14 before God, the words of one saying to the sixth angel: 0 thou that holdest the trumpet, loose the fore, to determine the limits of the vision of the fifth trumpet. The prophet has described to us a picture pointing out only too plainly the characteristic evils of our own age. He is told that when this picture has faded away another is to follow. Upon this we shall look with deepest interest. It is not intended to disclose beforehand the events of history. But it is intended to reveal to us for warning or encouragement the princip'es of good and evil whose workings, even in our own generation, tend to bring about those historical events in their season. the present age, as in all those which have gone before, the seeds are being sown which shall produce a crop for generations yet unborn; and thus, as in a dissolving view we see indistinctly, through the picture before us, the stronger lines, and the more prominent figures of that which is to follow; so by the aid of the visions which are connected with that of the sixth trumpet we may trace the outlines of the future, and the final results of the good and evil doings of the men of our own generation. In 13-21. The picture of the second woe, that is, of the great apostasy, is drawn for us in vivid and strongly-marked colours and with much variety of detail. N But it is impossible to understand its meaning without carefully comparing together all the visions which refer to it. From these we learn, who are to be the instruments of the judgment; on whom it is to be inflicted; what preparation is to be made for it; what will be the condition of the saints in the course of it; and, finally, what results will follow from it. The instruments of the judgment will be the kings and nations of the earth, deceived by Satan, and instigated by him to conspire together for the suppression of the faithful testimony of the Christian Church. The judgment will fall upon the Church, but most heavily upon the great corrupt Hierarchy of Rome. The way will be prepared for it by the gradual withdrawal of popular support from the Church, especially from Rome, by the gradual spreading of infidelity. The warning voices of faithful Christians will be almost silenced as the end approaches, so that the world will rejoice at its freedom from the annoyance of their testimony. The result, however, will be the sudden Advent of Christ and the glorious victory of His saints at the resurrection of the dead. These statements will be constantly referred to and traced out in detail in the following pages. four angels which have been bound upon the banks 15 of the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they might slay the 16 third part of men. And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two myriads of myriads, I heard 17 their number. And thus I saw the horses, in the vision, and those who sat upon them having breastplates like fire and hyacinth and brimstone; and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and fire and smoke and brimstone went out of their 18 mouths. By these three plagues the third part of men was slain, by the fire and the smoke and the 19 brimstone coming out of their mouths; for the power of the horses is in their mouth, and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads, and 20 with these they hurt. And the rest of the men, who were not slain by these plagues, repented not of the In the seventh chapter the instruments of this judgment are represented as standing bound upon the four corners of the earth, to express the universality of the judgment. We have them here described as having been bound upon the banks of the Euphrates, and then loosed when the exact hour, day, month, and year have arrived for them to be loosed. The rest of the vision, so far as it is continued in this chapter, points either literally to the universal and devastating wars of the latter days, or figuratively to the sore trials of those ages. We are almost tempted to recognise in the fire and smoke and brimstone issuing from these lionheaded monsters and their serpent-like tails, the terrific instruments of destruction by which so called Christians mangle the limbs of Christians in these days of culture and civilisation. But it is more consistent perhaps with the highly figurative character of the prophecy to give them a more general and symbolical meaning, as instruments employed by God to punish the corrupters of the truth. Time alone will reveal their true signification. works of their hands, that they should not worship deified spirits of men, and their images of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which can 21 neither see, nor hear, nor walk; and they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. CHAPTER X. 1-11 The vision of the open roll, introducing the prophetic episode of the next chapter. 1 AND I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, arrayed with a cloud; and the rainbow was about his head, and his face was like the sun, 2 and his feet were like pillars of fire, and he was holding in his hand a little roll opened; and he put his right foot on the sea, and his left upon the earth, 3 and he cried with a loud voice as a lion roareth, and when he cried, the seven thunders spake with their 4 own articulate voices; and when the seven thunders spake, I was about to write; and I heard a voice out of heaven saying, Seal those things which the seven 1, 2. There is a break in the description of the judgment of the sixth trumpet, and the visions of this and the following chapter are introduced, as a sort of episode in the drama, to reveal more clearly the object, the instruments, and the results of the judgment. This is figuratively expressed by an open book in the hand of an angel. The book is held open before the prophet, implying that it contains an intelligible disclosure of things future. 3, 4. Some words seem to be spoken by these thunders for the instruction or encouragement of the prophet. At any rate, it is evident that he is told not to record the words for others. Perhaps they may have revealed to the apostle those contents of the open book which were to be made known to others only by the symbolic pictures of the next chapter. 5, 6, 7. The angel swears that there shall be no longer any delay; and by speaking of the trumpet of the seventh angel, he 5 thunders spake, and write them not. And the angel, whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the 6 earth, lifted up his right hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created the heaven and those things which are in it, and the earth and those things which are in it, and the sea and those things which are in it, that there shall be 7 no longer any delay, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God shall be fulfilled, as he hath declared 8 to his servants the prophets. And the voice which I had heard out of heaven (I heard) again speaking with me, and saying, Go up, take the roll which is opened in the hand of the angel who standeth upon 9 the sea and upon the earth. And I went to the angel, saying to him, Give me the little roll; and he saith to me, Take and eat it, and it shall make bitter thy belly, but in thy mouth it will be sweet as honey. 10 And I took the little roll out of the hand of the clearly shows the relation which this episodical vision bears to that of the sixth trumpet. The completion of the mystery of God is explained, in chapter xi. 15, to mean the final victory of Christ, the judgment of the dead, and the reward of the saints. This all takes place upon the sounding of the seventh trumpet. In the meantime a figurative description is given in chapter xi. 1-14, of that Christendom which is the object of the judgments of the latter days. 1 Ezek. iii. 3, 14. 8-10. It is sweet to the prophet, as it was to Ezekiel before him,' to receive the word of the Lord, and to be made acquainted with His counsels; but when he meditates upon the sins of men and the fearful judgments denounced against them, his heart is filled with bitterness, and he cries out with the Psalmist, 'Mine eyes gush out with water, because men keep not thy law.' 'I am horribly afraid for the ungodly that forsake thy law.'2 2 Ps. cxix. 53, 136. |