.!|i;i;!;'»'l!;i'Mi!!Hi«h"Si=!(MHfin!it!i!I!IBim!i!!i!!viWl!»i!;!!iiHi!i!ilfl THE AP0CALYP5E ijiitejlinillHli" A ^TVDY I lis- iiiiiiiii !iilii;iiiiiillliiiliil:<:r /$5 FRAGILE DOES NOT CIRCULATE BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWNENT FUND THE GIFT OF 31lcmg W. Sage 1 891 A- lib 1ST ' ^SjllL DATE DUE H lJ»= irWd^i S5? 4 7 Cornell University Library BS2825 .B47 + Apocalypse, an Introductory study of the 3 1924 029 295 073 Clin Overs Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029295073 THE APOCALYPSE AN INTRODUCTORY STUDY OF THE REVELATION OF ST JOHN THE DIVINE ^ THE APOCALYPSE AN INTRODUCTORY STUDY OF THE REVELATION OF ST JOHN THE DIVINE BEING A PRESENTMENT OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK AND OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF ITS INTERPRETATION BY EDWARD WHITE BENSON SOMETIME ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. '0 I'xOiN ofc (XKOyCATW. LONDON MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1900 [A!/ rights reserved.'] 9 (CambtiBgj: PRINTED BY J. AND C. F. CLAY, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. CONTENTS. Editor's Preface Introduction .... Essay I. Of the Persons Essay II. Of the Framework (i) Hierophant (2) The Scene . (3) Of the Voices (4) The Choric Songs Essay III. Four Cardinals of Introduction Aphorisms from Auberlen .... Breviate The Revelation Essay IV. What was ' Apocalypse ' ? and what is ' The Apocalypse ' Essay V. A Grammar of Ungrammar ..... Appendix. Identification of the Wild Beast of the Abyss with Nero and others ...... PAGE ix I 7 14 IS 29 35 37 42 45 49 57 III 131 159 EDITOR'S PREFACE. When my father's work on Cyprian'^ was drawing to a close, M. Larpent, the friend who had been helping him in the final verifications, suggested that he must now embark on a study of TertuUian. My father opened a drawer and, shewing M. Larpent a heap of manuscript, said that his first work must be to finish this — a book on the Revelation of St John. All his life, perhaps, he had been peculiarly interested in the Revelation. One of our earliest associations as children, with Sunday, is the vision of the pure ' river of the water of life, clear as crystal,' of the ' new heavens and the new earth,' as, week after week, the rhythm of the words in the chapter he had chosen for Sunday morning prayers fell upon the ear. When this book was actually begun I do not know, but for many years he habitually worked at it before breakfast, and on any un- occupied Sunday afternoons. In 1 89 1 he wrote: ' A scrap of time daily on the Revelation, which can never be interpreted without its proper Methodic, Dramatic and Choric arrange- ment, and a clear sight of its Voices, Guides and Keys — I see it all — have it all in my head — but my fingers cannot find time to set it in visible order.' A certain balance of the artistic and metaphysical quality of mind seems to have fitted him peculiarly for this work. On a due proportion of these qualities the intellectual comprehension of symbolism plainly depends. The mind which naturally expresses itself in symbolism cannot always translate it into terms of thought ; ' Cyprian, his Life, his Times, his Work. X EDITOR'S PREFACE. the purely philosophic mind will generally deal too literally with symbolism or wholly put it aside. But my father had a strong visionary strain. The material of dreams— things physically incapable of combination — had with him a pictured coherence, a richness of description, a vividness of detail, which enabled him to understand and to set forth the scenery of the Revelation as a picture transcending the conditions of this world, wholly beyond the limits of art to realise, but hardly stretching beyond the power of a vivid imagination to visualise. Thus he describes the ' unities ' of this spiritual drama : ' All is unmeasured alike in space and time. An interval occurs and the Seer knows it to be a thousand years. Babylon is seen as clearly across Asia as Jerusalem and Patmos in the foreground.' And as, in ascending a mountain, the world opens out beyond the known limits of space, so he makes the imagination mount to see ' the universe of man,' as it lies spread out before St John : ' the angels in their ministries and their multitudes,' the 'firmament below ' and underneath ' the midheaven of cloud, of the flying eagle, the sky of men in which angels pass and repass on errands for the Earth' ; then the ' rolling up ' of this scene ; its re-appearance ; the Earth ' spread out in vast surfaces, mountains and rivers, land and sea, as in Scipio's dream,' with ' its chief creatures, shipping ' and ' the wild hordes' of its remoter parts. The imagination toils more after him in picturing the scene of the Heavens — the celestial Temple with its angelic priests, and the ' glassy crystal sea ' growing ' sub- lustrous with fire'; but again he makes one realise, as perhaps one never realised before, the vision of the descending city, ' a very great country,' its vast encircling wall, resting on its strata of jewel rock, with the crystal river of Life pouring down its central street between the ' fruitful forest ' of its wooded banks. But the feeling my father had for symbolism did not end here. There are touches which shew that his own comprehension of it was leading him into more mystical regions — leading apparently to some essential identity of the symbol with the thing symbolised. Thus in shewing how in the choruses there is a ' fourfold singing ' of the cherubs — emblems of all created things ; a threefold ascription from the beings close about the throne, and a sevenfold chorus of the angels, he says ' numbers must be regarded as more than symbols EDITOR'S PREFACE. xi when used in these relations to the Divine, the Perfect and the Created.' This was on the one side a line of thought which he himself might have followed out ; on the other hand the same faculty was at work in his immediate desire to shew the book 'written out fair as a beautiful work of art ' ; as a book which is not itself a drama but 'is like the relating of a drama' whose great choruses celebrate ' the spiritual progress of the cause of Christ, the successive defeats of evil, the growing conquest of all things by good.' Yet here again the artistic point of view is secondary, — the artistic treatment the means to an end ; he subordinated ' the match- less free march of the old English ' to exacter renderings, and the essays that accompany the text analyse the structure closely in order the better to display it. These very analyses are indissolubly connected with the vivid power of realisation which is in itself part of the explanation as well as the ultimate object of the writer. The realisation inspires the analysis ; the proportions given through analysis help to construct the picture. Thus the apparent transgression of grammatical form (i. 5) in the three titles of our Lord appear to him to be accounted for by a sudden turn of thought which makes them the starting-point of four Dicta giving ' the Cardinal points of the Theology of the Apocalypse' (Essay III., pp. 42 — 44). The clearly realised scene of the Guide-Angel 'talking' with John and describing the city which is descending before their eyes, is made the explanation of the apparently ungrammatical nominatives used in the description (xxi. 1 1 — 14, 18 — 21, pp. 23, 137) and the cause of the sudden change into future tenses (xxi. 24 — 27, pp. 24, 138) as the Hierophant instructs the seer 'in the coming occupation of the scene before him.' Thus also it is through the realisation of the state of mind of the speakers — the Angel 'energetically, like Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, diverting adoration from himself,' — the Seer in his musing ' repeating in a future tense what had just been shewn as a picture and described in the aorist' — or again in his attitude of 'one watch- ing actions and startled suddenly by a turn in them ' — that light is thrown on puzzling points of grammar; as my father makes it appear that the mood of the writer lies more closely underneath the forms of language than is realised or allowed by most men. xii EDITOR'S PREFACE. The book is concerned only in the most indirect way with the question of criticism. My father assumes the identity