But what the
Father gave to Him as man, He gave to His disciples :
" that they may be one even as we are one : I in them,
and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one:
and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
andriast loved them, as thou hast loved me." Now this
exactly corresponds with what we have in the Revela
tion, for the holy city is seen there, descending out of
heaven, from God : and the Lamb is in it, and the Lord
God makes Himseff known, so to speak, specially in
Him; for the Lamb is not merely the light, but the
vessel of it, or light-bearer. We may consider the
light diffused, as it is said, "the glory of God had
lightened it;" but if we want to see the light concen
trated, where are we to look? The Lamb is that
light. Thus does God make Himself to shine through
all the glorious city: the Lamb is the great concentrat
ing object, diffusing light over the whole scene. This,

645
then, is the order of it — " I in them, and thou in me,
that they may be made perfect in one : and that the
world may know,"* &c. The Lamb makes God
known to them, as they make Him known to all
others. This is what appears in the Revelation.
" The nations shall walk by means of its light," not
in the Ught of the Lamb immediately, but by means
of the light of the heavenly city : precisely what we
find in John xvii. ("that they may be made perfect
in one, that the world may know that thou hast sent
* It is very evident that Mr. E. (H. A, Vol. iv., pp. 175, 176,
187) does not understand this passage, which he justly conceives
to be too often misapprehended and misapplied. For while he
rightly affirms that verses 22, 23, apply to the time of glorification,
the only time of perfect and displayed unity, it is a mistake to
confound this with the unity prayed for in verses 20, 21, which is
as clearly a question of grace and testimony to the world, as the
other iwill be of glory and the world's knowledge. The truth is,
that unity is asked for in three forms. There is, first, that which
is absolute and iu the Twelve Apostles, in ver. 11, "that they
may be one, as we." Secondly, there is that which should embrace
thpse who were to believe through the Apostles' word, "that they
all" (whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free) "should be one," (not
by virtue of the law of Jehovah and the enforced rites and
ordinances of the Levitical system, but by the revelation of the
Father and the Son) "as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
t)iat they also may be one in us, that the world may believe" (not
yet know, but believe) "that thou hast sent me." Such a
testimony the gathered saints were, while they walked in heavenly
unity here below. Then comes the third and crowning form.
whio'h it is impossible for the world to deny, when they behold
the saints appearing in the same glory with Christ ; and therefore
it is added that the world may know that tliou hast sent me,"
but this is not all, "and has loved them as thou hast loved me."
How gajnsay it, when Christ and the Church burst upon their
astonished eyes in a community of glory? But this does not
interfere with the preceding truth, which ought not to be weak
ened, that the Lord desired the present unity of all His disciple?,
as a means and powerful witness to the world that they might
believe in His mission from the Father. In fact, 'this abides an
important part of praotical responsibility, and it is not wise to
turn from it, because it is grossly perverted to purposes of earthly
power and pride by the world-church in all its varieties. The
Acts of the Apostles show the facts, the epistles demonstrate
the importance of the doctrine.

646
me, and has loved them as thou hast loved me").
There is, I apprehend, what answers to the nations
walking by means of the light of the city: Through
these nations the church had passed in the days of
her pUgrimage, and been despised because of her
fellowship with Christ. (1 John in. 1.) For, as He
had been there and unknown, " therefore the world
knoweth us not." But now, when the bright day
shines, when Jesus, long absent and rejected, the
blessed and exalted man, the Lord from heaven,
comes in His glory, Himself the faithful witness arid
accomplishment of the glory of God, as indeed He is
the brightness of it, He will not be seen apart from
His bride.
" We shall appear with Him in glory;" and
the nations shall walk by means of the light of the
glorified whom they had so long cast out. Even their
kings bring their glory to it.* It is necessary to state
this, lest persons should imagine that there was a
communication of a direct kind between the in
habitants of the earth and the heavenly city. But
though the city was seen to come down from heaven,
it is not here said to come down to the earth, so as to
be with men, as it does when the new heaven and
•earth are come. Here its glory is over the earth ;
accordingly the kings and the nations bring their
glory and honour unto it, in the way of homage, I
•suppose, to Him who dwells there. " And the gates
of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be
no night there." No danger threatens the city; on
* Not into, but unto, for which, in Greek, there is but one word.

647
the contrary, "They shall bring the glory and the
honour of the nations to it." Of course, it is in the
•same sense as in verse 24. " And there shall in
nowise enter into it anything unclean, or one that
works abomination and a Ue : but those that are
written in the Lamb's book of Ufe." Thus, the f idlest
scope is given to the holiness of God, and the impure
and abominable and false excluded from His presence,
as indeed they are moraUy and altogether unfit for it ;
but withal His sovereignty is maintained intact.
None enter there, except those enrolled in the book of
life of the Lamb.
It has been already remarked that the first five
verses of chap. xxii. are necessary to complete the
vision : but I think it better to reserve them for my
next lecture, when the conclusion of the book wUl also
be shown in due order.

CHAPTER XXII.
It is one of the interesting features of this book, that
it can only be properly understood: when taken in
connexion with all the rest of the word of God. And,
singular to say too, God has linked together, in a very
remarkable manner, the last book of the Scripture and
the very first. For example, here we fall upon images-
which the Holy Ghost uses to describe the blessedness
of the heavenly city in its relation to the earth during
the mUlennium; and whence are these images derived?
I must go to the beginning of the Book of God, to
Genesis — nay, to the very beginning of Genesis itself.
There I find a tree of life, rivers, &c, to which evir
dentiy the Holy Ghost refers in the passage before us.
Now this seems to me to,, be. a striking indication of
God's object, so dovetaUing His whole word together,
that, in order to acquire the full meaning of any part,
I must take it in connexion with the whole. And
this is all the more important, inasmuch as that same
word of God shows us different states and dispensa
tions in total contrast with one another. There was
the time of innocence ; there was the time when there
was nothing but sin, as far as man was concerned —
evil without a check, until the judgment of God came
in the flood and destroyed all, save the few in the ark.
Then was given the law, and then the gospel, each
having a wholly different object. And now we await
the great closing scene of this age, when all that God
has wrought on the earth, all that revelation has
brought out of His mind, but corrupted by man, -will
have been manifested in its results. In order to

