V DEC 9 1913 Set, tion 13 1 the Vision, and malie it plain upon tables, le mar run that readeth it."— Hah. 11, 2. rth of Jeeus Chr -Ascension of Christ. \ I o I Ephesian, Smyrnaote, j^ Pergamite, S Thyatiran, Sardian, Philadelphi: Vials, y fr"" Ir.v.IV-XX. ( Advent. \ ■Parousia — Saints gathered to Christ in the air. JUDGMKNT OF THE WORLD— Seals, Trumpe Epiphania — Antichrist destroyed — Satan bound. S I ) § i\ Rev. XX, 4-6. •' i) -Satan loosed — Gog and Magog.— Rev. XX, 7-9. Satan Judged— Resurrection and Judgment of the Wiclted.— Rev. XX, 10-15. -New Heavens and Earth- New Jerusalem.— Rev. XXI. XXII. THE APOCALYPSE. ' PEC 9 1913 A SERIES OF SPECIAL LECTURES Revelation OF Jesus Christ. REVISED TEXT. By J. A. SEISS, D.D., AUTHOR OF "LAST TIMES," "LECTURES ON THE GOSPELS," "VOICES FROM BABYLON," "A MIRACLE IN STONE," ETC., ETC. Vol. III. ELEyENTH EDITION. (CONSISTING OF 50OO SETS.) Total number published 25,000 sets (75,000 volumes) , CHARLES C. COOK, 150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. N. Y. I913. Copyrighted, 18f)5, by JOSEPH A. SEISS, PEEFACE TO VOL. IIL Portions of this course of Lectures have been so long before the public, and the character of the work has thereby become so familiar to those interested in it, that there can hardly be need for further prefatory expla- nations in sending forth this concluding volume, particu- larly after what has been said in the prefaces to the preceding volumes, and in the Lectures themselves. It might be of interest to tell how the author was led to see and embrace the view of the Apocalypse which he holds ; but as that is so personal, and is not likely to contribute to any better understanding of what he has written, the omission may readily be excused. Suffice it to say, that so heavy an undertaking, and the travelling of a road so laborious and long, has not been without very strong convictions very impressively and unexpectedly begotten, and that the work was begun and has been pur- sued under a somewhat peculiar stress. By the goodness of that God from whose providence that urgency came, and in despite of all discouragements, hindrances, inter- ruptions, and delays, the original purpose has been car- ried through to completion. And if what has now been produced shall serve to clear and edify the minds of ( iii ) IV PREFACE. others to the extent that these studies have served to in- struct and satisfy the writer on a profoundly important but much-abused and much-misunderstood subject, ample will be the reason to thank God that the labor was begun, and that strength was given to finish it. Kequest has been made that this concluding volume be accompanied with a chart, or table, to exhibit to the eye, in one view, the several parts of these Apocalyptic presentations, and their relations to each other in the order of events as they are to occur. Something of such a chart has therefore been placed at the beginning of this volume. Though full justice can hardly be done to the subject in that way, a brief statement of the periods and events in their general outlines, as they are con- templated in this wonderful prophecy, is thus furnished, and may help the reader to a clearer conception of the matter, as it lies in the apprehension of the author, and is elaborated in these Lectures. First of all is the present Church Period, stretching from the days of the Apostle to the beginning of the great Judgment time. To this Period belongs the first vision, including the judgments or sentences of the Lord Jesus upon the Churches, which are contained in the Seven Epistles. This Period ends with that impending incipient stage of Christ's coming, invisible to the world at large, for the taking of thost of his saints who are waiting and ready, according to Luke 17 : 34-37. When that com- ing will take place no man knoweth, and for it, as liable to occur at any moment, and as the very next prophetic PREFACE. V event in the order of time, all Christians are now and continually to be in waiting expectation and readiness. It is this particular event that marks the ending of the present dispensation, and the beginning of the great Judg- ment Period; for "judgment must begin at the house of God." (1 Pet. 4 : 17.) The occurrence of it is indi- cated in the Apocalypse in the beginning of the fourth chapter, where the Seer beholds a door opened in the heaven, and hears the trumpet voice calling him up thither. Then comes the great Judgment Period, extending from this stealthy ereption of the ready and waiting saints to the forthcoming of the Sitter on the white horse, with all the glorified saint-armies, for the destruction of the powers confederated against the Lamb in the battle of the great Day. This Period embraces all the events connected with the breaking of the seven Seals, the sounding of the seven Trumpets, and the pouring out of the seven Bowls of wrath, as described from the fourth to the end of the nineteenth chapters. The length of time covered by this Period is at least forty years, most likely seventy years, if not more. It involves a material change or modifica- tion in the dispensation. The Throne set in the heaven, with which the Living Ones and the Elders are con- nected, as described in chapters four and five, presents the peculiar arrangement or organization of the celestial economy by which the administrations during this Period are to be conducted. The events embraced are largely extraordinany, miraculous, varied, and complex. They VI PREFACE. are partly punitive, and partly gracious, for in wrath God remembers mercy. The termination or consumma- tion of this Period is the visible manifestation of Christ, •with the completed body of his glorified saints, for the destruction of Antichrist and his armies, and the binding and confinement of Satan. Then comes the great Millennial Period^ the thousand years during which Satan is bound. It dates from the destruction of the Antichrist and his enemies. It in- volves a still further change or modification of the dis- pensation. Its special marks are : the absence of Satan's deceits and machinations, the supplanting of all human governments by the direct heavenly rule and dominion of Christ and his glorified saints, and that new order called the shepherdizing of the nations with a rod of iron, or the irresistible enforcement of the principles of right- eousness in all things, by which the whole living world shall then be reduced to order and obedience to truth and right. It is the following up of the victory of the battle of the great Day, resulting in the enthronement of all the glorified saints with their Lord in the invinci- ble rulership of the world, which rule never terminates, but finally opens out into an eternal reign over the re- deemed and renewed earth. That which more particu- larly marks the termination of this Period is, the loosing of Satan for a brief space, his leading astray of certain remote peoples who think to throw off* the dominion of Christ and his glorified saints, the quick destruction of these rebels by fire from heaven, the consignment of PREFACE. Vli Satan to his final perdition, the recall of all the unsanc- tified dead before the great white throne for their final sentence, and the complete and everlasting erasure of all sin, all death, and all curse from the face of the earth. Then comes the Eternal State, in immediate succession to the thousand years. It begins with the completion of the new heavens and earth, the coming of the heavenly- Jerusalem into its place, and the final establishment of Christ and his glorified ones in their everlasting dominion over the redeemed world and its populations. Thence- forward everything proceeds in undisturbed and ever- augmenting blessedness, world without end. Such, in brief, is the Course of Time, and the progress and outcome of the great administrations of our God, as set forth in his Word, mapped out in the foreshowings beheld and recorded by the aged Apostle John, — the outline sketch of God's revealed Plan of Grace, Judg- ment, and Redemption, sought to be traced and exhib- ited in detail in these Lectures. And now, earnestly praying the Divine Blessing upon what has been written, and upon all who read the same, the author devoutly commits the results of his labors to the care and direction of that good and wise Providence which has enabled him to complete the work, and to the serious attention of all who take pleasure in learning about what must shortly come to pass. Philadelphia, May, 1880. CONTENTS OF VOL. III. LECTUKE THIKTY-FOUKTH. Chap. 14 : 1-13. The 144,000— Their Maintenance of the Confession of Christ over against the Worship of the Beast — The same as the Sealed Ones of Chapter Seven — Their Chief Character- istics— Their Peculiar Reward — The Four Angel-Mes- sages, ......... pp. 13-35 LECTURE THIRTY-FIFTH. Chap. 14 : 14-16. Vision of the Harvest — Particulars of the Description — The Angel-cry for the Sharp Sickle — The Reaping — Vision of the Vintage — Angel Out of the Temple — Cry from the Altar — Gathering of the Vine of the Earth-— Treading of the Wine-press, . ... . . • PP« 36-58 LECTURE THIRTY-SIXTH. Chaps. 15:1-8; 16 : 1-lL Sign of the Seven Last Plagues— Vision of the Sea of Glass — The Harp-singers by It— The Seven Priest-angels — The Golden Bowls— Plague of Sores- Plague of the Bloody Sea— Plague of the Bloody Rivers and Water- springs — Plague of Sun-heat — Plague Of Darkness— Im- penitence of Men, pp. 59-82 (ix) X CONTENTS. LECTURE THIRTY-SEVENTH. Chap. 16 : 12-21. Sixth Bowl of Wrath — Drying up of the Euphrates — Un- clean Spirits — The Enthusiasm They Awaken — Singular Note of Warning — Harmageddon — Seventh Bowl of Wrath— Convulsions in the Air — In the Earth — Great Babylon Remembered— Earth Altered— Unprecedented Hailstorm — Inveterate Depravity of Men, . pp. 83-106 LECTURE THIRTY-EIGHTH. Chap. 17:1-17. Great Babylon — Prominence and Difficulty of the Subject — The Two Women — The Primal Post-diluvian Apos- tasy— Nimrod and his Inventions — The World's Intoxi- cation with Them — The Harlot's Own Drunkenness with the Blood of Saints — The Waters on which She Sits — The Beast She Rides, pp. 107-132 LECTURE THIRTY-NINTH. Chap. 17: 18. Great Babylon, Continued — Wilderness in which She Ap- pears— Her Twofoldness — Shall the City of Babylon be Restored? — Prophecies on the Subject — Zechariah's Ephah — Features and Fall as Bearing on the Question — Reasonableness of the Idea, .... pp. 133-158 LECTURE FORTIETH. Chap. 18 : 1-8. Fall of Great Babylon— A Perplexity Relieved— Length of the Judgment Period— The Angel who Announces the Fall— Twofold Fall— The People Called Out— Forms of the Destruction — Administrants of It — Measure of the Calamity— Crimes which Procure the Ruin — Com- merce—Witchery, Presumption, Self-glorification, and Arrogance of, pp. 169-188 CONTENTS. Xi LECTURE FORTY-FIRST. Chaps. 18:9-24; 19:1-6. Sequences of the Fall of Great Babylon — Wails of Royalty — Wails of Merchants — Wails of Other Classes— Heaven's Gladness — Saints, Prophets, and Apostles Avenged — Double Alleluia — The Amen — Further Items of Joy — Taking of the Kingdom — Blessedness of the Rule of God, . .pp. 189-212 LECTURE FORTY-SECOND. Chap. 19 : 7-10. The Marriage of the Lamb — The Bridegroom — The Bride — The Several Classes of the Saved — The Bride's Ready- making — The Marriage — The Marriage Supper — The Guests — Certainty of the Revelation, . . pp. 213-236 LECTURE FORTY-THIRD. Chap. 19 : 11-21. Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty— The Sublime Hero— Comes Out of the Heaven — His Horse — His Char- acter— His Eyes — His Diadems — His Names — His Vesture — His Sword — His Title — His Followers — Their Horses — Their Clothing — The Armies Encountered-^The Laugh of God — Birds Invited to the Slaughter — Fate of the Beast and False Prophet — Fate of the Armed Hosts — The Victory, pp. 237-26^ LECTURE FORTY-FOURTH. Chap. 20 : 1-3. The Binding of Satan — His Four Names — The Angel Who Apprehends Him — A Literal Transaction — The Economy of the Under-world — Hell — Sheol — Hades — Christ's Descent into Hell — Hades No Longer the Abode of De- parted Saints — " Abaddon " — The Abyss — Tartarus — Ge- henna— Satan Imprisoned in the Abyss — Object of His Imprisonment — Is Loose Till Then — Certainly Loose Now, pp. 263-289 Xll CONTENTS. LECTURE EORTY-FIFTH. Chap. 20 : 4, 5. Vision of the Enthroned Saints — Its Connection with Pre- ceding Chapters — The Shepherdizing of the Nations — The Shepherdizers — Their Thrones — Their Judging, Power and Reign— Special Notice of the Martyrs — The Word "Souls" — A Corporeal Resurrection Necessarily Implied, . . . " pp. 290-315 LECTURE FORTY-SIXTH. Chap. 20 : 6. The First Resurrection — A Resurrection of Saints Only — Takes Place in Successive Stages — Not Described in any One Vision — Introduces a "Wonderful Change in Earth's Affairs — Promotes the Subjects of It to a Transcendent Dignity and Glory, pp. 316-340 LECTURE FORTY-SEVENTH. Chap. 20 : 7-15. The Millennium — False Theories — A Period of 1000 Years — Another Dispensation — Condition of Things Then — Its Blessedness Does Not End with the 1000 Years — Loosing Again of Satan — Rebellion of Gog and Magog — Fate of the Rebels — Satan Cast into Gehenna — The Great White Throne — Its Occupant — The Final Resurrection iand Judgment — The Books Opened — Grades of Punishment —The Lake of Fire, pp.. 341-366 LECTURE FORTY-EIGHTH.. Chap. 21 : 1-8. The Perpetuity of the Earth and Race of Man — " End of the World" not the Extinction of the Earth — Continu- ous Generations — The Redeemed World — The Scene of It— The Blessedness of It— The Occupants of It, pp. 367-393 CONTENTS. X!tl LECTUKE FORTY-NINTH. Chap. 21 : 9-27. The New Jerusalem — Materialism in the Future — A Lit- eral City — How the Bride of the Lamb — Its Derivation — Its Location — Its Splendor — Its Amplitude — Its Sys- tem of Illumination— Its Lack of a Temple— Its Relation to the World at Large — Its Superlative Holiness, pp. 394-419 LECTURE FIFTIETH. Chap. 22 : 1-5. The New Jerusalem, Continued — A More Inward View — The Wonderful River— The Tree of Life— The Curse Repealed— The Enduring Throne— The Eternal Blessed- ness, pp. 420-444 LECTURE FIFTY-FIRST. Chap. 22 : 6-15. Last Section of the Book — Certainty of these Revelations — The Repeated Benediction— Effect on the Apostle— Di- rection What to Do with These Things— Argument for the Same — Conditions for Enjoying the Beatitudes of This Book— A Particular Washing of Robes, . pp. 445-469 LECTURE FIFTY-SECOND. Chap. 22: 16-21. End of the Book— Character and Majesty of Christ— Time of These Wonders — How to be Affected Respecting Them— Guards Around What is Written— Christ's Sum- mation of the Whole— True Attitude of the Church- Conclusion, pp. 469-492 General Index, by R. F. W., p. 493 . LECTURE THIRTY-FOURTH. THE 144,000 — THOSE WHO MAINTAIN THE CONFESSION OF CHRIST OVER AGAINST THE WORSHIPPERS OF THE BEAST — THE SAME SEALED ONES OF CHAPTER SEVEN — THEIR CHIEF CHARAC- TERISTICS— THEIR PECULIAR REWARD — THE FOUR ANGEL- MI Rev. 14 : 1-13. (Revised Text.) And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Sion, and with Him an 144,000, having His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound out of the heaven as a sound of many waters, and as a sound of great thunder : and the sound which I heard [was] as of harp-singers harping with their harps. And they sung a new song in the presence of the throne, and in the presence of the four Living Ones and the Elders : and no one was able to learn the song but the 144,000 who have been redeemed from the earth. These are they who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins; these [arejthey who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth ; these were redeemed from men, a first-fruit to God and to the Lamb ; and in their mouth was not found what is false ; they are blameless. And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having a Gospel everlasting to preach to [7(po/i or ove?-] those who dwell upon the earth and to [upott or over] every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people, Baying with a great voice. Fear God and give to Him glory, becausa the hour of His judgment is come : and worship Him who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea and fountains of waters. And there followed another, a second angel, saying, Fallen, fallen, the great Babylon, which hath made all the nations drink from the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And there followed them another angel, a third, saying with a great voice. If any one worship the beast and his image, and receive [the] mark on his forehead, or on his hand, even he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mingled without dilution in the cup of His anger, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the pres- ( 13 ) 14 THE APOCALYPSE, ence of the angels and in -the presence of the Lamb : and the smoke of their torment goeth up to the ages of ages ; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever re- ceiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice out of the heaven saying, Write. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from hence- forth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they [may, in that theyj shall rest out of their labors ; for their works follow with them. THE blackest storms often give place to the loveliest sunsets. The winds and thunders exhaust themselves. The clouds empty and break. And from the calm heavens behind them comes a golden light, girthing the remaining fragments of gloom with chains of brightness, and overarching with the bow of promise the path along which the terrible tempest has just passed. Like this even- ing glory after the summer's gust, is the chapter on which we now enter. We have seen the com- ing of the Antichrist in all the frowning blackness of Satan's angry malice, and have shuddered at the awful shadow, distress, and darkness which he casts upon the world. We have seen what havoc he makes with human peace, and the base humiliation he brings upon the proud oaks and lofty cedars of the mountains of human conceit and self-will. We have felt the sickening shock of horror at the con- templation of his hellish power, his blasphemies, and his unparalleled tyranny. We have gazed upon the progress of the most disastrous storm hell's malignant wisdom can devise, or that is ever allowed to afflict our race. We have watched the thickening blackness of darkness amid which the LECTURE XXXIV. CHAP. 14:1-13. I5 indignation of God is poured upon the intoxicated nations which will not have Christ to rule over them. But now the scene begins to change. The reign of terror cannot last. God's merciful good- ness cannot allow it long. The earth would dis- solve under it if those days were not shortened, but for the elect's sake they are shortened. Three and a half years is the fulness of their duration. In heaven's count the tempest holdsbutfor an"hour." And here ah-eady we begin to see the light break- ing in from behind the clouds and darkness. Fur- ther details of what is to befall these terrible Beasts, their systems and their followers, remain to be looked at; but the golden rays begin to show them- selves. Where perdition has been holding grand jubilee of destruction, appear the symptoms of a better order. The still lingering gloom begins to show some gilding of its edges. And over the pathway of " the abomination of desolation " are seen the forming outlines of the arch of beauty, hope, and peace. In place of the horrid Beasts, the Lamb comes into view. In place of the blas- pheming herd, the redeemed appear, with the name of the Father and the Son upon their shining brows. Voices from heaven, intoned with mighty joy, and attuned to golden harps, are heard in song, — "new song," fit to be sung before the throne and all the celestial company. A first-fruit of a new beginning is waved before God. Succes- sive angels cleave the air on outspread wing pro- claiming messages of hope and patience to the faithful snfterers, and telling of the nearing deliv- voL. III. 59 16 THE APOCALYPSE. erance. And the whole picture- begins to look to the effectual and everlasting sweeping away of the horrible nightmare of a distressed and helpless world. The Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son assist us to a right understanding of what it all nieans ! I. Who are these 144,000 ? Some answer, they are representatively the true people of God of all ages — the symbol of the whole body of the sancti- fied and saved. Others say, they are the choice spirits of the congregation of the glorified, selected and honored above all common Christians because of their pre-eminent qualities and abstinences on earth. Others tell us, they are the company of those who have remained true in faith under the errors and falsities of the Papacy. And still others say, they are none else than the assembly of the noble spirits who achieved the Reformation of the sixteenth century, and that their harp-notes and new song is ''the harmony of the Reformed Con- fessions!" I see not how it is possible for either of these interpretations to stand. Without enter- ing upon the many points in which they severally fail to conform to the record, I may say, they all do violence to the consecutiveness and self-con- sistency of this Book, and defy all legitimate deal- ing with the particulars of the sacred description. We must find a better meaning, or give in that it is impossible to do anything more than guess at what the Lord intended to show us, whilst one guess is just as good and reliable as another. But LECTURE XXXIV. CHAP. 14:1-13. If God's Word is truth; and therefore there must be truth m this presentation, — truth which will hold together with the rest of the Book, with the dig- nity of a divine prophecy so solemnly given, and with the grammatical sense of the words in which the account is presented. Nor do I know why candid and earnest men, but for their arbitrary and stilted theories, should be at a loss for an in- terpretation answering to the requirements. Let us look at the matter carefully, and see. A considerate glance at the particulars of this vision will at once discover a direct and strong contrast having special relation to what went be- fore in the preceding chapter. The account of the 144,000 is really only another side of what is related of the Beasts, the counterpart of the same history. Over against the wild and savage mon- ster is a gentle and loving Lamb. Over against the confessors and worshippers of the Beast, hav- ing his mark, is the company of the Lamb's fol- lowers, having their mark, even the name of the Father and the Son written in their foreheads. Over against the Beast's moral system, which is nothing but harlotry, spiritual and literal, the worship of idols and the trampling under foot of all God's institutes, here is an opposing style of life and conformity — a virgin purity which refuses to be debauched by the prevailing fornication. Over against the slavery of those who sell them- selves to the powers of perdition which then have command of the world, here is redemption from 18 THE APOCALYPSE. the earth and from man, a ransom out of the thraldom which holds others. Over against the new order of things set up by the Antichrist, these sing "a new song," — a victory and glory never shared by any but them. Over against the going of the Beasts and their dupes into perdition, there is here a going whithersoever the Lamb goeth. Over against the doings in the presence of the Beast, under his patronage and authority, the doings here are in the presence of the Throne, and in the presence of the Living On-es and El- ders, under the approval and counsels of Heaven. Everything in the mouth of the Beasts and all theirs, is pseiulos, false, a lie; the special character- istic of these is, that nothing pseudos, false, or a lie is found in their mouth. The Beast's number, and that by which he marks and numbers all his, is six sixes, the bad number intensified; the num- ber and numbering here is by twelves, the sacred number of completeness. And in every item there is distinct allusion to things under the Beast, by way of contrast and opposition, proving that the account of these 144,000 is a counter-part of the same history, which can properly apply to none but persons who live contemporaneous with the Beast, and maintain themselves by divine grace in a course of life and profession over against him. But this is not the first time we hear of this 144,000. Chapter seven told us of a body of people consisting of this precise number, of which we can hardly suppose two, unless specially in- structed to that effect. The fact urged by some LECTURE XXXIV. CHAP. 14:1-13. I9 that the company here is not introduced as " the 144,000," presents no grammatical reason for con- sidering them distinct from the 144,000 there, as the hest of Greek scholars agree. The insertion of the article is needless where the identification is otherwise so clear, and would only tend to fix the emphasis at the wrong place. Nor could the article, if inserted, make the indications of identity any stronger than they are. This company is not so important as to call for the same sort of desig- nation as when reference is made to "■ The Lamb," "The Living Ones," "The Elders," etc. The number in Chapter VII is the same with the number here, — a number so remarkable and unique, that we must have very clear reasons for supposing that it does not refer to the same parties in both instances; but no such reasons appear. There the 144,000 are presented as a select and special class of God's servants, chosen, marked, and set apart as none else, sealed by an angel with the seal of the living God. So with the 144,000 here there is a special and peculiar isolation from all other classes of the saved. They are distinct from the Living Ones, from the Elders, and from the multitude which no man can number; and they are so unique and separate in their history, experience, and reward, that no one is able to learn or sing the song which they sing. Those in Chapter VII were marked in their forehead with the seal of the living God ; these have that mark, even "the Lamb's name and His Father's name written ou their foreheads." Those were all He- 20 T H E A P 0 C A L Y P S E. brews, chosen from the several tribes of undivided Israel; and so it would seem to be with these. They have on their foreheads the name of the Father, which is the Jewish mark. They also have their place on Mount Zion, which though it may not mean the earthly hill, still connects with the seat of the palace and throne of David, Solo- mon, and all the Jewish kings. Those sealed ones were to be supernaturally protected and pre- served amid the plagues that followed; and these appear as persons marvellously kept and sustained under the consummation of those plagues, the Antichrist. Tiie history of the 144,000 in Chapter VII is incomplete taken by itself. No object or outcome of that sealing is anywhere stated, if not to be found in the passage