of authorship with the Gospel; and this allowed he shews how certain passages which have seemed puzzling in the Apocalypse are paralleled by others, less rugged, in the Gospel. In 1896 the tale of chapters was practically complete, and my father wrote, March 22 : ' Have now practically finished a big book, unless I add a few of the Greek comments. If it ever sees the light many will think it a very odd book. Folks are edified in such different ways. But it has edified me, which was what I began it for.' His life's work on Cyprian was at last prepared for the press, and he carried it with him to Ireland on his last journey ; but he also, most characteristically, took with him the MSS. of the Revelation, that no moment might be lost in the intervals. Thus he was working at this book also up to the day of his death. There are instances in which the editing of an incompleted book must be in some sort as responsible as the authorship ; in which the Editor must re-examine, re-touch or modify, even if he need not actually model or re-model the work. In this case there was little question of the kind. On the one hand the book was in all its parts complete, though in none was it finished. On the other hand it is, as it stands, so unique and so suggestive that we dared not do more than was simply necessary. It is better to leave a characteristic work rough-hewn than to let any hand but that of the master round the outlines and smooth the surfaces. Thus all the work which it has been my privilege and delight to do, with the indispensable and invaluable help of those named below, has been to prepare the book for publication, to carry out details on lines definitely laid down or distinctly indicated, to remove obvious slips, to trace references. A few editorial notes it has been found necessary to add. To avoid confusion I have distinguished these from notes added by the author, but I must here state that in those which contain facts for the student I have had the learned assistance of M. Alexis Larpent, for whose devoted care in all that concerns my father's work we cannot be too grateful. EDITOR'S PREFACE. xiii As it would have been my father's own desire to submit, before publication, such a book as this to friends whose criticism and opinion he valued ; so when it was prepared as far as possible on the lines he had indicated, I ventured to ask his life-long friend the Bishop of Durham to read the proofs in slip. I need hardly tell with what warmth and fulness of attention he responded, and, though inclined to take in many respects a position different from that of my father, with what delicate and minute criticism he has helped us\ To others, named below, I am specially indebted for help on definite points. It will be well to shew how far the different chapters required such treatment, that the work of the author may be clearly dis- tinguished from that for which the editing is responsible. The changes in my father's handwriting, the scraps of notes kept, the condition of the MSS. and the paper used, the corrections and re-corrections, all shew with more or less certainty the com- parative date at which the chapters were written, the condition of finish and the possibility of alteration. The chapters from ' Introduction' to the end of 'the Aphorisms of Auberlen ' had with perhaps one exception been written and cor- rected more than once in earlier years. The final corrections alluded to in a diary extract of '96 had begun not at the Introduction, but at ' The Persons ' (Essay I.), and been carried through this and the ' Hierophant.' About this time the Essay on ' The Voices ' appears to have been added, and whether this should precede or follow ' The Choric Songs,' was never definitely settled I My father seems to have then passed on in his final corrections to the later chapters of the book, so that the Essays from the end of 'Hierophant' to the 'Breviate' had been passed over, or at any rate not systematically revised. But the ' Breviate,' though it seems to have been finished early, was written out in what appeared to be its final form. Yet that this was still waiting for revision will appear from such a fact as that there was no abstract made of the verses 19 • 9 — 11. The curious repetition which appears in 6- i — 9 I have kept because the MS. shewed every evidence of deliberate correction. I can only hypothetically suggest a reason for it (see note, p. 50). The reader will notice the importance of the varying margins in 1 E.g. editorial notes on pp. 117, 122, 158 are given by the Bishop of Durham. ^ See Introduction, p. 5 and note. xiv EDITOR'S PREFACE. Breviate and Text as presenting more easily to the eye something of the structure of the book. For the exact detail of these margins the Editor is to some extent responsible, as the ' scale of notation,' so to speak, had been slightly ■changed in working them out. This is a not unnatural error for one who had to carry on the work at long intervals of time, and was at once an enthusiast of detail, and yet with a strangely treacherous memory, of the lapses of which he was partly conscious. Though the whole text had been quickly gone through by my father himself, only the beginning and end had been carefully marked and revised. A part of the last chapter had, however, been printed, and he had himself seen and approved this, which gave the clue as to the way in which all was to be carried out. For, with characteristic love of detail, all was settled, margins, the size of the page, the manner of printing references, — the very type that was to be used — had been carefully considered and decided upon. Many of these details have a definite significance, not only an aesthetic value. Margins. The main principle appeared to be that the lines of the narration should begin in the first margin. Speeches as well as some subordinate sentences are distinguished by the second ; the choruses are marked by the third, and sayings of our Lord and great pronouncements by the fourth. There are certain exceptions, the reason of which will be easily seen. Emphasis is given by capitals and by spacing. The great name ^ The I AM ' is all in capitals (i • 8), and the title of the Trinity, in whose name John is sent on his mission (1-4, 5). Certain great pronouncements are marked by having the first words in capitals, — Such are the comments of the Hierophant : 'HERE IS THE {' mind that hath wisdom,' ' patience and faith of the saints ') : and the Beatitudes which the Angel notes, or the Voice of Jesus pronounces : 'Blessed are they' (is he) The varying size of the capital headings of sections draws attention to their varying importance in the structure of the whole. Spacing also gives emphasis or clearness. The direction to print (13-5) 'to deal for forty and two months,' is undoubtedly to call the attention to this particular symbolic period of time paralleled by the 1260 ■days, or ' time, times and half a time.' EDITOR'S PREFACE. xv Th& punctuation cannot be regarded as complete. My father had definite and original views on punctuation, regarding it, so to speak, as a necessary evil, to be employed only when the order of sentences and the methods of printing left the meaning still ambiguous. Thus he had left a direction that all the punctuation of the Revised Version (which he used as a basis on which to work out his own translation) should, with the exception of full stops, be left out. He intended to put in such punctuation as was advisable in the proof. I have added only what was absolutely necessary. References. One great point which my father desired to bring out was the extent to which the Scriptures were used by the author of the Revelation. He had himself marked with quotation marks (see Introduction, p. 4) the Revised Version and had filled in the refer- ences in the first and last chapters and a few other places. He intended to add the rest in proof. Much of the point of his work therefore would have been lost if references had not been supplied throughout. His own references are made on the basis of those given in Westcott and Hort's Greek Testament. Yet some of these he appears to have deliberately omitted, others which he has added have often a certain rarity or subtlety of suggestion. I desired to distinguish therefore, what had been