649
understand what the Holy Ghost tells me about these
results, I must begin at the very beginning. Now,
looking at Genesis, we find that, though there is a sort
of analogy in the time of innocence when God was
dealing with the creature responsible of course to
maintain his place of innocence, yet there is a most
blessed contrast in the future, which brings out still
more conspicuously the depths of grace which God will
show in this holy city.
Let us look then a little at the differences. In
Genesis we find that there were four rivers; and of
these rivers, although we know little or nothing of
the two first, at any rate it is clear that the two
last, the Euphrates and Hiddekel or Tigris, were
connected with some of the most painful passages in
the history of God's earthly people at a later day.
On these rivers were buUt the two most famous cities
of antiquity; the Tigris, on which Nineveh stood, and
the Euphrates on which Babylon was built. I speak
noWj of course, of a time long subsequent to Adam, or
even the deluge. And though the flood may have
effaced, as it doubtless did, many other features of the
antediluvian earth, stUl we find these two rivers again.
As for Paradise, it was gone, but these rivers were to
play an important part in the history of man, and
especially of that wliich acquires a moment more than
its own, from being mingled with the vicissitudes and
the chastenings of God's people Israel. These two
rivers were identified with the powers that were to be
the ruin of Israel and Judah respectively. Nineveh
was the capital of Assyria, which carried the great
mass of the ten tribes of Israel into captivity. Babylon
t2

650
was the power afterwards used of God for the captivity-
of that which seemed to stand firm for God, no less
than for David's house, but which ere long fell into
greater unfaithfulness than backsliding Israel. Thus
these rivers, which had been at first connected with
Paradise, became afterwards the representatives of the
powers of men that were used to scourge the guUty
people of God.
Then, again, there were two trees in the garden of
Eden : one of the knowledge of good and evil, and the
other of life. Now whatever might have been the
blessing vouchsafed to man in the tree of life, it was
wholly useless to him, because the other tree put him
to a test which man could not stand. He broke
down ; he listened to the voice of his wife who had
herself listened to the serpent, and he became rebellious.
The consequence was that the tree of life was no longer
available for his use : had it been so, it would only
have perpetuated a life of sin and misery. So that,
while there was judgment in the act of God that placed
the cherubim with the flaming sword to shut out man
from the tree of life, mercy was mingled with it. God
had reserved for man a better thing — the tree of grace,
if we may so say. Thus, when we come to the closing
-account, we have neither the various rivers of Eden
nor a tree to test man on God's part. There is but
•one river and one tree. All that was connected with
maris weakness and sin, and the chastening of God's
people is gone. The relics of shame and the discipline,:
of sorrow are needed no longer. The paradise of man
had failed, Israel had failed, the church had faUed.
Now it is the paradise, the people, and the city of

651
God, who is showing Himself and His glory there ;
and therefore all that was merely for the testing or the
discipline of man completely disappears; and now shine
out God's love, His heavenly grace, His faithfulness
to Israel, His sovereign mercy to the GentUes, His
righteous and beneficent rule. The Lord and Saviour
had come in ; He had by Himself borne the effects of
what God's people deserved, and had made it possible
for Him righteously to show them nothing but love,
giving them Ufe and atonement and cleansing through
Himself, His Son.
"He showed me a river of water of life, clear as
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of
the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and of
the river on this side and on that side, [was] the tree
of life, bearing twelve [manner of] fruits, each month
yielding its fruits; and the leaves of the tree [are]
for healing of the nations." (Ver. 1, 2.) Now here
it is evident that we have pure grace reigning through
righteousness, as far as the tree and the river are
concerned. There is nothing liable to be corrupted
by the power of Satan. Neither is there anything
like the cherubim, jealous in keeping away man, alas !
sinful. Quite the contrary. This tree of life brings
forth fruit every month. Of course it is a figure.
There will be no mere literal tree or river; but as the
river of Ufe's water symbolizes the abundant lffe and
blessing which wUl flow through the city, (i.e., the
Bride, the Lamb's wife), so here follows the benig
nant provision for healing the nations. There is a
reserve as to the twelve fruits, which may set forth a
far higher and more various supply for the constant

652
refreshment of the heavenly saints; but the leaves
are expressly said to be for the healing of tiie nations.
This is the more remarkable, for it must be familiar
to us that, even in the coming day of glory, the earthly
Jerusalem, though in some respectsfigures are borrowed
thence, furnishes in others a very different picture in,
the prophets. Take, for instance, the description in-
Isaiah Ix. It had been said in, chap. lix. that the
Redeemer should come to Zion, and then in chap. Ix.
we have the description of the city. "Therefore thy
gates shall be open continually : they shall not be shut
day nor night," &c. But what is the principle of the
earthly Jerusalem's relation to the nations? "The
nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish;
yea, those natipns shall be utterly wasted." It is, un
sparing righteousness and judgment which govern.
God compels honour tp be paid to His people who had
been despised^ and trampled down among the nations.
For we know how a Jew, even now in Christendom? is-
lopked on -with contempt and scorn: and if from
their wealth, or other causes they get into favour with
the world, it is considered a wonderful piece of liber-
ality. Men give themselves a good deal of credit for-
it, and in general act thus on most mistaken ground,
either sceptical or pseudo-Christian. They have been
so habituated to despise them that, these concessions
are only wrung out, and often through such false prin
ciples as the rights of men, &c. Of course I am
merely referring to facts well known in the history of
the world ; as Christians, we have nothing to do
with such questions, though we may judge them. For
a Christian is set here for one purpose only — to witness

653
ffor Christ rejected by the world, but exalted in heaven :
to act in accordance with the grace and glory of a
Christ who is now at the right hand of God. When
this is lost sight of, he is salt without savour. A
person may be philanthropic and essay to do much
good in the world; but God has a higher object for us
than any plans of ours.
And this brief digression flows out of our pre
sent theme. For whether it be the church before
glory, or when glory comes, as here, the only becom
ing thing for us is the riianifestation of grace. It is.
the character of grace that always gives the truth of
God about the church; it is the manifestation of Him
self,, as He has displayed Himself and still does in
¦Christ. This the apostle brings out in Eph. v., where
it is said, "Be ye therefore followers [imitators] of
God." And how ? " As dear children, and walk in
love." Iri what way ? In the chapter before he had
spoken of Christ as the offering through which God
could forgive sin (ver. 32), and therefore we ought to
:forgive one another, " even as God in Christ hath for
given you." But in chapter v. he goes much farther.
"Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath
given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet-sinelling savour." There is the full char
acter of grace at once, which gives him who knows and
walks in it the power of Christ in going forth among
men. If I see my brother here or there, his mind
filled with erroneous thoughts and hopes, and himself
without 'conscience or with feeble qualms doing things
-contrary to the Lord, how would God stir my affec
tions towards him? I must always act out of the