before us. The position these sealed ones were to hold, the relations they were to occupy as the specially chosen of their time, are all left untold if not told in this chapter. Neither can we find adequate reason for the men- tion at all of that special sealing without some such continuation of the history as given here. I accordiiigly conclude with entire confidence, that the 144,000 on Mount Zion are the identical 144,000 sealed ones spoken of in Chapter VII, with only this difference, that there we see them in their earthly relations and peculiar consecra- tion ; and here we see them with their earthly career finished, and in the enjoyment of the heav- enly award for their faithfulness. And this fixes what must condition the whole interpretation of this Book, to wit, that from the LECTUKB XXXIV. CHAP. 14:1-13. £1 opening of the sixth seal until after the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the third woe, and the revelation of the Man of sin, no more time elapses than the ordinary length of a human life; for those who are already mature men, and capable of a sacred setting apart as witnesses for God when the sixth seal is broken, are still living and active under the reign of the Antichrist. Alas, what a world of learned labor thus falls to the ground ! II. What are the chief marks or characteristics of these 144,000 ? The first and foremost is that of a true and conspicuous confession. They have the name of the Lamb and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. This is their public mark as against the mark of the worshippers of the Beast. There is nothing more honorable in God^s sight than truth and faithfulness of confes- sion. " With the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Hom. 10 : 10.) The confession of these people is in opposition to the unbelieving Jew, who rejects and repudiates the Son; and in oppo- sition to the Antichrist, who denies both the Fa- ther and the Son. As children of Abraham, they have embraced Christianity; and as Christians, they take issue with the Beast, and persist in tes- tifying against his blasphemous usurpations of the place of God and the only Saviour. Another particular is their unworldliness. "Whilst most people in their day ''dwell upon the earth," sit down upon it as their rest and choice, derive their chief comfort from it, these are " redeemed 22 THE APOCALYPSE. from the earth," — withdrawn from it, bought away by the heavenly promises and the divine grace to live above it, independent of it, as no longer a part of it. Also is it said that they are " redeemed from men," — segregated entirely from the com- mon course of the world, and removed from the ordinary fellowship of men. Less than this the language concerning them can scarcely mean. They are quite severed from the world in heart and life. A third point is their pureness. We are not to suppose with some that these 144,000 are all males who have never been married; for there is no more impurity in marriage than in abstinence from marriage. Celibacy is not the subject or virtue in this description, but purity, freedom from contamination by the corruptions which prevail in their time. The reign of the Antichrist is the reign of harlotry, both literal and spiritual. It is a time when chaste marriage is no more regarded than the worship of the true God. But from all such defilements these people have kept them- selves unspotted. "They are virgins," in that^ they have Hved chaste lives, both as to their faith- fulness to God in their religion, and as to their pureness from all bodily lewdness. The kingdom of heaven is likened to " ten virgins." The object of Paul's ministry to the Corinthians was, that he might present them " as a chaste virgin to Christ." And this is the sort of virginity attained and main- tained by these people. A further quality is their truthfulness. "In LECTURE XXXIV. CHAP. 14:1-13. 23 their mouth was not found what is false." There is a peculiar depth in John's conception of truth and its opposite falsehood. Any one who fails to confess Christ in all the length and breadth of His nature and offices, any one who fails to live his profession or to show by his works what he speaks with his lips, is to him a liar. The mean- ing here has the same deep significance. It is a great thing for people to be careful about their conversation, always conforming their words to the reaUty of things. To speak falsehood, to exercise a deceitful and untrustworthy tongue, is a devilish thing ; for Satan is a liar and the father of lies. These people were truthful in these respects, but had also a higher and profounder truthfulness. The times in which they live are the times of hell's worst lies, — times when the whole world has gone mad over lies, — times when the entire order of so- ciety is a lie, — times when men's religion is a lie, — times when their very god is a lie, — times when everything is pryed away from the foundation of truth by the dreadful leverage which perdition then possesses. And it is over against all this that nothing false is found in their mouth. They have the true faith ; they hold to it with a true heart; they exemplify it by a true manner of life. They are the children of truth in the midst of a world of untruth. III. What, then, is their Reward? Taking the last particular first, they stand approved, justified, and accepted before God. " They are blameless." 24 THE APOCALYPSE. The added words, " before the throne of God," are not in the best manuscripts, and are dropped now by common consent as no part of the original. They make no difference in the sense, for the blamelessness of these people must needs be a blamelessness before the throne; but if the phrase be emphasized it might suggest a connection with the throne which does not here exist. It is to be observed that these 144,000 are by no means the highest class of saints, as some have erroneously supposed. They do not come into the congrega- tion of the saved until after the highest orders of the saints have been caught up to God and to His throne. The Living Ones are saints from the earth, for they sing the song of redemption by the blood of Christ. So also are the Elders. But these are already in their heavenly glory wearing the crowns which Christ will give at that day, even before these people are sealed. These 144,000 sing their song m the prese7ice of the Living Ones and the gold-crowned Elders; this expresses a lesser dignity. Neither is there a word said about crowns for them. They sing in the presence of the throne, but they are not connected with it, as the Living Ones, nor seated on associated thrones, as the Elders. They are not therefore of the high- est orders of the saved and glorified. There are many mansions in the Father's house, many de- grees in glory, and many ranks of saints as well as of angels. There is such a thing as being saved with loss, such a thing as missing our crowns even though we may get to heaven. There are also LECTURE XXXIV. CHAP. 14 : 1-13. 25 many ^.^ virgins," real virgins, who go and bu}^ and come at length with deficiencies repaired, but are in readiness too late to be admitted to the place and honor of the queen. These 144,000 are vir- gins; they come to glorious honor through their confession, purity, and devotion ; but they come in at a period when the Bride is already made up, and cannot be of the first and highest order of the glorified. But still, they are approved and justi- fied before God, which is in itself a great, high, and glorious attainment. To stand before God approved and blameless from the midst of a con- demned world, — a world given over to the powers of perdition by reason of its unbelief and sins, — a world which has become the theatre of all the con- summated wickedness of the ages, — a world in which it is death to wear any badge or adhere to any profession contrary to the mark of the Anti- christ, is an achievement of grace and faithfulness in which there may well be mighty exultation. In the next place, they have a song which is pe- culiarly and exclusively their own. Though not connected with the throne, as the Living Ones, nor crowned and seated as the Elders, they have a ground and subject of joy and praise which neither the Living Ones nor the Elders have; nor is any one able to enter into that song except the 144,000. None others ever fulfil just such a mission, as none others are ever sealed with the seal of the living God in the same way in which they were sealed. Kone others ever have just such an experience, in such a world as that through w^hich they come to glory. None others share with them in that par- 26 THE APOCALYPSE. ticular administration of God which brings them away from the earth and men to their place on Mount Zion. Therefore, as angels cannot sing the song of the redeemed, never having been the subjects of redemption, so no other saints can sing the peculiar song of this 144,000. They have a distinction and glory, a joy and blessedness, after all, in which none but themselves can ever share. They stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. To be with the Lamb, as over against being with the Beast, is a perfection of blessing which no lan- guage can describe. It is redemption. It is vic- tory. It is eternal security and glory. To be with the Lamb on Mount Zion is a more special position and relation. It respects Jerusalem and the throne of David. It will not meet the case to take Mount Zion here as simply "the heavenly Jerusalem;" for that is not so distinctively the standing-place or point of occupation of these 144,000. It must take in some new and exalted order touching the earthly Jerusalem, the Jewish nationality, and that throne and Kingdom of David everywhere promised to be rebuilt and restored, never to fail any more. The scene thus looks over into the new earth, to that time when **the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlast- ing joy upon their heads, and shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Is. 35 : 10), — to that time when " they shall call Je- rusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem" (Jer. 3 : 17), — to that time when " the LECTURE XXXIV. CHAP. 14; 1-13. 27 Lord of Hosts shall reigii in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously" (Is. 24: 23). Glorious things are spoken of Jeru- salem which have never yet been fulfilled. On His holy hill of Zion God hath said that He will set up His King, even His Son, who shall rule all the nations (Ps. 2). The Lamb is yet to take pos- session of the city where He was crucified, there to fulfil what was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin over His head when He died. And when that once comes to pass, these 144,000 are with Him, His near and particular associates in that particular relation and administration. They are " a first-fruit to God and to the Lamb," not the first-fruit of all the saved, for the Living Ones and the Elders are in heavenly place and glory above and before them ; but a first-fruit of another and particular harvest; the first-fruit from the Jewish field, in that new beginning with the Israelitish people for their fathers' sakes, which is to follow the ending of the present " times of the Gentiles." What the Living Ones and Elders are to the Church universal, these 144,000 are to the recovered, restored and redeemed chil- dren of Abraham, in that new order which is to come when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. They are all Jews. They are brought to the con- fession of Christ, and sealed in their foreheads with the name of both the Father and the Son, during the time that the rest of their blood-kin are covenanting with and honoring the Antichrist as Messiah. They are the particular witnesses for 28 THE APOCALYPSE. tlie Father and the Son during those darkest days of Jacob's trouble. And they take the iirst rank with Christ in His special reUitions and adminis- trations in the final redemption of the Hebrew race. For this they were extraordinarily sealed, and this is the reward of their faithfulness as against the lies and infamies of the Beast. Hence, also, it pertains to their honor and blessedness to attend the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. They are His heavenly suite and train in all His reign on Mount Zion. I\^. Whai^ noiv, of (he Angel-Messagesf When Christ made His last entry into Jerusalem, and fault was found v/ith the loud proclamations which were ringing to His praise as the Messiah-King, He answered: "If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." The truth of God and His claims must be spoken. If men are silent, other things must become vocal to tes- tify for Jehovah. And when Antichrist succeeds in hushing up, or burying away in caves, moun- tains, and wildernesses all testimony for the Eter- nal One whom he seeks to abolish, the heavens speak, and the angels whom he cannot touch or slay become the preachers. Mid-heaven is their pulpit, and all nations, tribes, tongues, and peoples are their auditors. Hell may slay, imprison, and silence every human witness for God, but cannot chain the proclamation of His truth. God's word cannot be bound. It liveth and abideth forever. It must be heard. LECTURE XXXIV. C HA P. 14 : I -13. 