accepted or suggested by himself from those added later. I have therefore not added quotation marks where he himself had not put them, as an attentive reader will find no difficulty in identifica- tion ; and I have marked with an asterisk all those references which he himself had written in. For the rest the references in Westcott and Hort's Greek Testa- ment have been added, and these Professor Mason revised and supplemented. To Professor Mason thanks are due moreover for his kindness in reading the proof-sheets, and for his suggestions. A few references were given by my brother, the Rev. R. H. Benson, who gave assistance also in seeing the work through the press. Thanks are also due to Miss Rose Selfe for her careful transcription for press of the very difficult manuscript. As regards the translation, the question of uniformity of rendering was the most difficult. For my father's general principle I can but refer the reader to his own clear statement in the Introduction (pp. 3, 4). His practice is plainly based on the principle that absolutely equivalent translation xvi EDITOR'S PREFACE. is in the nature of things impossible. Thus not only does he not translate the same Greek word by the same English word in different places, but he does not translate the same passage in the same way in the Essays and in the Text. Yet the differences are plainly deliberate. Some are due to the desire to give now the literal, and now the idiomatic or literary English. ' The Voice of the Throned ' he says in the essay on the Hierophant (p. 23) ' ratifies and realises the fact in four words, — " Behold, I make all new," ' accommodating the words to the forceful brevity of the Greek. But in his Text the English naturally runs ' I make all things new.' A more important instance is the translation of (j)id\ai. In most places he has followed the truer translation of ' Bowls ' which he evidently approved, and the angels hold ' Bowls of incense.' But in the 15th chapter was a pencil note to the effect that 'Vials of wrath ' had become a classical expression, and that no one would say ' Bowls of wrath,' and (with two exceptions) the notes which con- cern this part of the Text spoke of ' Vials ' not of ' Bowls.' The Text was unfinished and his mind apparently undecided on the point. I have kept ' Vials ' wherever these (pidXao filled with the plagues are in question, in accordance with what appeared to be his principle — namely that a translation enshrined in a well-known passage may become fixed by that passage as a classical expression and remain the right translation there, although it may be rendered by some specialisation or deviation of popular usage not the most literal and not the most correct translation elsewhere. Thus I have often heard him deprecate the change made by the Revised Version of ' charity ' into ' love ' in i Cor. xiii. The cases in which more than one English word expresses in part the meaning of the Greek are too numerous to mention. 'Ttto/xovij is rendered sometimes ' endurance,' sometimes ' patience.' Here again my father may have been influenced by the fact that some expressions like ' the patience and the faith ' have become peculiarly dear and familiar to English ears. But a stronger instance of this kind is the translation of dBtKelv. There is a note on Ch. vii. 2 : ' " wrong " does not in the Apocalypse lose its sense, as here, of the innocent creation.' And throughout he translates dZbKelv, where it concerns sinful beings, as ' hurt,' but as ' wrong ' when it implies innocent suffering. Thus he renders ix. 4 EDITOR'S PREFACE. xvii ' that they shall not wrong the grass of the earth... but hurt only such men' ; but when it is a question of the Two who suffer for their witness to God (xi. 5) he renders 'If any man willeth to wrong them'; for these two are suffering innocently. Again some special context or reference may make sometimes one word and sometimes another the most appropriate to use. ' The Star of dawn ' he prefers for the text in xxii. 16, but when in the Essay (Hierophant, p. 27) he refers to the ' Star' which 'flames in the forehead of the morning sky ' it is more natural to give the usual translation of the ' Star of morning.' B.vXov is translated ' Tree of Life ' in ii. 7, for the context is 'which is in the Paradise of God ' and the reference to Gen. ii. 9 ; iii. 22. But in xxii. 2 where the ^vXov is said ' to be on this side of the river and on that' it is plainly, as my father often said, not a tree but a forest of trees, and he translates it ' Wood of Life.' The 'Grammar of Ungrammar' was the least finished chapter, and it is here that editing in the ordinary sense has been most necessary. (See notes, pp. 131, 156.) Some of the notes he had planned are but roughly sketched out. The index originally ran ' Notes on Xeycov and €xa)v, SlScofii,, orav, (jLera ravra, yivofiai, Neuter plurals with plural verbs. Mistranslations, Renderings.' But in the chapter yivofiao was included with Render- ings ; and a note headed 'Vividness. Perfects and Aorists' is added. ' Apparently real Slips,' with which the rough notes end, I take to be the beginning of an attempt to work out a pencil note : ' There should be a final list of things which I cannot explain.' But the main difficulty in this chapter was that the whole argument is treated without any reference to a possible Hebrew influence. My father was not a Hebrew scholar. It is very im- probable that he would have published the chapter without some consideration of this other side and some reference to it. Yet the chapter although incomplete is in the opinion of those consulted so original and so fruitful in suggestion that we determined to publish it with two or three small excisions, where the suggestions could not be sufficiently supported. Thanks are specially due to my uncle, Mr Arthur Sidgwick, for help in this matter, and for his careful consideration of certain points of Greek that were referred to him. There are two things which seem to account for the incompleteness of the Nero essay. In his diary, in the summer of '96, my father xviii EDITOR'S PREFACE. speaks of ' doing a good deal to the Vision of the Wild Beast' This work was revision, but it does not appear to have extended beyond a re-arrangement and correction of the Chapter, and ' the re-writing of the first page. Even on this re-written page there was a note question- ing the position of the chapter, whether it should stand as at present or as a note to the Essay on 'The Persons'^ ; and a note in the margin of the last sentence ran ' Express this more clearly.' But apart from this unfinished condition there is a certain impatience in his handling of a theory which all ' congruity, analogy and proportion' (p. 159) seemed to him to exclude. 'The apparent incongruity of such a mask with the scheme of the drama of powers and principles, its lack of analogy, its want of proportion, might seem to forbid an importa- tion of lampoon.' He had sketched out a refutation of the theory not because he considered that it had any weight in itself but partly because of the weight of those who had 'lent themselves to its plausibilities,' and above all because this was the best example of a method of interpretation wholly opposed to his own fundamental principles. If this instance goes all such interpretations must go. How alien such a method is to the principles which he himself suggests may be judged from the chapter 'What was ' Apocalypse?' and what is ' The Apocalypse ' ? ' This chapter was, of all, the most complete. This alone had been submitted to the criticism of one or two intimate friends. Even this, however, would undoubtedly have received more correction from one who like my father was never weary of turning a phrase that it might express, if not easily or lucidly, at any rate finely and suggestively that which he meant to convey. The position of this chapter was not entirely settled ; my father had debated the question of making it an introduction to the whole ; but in view of the clearly reasoned plan of the Introduction I have not liked to alter the sequence. But it will not perhaps be amiss for the reader to glance at this chapter first, for in spite of the decided words of the Introduction, the scope and purpose of such a book as this is