654
grace in which God deals towards the saint, and I must
Hft up his soul, if I can, to know what God feels to
wards him and His will about him. If he percejye&
the grace in which God has acted, he will be prepared
to learn what he owes to Him. Thus the apostle; al
ways speaks. Look again at the Ephesians. What had
St Paul been doing from the beginning of the epistle
to chap. v. ? He had shown the perfect love of God
towards them, and the place of oneness with Christ in
which He has set them : and now he, as it were,
says, Walk you in the love Christ has shown towards-
you. We find the same thing here. It is not now
the thunders, and lightnings, and voices out of God's
presence. All this has completely disappeared. In
Rev. iv. such were the sights and sounds which eman
ated from the throne. They were suited then, and
necessary to uphold and express the holiness of Him
who sat there. They were the witness ef His feeling,
when, the church being removed to heaven, man was
left to exalt himself, only checked by providential judgr
ments. Here there is nothing of the sort. The throne
of God and of the Lamb is seen; and what issues from
it ? A river of water of life, bright as crystal, And
why is this? Because the throne here is set in
connexion with the heavenly city, and this city being
the symbol of the glorified saints, the church's habitual
character, even in glory, is grace. Not only was it a
river of Ufe, not of death, but the leaves of the tree
were for the healing (not destruction) of the nations.
Jerusalem here below is the city of earthly righteous
ness — the place where God will have brought the Jews

655
through exceeding trouble. They must undergo a
terrible tribulation first^-the time of Jacoh's trouble,
but he will be delivered out of it. It will be a
righteously measured chastening, because of their sins.
They will pass through all that sorrow which God
Himself is judicially to inflict; but the indignation is to
cease, and this with the destruction of those who were
its instruments. " For yet a very little while and, the
indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruc
tion." God will take up the cause of His people, and
the calling of Israel in the mUlennium will savour of
that righteousness which has marked the dealings of
' God towards them publicly, whatever may have been
the hidden spring of grace. All the nations shall go
up to Jerusalem when the mountain of the Lord's
house shall be .established in the top of the mountains.
And " out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the
word of the Lord from Jerusalem." The law is the
rule of righteousness ; grace is another thing altogether.
It is not a rule of righteousness, with death the inevi
table penalty. It is true that grace reigns through
righteousness, but then it is the righteousness of God,
not of man; and this, under His gracious culture, fills
the saint with the fruit of righteousness, which is
through Jesus Christ to His own glory and praise.
Here we have then a scene of perfect grace. No
thing could exceed the blessing in relation to man-
The number twelve is alway s used in reference to the
dealings of God with man by means of human admin
istration. Seven is the number of perfection in
relation to the things of God, or rather to the spiritual
side, whether good or evU — twelve in relation to the

656
human side. Thus, when Cod chose the patriarchs,
there were twelve: they had a reference, I suppose,
not only to the tribes which sprang from them, but
to the rest of mankind generally. And again, when the
apostles were called, there were twelve, answering to
the twelve tribes of Israel. The moment we have the
apostle who was specially entrusted with the great
work of putting the church on its firm and heavenly
foundations, irrespective of earthly arrangement, the
number twelve is broken, and apostles independent of
the twelve appear. (Acts xiv. '4, 14 ; Eph. iv.) This
may explain a little further what I meant by saying
that the twelve gates, twelve foundations, &c, which
we saw in chap, xxi., set forth the aspect of this city
towards man. It is' viewed in its public governmental
character. So in the tree too. By its bearing twelve
manner of fruits, and yielding its fruits every month
is shown the aspect of it towards rttari. Accordingly
we are told next that " the leaves of the tree were for
healing of the nations."
Another tiring is clear, that this scene refers not to
the eternal, but to the millennial state. For in eternity
nations will not exist as such ; neither wiU any need
healing then. Carefully bear this iri mind, however,
that if we look at the heavenly city itstelf, it is eternal.
It wUl make little difference to the city whether seen
in the mUlennium, or in the eternal state that succeeds.
There were two descents of the city in chap. xxi. — one
at the beginning of the mUlennium, and the other at
the commencement of the eternal state. The second
verse of that chapter gives us its descent when the
eternal state is come, and the tenth verse its descent

657
for the millennium. The reason, I think, is, that at
the end of the millennium the old heaven and earth
pass away ; and naturally the city would disappear
frpm the scene of the convulsion. Then, when the new
earth dawns on our view, the heavenly city again comes
down, and takes its place permaneritly in the new hea
vens and earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. This
is necessary to remark; because, while at the end of
the thousand years all -*ill be changed, stUl the
heavenly city will abide for ever. " Unto him be glory
in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen." There wUl be certain
offices -which the glorified church wiU cease to discharge
towards the earth after the mUlennium is over: but its
intrinsic blessedness remains the same. Consequently,
it is said here, "There shall be no more curse."
Thenceforth this is as true evermore for the heavenly
city, as it can be for the new heaven and earth after
wards. "And the throne of God and of the Lamb
shall be in it: and his servants shall serve him : arid
they shaU see His face, and his name [shall be] on
their foreheads. And there shaU be no riight there,
[or more,] and they shall have no rieed of lamp and
light [of the sun]" — the one representing the light of
man's making, and the other of God: but aU that
suited this world is past for the city. " For the Lord
God shall shed Ught upon them : and they shall reign
for ever and ever." (Ver. 3-5.) The expression " to
the ages of the ages," I apprehend, must be taken in
the strongest serise here. It does not refer only to
-what is called " the kingdom" — though of course the

658
reigning begins then. In 1 Cor. xv. 24 it is a king
dom which Christ delivers up at a definite point called
" the end." " The end" implies that the thousand
years and the judgment of the dead have taken place;.
for this judgment is part of Christ's "kingdom" — its
great closing act, we may say. All this forms a part
of the kingdom ; and when it is over, and death, the
last enemy, has been destroyed, then the Lord Jesus
delivers up the kingdom to God.
The object of the kingdom is to reduce every enemy
to subjection; and this being accomplished, that special
human kingdom terminates. But if there will then
be a great change as regards the earthly saints in their
natural bodies below, not so with those who are in the
heavenly places, already glorified. They will reign for
ever and ever : it will be true throughout all eternity..
These words seem here to be used without restriction.-
All the account, from the 9th verse of chap. xxi. to
verse 5, inclusively, of chap, xxii., presents the
relation of the heavenly city to the earth during the
mUlennium. But there are certain features in it which
are true everlastingly. One of these characteristics, be
sides its unchangeable intrinsic glory, is, that the
service of the saints will be for ever and ever. So as
to the reigning. The mode of the reign, as of the
service, may be changed after the earthly kingdom is-
closed; but, in themselves, they wUl, I apprehend,,
endure for ever and ever.
Now we are come to the closing comments of the
prophet, and the conversation that takes place between
him and the angel in reference to the prophecy, as well