29 The First Message. — That an Angel is the preacher here, is proof positive that the present dispensa- tion is then past and changed. Of old, Angels were employed for the giving of the Law, and in the Judgment time they are everywhere repre- sented as again taking very conspicuous part in the divine administrations with regard to our world; but in the dispensation under which we now are, the charge of preaching and witnessing for God and the declaring of His Word, is the pe- culiar office of the Church. It is a calling and office committed to men, to the chosen of our human race. Angels are ministers to the heirs of salvation, but not in the sense of being the appointed public proclaimers and preachers of the Gospel. That is man's work, and man's peculiar honor, as things now are constituted. But here Angels are the preachers, with three or four dis- tinct messages: one "having a Gospel everlast- ing;" one proclaiming the doom of Babylon; and one denouncing eternal damnation upon every worshipper of the Beast, or wearer of his mark. Of course, then, we have here another dispensa- tion, a different order of things from that which now obtains. The same is also intimated in the features of the Word preached. It is no longer the meek and entreating voice, beseeching men to be reconciled to God, but a great thunder from the sky, demanding of the nations to Fear the God, as over against the false god whom they were adoring, — to Give glory to Hmij instead of the in- famous Beast whom they were glorifying, — to 30 THE APOCALYPSE. Worship the Maker of all things, as against the worship of him who can do no more than play his hellish tricks with the things that are made; and all this on the instant, for the reason that " the hour of judgment is come.'' Paul once said, if an angel from heaven preach unto you any other Gospel than that ye have re- ceived, let him be accursed. And when he so said, he spoke the very truth of God; but it is the truth with special reference to the present dispen- sation, till the Church-period has come to its end in the day of judgment; for here, when " the judg- ment is come,'' an angel from heaven preaches, and what he preaches is not " the everlasting Gospel" as the English version is, but " a Gospel everlast- ing." It is not indeed " another Gospel," for it is in inner substance the same old and everlasting Gospel, but now in the dress and features of a new order of things — the Gospel as its contents shape themselves in its address to the nations when " the hour of judgment is come," and the great final administrations are in hand. Luther once said that he did not like this Book, because its spirit did not agree with his feelings as to the Gospel. He was right as to the fact. His great soul, permeated through and through with the very life and spirit of reconciliation in Christ Jesus as now preached to men, felt that here is something different, just as the Christian heart is disturbed by the imprecatory Psalms. But when we locate the matter rightly, and learn that here the Church-period has given place to LECTURE XXXIV. CHAP. 14:1-13. gj the presence and ongoing of the day and hour of judgment, the whole matter clears up. Mercy towards the poor infatuated world still lingers in the very hour of wrath. In the heat and height of his indignation God still remembers it. Hence still something of a Gospel message sounds. And when there is no more voice on earth to speak it, an angel from heaven, uttering himself from the sky, proclaims to the guilty nations where they are, what has come, and what immediate revolu- tion is needed, if they would not sink at once to everlasting destruction. It is Gospel, but it is the Gospel in the form it takes when the hour of judg- ment has set in. It is one of the very last calls of grace to an apostate world. I'he Second Message. — With the hour of judg- ment comes the work of judgment. A colossal system of harlotry and corruption holds dominion over the nations. There is no country, no people, but is won to it, and intoxicated by it, and induced to cast off all the bonds of sacredness for the in- famous delusions of the Antichrist and his false prophet. God has allowed it for the punishment of those who would not have Christ for their Lord, but now He will not allow it longer. There- fore another Angel comes with the proclamation : '' Fallen, fallen, the great Babylon, which hath made all the nations drink from the wine of the wrath of her fornication,^' The announcement is by anticipa- tion as on the very eve of accomplishment, and as surely now^ to be fulfilled. The particulars are VOL. III. 60 32 THE APOCALYPSE. given in the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters. There also the explanation of the object of this an- nouncement is given. It is mercy still struggling in the toils of judgment, if that by any means some may yet be snatched from the opening jaws of hell; for there the further word is, ''Come out of her, my people, that ye may have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." The Third Message. — And for the still more potent enforcement of this call a third Angel ap- pears, preaching and crying with a great voice, that whosoever is found worshipping the Beast and his image, or has the Beast's mark on his forehead or on his hand, even he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is mingled without dilution in the cup of His anger, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the angels and in the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascends to the ages of ages, and they have no rest day and night! It is an awful commination; but these are times of awful guilt, infatuation, and wickedness. And when men are in such dangers, marching direct into the mouth of such a terrible perdition, it is a great mercy in God to make proclamation of it with all the force of an Angel's eloquence. The same is also for the wronged and suffering ones who feel the power of these terrible oppres- sors. It tells them how their awful griefs shall be avenged on their hellish persecutors. So, there- LECTURE XXXIV. CHAP. 14 : 1 - 13. 33 fore, with mighty energy the Angel proclaims the eternal doom of the abettors of the Antichrist. There be those who mock and jeer at the idea of an eternal hell for the wicked. Many are the jests they perpetrate at the expense of these preachers of fire and brimstone. Bat here a great and mighty Angel from heaven is the preacher, and his sermon from beginning to end is nothing but fire and brimstone, even everlasting burning and torment for all who take the mark of Antichrist ! Shall we believe our modern sentimental philoso- phers, or abide by the word of our God and of his holy angels ? Alas, alas, for the infatuated people who comfort themselves with the belief that per- dition is a myth — the bugbear of antiquated super- stition ! The Fourth Message, — There is no suffering for any class of God's people in any age, like the suf- ferings of those who remain faithful to God during the reign of the Antichrist. Here, at this particu- lar time and juncture, is the patience or endurance of them that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. To come out of Babylon, and to stand aloof from its horrible harlotries, is a costly thing. It is equivalent to a voluntary com- ing forward to the state-block to have their heads chopped oft'. Therefore there is another procla- mation from heaven for their special strengthen- ing and consolation. Whether this word is also from an Angel we are not told ; but it is a message from glory and from God. And it is a sweet and 34 THE APOCALYPSE. blessed message. It is a message which John is specially commanded to write, that it may be in the minds and hearts of God's people of every age, and take away all fear from those who in this evil time are called to lay down their lives because they will not worship Antichrist. That message is : " Blessed are the dead ivho die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, saiih the Spirit, thai they may, in that they shall, rest out of their labors, for their works follow with them.'' This is true of all the saints of all ages, but it is pre-eminently and specially true of those who at this time lose their lives for their faithful obedience. It may look like ca- lamity, but in comparison with the miseries of a life of faith under such a hellish despot, it is a blessedness. Death to a good man at any time is a greater beatitude than a disaster; and when a life of truth and honor becomes so great a sorrow as at this time, it is a blessedness to have it ended. The implication is, that from this point on till death itself is vanquished, there is no more peace or comfort for a good man on earth, and therefore that no better thing can happen him than to die. When there is no more peace for us but in death, why should we wish to live ? When all hope for earth has faded out, why should we desire to re- main in it ? When to open our mouths for Christ, or to bow the knee or speak a prayer to the God that made us, exposes to indignity and torture, why not welcome death, and account it good for- tune to have the chance for such a release ? Best — Best! What would not those dupes of Anti- LECTURE XXXIV. CHAP. 14 : 1 - 13. 35 Christ fioally give for Rest! But what they can never have, they that die in the Lord get through death. Like the worn mariner wearied out with his long and painful endurance of the tempests, dangers, and hardships of the sea, enters the calm port for which he steered so hard ; — like the sol- dier, scarred, mutilated, and sick of the miseries of deadly conflict, comes back from the field of blood to repose in the peace and security of his happy home ; — so do they rest out of their labors. And their works follow with them. The very hardships past make the peace the sweeter. ISTot a word of faithful testimony, not a tear of sym- pathy, not a sigh of prayer, not a gift of a cup of water in a disciple's name, shall fail in its contri- bution to the blessedness. Therefore it is written : " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth." And when violence, cruelty, and slaughter are the consequence of a life of truth and purity, the sooner it is over the greater the beatitude. Here, then, is the comfort of the saints. What- ever they suffer, their peace is sure. Unable to live, death is their blessedness. Heaven speaks it. The Spirit confirms it. The apostles of God have written it. And from it springs a consola- tion— Which monarchs cannot grant, nor all the powers Of earth and hell confederate take away ; — A liberty which persecution, fraud, Oppression, prisons, have no power to bind. LECTURE THIRTY-FIFTH. THE VISION OF THE HARVEST — A HARVEST OF WOE AND JUDGMENT — THE PARTICULARS OF THE DESCRIPTION — THE ANGEL-CRY FOR THE SENDING OF THE SHARP SICKLE — THE REAPING — THE VISION OF THE VINTAGE — THE ANGEL OUT OF THE TEMPLE — THE GREAT CRY FROM THE ALTAR FOR THE SENDING OF THE SHARP SICKLE — THE GATHERING OF THE VINE OF THE EARTH — THE TREADING OF THE WINE-PRESS. Rev. 14 : 14-16. (Revised Text.) And I saw and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud is seated one like a son of man, having on his head a crown of gold, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a great voice to him that sat on the cloud, Send thy sickle, and reap ; because the time to reap is come, because the harvest of the earth is dried [dead ripe]. And he that sat on the cloud cast his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in the heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the altar, he who hath power over the fire ; and he cried with a great cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, Send thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, because her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel cast his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast [what he gathered] into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. And the wine-press was trodden outside of the city, and blood came forth out of the wine-press up to the bits of the horses, for a distance of a thousand six hundred stadia. PROCLAMATION having gone forth that the hour of judgnaent is come, that great Babylon is on the brink of her fall, and that the damnation of every worshipper of the Beast is at hand, we (36) LECTURE XXXV. CHAP. 14: 14-16. 37 find ourselves face to face with the last great ad- ministrations of divine wrath. And the nature and machinery of those administrations is the matter which now comes before us. The more specific details are given in the succeeding chap- ters, but a general summation is first presented in two visions, the Harvest and the Vintage, which, for awful brevity of narration and expressiveness of imagery, are perhaps the most wonderful in all this wonderful Book. God help us to consider them with reverent and believing hearts! I. The Vision of the Harvest. Some worthy expositors take this as a fore- showing of the final gathering home of the people of God. That the Scriptures often speak of such a harvest of the good seed of the Saviour's sowing there can be no question. John the Baptizer spoke of a time of threshing, when the Lord " will gather the wheat into His garner." (Luke 3 : 17.) The Saviour commenced His heavenly instruc- tions with an account of His sowing and hus- bandry, the harvest of which he said would be " the end of the age," when He '' will say to the reapers. Gather the wheat into my barn." (Matt. 13.) He also said, " So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how; for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in 38 THE APOCALYPSE. the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come." (Mark 4 : 26-29.) But that this is the harvest foreshown in the text seems to me very improbable, if not entirely out of the ques- tion. According to the record up to this point, the great harvest of the good seed has already been reaped. The Living Ones, the Elders, the innumerable multitude, the Man-child, and the 144,000, all of whom are of the good seed, are in heaven before this reaping comes. This reaping is also immediately preceded by the gathering of a great company to glory, which is very unac- countably separated from the harvest of saints directly to follow, if so we are to understand it. Ordinarily, indeed, we would think of harvest as a thing of gladness and blessing. The Scriptures also speak of harvest as a great joy. But it is the same with respect to the vintage, which all accept as here applying exclusively to the punishment of the wicked. Any argument of that character bears as strongly against taking the vintage in the sense of a destruction as the taking of the har- vest in that sense. It must be remembered that evil has its harvest as well as good. There is a harvest of misery and woe, — a harvest for the gathering, binding, and burning of the tares, — as well as for the gathering of the wheat into the garner of heaven. And this harvest of punishment has quite as prominent a place in the Scriptures as the harvest of the gath- ering home of the saints. " Thus saith the Lord LECTURE XXXV. CHAP. 14 : 14-16. 