easily misunder- stood. The innate tendency of the Western nature to a definite and even material interpretation of symbol and prophecy makes many rush to such a book as this seeking to find in it a key to the cypher of history. But my father guards himself expressly against any idea ' Its length as well as the statement of the Introduction made this undesirable. EDITOR'S PREFACE. xix of giving an interpretation of the book; he indicates rather the prin- ciples of such interpretation, confining himself to an explanation of the nature of apocalypse. The chapter called ' Aphorisms from Auberlen ' is drawn up to illustrate what is meant by ' principles being the subject of prophecy': thus that the application of prophecy is not its rendering in any particular historic series of events, but is found in the formative and destructive principles which make history and determine events. ' We find Persons and Events ' he says ' to be subjects of prophecy only if they are unique and solitary examples of a principle' (p. 48),. and the Gospel facts could be in this sense subjects of Apocalypse (p. 116) as being root facts of history. Thus the treatment may in some sense be said to be metaphysic rather than historic. He does not seek to make application so much as to unfold principles. The Apocalypse he says is simply ' an un- veiling of persons and other realities which are about us now and to the end.' 'The things which required unveiling' he defines as 'the spiritual basis of the world — the Unity of GOD — the Character of God.' The actual material things of the world may be themselves the veil of the substantial realities which we call spiritual. But 'the establishment of God's righteousness is the final subject of apocalypse.' ' The Justice of the Character and Government of God is worked out through every opposition, perplexity, darkness.' As the ' whole progressive apocalypse in human history leads on to a manifestation of Jesus Christ in person which will be undeniably apparent to his opponents as well as to believers,' so there is con- currently ' with the Apocalypse of Christ through History an Apoca- lypse of the Enemies who would confront him,' whether of Living Beings or of 'principles incarnate in multitudes of men.' That the interpretation is not summed up in any one series of events does not empty the book of historic significance, it increases it a thousandfold, for any period of the history of any nation is but a part of its vast meaning. St John 'is a Seer who sees within all the beneficence and majesty of Government, behind all the wealth and grace of Society, a spirit sitting which is dead against the Christ.' He is the interpreter of those 'most potent influences' 'which work wonders in the life of civilisation as we know it, and seem bright with undying fire.' Thus the Book of his Prophecy is not a magic book XX EDITOR'S PREFACE. which properly conjured with will tell the lives and fortunes of nations and kings, but : ' Apocalypsis was necessarily an unveiling in the widest, greatest sense of the Living Christ as part and parcel of our necessary Life— an unveiling of ourselves and of all the rational creation, with its settings as part and parcel of this Oeconomy, or otherwise of that evil World-oeconomy which it was His mission to remove, and replace by an Oeconomy of GOD.' 'The Apocalypse of John is the mirror of the Apocalypsis of the Nations,' its meaning is the mystery of GoD, its application all the history of 'the Times of Christ' The Apocalypse evidently will take ages to work out. It is not the end of it that is near. But it is no Vision rounded off, belonging to times yet future. The drama began in the world at once, in John's own day. Jesus was then coming quickly and came, not by 'the Second Advent' which the Book describes as near to the end of the world, but by coming to be a factor in the world's history. It was thus He said to the High Priest, '■From henceforth^ from this moment, air apri, 'ye shall see the Son of man seated on the right hand of power and coming upon the clouds of the Heaven.' MARGARET BENSON. INTRODUCTION. The purpose of this little book is a quiet and modest one. It makes no pretensions to be an Interpretation, still less what many Interpretations are, a new Prophecy. It is meant only to help people to ' read ' the Apocalypse as itself counsels people to 'read' it, without additions or subtractions. In answer once to the question, ' What is the form the Book presents to you ?' the reply of an intelligent and devout reader was, 'It is Chaos.' If any complicated book were so presented to 'reader' or ' hearer ' that preludes and contents, ' arguments ' and com- ments, visions, choruses, prologues and epilogues ran straight on in ordinary paragraphs, or verses, without any such order- ing of the text as the modern is used to, and without the traditional modes of recitation which the antient with his stronger memory enjoyed, ' Chaos ' it would seem to be. That is what has befallen this unique Book. To take one kind of example. As we read onward, in ch. xiv. 8 Babylon seems to be spoken of as already 'fallen.' In xvi. 19 she is 'remembered' or 'made mention of before God to give her the cup of wrath ' (as if she were still un- fallen). In xvii. 4 the splendour and mystery of her sin is described as dominant, and described for the first time. In xviii. 2 an Angel declares her ' fallen ' in the same words as in xiv. 8. In xviii. 4 begins the prolonged Dirge over her. 2 [Introduction In xviii. 21 an Angel says she shall be thrown down like the stone which he hurls into the sea. In xix. 2 is the Heavenly Chorus over her fall. This is Chaos. But when it is seen that xiv. 8 belongs to a Prelude, is one of a series of warnings and of invitations which shadow out a future ; that xvi. 19 is the preparation for her punishment and overthrow, which are lamented, xviii. 4 ; that xviii. 2 1 means not that her fall is in the future, but that the future shall see no restoration of her ; the whole takes shape as a consecutive dramatic Action. The following is an instance of a different sort of con- fusion, which remains hopeless so long as the ' reader ' sees nothing of the structure of the book. An outline of the fortunes of the Temple, its Court and its Holy City is given in ch. xi. Two Witnesses or Prophets are said to be slain there by ' The Wildbeast which rises out of the Abyss,' warring with the holy, when as yet there has been no mention of any Wildbeast. The period of the activity of those two personages had been 1260 days, and for 42 months {i.e. the same length of time) the City was in the possession of the Gentiles. Presently after, in ch. xii., comes another vision, in which, soon after its opening (xiii. i), a Wildbeast rises out of the Abyss and wars with "the holy.' The period of his power is 42 months, the length of time during which the City had been occupied. And the Woman against whom and against whose ' seed ' he wars is hid from him in the desert the same period of 1260 days (xii. 6), which is also counted as 'a time, times and half a time' (xii. 14). As regards Structure, it is evident that these two visions are not chronologically consecutive ; a power, which arises only in the second, intervenes crucially in the first. The primary aspect of the two visions is as of the same period treated first from a Jewish and then from a Gentile point of view. But however this may be, the first is not Introduction] 2 earlier in time than the second, and may be said to be parallel. The literary structure of work like this plainly needs atten- tion if the work has a meaning. If we would go on higher or deeper in its interpretation, the literary structure of the com- position demands our first study. It is want of acquaintance with this structure which has led some of the best writers to lay down ' principles of Anticipation ' for their own guidance through such perplexities as the above, and to discover rules of the ' Doubling of Representations ' — ' the first ideal, the second actual ' — of the same facts. I believe that there is no occasion for any of these unnatural involutions. Attempts to methodise this book on occult principles, which would render any other book unintelligible, will, I think, appear to be need- less and therefore