659
as , the final message from the Lord Jesus Himself
Strictly speaking, the fifth verse ends the prophecy.
But just as we have a prefatory charge at the be
ginning of the book, so here we have a sort of formal
conclusion. You will observe that the coming of the Lord Jesus
is referred to no less than three times, and that each
has a different connexion in these farewell words of
the Lord. The first time is in the 7th verse, evidently
in dependence on verse 6. "And he said unto me,
These words are faithful and true : and the Lord, the
God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to
show to his servants the things which must come to
pass shortly. And, behold, I come quickly : blessed is
he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book."
(Ver. 6, 7.) The Lord Jesus here Unks His coming
with the blessing of the man who attends to the words
of the prophecy. In strict connexion with this, the
Holy Ghost solemnly commends the prophecy which
was now brought to a close. The Lord Jesus, no-
doubt, foresaw the measure of slight which would be
put upon this book, and the efforts of men to put it

I do not like to refer to particular religious socie
ties; but allow me to say a word about one which
is a reformed body and well known. And yet,
extraordinary to say, in that which is arranged for the
express purpose of giving the entire word of God to
the people in daily portions, how is it that the book of
Revelation is given? Why, it is only used, a Httle
bit at a time, on one or two special occasions, and at
other seasons not at all, while even part of the

660
Apocrypha is read ! It appears to me that the Lord
was here guarding His people against aU such disre
spect, open or more subtle, to the book of the Revela
tion.* Nor is it merely where these lessons are fixed,
that there is a slight put upon it: let not others, differ-
.'ently situated, suppose themselves to be guiltless. Take
those who have no formal division of the Scriptures
day by day : do you find this book honoured by them
as the Lord enjoins? You wUl learn that in general,
though God's chUdren have not agreed to dishonour it,
yet, as a practical fact, tiiis book has been pushed aside,
save for controversial, historica], or imaginative pur
poses. There is hardly an attempt to expound it simply
and practically. Few servants', indeed, deal it out in
due season, so as to make it a part of the household bread
of the famUy of God. Even when interpretations of
it are ventured oh, are they not in general most
crude — the far-fetched notions of an antiquarian, or
degrading comparisons with an infidel historian or a
daUy newspaper?
What a solemn thing it is to depart from God's
word ! The Lord Jesus puts the book before His
people as a Ugh,t shining in a dark place — not at all
as a mere exercise for men of iearhirig in a speculative
mood. It was meant for all the chUdren of God, for
their souls' profit, and to help their cominunion with

* I have hardly spoken more plainly here, than the Dean of
Canterbury does on chap. i. 8. " If the words are to be understood
as above, they form at least a solemn rebuke to the practice of the
Church of England, which omits with one or two exceptions the
whole of this book from public readings- Not one word of the
precious messages of the Spirit to the Churches is ever heard in
the public services of a Church never weary of appealing to her
Scriptural liturgies."

661
God. He wanted them not only to know His grace, but
the judgments that were coming upon the world. He
desired them to understand that the book, which shows
the world's course and doom, equally indicates their
deliverance out of the judgment. For the Revelation
makes it plain, that, before there is a word of the
judgment, the church is seen in the presence of God :
from the beginning pf chap. iv. we see her above.
How plain it is that the words of the prophecy are all
of the greatest importance to God's people! He
desires they should be happy in the fellowship He
gives them with Himself before these things come to
pass. " Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the
prophecy of this book." And why has it been com
paratively so valueless as to its practical bearing?
Because the prophecy has been severed from the
promise. The word of grace, "Behold, I come quickly,"
has not been distinguished from " the sayings of the
prophecy of tins book." And hence the church's por
tion has been confounded with the judgments of the
world. The Revelation supposes that God's children
are waiting for the coming of Christ, which ought
indeed to be their bright hope from day to day.
Where this is not the case, I believe that it is moraUy
impossible to enter into or enjoy its disclosures.
" Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy
of this book." The Lord is coming quickly. But if
we are not looking for Him, with hearts at rest through
His grace, we are sure to pervert His sayings, instead
of turning them to profit.
When John heard and saw these things, he fell down
to worship before the feet of the angel that showed

662
them. He had done so previously. (Chap. xix. 10.)* :
Possibly, the grandeur of the vision may have led him
to suppose that it was Christ Himself taking that form.
But he is immediately corrected. The angel Says to
him, "I am thy fellow-servant," or rather, "the fellow-
servant " of thee and of thy brethren, the prophets.'' '
As it stands in our Bible, the statement is somewhat
ambiguous. It might seem, as it stands, to convey
that the angel was one of his brethren, the prophets. ,
Of course, this is not the meaning; but, instead of
being the Lord, and an object of worship, the angel ¦
was the fellow-servant of John, and of John's brethren -
the prophets. " See thou do it not, for I am the
fellow-servant of thee and of thy brethren, the prophets,
and of them which keep the sayings of this book:
worship God."
But he adds more, and a very important thought it
is, practically, for God's children. You may remember
in the last chapter of Daniel, it, is written that, (ver. 4.)
" But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the
book, even to the time of the end : many shall run to
and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Now
mark, in what a wonderful place God has put His
Church, as we gather from comparing Rev. xxii.
He was sending His word to the most favoured man
that could be found among all the favoured prophets
* It may be as well to observe here, that, in the reciprocal, pro
position, so often vaguely applied or misapplied, "the spirit of
prophecy is the testimony of Jesus," we are not to understand a
testimony to Jesus, but that which He gave, and, in general
throughout the Apoealypse, His prophetic testimony, whether com
mitted to an angel or to His servants. It is incorrect therefore to
say that this means to Jesus ; which is regularly expressed either
by the dative, or if a genitive be used, with irepl. The angelic
communicator was but a fellow-servant of John's : God waS to be
worshipped.