39 of hosts, the God of Israel ; the daughter of Baby- lon is like a threshing floor, it is time to thresh her; yet a little while and the time of her harvest shall come." (Jer. 61 : 38.) Here is a harvest of judgment, — a harvest of woe to Babylon, and the harvest of the text follows as the direct conse- quence of the proclamation of great Babylon's fall. Is it not, therefore, most naturally to be taken as the same in both cases? So again in Joel (3: 11- 16), looking to the very time and events with which we are here concerned, the word is: " As- semble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about; thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat : for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe : come, get you down, for the press is full, the vats overflow ; for their wicked- ness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision : for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake." Here is both a harvest and a vintage ; the one like and part of the other, and both exclusively applicable to the destruction of the wicked. This harvest and this vintage are unquestionably the same described in the text. They belong to the same period of time, they are called for after the same manner, and for 40 THE APOCALYPSE. the same activities; and they respect the same parties, whether as to the bearer of the sickle, the reapers, or the persons whom the reaping touches. It seems to me impossible, therefore, rightfully to take this harvest as anything else than the final cutting off of the hosts of the wicked, the visita- tion upon them of the fruits of their sovring. That harvest of which the 144,000 are a first-fruit is a very different matter from this. That is a harvest of gathering to the Lamb on Mount Zion ; this is a gathering to the Valley of Jehoshaphat for de- struction. Verse 15 is a literal allusion to Isaiah 27 : 11, which refers to a scene of breaking and burning, and final withdrawal of all mercy. The express mention of the sharpness of the sickle also shows that we have to do with a scene of judgment. The mention of the cloud likewise points to a work of judgment, for wherever Christ appears on a cloud, the work immediately in hand is always a judgment. The name of the Son of man also points in the same direction ; for it is as the Son of man that all judgment has been committed to Christ. (Jno. 5 : 27.) And such a contrast as would make only the vintage expressive of wrath and punishment, and the harvest one of a purely gracious character, has not a single trait or item of r the account to support it.* The harvest is simply * Mede, Bishop Newton, Lowman, Doddridge, Bengel, Hengsten- berg, Faber, Stuart, W. Robinson, William Jones, etc., agree that the harvest as well as the vintage here denotes a harvest of wrath. Mede well observes, " that the idea of harvest includes three things : the reaping of the corn, the gathering of it in, and the threshing of it j LECTURE XXXV. CHAP. 14:14-16. 4^ one phase of a great final visitation upon the apos- tate world, of which the vintage is another phase. — Let us look at it, then, a little more particularly. " I saw, and behold a white cloud,'' From this we may be quite sure of what is coming. That cloud is the signal of the second advent of the Lord Jesus. When He ascended, "a cloud received him out of their sight;'' and at the same time it was told from heaven, " This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Acts 1.) The cloud took Him, and the cloud shall bring Him. " They shall see the Son of man coming in a clond with power and great glory." (Luke 21 : 27.) And what was thus pre- dicted, the Apocalyptic seer here beholds fulfilling. That cloud is '^ white," like fire at its intensest heat, like the lightning itself, portending the purest as well as the hottest wrath towards the powers which have usurped the dominion of the earth. " On the cloud is seated one like a Son of man," N"o one else is here to be thought of but our blessed Lord Jesus. In John's first vision he saw, in the midst of the golden candlesticks, " One like to a Son of man ;" and that One said, " I am the First and the Last, and the Living One ; and I became dead, and behold I am living for the ages of the whence it is made a type in Scripture of two direct opposites ; of de- struction, when the reaping and the threshing are considered ; of resti- tution and salvation when the ingathering is considered." It is here the reaping only. 42 THE APOCALYPSE. ages ; and I have the keys of death and of hell." (Eev. 1 : 17.) It was the glorified Son of Mary there, and it is the same here. As the Destroyer of the works of the Devil, and as the Judge of the quick and the dead, it belongs to Christ to reap the earth and to clear it of the hellish seed of the great enemy. The man of sin is to be destroyed only by the manifestation of the Saviour's presence. (2 Thess. 2 : 8.) " Having on his head a crown of gold.^' Daniel " saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.'^ (Dan. 7 : 13, 14.) It was the same Son of man, in the same cloud, settled in all the regal prerogatives of the same supreme dominion, and manifested for the same purpose of dispossessing and destroying the Beast. The sitting of Christ on the throne of His glory is for the judgment of the nations(Matt. 25 : 31, 32), and the taking to Him of His great power as the King is to destroy them that cor- rupt the earth, that He may set up in their place His own glorious dominion. (Eev. 11 : 17, 19; 19 : 16.) And to this end, this heaven-crowned King holds " in his hand a sharp sickle.'^ There is no- where such a description or holding forth of the instrument in any harvest scene referring to the gracious home-bringing of the good. The earth is to be cleared of its ill products now, therefore only a cutting implement is in hand, and so con- LECTURE XXXV. CHAP. 14:14-16. 43 spicuously displayed. The work is one of ven- geance and sore judgment, therefore it is " sharp." Thus seated in regal majesty, with His terrible instrument in hand for His appointed judicial work as the Son of man, there goes up to Him a mighty cry to send forth His sickle and reap, claiming that the time of the reaping has come, and that "the harvest oi the earth ^^ {not the Church) is dried to dead ripeness. This cry is from an angel, called " another angel," in allusion to those mentioned in verses 6, 8, 9. Some take it as the commission of the Father for Christ to proceed; but that commission the great Harvester must already have had in order to take the position and equipment in which He here appears. It is not so much a commission as a prayer^ a plea, an ur- gency. It does not come from the Father, but from the quarter of the afflictions and abomina- tions calling for vengeance. This angel comes " out of the temple ;" — not " the temple which is in heaven," as in verse 17, or it would be so stated, but " the temple " as distinguished from " the temple which is in heaven ;" hence the temple on earth, referring either to the material temple re- built and reconsecrated, or the spiritual temple as made up of those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, or both ; that is, from the very point and place where the Antichrist has enacted his greatest enormities of wickedness. Abel's blood cried unto God from the o:round. (Gen. 4 : 10.) The cry of Sodom's wickedness came up unto Jehovah. (Gen. 28 : 20, 21.) In like 44 THE APOCALYPSE. manner great Babylon's sins came up into heaven. (Rev. 18 : 5.) And this cry to the sitter on the cloud comes out of the earthly temple as the cry of righteous indignation at the abominations that are being done against that temple and its God, attesting the over-ripeness of the transgressors, and claiming the due judgment upon them, as the time has come. The interests of God on earth are all more or less under the guardianship of angels. An angel had charge of the healing in Bethesda's pool, and angels have charge of God's temple too. The Archangel Michael presides over the affairs of the children of Daniel's people, and in the time of the Antichrist it is prophesied that he shall stand up for them. (Dan. 12 : 1.) And this angel-cry from the temple to the crowned, seated, and armed King of Judgment, to send His sickle and reap, is plainly connected with the administrations of these angel-helpers against oppression and op- pressors. It shows us that when the time of judgment comes to the full, everything will be in a condition of one grand outcry for speedy ven- geance. Iniquity will then have come to the full, to a thorough drying out of every modifying par- ticle of immaturity, giving mighty argument for the loud outcry of every holy being for judgment to strike. ^ And as the cry is, the answer comes. " He that sat oil the cloud cast his sickle (knt) on, or against, the earth, and the earth was reaped." Tremendous words ! What an experience for the race of man LECTURE XXXV. CHAP. 14:14-16. 45 is bound up in their awful brevity ! What plagues descend with that sharp sickle ! What a cras'n comes with its alighting upon a world now dead ripe for final judgment ! What powers and sys- tems fall before it ! What sores and ag-onies it brings to them that bear the mark of the Beast and worship his image ! What pestilential putres- cences it strikes into the sea whence that Beast rises, and into the rivers and fountains whence his subjects drink ! What new^ blazes of consuming heat it gives to the sun ! What torment it inflicts upon the throne of the Beast, and darkness and anguish upon his kingdom ! What cries, and thunders, and lightnings, and earthquakes, and hailstorms, and trembling of nations, and anxie- ties of men, it arouses into activity! How does every upas growth give way before the sharp edge of that terrible sickle ! Just how much of this great Harvest pertains to the reaping, as distin- guished from the vintage, we are not fully informed ; but it cuts from their foundations all the main sinews of the Antichrist. It includes all the dis- asters that come from the pouring out of the great bowls of wrath. It brings down great Babylon with a crash that fills the world with lamentations and horror. It strips the great Adulteress of all her pride and queenliness, and fills her with tor- ment, and sorrow, and burning. It sinks all the riches and glories of a godless world into one common ruin, never to be brought up again. And of the two phases of those ministrations of the wrath of God which are to clear this planet of the 46 THE APOCALYPSE. products and representatives of rebellion against His Throne, this is one, and perhaps the most general and far-reaching of the two. When the seer says " the earth was reayed^'' he tells of an amount of cutting down, divesture, and sorrowful sweeping away forever which the Scriptures de- scribe as the termination of the whole present order of things; for " the Harvest is the end of the world." (Matt. 13 : 39.) But it is nevertheless only one phase of the destruction which shall then be wrought. After the grain-harvest comes the grape-harvest. Accordingly we have n. The Vision of the Vintage. " Another angel " appears. He is " another " as a comer forth from the temple, and he is an '' angel '' with reference to his mission, not with reference to his nature ; for this angel is really the same as the Sitter on the white cloud. As to office, Christ is often represented as an angel, both in this Book and elsewhere. His very name, Christ, or Messiah, implies as much. He is the One sent and appointed of the Father. In the Old Testament He is continually spoken of as the Jehovah — angel. In chapters 10 and 20 He ap- pears as an angel. And in the very nature of the case we must here understand the Lord Himself, though in the character of an angel. The two images of the Harvest and the Vintage are too closely inter-connected for us to assign one to Christ and the other to a created angel. The LECTURE XXXV. CHAP. 14:14-16. 