hopeless, when once the book is written out fair as a beautiful work of art, the orderly workmanship of a great and beautiful soul seeing more and farther than other men. Such it should be if it claims human attention. Such it should be if it is on a level with the rest of the ' Divine Library.' I have tried so to write it out, in a clear sequence of what in a Drama would be Acts and Scenes. I have given a running abstract in the margin, and such headings to sections as seem of service to keep the visions distinct before the eye, and have prefixed a short Table or Breviate which will show the relation of the visions or sections to each other more readily than the turning of pages. As to the Rendering. It was not possible to maintain the matchless free march of the old English. It was only possible to seek words and phrases more exactly, as matter of scholar- ship, fitting from point to point the author's meaning. So few words of different languages are more than partial equivalents for each other ; so many terms correspond only in the main use, overlap each other, or fall just short of each other's force, or include two shades, or give only one shade out of two, or by association or derivation emphasize each a fraction, perhaps 4 [Introduction a different fraction, of their correspondence, that a determina- tion to use always the same word for the rendering of some original word wrests the sense of sentences. The deflection is increased when not only words but compound phrases are being handled. Slight variations throw sometimes the essen- tial side-light on an original word which can be but imperfectly rendered by any single word. Each several sentence must be a matter of judgment. In the Table particularly I find it necessary not to keep the identical rendering of the Text when the whole clause is re-cast. I have printed the Book in sense-lines — the antient stichometrical form, not implying rhythm but finding that form help much to clearness. In other respects I have desired to keep down the use of typographical device. Quotations of the Old Testament I represent in our ordinary way by inverted commas, finding them less distracting than capitals. Besides, the capitals seem to magnify the authority of the quotation beyond that of the Text in which they are set. The Greek Text followed is that of Westcott and Hort. The references have been minutely examined as given in their edition, and in a few instances I hope their splendid accuracy is not diminished by slight change. I repeat then that I had in view first for my own reading and then gradually for others, nothing but a clear presentment of what St John wrote, without adding or injecting any inter- pretation. In aiming at this I found myself obliged to make out five short Attempts or Essays to group certain character- istics of the Book in a distinct form under a clear light. They were really Essays in this sense, and they are as follows : I. Of the Persons, divine and other, who take part in the Action : The Dramatis PersoncB if it were a Drama. In the appendix is a note to this Essay upon the strongly- advanced opinion that one of its Personcs is the Emperor Nero. Introduction] 5 II. Of the Framework of the Vision. I. The Angelic guidance under which the Seer beholds it. 2. The Scene upon which the Action proceeds, and with which owing to its vastness the spectator is himself enclosed. 3. The Division of the Action into seven parts by seven Choric songs\ III. Of the Faith, or Belief or Creed which underlies the book so livingly that to a mind not charged with it the significance of the whole pales and fades to nothing. This Credo St John, before relating any vision, marks out in four Cardinal Points, or Primary Articles, a foursquare foundation I The above-named Attempts may, it is hoped, be of some help to the Reader in reading. The following will be of more use after the Book is read and are placed accordingly. IV. Of what thing is meant in the New Testament by the term ' Apocalypse ' ? and what this our Apocalypse is ? V. Of the effect which the Construction or Form and Purpose of the Apocalypse have upon the constructions of language and methods of expression, particularly through the weaving in of comments and elucidations into the Text. These observations, though more for scholars, will not as a rule be unintelligible to others. They should have some modifying effect on inconsiderate notions of the style of the writer. It may appear that the Six Divisions which Aristotle finds in the Drama^ have presented themselves in these ' [A Special Essay Of the Voices in the Apocalypse was added later and placed (part 3) before that on The Choric Songs (part 4). Ed.] 2 If any object to these terms, Articles, Creed or Belief, as premature I gladly accept any other terms which more adequately express the facts. Meantime I abide by them (l) because the statements in question are clear expressions of doctrinal truths; and (2) because they are framed to meet the rapidly forming formulas of Antichrist which, as we see in St John's Epistles, included such subjects as the Natures of Christ, the guilt of sin, impeccability. 8 ['AvayKJ; ovv Trao-rjs rpaycoSias jiiprj etvai €^, Ka6' a noid tis icrrm 17 rpaycoSia. Tavra 8' etrTi. /jlvSos koX ^dr) koI Xc'^is Kol biavoia Ka\ oijrLs 'xi.> In xxi. 6 the things which thus were to come to pass are said by Christ to have presented themselves, to have come into being, Teyovav^. All have been shewn as they are to take place in their order. When we reach the close of all, and the final attestations and injunctions, the Angel's task is done. xxii. 6, 7 ' These words are faithful and real, and the Lord, the GOD of ^ See Essay II. (3) Of the Voices, pp. 35, 36. ^ If yiyovav grammatically links on to ovToi ol XSyoi (which is doubtful, though it includes them) it must be remembered that \6yoi here is the magnificent utterance of the great Voice from the Throne (xxi. 3), which sums up all that has or can come to pass, closing the dark and sorrowful past, and bringing in the eternal Presence, comprehends all that has been taught by eye and ear alike throughout the visions. In xxii. 6 the same expression oBtoi oi X15701 &c. has no actual utter- ance preceding it. Part i] HIEROPHANT. 17 the spirits of the prophets, sent His Angel to shew to His servants the things which must come to pass, with speed, and behold I am coming fast,' — dTreaTeiXei>...Sel^ai...u Bet yeveaOai ev rd-^ei. We will now follow the steps between this beginning and this end of the Mission. Throughout the Book there are again and again words of authority distinguishable from every other of the many voices which sound about John, words of direction and of explana- tion or comment, given simply, sometimes with, sometimes without the addition that the voice was 'out of heaven,' where, it must be remembered, St John was, standing at gaze, until the Guide withdraws him to go elsewhere. In X. 4 he hears 'a voice out of the heaven' bidding him *■ 4 ' seal the things which the seven thunders talked and not write them' — that is some sevenfold utterance from the Throned And in x. 8 the same voice, ' the voice which I heard out x. 8 of the heaven, I heard it again talking with me.' It tells him to 'go away' to 'withdraw' (virayey, and take the Booklet in the hand of the Angel who stood on sea and land. He returns to earth and does it, interchanging speech with the Angel. Others then tell him that he has now to prophesy again, and that against the greatest earthly powers. Still on earth, he receives a Reed to measure the earthly xi. i Temple. The expression is peculiar — Kal ehoOrj /j,oi KaXa/j,o<; ofLoio'; pd^Sw, Xeiycov'. It is not said who gave it him, but that the giver spoke to him, and we observe that in xxi. i S xxi. the Angel Guide bears a measuring Reed of gold. When the terrible Vision of the Two Witnesses in the xi. i City round the Temple is past, John is in his place again in heaven, hearing and seeing things which would not be seen from earth. His standpoint from xi. 15 onwards is the same evidently as before — He went to receive the ' Little Book' and to measure, and then returned. In the Visions of the Wildbeasts, which follow the Dragon's xiii. rout, explanations of the things and beings seen are given, which can only proceed from some Instructor. They are not patent in the things themselves, but are interpretations of 1 See Essay II. {3) Of the Voices, p. 36. 