663
of the Old Testament—" a man greatly beloved."
But, although there had been given him so plain and
distinct a prophecy of Christ's coming and death, other
words were added, as to which it was said, "but thou,
0 Daniel, shut up thy words, and seal the book even
to the time- of the end." Here the same Spirit
addresses John, and says to him, " Seal not the words
of the prophecy of this book : for the time is at hand."
(Ver. 10.) How comes this to pass ? The whole call
ing of the church is at the time of the end. From the
day that the church began its actual existence here
below, it was the time of the end; and all through her
history, stUl it is the time of the end. Of course, I do
not mean that it is distinctively the time of the end
for the Jews, who, must wait for the development of
all on the platform of literal facts; but therein lies the
peculiarity of the church's calling. " She is above times
and seasons, though she kno^s them; she has nothing
to do with dates, or signs, or outward events, any more
than with the world, of whose history they are the
natural and necessary accompaniment. The church is
lifted up above such a scene ; she is heavenly. Such
is the place where we are put by the grace of God,
•entirely outside all the computations which refer to
the government of this world.
As for the Jew, of whom Daniel was the type, he
must wait till the time of the end is historically come,
tUl the knowledge is given by God to those who have
understanding then. Until that time all is sealed up
for Israel. This is not the case with the church
represented by John. To him it is said, " Seal not
the, words of the prophecy of this book," &c.

664
But here is the error made by many excellent
persons. Sir Isaac Newton, a man of the highest re
putation in human science, applied this shutting up and
sealing of the book, in Daniel, to the church. The
consequence was that he gave it up as a thing tha^
could not be understood tUl the time of the end. Had
he compared the passage in Daniel with the closing
words of St. John's Revelation, he would h,ave learnt,
that the very words that were hidden from the Jewish
prophet are expressly opened to the Christian. If
Daniel was to seal, John is expressly told not to seal.
And why? Because Christ had come, and is gone
into heaven and is on the right hand of God> ready to
judge quick and, dead ; He was rejected, and from that
moment, it is moraUy the time of the end. And so the
New Testament writers speak. The Apostle John says,
"Little chUdren, it is the last time;" Peter writes,
" The end of all things is at hand;" James, "The Judge
standeth before the door. " So. wrote St. Paul. "Now
all these things happened unto them as ensamples :
and they are written for our adpmonition, uppn whom
the ends of the world are. come " [or ends of the ages
are met]. And so Heb. ix. 2G, Thus you have,
substantially, the same great truth from the, epistles of
Paul, of Peter, and of James, down to the Revelatipni
This it is, I conceive, that is supposed, when John is
told npt to shut up the words of the prophecy of this
book. It is to be used and understood now, in virtue
of the knowledge of Christ and with the Holy Ghost
given by Christ as an unction whereby we kno,w aU
things. To us the time is always at hand. The, words
of this book are not sealed to us ;,so that it is unbelief,.

665
if, instead of taking the book as it were to Christ whc-
is the Hght to reveal this as all else, we submit it to
the world and its wisdom which can but darken.
This, I doubt not, is the root and reason of the mistakes-
and difficulties so prevalent with regard to the inter
pretation of the book. In order to understand this
and every other part of Scripture, I must see what
God is doing for the glory of His Son. As a
Christian I am encouraged to read the prophecy: its
sayings are not sealed to those who have the mind of
Christ. If I were a Jew, I should have to wait till
the time of the end arrive in the full prophetic sense,.
i.e., the end of the age. Then the wise among the Jews
shall understand; they are the godly intelligent
remnant. With such a remnant, in principle (called
it is true, into better hopes), the church began.
But some may say, There were certain things in
Daniel wliich were to be sealed, and others which were
not : why may not these last (not the first) have been
the things John was there told not to seal? I reply
that the Revelation supposes all the truth we find in
Daniel and a great deal more. It could not be under
stood, if Daniel were not ; while there are many truths
added in the Revelation which were not given to
Daniel. Such a plea is therefore unvailing The fact
is that Daniel speaks in the most general terms, and is
told to shut up the words and seal the book — not
merely certain parts of it. The Revelation goes over
the same ground as Daniel with respect to the last
empire, giving many things of a still wider scope
and far more profoundly — things which grew out cf
the Christian apostasy, in addition to the, previous
u2

666
ruin of Israel and the future wickedness both of them
and the Gentiles. Therefore, if there was any book
in the New Testament which one might naturaUy ex
pect to be sealed up, it is the Revelation ; for, as it is
the last, so is it the most difficult, abstruse, and com
prehensive of all the books of. the Bible. Therefore
when the Holy Ghost says, "Seal not the words of the
prophecy of this book ;" I conceive that we have im
plied a clear intimation of the peculiar privileges of
the Christian. It supposes him to stand in the full
light of God; and thus what may have been hidden
before, is now fully revealed seeing that Christ has come
and made us members of His body, and given us the
Holy Ghost who searches aU things, yea, the deep
things of God. This, to my mind, is the reason why
it is said, " Seal not the words of the prophecy of this
book." It is important in another way not always .seen.
The events signified by the prophetic visions of the
Revelation never enable one to understand the book
itself. If they were to take place to-day, this would
not of itself give intelligence as to the Revelation.
The sole key to prophecy is the Holy Ghost, who is
the only One that can make known its relation to
Christ; and, without seeing this relation, we never un
derstand it. Take one of the clearest and most defined
•of prophecies — that of the seventy weeks in Daniel.
Persons generally allow that it has been accomplished.
But ask of them its real meaning ; and they wUl show
how Httle it is understood. They have a vague idea
that it is accomplished, and litle more. It is not
therefore the events themselves which explain the

667
¦word : we need the teaching of the Spirit, which is as
necessary to interpret prophecy as any other part of
the Scriptures. Events may be the accomplishments
•of particular prophecy and a witness of its truth to
those who doubt; but they never of themselves afford
the just interpretation of the prophecy. They un
doubtedly corroborate it when accomplished, and may
be useful to stop the mouth of a gainsayer. But
(as it has been long ago remarked by another) you
must understand the prophecy itself, before you can
apply it to the events, and when you do understand it,
you have what God desired- to give your faith, indepen
dently of the events. In fact, to refute such a nation
we have only to weigh what is- said here, as everywhere
else in it : " Seal not the words of the prophecy of this
book ; for the time is at band." The value; to us, to
the church, is beforehand, whatever may be the use
for those who shall be in the scene when the events
arrive. But now listen to almost solemn truth. When the
time is actually come, of which the prophecy treats,
what is the condition of men? It is fixed, for ever
fixed for all-*-hopelessly for some. "He that is un
just, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let
him be filthy stUl: and he that is righteous, let him
work righteousness stUl ; and he that is holy, let him
be holy still." (Ver. 11.) That is, it is not the time
when there can be moral change; not a time when
there can be the conversion of sinners— -when a man
who is under the power of Satan can be delivered
from it and -translated into the kingdom of God's dear
Son. All this is at an end. Then he that is unjust