47 sharp sickle in the one is the same as in the other. The work is so great, and belongs so essentially to the mission and prerogatives of Christ, that it would trench upon the honor and appointment of Him to whom the Father hath committed all judg- ment, to refer it to a single ordinary angel. The destruction wrought is unquestionably the same which is more particularly described in the latter part of chapter 19; but there it is specifically as- signed to the Lord Jesus himself. And so in Isaiah 63, the treader of the wine-press, corres- ponding to the picture here given, is none other than Christ. We would therefore involve our- selves in too many difficulties, not to admit that this another messenger is the same as the Sitter on the cloud. He comes " out of the temple which is in heaven ;" the temple which is in heaven, as distinguished from the temple which is on earth. " The holy places made with hands are the figures of the true," fashioned after " the patterns of things in the heav- ens." (Heb. 10 : 23, 24.) It is in the heavenly temple that Christ now is, there appearing in the presence of God for us, as our great High Priest; and out from thence He is to come when He comes the second time. (Heb. 10 : 24-28.) We have here reached the time appointed for the destroying of them that corrupt the earth. Hence the great commissioned One appears. He leaves His phice in the temple which is in heaven, and stands ready, with sharp sickle in hand, for the work assigned. VOL. III. 61 48 THE APOCALYPSE. Where he stands is not said ; but the silence nat- urally carries us back to the white cloud. Appearing with the sharp sickle, a great cry goes up to Him : " Send thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, because her gropes are fully ripe.^^ He who makes this cry is an angel who conies " out of the altar, ^^ of course the earthly altar, or it would be otherwise stated, as in the preceding verse. This angel is '* he who hath power over the fire." The altar-fire is the fire of divine justice; the fire w^hich ever burns against sin and sinners; the fire which spares no victim however innocent when in the place and stead of transgressors ; the fire which ever cries out with mighty voice for the burning up of all rebels against God's righteous authority. There is a living spirit in charge of it; and that spirit calls for vengeance against the Antichrist. The grapes in this case are the grapes of Sodom, " sour grapes," the clusters of wickedness ripened to the full. Such iniquities, blasphemies, tyrannies and systematic abominations, as the Antichrist develops, have no parallel on earth. In these all the depravities head up to their maturity. In these appears the consummation or final ripeness of the whole earth-growth and mystery of evil. The angel of the altar-fires is never so outraged as by this perfected vintage of earth's wickedness. Hence the loud and clamorous outcry for vengeance upon these clusters. The " grapes of gall " are "ripe." The time for cutting them has come. The Messenger with the sharp instrument is pres- LECTURE XXXV. CHAP. 14:14-16. 49 ent. And the spirit of the justice-fires cries for the sickle to come in all its whetted sharpness. From under that altar had gone forth the plaint of murdered saints: '^ Until when, Thou Master, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood from them that dwell on the earth." (Rev. 6 : 10.) But now the very angel of the altar adds his mighty voice, and there can be no more delay. ^' And the Angel cast His sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth.'' The vine of the earth is that which stands over against "the vine of heaven." The true vine is Christ, and Christians are the branches. " The vine of the earth " is Anti- christ, and its branches are his adherents and fol- lowers. The saints are not of the earth, but born from above; these are of the earth, born from the wisdom that is from below — the seed of the Devil's sowing — the children of the wicked one. The grapes of this vine of the earth are the matured children of wickedness, and " their wine is the poi- son of dragons and the cruel venom of asps." (Deut. 32 : 32, 33.) They have by this time gone as far as, in the nature of things, they can go. They are ''ftdlg ripe.'' Hence the sharp sickle of the great judgment strikes, and the vine of the earth is cut, and its clusters gathered into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. A more particular description of this gathering of the hosts of Antichrist into the wine-press, and the treading of it by the King of kings, and Lord of lords, is given in the latter part of chapters 16 50 THE APOCALYPSE. and 19. It is in reality a war scene, the gathering of armies, the bringing together of the kings of the earth and of the whole world to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. It is for military pur- poses that they come, seduced, drawn, and impelled by unclean spirits that issue out of the mouth of the Dragon, out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet. The region of their assemblage is the Holy Land. The various names denotive of the locality all circle around Jerusalem. " Armageddon^' is the place named in the Apocalypse, which is the mount or city of Megiddo, or the great Esdraelon plain, '' the Val- ley of Megiddo." That has ever been one of God's great battle-grounds for the judging of the armies of the wicked. There Jabin's hosts, with their 900 chariots of iron, were utterly overwhelmed by Jehovah's special interference. There the Midian- ites, and Amalekites, and children of the East were routed before Gideon's 300 men with pitchers and lamps. There Samson triumphed with his crude instrument over the might of the Philistines. There the ruddy son of Jesse met and slew the great Goliath, and opened a breach of destruction upon those who defied Israel's God. And it is but fitting that here should be the seat of the wine- press for the final crushing out of the mightier Jabin and Goliath of the last evil days. " The Val- ley of Jehosaphai" is named by Joel as the place which, geographically taken, denotes the immedi- ate vicinity of Jerusalem, or else that part of Idu- mea where, by the special aid of heaven, Jehosa- LECTURE XXXV. CHAP. 14 . 14 - 16. 5^ phat put down the rebellion of the Edomites. ^' Bozrah" is named by Isaiah as the place where the mighty Saviour treads the wine-press alone, and stains all His raiment with the blood of His foes. (Is. 34 : 6-8 ; 63 : 1-6.) The probabilities are that all these particular localities are included, and that a line of encamped forces shall extend from Bozrah, on the southeast, to Megiddo,on the northwest. And, singularly enough, this would measure exactly 1600 stadia, the distance named in the text as that over which the blood from this great wine-press of Jehovah's anger flows. The same would also best realize Habakkuk's vision of the same scene, where he beheld, and " God came from Teynan, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. His brightness was as the light; He had horns coming out of his hand ; and there was the hiding of His power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood and measured the earth : He beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow. Thou didst march through the land in indignation ; thou didst thresh the hea- then in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine an- ointed ; Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck." (Hab. 3 : 3-16.) ^ The march of the terrific indignation of God on this occasion would, therefore, seem to be from 52 THE APOCALYPSE. the Sinaitic hills, crashing through Idumea, thun- dering by the walls of the holy city, and thence on to the great field of Esdraelon, where the chief stress of the awful pressure falls. Along this line will the main bodies of these assembled nations lie, eager, determined, and confident in the schemes that occupy them, not knowing that they are already in the great wine-press of the wrath of God. '' Multitudes, multitudes," armies on armies, hosts on hosts, are there. The Beast is there ; the False Prophet is there; and the kings, captains, mighty men, and drilled legions of all the nations in league with Antichrist are there ; all gathered into one great pen of slaughter. " Arid the wine-press was trodden.'^ What strength have grapes against the weight and power of a man when he comes to set his feet upon them ? And the riper they are, the more helpless. They must needs be crushed, their existence destroyed, their life-blood poured out. And so with these "fully ripe" clusters, now gathered into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. E'o weapon they can raise, no resistance they can make, can avail them. The beast was hailed as the Invincible; but his invincibility is nothing now. The False Prophet could make fire come down from heaven in the presence of men, but he can command no fires to withstand the lightnings of the angry and inexorable Judge. The heel of Omnipotence is upon them; and they can only break and sink be- neath it. Long ago had Jehovah spoken of this time and LECTURE XXXV. CHAP. 14 : 14-16. 53 said: "Let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all na- tions, and His fury upon all their armies; He hath utterly destroyed them. He hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their car- cases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be loosed, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll ; and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth oft' from the vine, and as a fallen fig from the fig- tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven : behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse to judgment. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion." (Is. 34 : 1-8.) But men would not hear, neither be- lieve; therefore, the sword of the Lord is filled with their blood. He cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, treading the wine- press alone, treading them down in His anger, trampling them in His fury, and staining all His raiment with their blood. " When they say. Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they cannot escape." It is " outside of the city " that this treading of the wine-press takes place. "The city," men- tioned thus absolutely, with no other note of iden- tification, can be none other than " the holy city ^''^ the city of Jerusalem. The fact that this great judg- ment does not come within its gates, is evidence 54 THE APOCALYPSE. of its being " the holy city," the place owued of God, the memorial of His salvation in the time of His fierce anger. Amid all the consuming wrath, the judgment stays outside the walls of Jerusalem. Within its holy inclosure is safety. And by some gracious interposition of Heaven, none of the doomed hosts of Antichrist are at this time inside of it. Has it become the possession of the 144,000 whom we saw on Mount Zion ? Has the Lamb by this time cleansed it with judgment as in Ezekiel's vision (chapter 9) ? Hath He already consecrated and appropriated it as the intended metropolis of the new kingdom? Has His wonder-working power come forth in such force in connection with the glorification of the 144,000, as then already to have started there an administration expelling the dominion of the Beast ? Joel says, Jehovah shall then utter His voice with power from Jerusalem. (Joel 3 : 17.) Has it not then already become the seat of His throne ? If so, this would explain why all these armies of the nations are there. Even apart from this, the implication is clear that these forces are gathered for war against the holy city, and against the Lamb. In the ordinary course of things there would be nothing in Jerusalem requiring or occa- sioning such a tremendous gathering of the kings and armies of the world. If, however, some vis- ible presence of the heavenly kingdom about to take possession of the earth has there begun to display and assert itself; if divine majesty, mir- acle and power have by this time taken hold, in- LECTURE XXXV. CHAP. 14:14-16. 55 troducing a new rule and order, exhibiting the presence of the eternal reign of the Son of man, and manifesting the potencies of the world to come ; there is ample call and occasion for this mustering of all the powers of earth and hell. Determined to crush it out, " the kings of the earth set them- selves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed/' (Ps. 2:2.) A power which could thus cleanse and clear the temple and city of everything contrary to God, and hold at bay all attempts of the un- sanctified to enter, would be a thing wholly intol- erable to Antichrist. He who claims to be the only rightful object of human adoration, could not endure the presence of such temerity against his majesty. If strength in earth and hell exists to subdue and crush it, that strength must be called forth. And thus these kings and nations, with their armies, are convened. It is meant to make sure of success. They fill the land with their collected forces. They mass themselves in line from Bozrah to Megiddo. They compass about the holy city. But into it they dare not enter. And when the wine-press of their destruction is trodden, it is " trodden outside of the city.^^ Before they are able to strike a blow, " the Lion of the tribe of Judah " is upon them in all the terrible- ness of His great exterminating judgment. " And blood came forth out of the wine-press up to the bits of the horses for a distance of 1600 stadia!'