2 See the constant use of the word in the Apocalypse. ' On the same adverbial use of \i-juv see Grammar of Ungrammar, pp. 146 ff. B. R. 2 i8 OF THE FRAMEWORK. [Essay II them, mixed with foreshewings of what they will do and what will become of them. Each such interpretation or foreshewing- is followed up by a Comment in a special form, which is used only in this portion of the book. Thus the description of the powers and the world-wide worship of the Wildbeast of the Earth is followed by xiii. 9, lo If any HATH EAR, let him hear. 'If any is for captivity, into captivity' he goeth away.... 'If any' shall kill 'with sword, with sword' must he be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the holy. Again, after the description of the powers of the Wildbeast of the Sea and his world-wide energy in enforcing the 'stamp' and the ' number' of the Wildbeast of the Earth, we have xiii. i8 Here is the Wisdom. He that hath mind, let him reckon the number of the Wild- beast, For it is a number of man, And the number of him is Six hundred sixty six. xiv, 6-12 After the Three warning proclamations which are made by three Angels on wing : Of the worship of GoD, Of the fate of Babylon, and Of the eternal penalty of worshipping the Wildbeast, come these words xiv, 12 1 Here is the patience of the holy — They that go-on-keeping the commandments of GOD and the faith of Jesus. xiv. 13 And^ then a 'voice out of the heaven' bids him 'Write' the tender Blessing on Christ's departing ones (words for which alone the Apocalypse was worth writing), their Rest, the Permanence of their Record. The form of ' Here is the — ' recurs once more, as we shall see presently, but at this point a great change takes place in the manner in which St John is directed. xiv. 13 After xiv. 13 there is no further mention in the rest of the Book of the 'voice out of the heaven' directing him". But what happens is this. XV. 5, 6 In XV. 5, 6 he had seen Seven Angels come out of the Heavenly Temple. They were vested like Priests, and there were put into their hands the Sacrificial Bowls in which the ' On the construction see Grammar of UngrMnmar, p. 133. ^ TKovira here has the genitive. ^ [xviii. 4 is not addressed to St John ; xxi. 3 is not a. directing voice ; and there is no other mention of ' a Voice ' as such. Ed.] Part i] HIEROPHANT. 19 Priests offered propitiatory blood, pouring it at the foot of the Altar. The Bowls are now brimming ^ with Divine Wrath, and are not poured out before the Temple. The Angels go away to shed them on the earth. The sight of these xv. i, 2 Angels with their Bowls was 'a great sign.' The Temple as they leave it fills with smoke from the Shechinah, and becomes impenetrable. These are apparently those same Seven Angels — ' the viii. >= Seven who stand in the presence of GOD' — to whom the Seven Priestly Trumpets had before been given for sounding, as the Priests sounded for the doom of the old world-city xi, 13, 15 /• T -1 Jos. Vi. 4 f of J ericho. Their service now done, the dread Bowls poured out, One of these Seven comes to John and ' talks with him.' Exactly as the voice that at first ' talked with him ' had iv. i bidden him ' go up this way and let me [I shall] shew thee things which must come to pass,' and he ' immediately be- came in spirit,' just so now this Angel talks with him, 'Hither^, xvii. i let me [I shall] shew thee the judgment of the Great Harlot,' and carries him away ' in spirit ' — this time to the earth and to a certain ' Wilderness.' It was then this Angel-Guide who had hitherto directed him by his voice from afar in heaven, and now gives him his companionship. As an Angel of the Presence, he to whom the office was assigned by GoD and Christ — the Angel of each — is called ' His Angel' at the opening and ending of his duty. ^'xH. 6 As an Angel of the Presence his voice has been [always] up to this point called ' A Voice out of the Heaven.' But henceforth St John describes his speaking by the familiar 'saith he to me' (Xeyei fioi), as we shall further explain'. Such a Wilderness as they now enter together he had seen xvii. 3 shelter the persecuted Mother. Now he finds there in all xii. e their horror and in all their splendour the Harlot Queen and her Wildbeast. The Angel feels his amazement, and asking, 'Wherefore didst thou wonder.'^' speaks at length (elTrev fioi, xvii. 7— 14 ^ ...0idXas xputras 7e/ioi5(ras, XV. 7. ^ The Greek idiom Sevpo is closely connected with del^a, which is subjunctive aorist, rather than future, 'let me hither shew thee.' ' On elTrey and X^7ei see below, pp. ■21, 22, note 2. * V. 7. Aia tI iBaifxaaas ; — this would be too simple a question with such a spectacle before him, were it not that the glory of the Queen was partly irre- sistible, and there is a tint of admiration in the wonder. It is the same word which is used in v. 8 of her adorers, and of ' the whole earth's ' admiration for the Wildbeast (xiii. 3), before it turned into worship (xiii. 8). 2 — 2 OF THE FRAMEWORK. [Essay II ...ijcb epS) aoi) of this mystery, its origin, its developement and its defeat, and then goes on to say {Ka\ Xeyet /xot) what xvii. 15, 16 the details ' which thou sawest ' mean, and that the Harlot is the now reigning City of the world. In the course of his interpretation he uses the very expression which has occurred thrice in the interpretings of the other Wildbeasts. xvii. 9 Here is the Mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains where the woman is seated above them : and they are seven kings. We may pause now to ask who is the sayer of those weighty words — ' Here is the patience, the faith, the wisdom, the mind,' which make some demands on the en- durance and the intelligence of the believers who are face to face with the ascendency of physical power and delight. It is not St John himself, for each of the sayings contains matter as much revealed to him as anything in the Book, and even more obscure, e.g. the Number of the Wildbeast, the xiii, 18 meaning of his Heads and Horns. They are among the things which he most needed to be taught. ='"i-9 It is not Christ. The first words of the first saying 'If any hath ear let him hear' might incline one to think it so, because it is His own phrase used with many ' hard sayings ' in the Gospels, and used in each of His letters to the Seven xiii. 10 Churches. The words about ' taking the sword ' are almost His own words to Peter. But these are certainly not con- clusive reasons. It is true that He vouchsafes explanation of the Cande- i- 20 labra and the Stars, but those are actually part of the Vision in which He shews Himself to the Seer, lays His hand on him, and gives him an instant commission to deal with those who are signified by the Stars and Candelabra, the Churches and their Angels. But in this present Vision, on the contrary, He figures in the Actions themselves as the Child, as the Lamb, the Reaper, the White Warrior, the Judge, and His intervention as Interpreter too would be incongruous. But these words are altogether appropriate to the Great Apocalyptic Angel, who through the whole Book takes charge of John the Seer, first by voice, and then at his side, and to whom the fourth of those two parallel utterances is expressly ascribed. Part i] HIEROPHANT. 