668
must remain unjust, and he that is filthy , remains-
filthy stUl. Men are solemnly settled in the condition
in which they are found. The day of grace is over,
the day of judgment wiU be come, and the door wUl
then be shut.
"Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is-
with me, to give each as his work is." (Ver. 12.),
Evidently this confirms what has been remarked.
When that day comes, it is the judgment of the Hying.
It is the Lord's coming, not here spoken of as an
encouragement to him who hears and keeps the words-.
of the prophecy of the book, but rather in the way of
discriminating judgment. "I [am] the Alpha and the
Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the
end." (Ver 13.) That is, the Lord Jesus, beside
what is peculiar to Himself, takes the same title here-
that God Himself did in chap. xxi. 6. As God was-
the sum and substance of all revelation, being an
action, so was Christ. "No man hath seen God at
any time : the only-begotten Son who is in the bosem
of the Father, He hath declared Him." "Blessed
[are] they that do his commandments [or wash theri-
robes], that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Without [are] the dogs, and the sercerers, and the-
whoremongers, and the murderers, and the idolaters,.
and every one loving and practising a lie." (Ver..
14, 15.)
But next we have another thing. It is, not the
Lord's coming now, as an encouragement to those who
should keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book ;.
nor yet His coming as dealing with every man, His ad-

669
vent in the way of judgment and His reward with Him
to give each individual as his work is. We have seen
the holy and the righteous having their portion, and
the filthy and unrighteous their judgment. But the
Lord has His own proper and full relation to the
-church. Consequently, His voice is now heard with
marked emphasis here. "I, Jesus, have sent mine
angel to testifiy unto you these things in the churches.
I am the Root and the Offspring of David." (Ver.
16.) That is, He refers to His divine and His human
character. But, beside this, He has a special relation
ship to us — "the bright [and] the morning star."
When the Lord comes in His glory to the world, it
is as the sun of righteousness with healing in His
wings, for those that have been broken, and scattered,
and peeled, — a people terrible from their beginning
hitherto. But then He appears in terror to tread
down those that have despised Him, under His feet.
Not so does He present Himself to us. It is not for
us the image of the sun, when man should sleep no
longer. When the sun of righteousness calls man
up, not then to work as he works now, it summons
him that he may bo ,v to Him whom he had long
sUghted, and in due time hear his doom pronounced
by the Lord of glory, whom he can despise no longer.
Thus wUl he appear to the world, and "all the proud,
yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And
the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the
Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root
nor branch."
But for those who watch during the night of man's
day before the Lord appears in His glory, for those who

670
watch with bridal affections, not sleeping as do others-
— how does He speak to such? How is He made
known to them ? " I am the bright, the morning
star." Blessed star of morn before the day comes !
We watch not for the day, but for Him during the
night, and He will give us the morning star, the
harbinger of the dawn. A blessed place it is — the
place of our love and hope : it will never be disap
pointed of its joy, and the Lord Jesus Christ -will
surely come, as the bright and morning star' to us..
He cheers us while we wait, and will quickly come
for us Himself. We may have to tarry somewhat ;
at least it may seem long to us. For those who waste
their time in slumber, it will be alas! too short; but
for those that wait for Him and yearn to see Him the
hope might seem to be long deferred. Instead' of
growing weary and sick, may our hearts, on the
contrary, be filled with the joy and constancy of
assurance that the Lord is coming soon ! He is the
bright and morning star.
But more: "And the Spirit and the bride say,
Come." What a blessed thought for us that the Holy
Ghost Himself is the One who takes up the word and
says, "Come!" He groans with us, entering into our
sorrows, now that He came down. He is not the- less
divine, I need not say; but withal He has condescended
to identifiy Himself, as it were, with our hearts, and
be the sharer of our feelings. But it is not groans
that we have now; not such is the mind of the Spirit,.
when He thinks of the Lord Jesus coming for us.
There is the calm and peaceful earnestness of desire..
"The Spirit and the bride say, Come." It is most

671
strengthening to know that it is the voice of the Holy
Ghost Himself which says to the Lord Jesus "Come.""
It would not have been nearly so blessed, had only
the bride said, "Come." But it is "the Spirit and
Hie bride." She had done many things wrong, had
made many mistakes in thought and feeling and ways.
But now it is the Spirit, the Holy Ghost Himself,
who says Come. He it is who leads the heart to
desire the coming of Jesus; He is the energy of the
church in bidding Jesus welcome. "The Spirit and
the bride say, Come." It is in looking up to Jesus
that the church or the. Christian says, Come; not
looking down to the poor sinner and telling him to
come. The Holy Ghost leads and inspires the heart
of the bride thus to cry, not only in sympathy of
sorrow, but in communion with the ]oy with which she
looks up in the hope of the Bridegroom's return.
And not only so, but " let him that heareth say,
Come." If I have only heard the voice of Jesus, I am
entitled to say, Come. Perhaps there are some who
say, 0 that I could be happy in asking the Lord to come !
How can I say, Come, when I am so unworthy ? The
Lord warrants you to say, Come. It is not merely
the bride filled with the Holy Ghost that says, Come
— entering into her full privileges ; but " let him that
heareth say, Come." Have you heard His voice, and
tasted that He is gracious ? Do you not know that
He is the good Shepherd ? I might be the very feeblest
arid weakest one, shrinking through ignorance from
the Lord's coming at once ; yet here I have the Holy
Ghost inviting me to take up the very same word that
the Spirit and the bride take up. " Let him that

672
heareth say, Come." Most evident it is, also, that this
going out of- the first affections of the heart towards
Christ and His coming, does not harden the heart
towards the poor world, nor make us indifferent to the
conversion of the lost ; but the very contrary. What
ever estimate men may form of their own efforts, my
conviction is, that the people who most desire the con
version of sinners, are, aeteris paribus, those who most
desire the coming of the Lord Jesus. I do not believe
that the men that want to put Him off are those that
pray and labour most for the conversion of souls.
What is it leads such to desire it ? They labour for it
because they see souls perishing everlastingly, and they
justly feel that all are miserable without Christ. But
they have these feelings only in common -with all their
brethren. We all believe that men will be cast into
hell if they do not receive the gospel, and it grieves us
to see them rejecting the Saviour; we have these feel
ings as well as they. But we have another spring which
they have not. It is indeed the Lord's way, and this
is better than theirs. He understands what is good
for poor sinners and poor saints, incomparably better
than His servants do. Now He shows here that it is
the same Spirit who looks up to Jesus and says, Come,
who also can turn us round to lost sinners with the
invitation, " Let him that is athirst come." It is there
we have the other side. It is not here the Spnit
directing the church in looking up to the Lord and
saying, Come; but the heart is now directed to the
world and saying, " Let him that is athirst come ; who
soever wUl, let him take the water of life freely"
(Ver. 17.)