^ A river of human blood 160 miles in length, and up to the bridles of the horses in depth, tells an 56 THE APOCALYPSE. awful story. When the Eomans destroyed Jeru- salem so great was the bloodshed that Josephus says the whole city ran down with the blood to such a degree that the fires of many of the houses were quenched by it. When Sylla took Athens, Plutarch says the blood that was shed in the market-place alone covered all the ceramicus as far as Dipylus, and some testify that it ran through the gates and overflowed the suburbs. ISTor are we to think of any exaggeration or hyperbole in the very definite description of what John here saw as the consequence of the treading of this wine-press. It is " the great wine-jpress of the wrath of God.^' It is the last great consummate act of destruction which is to end this present world. The masses on whom it is executed are " the kings of the earth and of the whole world, and their armies " (Rev. 16 : 14; 19 : 19), stationed in a line from Bozrah in Edom to Esdraelon in Galilee. They are to be utterly consumed, so as to " leave them neither root nor branch. '^ (Mai. 4 : 1.) It is '' the great and dreadful day of the Lord" about which all the prophets of all the ages have prophesied. It is the result of the re- sentment and anger of Him who is Faithful and True, who in righteousness doth judge and make war, whose eyes are as fire, on whose head are the many crowns, whom all the armies of Heaven fol- low upon white horses, out of w^hose mouth goeth a sharp sword, and who " treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." And it must needs be all that John here states, a LECTURE XXXV. CHAP. 14:14-16. 57 belt of blood from Bozrah to Esdraelon up to the horses' bridles in depth ! Isaiah says : " The land shall be drunk with blood, and its dust made fat with fatness, for it is the day of Jehovah's ven- geance, tlie year of recompenses for the contro- versy against Zion." (Is. 34 : 7, 8.) Ah, yes; men in their unbelief may laugh at the Almighty's threatenings. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, their hearts may be fully set in them to do evil. And the proud rationalism of many may persuade them that God is too good and merciful ever to fulfil in any literal sense these sanguinary commi- nutions. But it will be no laughing matter then, no mystic fancy, no meaningless orientalism of the age of extravagant speech. God hath set His own eternal seal to it, and said : " Seek ye out of the Book of the Lord, and read : no one of these things shall fail." (Is. 34 : 16.) And yet people make light of it, and turn away to their sins and follies as if it were all nothing ! Child of Adam, hear, and be admonished now while salvation is so freely offered. Be not de- ceived, for God is not mocked. Those impieties of thine, those guilty sports and gayeties, will yet have to be confronted before the judgment seat. Those gatherings in the gaming-hells and drink- shops of Satan, those sneers and witty jests at sacred things, those fiery lusts burning on the altars of carnal pleasure, are all written down in the account-books of eternity to be brought forth in the great day. That wicked profanation of thy 58 THE APOCALYPSE. Maker's name, that broken pledge, that unfulfilled vow to God and man, that scene of riot, that hid- den going to the haunts of the profligate, all are noted for future settlement. The blood of wronged and murdered innocence will not always cry in vain. The wail of trampled helplessness will not be unheard forever. The mother who destroyed her babe, the clerk who dipped too deep in his employer's till, the enemy who set fire to his neighbor's goods or sought to blacken his good name, the boy who cursed his parents in secret, the spiteful slanderer and persecutor of God's ministers and people, and every despiser and neglecter of the great salvation, must each answer at the tribunal of eternal justice. And if clean repentance out of these and all such sins be not speedy and complete, there is no hope or mercy more. Before us stands the Angel with the sharp sickle for all the enemies of God, and beside Him is the great wine-press of destruction. Think, O man, O woman, how would you fare were He this night to strike ! If not in the city, in reconciliation with the King, outside is only death and damna- tion, and nothing can make it different. LECTURE THIRTY-SIXTH. THE SIGN OF THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES — THE VISION OF THE SEA OF GLASS MINGLED WITH FIRE — THE HARP-SINGEKS STANDING BY IT — THE SEVEN PRIEST-ANGELS — THE GOLDEN BOWLS — NOT THE FRENCH REVOLUTION — THE PLAGUE OF SORES — THE PLAGUE OF THE BLOODY SEA — THE PLAGUE OF THE BLOODY RIVERS AND WATER-SPRINGS — THE PLAGUE OF SUN-HEAT — THE PLAGUE OF DARKNESS — NO PENITENCE FROM THESE JUDGMENTS. Rev. 15 : 1-8. (Revised Text.) And I saw another sign in the heaven great and marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues, the last, be- cause in them, the wrath of God was completed. And I saw like to a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who conquer from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing on [over or by] the sea of glass, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses, servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous thy works, 0 Lord God, the Almighty, just and true thy ways, Thou the King of the nations: who shall not fear, 0 Lord, and glorify thy namf ? because alone holy, be- cause all the nations shall come and worship in thy presence, because thy judgments [righteous doings] have been made manifest. And after these things I saw, and there was opened the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in the heaven ; and there came forth the seven angels who had the seven plagues out of the temple, clothed in pure bright linen, and girdled about their breasts with golden girdles. And one from among the four Living Ones gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who liveth to the ages of the ages. And the temple was filled with the smoke from the glory of God. and from his power; and no one could enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. Rev. 16 : 1-11. (Revised Text.) And I heard a great v»ice saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth. (59) go THE APOCALYPSE. And the first went forth, and poured out his bowl into the earth ; and there became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men who had the mark of the beast, and those who worshipped his image. And the second poured out his bowl into the sea ; and it became blood as of one dead, and the things in the sea, and every soul of life, died. And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of waters ; and they became blood. And I heard the angels of the waters saying, Righteous art thou, who art, and who wast, holy One, because thou hast judged thus : because they have shed blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; deserving are they. And I heard the altar saying. Yea, Lord God t^e Almighty, true and just are thy judgments. And the fourth poured out his bowl on [or over] the sun ; and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. And the men were scorched with great scorching, and they blasphemed the name of the God, he who hath authority over these plagues ; and they repented not to give glory to him. And the fifth poured out his bowl on [or over] the throne of the beast ; and his kingdom became darkened, and they bit their tongues from the pain, and they blasphemed the God of the heaven from their pain, and from their sores, and repented not out of their deeds. THE accomplishment of the Harvest and the Vintage brings to the end of this present world. The next in succession would be the set- ting up of the eternal Kingdom, and the evolu- tion of the new heavens and earth. But the Harvest and the Vintage do not adequately set forth all that we need to know about these closing scenes. Further particulars included in this mo- mentous period require to be shown in order to complete the picture. The fate of the infernal Trinity, — the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet, — and of what pertains to them, is to be more fully described before we come to the Millennium, the descent of the ITew Jerusalem, and the planting of God's Tabernacle with men. LECTURE XXXVI. CHAPS. 15:1-8; 16:1-11. gj Hence the same ground covered by the visions of the Harvest and Vintage is traversed again and again with reference to particular objects and ad- ministrations. As we have four distinct Gospels to give us a full and accurate portraiture of the one glorious Saviour, so we have these several presentations with reference to one and the same momentous period of the end. Each vision, how- ever, has its own particular office, scope, and features, giving some special aspect or phase in the general sum of events. It is not mere repeti- tion of the same thing, but the separate presenta- tion of particular administrations or occurrences of which the whole is made up. Chapters 15 and 16 belong together. They form one whole, touching one important subject, to wit: the third or last woe. The contents bear a close analogy to the conclusion of chapter 11, if they be not indeed the continuation and amplification of what was there summarily introduced; for all these visions are very intimately related, both in general subject and time. There the temple in heaven was opened, and lightnings, voices, thun- ders, earthquake, and great hail followed. Here the same temple is opened, and out of it issue seven angels, with the seven last plagues, who empty their bowls of the wrath of God in calam- ities upon the wicked world, culminating in the very things named as the result of the opening there. There the Elders said that the nations were enraged, that God's wrath had come, and that the time to destroy them that corrupt the 62 THE APOCALYPSE. earth had been reached. Here we are shown the pouring out of that wrath, its particular instru- ments, subjects, operations, and results. John begius by telling of "another sign in the heaven." In chapter 12 he told of two signs: the sign of the sun-clad Woman, and the sign of the great Red Dragon. It is with reference to them that he calls this " another sign." Three signs were given to Moses, Gideon, Saul, and Elijah. Three feigns are mentioned in Matthew 24 as heralding the Lord's coming, — the sign of the Son of man in heaven, the putting forth of leaves by the withered fig-tree, and the lapse of the world into the condition in which it was at the time of the flood. And so we have here three signs. The signs of the Woman and the Dragon, answer to the first and second chapters of Exodus ; the sign now before us, answers to the judgments which followed, through the ministry of Moses and Aaron. This sign is "great and marvellous." It is great, as involving so much more in range and intensity than anything of the kind that has ever been ; and it is marvellous, with reference to the unparalleled character of what it foretells. What it describes is altogether extraordinary, and on an astounding scale. It is the consummation of marvels in this present world. The sign itself is, " Seven Angels having seven plagues, the last ones, because in them the wrath of God was completed." Signs of healing accompanied the preaching of the Gospel; signs of death attend the end of the LECTURE XXXVI. CHAPS. 15:1-8; 16:1-11. (^3 world. Much of the Apocalypse treats of plagues — " the plagues that are written in this book/' Those here signified are ^' the last,'' with reference to what happened to Egypt, or with reference to the judgments under the Seals and Trumpets, or simply with reference to the particular end of things which they are to work. They are visita- tions upon the living world — upon men in the flesh. They have been named " the opening artil- lery of God, ere the shock of battle comes.'' The seven Angels who bear them have been likened to priests of heaven, pouring out the drink-offer- ings of wine over the sacrifice ere it is slain and consumed. But before proceeding to give the particulars of this great and marvellous " sign," the Seer inter- jects another vision, of a more gracious order, though connected with these outpourings of the plagues. When the wicked are cut off, the right- eous shall see it; and when these plagues fall upon Antichrist and his hosts, those who through suf- fering and death keep clear of his worship and mark, are on high, singing, and harping, and giving glory to God and the Lamb, as stroke upon stroke from the heavenly temple smites their oppressors. John writes: " I saw like to a sea of glass mingled with fire, and* those who conquer out from the Beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing on, over, or by the sea of glass, having harps of God.'' This likeness to a sea of glass reminds of that " glassy sea " which spread out before the throne VOL. III. 62 64 THE APOCALYPSE. ill chapter 4.* If it is the same, it has become omi- nously commingled now; for there it was "like unto crystal " in clearness, but here it is " mingled with fire/' There it seemed to be a part of the economy and pavement of the heaven ; here it appears rather as a mighty reservoir of just judg- ments about to be precipitated upon the world below. There it looked like a sort of base on which the whole celestial establishment rested, representing perhaps the purity, vastness, and strength of God's counsels, on which all things depend; here it does not seem to be the support of anything, though the victors named may be over, by, or even on it. It is probably meant to symbolize the vastness, purity, justice and severity of the divine counsels in those retributions about to fall upon the wicked. It is best taken as a sea of just judgments which are poured forth in the seven final plagues, whilst in that regard at the same time a sea of blessed vindication and joy to those faithful ones whom the Beast persecuted unto death. The picture of these victorious ones standing on the shore of this sea, holding harps of God, and singing the song of Moses, directly recalls the rescued and victorious children of Israel on the further side of the Eed Sea, beholding the dis- comfiture of their foes, and singing and rejoicing in the mighty accomplishments of the wonder- working Jehovah. " Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and * Volume I, pp. 247, 248. LECTURE XXXVI. CHAPS. 