21 To return. John is with his Guide in the Wilderness. The whole catastrophe of the Evil Queen is acted out before him. He hears the dirges on earth, the triumphal songs in heaven. They melt into the Chorus of Welcome to the Bride who begins to be expected. Thus the Guide has fulfilled his promise to shew him the Judgment of the Great Harlot, and a new hope dawns. At last (as his voice had done before, xiv. 13) the Guide gives him once more the word to ' Write.' He affirms the fullest force of the changed strain they hear above. As then he blessed the many who were dying in the Lord, so now he stamps the changing of the world by blessing the blessed- ness of the Guests of the Lamb. And saith he to me Write, Blessed are they which are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And saith he to me These are true words of GoD. The sights that could be seen from earth are over. A passionate impulse comes over St John to throw him- self before the feet of the great Guide who was opening to him' so much of the mystery of the world; not as he fell before Christ 'like a dead man,' but indeed 'to adore him.' He sternly repels him with the admonition that they both bear one prophetic office of witnessing to Jesus, and that adoration is for GOD alone. Now again ' heaven is opened ' before him as he saw it at the first, when he passed into it ' in spirit.' Doubtless he re-enters. His place is again near the Throne, since we find in xxi. 6 not only the solemn elirev but el-7T€p ijLOi, used of the Voice of GOD. Thence he is to see the widest and vastest of all visions. He is not only to watch out of a wilderness the abolition of the Great City. His Guide is near him still, prompting him familiarly (Xeyei,^, ^ This reason is given for the same act in xxii. 8 ...rou SetKvuoi>T6s fJ-ou Cf. p. 25. ^ elvetv occurs very seldom, only five times — \iyei occurs nearly a hundred times, often solemnly of course, rdSe X^yei, X^7ei 6 Kiipios, &c. when no other tense is possible. St John seems to have selected the verb elire'iv to be an occasional special con- trast (it had in its natural use a weightiness) to X^7eii'. vii. 14. One of the Elders 'and he spake to me' (very solemn) 'These are they that are coming,' explaining the unnumbered multitude. xvii. 7. The Angel Guide explains the mystery of the Harlot Woman and the Wildbeast. xxi. 6. The Throned — at great length — Viyomi' ' I am the Alpha,' &c. This 2 2 OF THE FRAMEWORK. [Essay II xxi. 5 when he is to write, xxi. 5, as before in xix. 9 and xiv. 13, not as in the earlier part with his ' voice out of heaven '), and apparently as before noting- the Beatitudes as they develope. ^^- 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the First Resur- rection. Over these the Second Death hath no power but they will be priests of GOD and of Christ and will reign with Him [the] thousand years. He teaches him that they are no more merely at Rest, XX. 5 no more merely wedding-guests, they are to be Immortal Priests and Kings. St John has gone on with his narrative of what he saw and what he knew, and this Beatitude is Aow he knew that they would live and reign the looo years'. He is to see the last struggle in all heaven and earth of all the Powers (vi. 1—8). At last this too is over with all its terrors. We are carried back in thought to the first hours of the Vision, when the Four Captains rode out in open xix. 19, 21 heaven. The Rider of the White Horse has overthrown the other Three. We are carried back expressly to that i. 16, ii. 16 first vision of Christ in His Own Person. The two-edged sword issuing from His mouth has swept the field. i^i- 1. ■' We have shewn elsewhere that the first two verses of the twenty-first chapter are the Title of the last Vision ^ He does not yet relate the new creation or see the descent of the New City. This begins at verse 10. But here he sums up the contents of his next Vision, all that was yet to be seen. xxi. 3 After the Title the Vision begins (as frequently) with 'And is preceded by {the Angel) X^et Vpi.pKyi.hoL...K\t\povoji,T]iov, 6 i(TT7}K(j)S Kcl aKoij^tJV airou, x^P"? X^^P^'- ^^^ '^'^^ (p(ijv'f]v Tou vvixrpiov,.. ^ [xii. 10 is an Ode, not strictly a Choric Song; cf. p. 85. Ed.]. IV. II, V. 12 — 14 38 OF THE FRAMEWORK. [Essay II the Lamb the working of the great Restoration, which, in respect of the restored, is called Salvation (vii. lo). The intermediate Choruses carry on the same tone, mark- ing each great step in this achievement of Salvation. The earlier ones praise GOD or the Lamb as ' Worthy of glory, honour, power,' or run in the dative ascriptive form ' Unto Him. ..be the Blessing &c.' (iv. ii, v. I2 — 14). These attributes the Foes of GOD attempt to deny or withhold. xix. 1-7 The last (xix, i — 7) celebrates the fact that now 'the Sal- vation, the Glory, the Power' are actually His [tov Qeov in the genitive). ^'•15, The Fourth and Sixth Choruses (xi. 15, xv. 1,, 4) sum up the scenes of the Seventh Trumpet and of the Seven Vials, which are to come, though naturally in past tense as antici- pating and disclosing the whole action and issue. The xix. 1—7 Seventh Chorus (xix. i — 7) sums up the whole remaining action of the Book. Boldly and fully these Choruses recognise that the reign of God, the recognition of it, is limited now (at least by His own patience) and in its fulness has to be won. The following outline exhibits the progress in detail. It is to be noted that The Attributes and Beatitudes are Three when they are ascribed to GOD immediately round His Throne ; that they are Seven when uttered by the Angels, and Four when offered by the rest of Creation. Numbers must be regarded as more than symbols when used in these relations to the Divine, the Perfect, and the Created. Choric Songs. snngby iv. 8 I. First Chorus. Of the Character and Glory of GOD. Cherubs 'Thrice-Holy. Was, Is, is coming. iv. 10 Worthy art thou our Lord and GOD to take (Xa^eiv) Glory, honour, Elder-s power because of the Creation.' (Threefold ascription.) y 8 2. Second Chorus (' New Song '). 'Worthy is the Lamb to open the Book Elde're ' ''"'^ because of His Death and the Redemption and Consecration of Men.' V. II 'Worthy is the Lamb to take (Xa^eiv) Power, riches, wisdom, might, 'many' An Eels honour, glory, blessing.' (Sevenfold ascription^.) , ij '(Unto) the Throned and the Lamb be Blessing, honour, glory, all Creation dominion, eternally.' (Fourfold ascription.) 1 In this place only one article prefixed to the first attribute indicates that all the seven attributes constitute one glory. Part 4] THE CHORIC SONGS. 39 vii. g The Saved All Angels Voices m Heaven The Elders 3. Third Chorus. Prelude to Visions of the Great Tribulation. Song of men who will win through it : ' Salvation be to our God the Throned, and to the Lamb.' ' Amen. Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honour, power, vii. n strength (be) to our God, Amen.' (Sevenfold ascription.) 4. Fourth Chorus. xi 15 Prelude to the Seventh Trumpet, summing its whole Action, of the Kingdom of the World becoming {iyiviTo) our Lord's and Christ's. Of God's taking (eiXj)(/)ef) the Power and reigning (ejSacrlXevcras). »• 17 Of His wrath with wrathful Gentiles, of the coming of the time of Judgment of the Dead, of the Reward of Prophets and Saints, and of the Destruction of the Destroyers. 5. jFiflA Chorus. -' -^ XIV. I Christ and The incommunicable Chorus of the pure Hosts of the Lamb, taught The Lamb's 2"^ ^^^ by the Voice of Christ — the ' Voice of Many Waters ' — and taken Hosts yp 5y tjje Thunder of the Living Throne'. 6. Sixth Chorus. '="'• ^ Prelude to the Vials of the 'Seven Last Strokes.' Song of Moses and the Lamb at the Hyaline Sea : — The Manifestations of Righteousness and the speedy coming in of all The Victors coming up from the war the Nations. ' Who shall not fear Thee ?' 7. TAe Seventh and last Chorus follows the Fall of Babylon and the Dirge over it and ushers in the Marriage of the Lamb. It is in two parts, which celebrate respectively the two events. The Dirge of Babylon has itself a construction so remark- able that it should be drawn out here, although it bears no resemblance to the Choric Songs as to singers, place of singing or subject. A Coryphaeus, an Angel of great majesty, proclaim.s to the earth the Fall and abandonment of Babylon to moral and physical wildness for its dealings with nations and kings and merchants, i.e. for the corruption of civil governments and the exaltation of mere commerce^. A Voice in Heaven summons the people of God to an Exodus before her overthrow and conflagration. Predicts the lamentation of Kings. Predicts the lamentation of Merchants which will ensue universally. ^ See Essay II. (3) Of the Voices, p. 36. ''■ It is to be observed that popular and autocratic systems are described in this remarkable passage as having equally been intoxicated by the theory of Babylon, and that the aggrandisement of 'iiiiropoi, buyers, sellers, carriers, as distinct from producers, is brought out as disturbing the balance of right. 40 OF THE FRAMEWORK. [Essay II 17—19 A Dirge of all Seafarers. 20 A Verse (by the same Voice in Heaven) bids Heaven and All Saints exult. 