673
The sinner is not told to say, Come. Observe the
j;reat and plain difference in the latter part of the
verse. In the first two clauses they say, Come ; but
in the latter part they do not bid Jesus come, but are
invited to come themselves : " Let him that is athirst
come" &c.
Thus God shows that the first thought of my heart
should be towards Jesus. If true to Him, I shall
desire His coming. The Spirit prompts and sanctions
this desire. And what is the effect on my feelings
towards the world ? It will give me a heavenly reason
for desiring .the conversion of sinners. I shall have
the same moral motives, and the same affections, wliich
act on my brethren who put off the coming of the Lord.
And 1 shall have, besides, all the impetus which the
hope of Christ's speedy coming can give me, and the
sense of the danger of those to whom His coming can
be nothing but certain judgment, even in this world.
The more a Christian looks for Christ's coming at any
moment, the more ardent must be his desire, and the
more earnest his importuning, that souls should come
and take of the water of lffe.
In this verse 17, then, God unfolds our two-fold
relation. He shows me my relation to Christ, wliich
ought to be the first thought of my heart — not merely
that my soul should be at peace if He came, but filled
with the earnestness of affection that desries His com
ing. And He shows me that, when I am right there,
I shall turn round with quickened zeal in the sense of
the grace of Christ, and shall say to every one that is
athirst, Come. More than that. If I see a soul that
may not perhaps thirst deeply, but who is wiUing to

674
come, I shall not tell him to wait tUl he is very thirsty.
I shall bid him come at once, and welcome ; for the
word is, "he that wUl, let him take the water of Hfe
freely." If there is only the desire of the heart,! it
comes from God, and no one rightly says, You must
wait tUl you have gone through this or that experience.
If a man has not got so far in realizing his stated I am
not to keep him away. The water of lffe is for who
soever will. He is directed to come and drink of it
freely. What fulness of grace marks the way in which
the Lord brings our place before us !
" I testify to every one that heareth the words of
the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add to
these- things, God shall add to him the plagues that are
written in this book : and ff any one shall take away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall
take away his part from the tree of Hfe, and out of
the holy city, that are written in this book." (Ver.
18, 19.) You will observe that the tree and the city
mentioned here answer to what we found in verse 14.
Those that do His commandments (or rather, according
to the critical text, " those that wash their robes"),
are blessed, and have a title to the tree of lffe, and
entrance by the gates into the city. But as for such
as take away from the words of this book, God shall
take away their portion from both the tree and the city
which are written of in this book. They shall have
no access thereto.
The Lord had said ff there were men that would
take away from the words of the propheey of this
book; and that would dishonour it, He would assured
ly know and feel and resent it. But He could not

675
close with such words as tiiese. He has reserved, as
it were, the best wine to the last. He had already
spoken of His coming in the way of judgment, and of
His coming for the church, in full grace; and now He
could not leave us with a note of sorrow. He must
bring-baek our hearts to gladness and joy at the thought
of His coming again ; and so He says, "He that testi
fieth these things saith, Surely, I come quickly.
Amen." Immediately John, as representing the
church, answers, " Come, Lord Jesus." It is the ready
reply of his heart to the Lord.
And if it is our privilege to look to Christ, and hear
His voice; if we have known some Uttle of the joy of
being, even now, in union with Himself, made' mem
bers of His body,^of His flesh, and of His bones ; if
we are waiting as those conscious of our bridal rela
tionship to Christ, and assured that we shall have the
bride's portion; in presence of the Lamb for evermore,
the Lord grant that this may be the answer of our
hearts and lips — " Amen, come, Lord Jesus." May it
not be waiting for a something for ourselves, nor for
the church, much less for the world ! It is a blinding-
delusion to look for better days whUe Jesus is away.
There are' good days in store, even for this poor world
— days of heaven upon the earth; but the Lord must
come before them. — and He must have us for Himself,
first of all. The Lord will never have a time of real
abiding joy for the world, as a whole, till He has had
the church with Himself. For, as we see in Rom,
vUi., "the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth
for the manifestation of the sons of God." The mani
festation spoken of there will be in glory. St. Paul

676
had been speaking before of the glory which shall be
revealed in us, when our bodies Shall be changed,' and
made Hke the glorious body of Christ. We are not
Hke the Son of God now, as regards pur bodies. Too
well we know that we bear the image of the earthly ,
still : but we shall bear the image of the heavenly.
And then, when God sees us shining in the likeness of
His owd? Son, He will have no reason to be ashamed
of us. He will not present us before the universe,
tUl our bodies are as worthy of Him as is the new
life that He has given to our souls. When the sons of
God are manifested, then creation wUl cease to groan,
and the earth and heavens, filled with blessedriess,
will declare both the glory and the goodness of God.
" The floods will clap their hands, and the hills be
joyful together before the Lord." Then it will be
found that the blessed hope, and the appearing of the
glory that the Lord has set before us, will issue in
praises of joy and gladness, which will reach the' mo£t
distant parts of earth, and the utmost bounds of
creation. May the Lord grant that we may say, "Amen,
come, Lord Jesus," that we may say it for ourselves,
as for all the church, and, in a sense for all creation
too, the blessing of which depends on our being mani
fested along with Christ ! MeanwhUe, the grace of
the Lord Jesus be with all the saints !

ADVERTISEMENTS.

"Bible Treasury." Vols. I. and II., New and Revised Ed
Edited by "W". Kelly. Price 7s. 6d. each, Cloth, Post Free.
Christ and the Seven Churches, or Lectures on the First '.
Chapters of Revelation. By "W. Kelly. Price Is., Limp Cloth, i
Boards, gilt Is. 6d., Post Free.
The Second Advent of Christ Pre-MUlennial. By W. I
Price Is. 3d., Cloth, and in Extra Cloth, Is. 6d., Post Free.
Types of Scripture. By W. Kelly. Price 9d., Cloth Limj
in Extra Cloth, Is.
TeetotaUsm and the Testimony of the Bible. Price 6d.
Lectures on the Second Coming of Christ. By J. N. D. Price
and in Cloth, gilt, 2s., Post Free.
Notes on the Epistle to the Romans. From Notes of Lee
By J. N". D. Price 9d., Cloth Limp; and in Extra Cloth, Is.
Notes on Scripture. By J. N. D. Price Is., Cloth, Post
The Sabbath; or, Is the Law Dead or am I? Price 6d.
Essays on Prophetic Interpretation. By Wm. Trotter, A
•'Plain Papers on Prophetic Subjects." Price Is. 6d., Cloth, Post
Papers on the Pre-Millennial Advent of the Lord Jesus
"W. Trotter, Author of " Plain Papers on Prophetic Subjects." Pi
Cloth, Post Free.
What is the Church? Do the Old Testament Saints forn
of it ? By "W. Trotter. Price 6d., Stiff Covers.
Proofs from Scripture of the Pre-MUlennial Advent,
Letter to a Friend. By "Wm. Trotter. Price 3d.
On the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ to meet His Sai
the Air. By J. G. Btllett. Price 9d., Cloth Limp, and in Extra Clc
The Church, at Thesialonica. By J. G. Bellett. Price 3

ADVERTISEMENTS.

Thoughts on the Parables in Matthew xui. By R. B. Price
, _9d., Cloth Limp.
A Short Exposition of the First Six Chapters of the Epistle to
the Hebrews. By the Author of "The Two Resurrections." Price 6d.,
Stiff Covers.
The Two Resurrections. Price 2d. ,6 Copies Post Free.
Sophy's Story, or Simple Scripture Lessons for Children.
Price Twopence. On toned. paper. Part I. ; 64 pages, royal 32mo.
This is the first Part of a little Serial, which will he found interesting and helpful for the
.little ones. It will (D.V.) be published occasionally as the Lord may guide. This Part con
tains Lessons from the first five Chapters of Genesis. - '-'
A NEW SERIES OE GOSPEL BOOKS,
Very suitable for Postal Circulation, by W. T. TURPIN. As follows: —
.PEACE WITH GOD. I GOD FOR US.:
.RIGHTEOUSNESS ESTABLISHED THE | RESURRECTION LIFE.
TRUE GROUND OF PEACE. | HEAVENLY PLACES.
NO CONDEMNATION. ]
Sold in Sixpenny Packets,, containing % each of the Series, 2 Packets Postage Free.
" Lukewarm, aad Neither Cold nor Hot." Rev. Ui. 16... By, W.
T. Turpin. Price One Penny. 12 Copies Postage Free.
" ReaUty," being No. 1 of "Truth for this Day," by W. T. Turpin.
Price One Penny. 12 Copies Postage Free.
"Words of Truth." Vols. I, and II. Price Is. 6d., Cloth,
Post Free. Edited by F. G. Patterson.
Short Lectures on the Jew, the GentUe, and the Church of ,God.
Price Twopence. 6 Copies Postage Free.
"His Own which were in the World." John xUi. By J. Alfred
Trench. Price Twopence  Also, by the same Author,.
"Let not Your Hearts be Troubled." John xiv. Price Id.
"Peace with God, What is it?" By C. H. M. Price Id.
"Coming," in Verse. Suitable for Postal Circulation. Price
One Halfpenny, or 3s 6d per 100.
A Diagram of Divine Dispensations, with Key. By D. T.
Grimston. Price 6d., Third Edition, improved, Key in large type.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

A NEW SERIES OF GOSPEL TRACTS,
Chiefly Narrative, 9 different kinds, 4 pages, Foolscap S2mo,
JJo. 1. THTi: OLD CREATION & THE NEW. , No. G. BEHOLD HE COMETH.
„ i. PEACE POR THE ANXIOUS. „ 7. I REST UPON HIM.
„ 3. THE GL01UOUS GOSPEL. [ , S. I'VE BEEN A RARE FOOL.
„ 4. REPENTANCE. , „ 9. THE VALUE OF THE DEATH OF
„ S. WORKS OR THE BLOOD. ; CHRIST.
Price 4d. per 100, or fe. lOd. per 1000 ; Post free, or through Booksellers, 5d. per 100,
or Ss. lOd. per 1000 ; Assorted Packets with wrapper, 6d.per 100, by Post, 7d.
The Last Words of Samuel Rutherford. New edition. Price
One Halfpenny ; or 3s 6d per 100.
A New Sheet of Hymns for Gospel Meetings. Containing Thirty-
Seven Hymns. Price Is 3d per 100 ; or 10s per 1000 — the 1000 carriage paid.
The Story of Glad Tidings, in Verse. Very suitable for the
Young. On toned paper. Price One Penny.
Simple Gospel Truth. — Being 10 diiferent kinds of Glasgow Series
of Gospel Books bound together. Price 9d.j cloth, gilt. Post Free.
Jiow Sudden ; or how the Lord took to Himself a little Boy off
the Sands at Margate- (Very suitable for Sunday School Children.) By CS.
Price l^d. 8 Copies Postage Free.
The Village Peasants. By H. T., Author of " Changed in a
Moment," &c. Price ljd. 8 Copies Postage Free.
The Object and Character of True Service. By J. A. Trench.
Price Twopence. 6 Copies Postage Free.
Precious Portions, Original and Selected. Price 3d.; and in Cloth
Limp, gilt, 4d.
¦Glasgow Series of Gospel Books. 16 different kinds. One each
of the Series in a Packet, Price Is.
Glasgow Series of Gospel Tracts. 8 different kinds. Price 3d.
per 100, or 2s 3d. per 1000. Assorted Packets of 100, 4d.; by Post, 5d.
Also, the New Series. 4pp. 9 different, kinds. 4d. per 100, or
2s. lOd. per 1000. Assorted Packet of 100, 6d.; by Post. 7d.
E. L. ALLAN, PRINTER, BOOKSELLER, AND PUBLISHES,
75 SAUCHIEHALL STREET, GLASGOW".