21—23 One strong Angel casts a huge stone into the sea, and sentences Babylon to eternal silence and darkness on account of her dealing with Merchants and Nations — the exaltation of wealth and false guidance of nations. We shall have observed that the typical construction of the Choruses is this : 1. A Verse sung by a smaller number or by separate voices. 2. A full Chorus sung by a second larger body, in one case duplicated or re-echoed by a third yet larger. Thus in the First (iv. 8), The four Cherubs sing the Verse, the twenty-four Elders the Chorus. In the Second (v. 9), The Elders and Cherubs together sing the Verse, 'Many' Angels the Chorus, and it is taken up by All Creation. In the Third (vii. 9), The Saved sing the Verse, All Angels the Chorus. In the Fourth (xi. 15), Heavenly Voices sing the Verse, the Elders the Chorus. The words of the Fifth Chorus (xiv. 3) are not given. But it is said that its sound begins with the Voice of Christ (the Voice of Many Waters)', then of the Cherub Throne (Thunder) and the harps of the Elders. And then that it was sung over as a ' New Song ' in presence of the Throne, the Living Creatures and the Elders, by those who alone had power to learn it, the hundred and forty-four thousand virgin Companions of the Lamb. The construction of the Fifth was therefore the same as that of the rest. The Sixth Chorus (xv. 2) is chanted full, after the crossing of the fiery Sea, by the Victors only. It is called the ' Ode of Moses the servant of GOD, and the Ode of the Lamb.' That there is no Verse seems remarkable because in the first 'Song of Moses' at the Red Sea, a Verse is given, the first Verse of Ex.xv.2o,2i the Song as chanted by Miriam after the Song 'in answer to it' The Seventh Chorus (xix. i — 7) is the Climax. It sums up, as we have said, the whole remaining Action of the Book. * See Essay II. (3) 0/ the Voices, p. 36. Part 4] THE CHORIC SONGS. 41 In construction it is doubled, or is in two parts, each of which has the usual members of a Chorus but inverted in the first part. On the Overthrow of Babylon and the discovery of her world-wide, world-old deadliness to the good, there is a burst of Thanksgiving from the Multitude of Heaven, and a Re- sponse or Verse from the Eiders and Cherubs — not as usual a Verse by the lesser Chorus with an answer from the greater. This is the Song of Judgment. Then comes a Voice from the Throne, the Verse, bidding universal praise, and this is followed by the Chorus of the Multitude led as the Fifth (incommunicable) Chorus was, by Christ's own ' Voice of Many Waters,' and by the ' Thunderings ' of the Living Throne', celebrating the perfected Reign of GOD and the Coming Espousals of the Lamb. These are the first utterances in which Alleluia is sung. The Seventh Chorus then stands thus. Sung by Heavenly Multitude Elders and Cherubs Christ and Voice of the Throne. Heavenly Multitude 'Alleluia. The salvation and the glory and the power are our God's.' (Threefold ascription.)^ Song of Judgment by the Heavenly Multitude. 'Alleluia.' Response of Elders and Cherubs: 'Amen, Alleluia.' Verse. Voice from the Throne, bidding Praise. ' Alleluia.' Song of ' the Reign of GOD and the Lamb's Espousal ' by the Heavenly Multitude, led by the Voices of Christ and of the Throne. Then follows the gradual working out of all that this great Chorus has foreshewn. The establishment of the Reign of GOD by the last War and the Universal Judgment. And the opening of the New World and its New Metropolis. ' See Essay II. (3) Of the Voices, p. 37. ^ [It is interesting to note that whereas in the A.V. this chorus is fourfold : 'Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power,' the more reliable readings give it threefold as here (cf. R.V. and Westcott and Hort), thus confirming the theory put forward in this chapter, p. 38, as the Chorus is sung not by the Cherubs but by the heavenly multitude round the Throne. Ed.] ESSAY III. FOUR CARDINALS OF INTRODUCTION. The Title and Salutation (i. 4) are followed by four isolated Sentences, before the narrative begins in v. 9. They have each three members. These four sentences or Dicta give us at once the Cardinal points of the Theology of the Apocalypse. All other teaching lies within these four corners. i. 4 The Salutation. John to the Seven Churches which are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from The Being and the Was and the Coming One and from the Seven Spirits which are before His Throne and from Jesus Christ. ■• 5 The Faithful Witness, The Firstborn of the dead, And The Ruler of the Kings of the earth. To Him that loveth us and loosed us from our sins by His blood i. 6 and He made us a kingdom — priests unto His GoD and Father, to Him the glory and the might unto the ages. Amen. i. 7 Behold He cometh with the clouds And every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him And all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him. Yea. Amen. «• 3 I am the Alpha and Omega, saith the Lord God, The Being and the Was and the Coming One. The AU-ruler. Then begins the narrative. !• 9 I John, your brother and partaker with you, ..was in the isle &c. Essay III] FOUR CARDINALS OF INTRODUCTION. 43 The sequence is distinct. In V. 5- The present position of Christ to Man in respect of Truth, of Death and Life, of the Social Order of Manlcind. V. 6. The present relation of Man to Christ, which has been produced by Christ's Action and Passion : the Church a Kingdom, its members Priests. V. 7. The Coming again of Christ as the crisis between present and future : the then attitude of the men of all time towards Him. V. 8. The origin and close of all these relations, as of all Being, all time, all events, is within the Being and Ordering of the Father. Again v. 5 formulates together the function of Christ as expressed by Himself (in St John's Gospel), 'we bear witness jo. Ki. n of what we have seen,' 'to this end... am I come into the world jo. xviu. 37 that I should bear witness unto the truth ' ; the function of Christ as eldest son of the race, as that race reappears after time for eternity ; the function of Christ co-ordinating all government under Himself, as indicated by Himself, in the Gospel when confronted with the representative of the Empires, 'Thou sayest that I am a King,' 'Thou wouldest have no Jo. xviii. 37 power against me, except it were given thee from above'; and Ro. xiii. as affirmed by St Peter and St Paul, the key of the Christian i Pet. ii. 13, 14 attitude towards human governments. He is Prophet, Priest and King of Humanity. v. 6. The Love and Redemption of Christ are expressed in an act of Adoration — in the centre of this is the affirmation that He, the Priest and King, created us, His whole Church, into a true Kingdom collectively, and into Sacrificing Priests individually. The Prophetic Brotherhood which from the human side answers to His first function is not named here. It is a limited, not an eternal function. But it is often taken up afterwards in its own place. V. 7. The Coming-Again is the universal event of Nature. It will be within the physical world — ' with the clouds,' ' seen of every eye.' It is the Universal Event of History. In it every human spirit will be consciously and feelingly con- cerned. V. 8. The Eternity and Sovranty of the Father are before and after, above and below, this whole Unveiling of Truth, Redemption, Immortality, the World-fact, the Church-fact, Conversion and Judgment. ' When all things shall be sub- i Cor. xv. 28 44 FOUR CARDINALS OF INTRODUCTION. [Essay III ordinated unto the Son, then the Son also Himself shall be subordinated to the Father, that GOD may be all in all' These are Four Cardinal points, we repeat, within which the whole Apocalypse is mapped and charted. They are in- separable each from all. They are relevant to every fact, and every fact is relevant to them. No dogmatic statement can be true and Christian which has not its known bearings to them. The Creed is complete in these. None can augment or diminish them, or the working out of them, without placing himself outside the " community " whose charter this is. If any reader of the Apocalypse who has studied its expression and the force of this Introduction can think that this verse 5 is the finish of the Salutation, and that o fidprvi 6 7ri,ar6