15:1-8; 16:1-11. 65 spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods, who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ? " (Ex. 15 : 1-11.) And here the victors sing the song of Moses over again, looking out upon another sea of judgment as its fiery waves dash upon their oppressors. Here, however, the song goes beyond that of Moses, and takes in that of the Lamb as well, which is the song of victory over sin and death, the song of justification and eternal life through the blood and triumph of Jesus, whose dominion and right as the Lord of the nations are attested by these mighty judg- ments. Of old it was prophesied, that, when " the king " for whom Tophet is ordained and prepared is smitten, the victory over him shall be celebrated "with tabrets and harps" (Is. 30 : 32, 33) ; and here John beholds the fulfilment. They stand by the sea of glass mingled with fire, having harps of God, and they sing, saying, " Great and mar- vellous are Thy works, 0 Lord God, the Almighty, just and true are Thy ways. Thou, the King of the nations ! Who shall not fear, 0 Lord, and glorify Thy name, alone holy? because all the nations shall come and worship in Thy presence, because Thy judgments have been made manifest !" When consuming wrath falls on the servants of the false god, the true God's worshippers are beyond the fiery sea, singing their adoration to their Deliverer. Hav- ing felt the Dragon's wrath, they are joyously free gg THE APOCALYPSE. and secure from the great wrath of God. And their outlook is one of abiding blessedness. Verily, there is nothing like being firm and true to what is right. Whatever it may cost for the time, it will be amply recompensed in the great day. With this statement concerning those whom the Beast and False Prophet cannot conquer, the holy Apostle proceeds with what he began to tell about as "another sign in the heaven" — the seven last plagues. He first describes the heav- enly economy of them, and then the execution of them, together with their several eflfects. Let us follow him reverently. He saw " the temple of the tabernacle of the testi- mony in heaven opened,^* This was the innermost part of the temple, the Temple of the temple, the Holy of holies, the deepest centre of the dwelling- place and throne of God. The tables of stone, inscribed with the precepts of the Law, which God gave to Moses, are called the "tables of testimony." These were com- manded to be put into the holy Ark, which thence was called " the Ark of the testimony." This Ark had its place in the innermost and holiest de- partment of the Tabernacle, which thus became the particular tent or " tabernacle of the testi- mony." And this innermost shrine of the tem- ple in heaven, John saw open, revealing, as stated, in chapter 11 : 19, the very ark itself, and indicating that all the hidden powers of eternity were nov.' about to show themselves in active earthward administrations. LECTURE XXXVI. CHAPS. 15:1-8,16:1-11. 67 From the depth of tliis holiness issued seven angels. They are priest-angels, for they are clothed in pure bright linen, and girded about their breasts with golden girdles, which is the priest's dress. They appear as priests, because they come for the sacrificing of a great sacrifice to the of- fended holiness and justice of God. The girdle of the Jewish high priest w^as a mixture of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen, along with the "gold'' (Lev. 16:4); the girdles here are pure gold; for the temple is higher, and the administration holier; and the officiators be- long to heaven, not earth. ^' Aiid one from among the four Living Ones gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the lorath of God.'' This is not the first time we hear of these Living Ones taking part in the actual admin- istration of judgment. They are indeed glorified men ;* but *' do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" (1 Cor. 6:2, 3.) When th^ horsemen of chapter 6 were sent forth, " one from among the four Living Ones " gave the command, as with a voice of thunder. Here a correspond- ing part of the same judgment work is to be exe- cuted, and the vessels containing the w^rath of God are handed out by one of the same Living Ones. The vessels themselves were not bottles, as our English version would intimate, but shallow, pan. like, golden bowls, or censers, such as were used in the temple to hold the fire when incense was * See vol. i, pp. 254-262. 68 THE APOCALYPSE. burned. They are priestly censers, as in chapter 8 : 5. That which gives vitality to the prayers of saints and sustains the Jehovah worship, at the same time carries the burning coals of judgment upon the wicked. That which seethes and smokes in these holy censers is God's punishment upon transgression, the consuming intolerance of His holiness toward sin and sinners. Seven of these bowls, full to the brim with the wrath of Him who liveth for the ages of the ages, are thus handed to the seven priest-angels to be poured upon the sacrifice preparatory to its final consumption. And terrible is the smoke of their burning. When the first tabernacle was dedicated, a cloud filled it, and Moses was not able to enter into it because of the cloud of the glory of the Lord. (Ex. 40 : 34, 35.) When Solomon's temple was dedi- cated the cloud of the divine glory so filled the house that the priests could not stand to minister because of it. (1 Kings 8 : 10, 11.) It was a cloud then, veiling the insufierable brightness of that Jehovah-presence which it indicated; but here is the day of the fierceness of divine wrath, and in place of the shadowing cloud is the lurid fiery smoke; — the same which lasiah saw (6:1-4) in his vision of the enthroned Jehovah. It fills the temple in heaven ; and so intense is the manifes- tation of the divine glory and power that no one, even of the sons of God, is able to enter until the filled censers have been quite emptied out upon the doomed world. And from the midst of these awful signs a great voice sounds, like the trumpet LECTURE XXXVI. CHAPS. 15:1-8, 16:1-11. ^9 sounding from the smoke and fire on Mount Si- nai, saying to the seven angels, " Go, and pour out the seven bowls of the wraili of God into the earih.^' Glancing now for a moment at some of the cur- rent interpretations of these seven last plagues, we cannot but wonder that any should consider all this tremendous and unparelleled ado in heaven to be for nothing more than a few petit events in the ordinary course of human history. Yet some gravely tell us that the first bowl is the French Kevolution ; the second bowl, the naval wars of that Revolution ; the third bowl, the bat- tles of Kapoleon in Italy; the fourth bowl, the tyranny and military oppression of Napoleon ; the fifth bowl, the calamities w^hich befell the city of Eome and the Pope in consequence of the French Revolution ; the sixth bowl, the wane of the Turk- ish power, the return of the Jews to Palestine, and the subtle influences of infidelity. Popery and Pu- seyism; and the seventh, some further war with Romanism and disaster to the city of Rome. But can it be possible that God Almighty from His everlasting seat, the temple in heaven, all angels and holy ones on high, should thus be in new and unexampled commotion, with the mightiest of all celestial demonstrations, over nothing but a few occurrences in a small part of the smallest section of the globe, and those occurrences far less in meaning or moment than many others in other ages ! Ac- cording to such interpretation mankind have been living for the last 100 years amid the extreme ter- rors of '' the great and terrible day of the Lord '' 70 THE APOCALYPSE. without ever knowing it ! yea, dreaming the while that we are happily gliding into the era of univer- sal liberty and peace ! Are France and Italy the earth ! Are half a dozen naval battles, scattered over a dozen years, and touching here and there a speck of sea hardly to be pointed out on a terres- trial globe, to be taken as the turning of the whole ocean to blood, by which everything that lives in the sea dies ! If ITapoleon's artillery was the sun- scorch of blasphemers, was not the blasphemy of the scorchers by far worse than the blasphemy of the scorched ! Alas for the worth of Revelation if this is the proper way of reading it ! The greatest plagues of judgment of which we read in the past were those poured out upon an- cient Egypt. They were literal plagues, which hap- pened according to the terms in which they are recorded. These seven last plagues are the con- summation of God's judgment plagues, including in them all that have gone before, and rendering in final and intensest perfection what was pre- viously rehearsed on a smaller scale, preliminary to the great performance. What the preparatory rehearsal was, that must the final rendering be. The last plagues must therefore be literal too. In what sense or degree, however, was the French Revolution, or the doings of Kapoleon Bonaparte, a consummation of the plagues of Egypt ? Read, and ponder. The first priest-angel ^'poured out his bowl into the earth, ayid there became a grievous sore upon the men who had the mark of the Beast, and those who LECTURE XXXVI. CHAPS. 15 : 1-8 ; 16 : 1 - 11. 71 worship his image.'' Did none but Romanists sutfer from the French Revolution and the military des- potism which it evolved ? If so, this plague does not refer to that event ; for it touches only such as have the mark of the Beast. The sores of Laz- arus at the rich man's gate were not Romish errors, nor French infidelity ; but the sore of this angel's outpouring is denoted by the same word which described the ailment of Lazarus. It is the Egyptian plague of ulcers intensified. Burnt earth was there scattered, " and it became a boil, break- ing forth with blains, upon man and upon beast;'' and it was " upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.^' (Ex. 19 : 8-12.) When Moses after- wards pronounced the curses of heaven upon those who disown God and throw off allegiance to Him, he said : " The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head." (Deut. 28 : 15, 27, 35.) This has never yet been fulfilled ; but John here sees it fulfilled upon those who have cast off the worship of Jeho- vah for the worship and mark of the Antichrist. '^ And the second poured out his bowl into the sea;- and it became blood, as of one dead, and the things in the sea, every soul of lije, died:' So far as the naval battles of the French Revolution affected the sea, they killed nothing of the living things therein, but fattened them, and scarcely stained a single wave; 72 THE APOCALYPSE. SO far were they from turning all the ocean's waters into bloody clots. One of the plagues of Egypt was, that God " turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish." (Is. 105 : 30.) Under the second trumpet (chapter 8 : 8) the sea was affected, and the third of it was turned into blood. But here the whole sea is affected, and a change is wrought which makes all its waters like to the blood of one dead, — clotted, putrescent, and utterly destructive of the life of what lives in the sea. Hengstenberg and others say that we are here to think of " the shedding of blood in war ;" but there is not a word said about war ; and if living things in the sea mean human beings, peoples, nations, tribes, and tongues, this plague sweeps them all out of existence; for every living thing in the sea dies of this blood. If it refers to war, it is a very anomalous war, for it leaves neither conquered nor conquerors, and the plagues which follow have no subjects on which to operate. Stuart holds that "a literal fulfilment is not to be sought after ; " but if it is not literal, then were not the plagues of Egypt literal, nor is any other sort of ful- filment possible ; and thus the tremendous record is rendered meaningless. I take it as it reads; and if any dissent, on them is the burden of prov- ing some other sense, and of reducing to agree- ment their mutually destructive notions as to what it does mean. Take it as God has caused it to be written, and there can be no disagreement; take it in any other way, and the uncertainty is endless. ^^ And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers \ECTURE XXXVI. C H AP S. 15 : 1-8 ; 16 : 1 - 11. 73 and the fountains of waters ; and they became blood.^^ When Moses stretched out his hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon all their pools of water, " all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood ; and the fish that were in the river died ; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood through- out all the land of Egypt/' (Ex. 7 : 19-21.) And what thus happened with one river and one country, now occurs in all waters in all countries. Under the third trunipet (chap. 8 : 10, 11), a third of the rivers and water-springs became nauseous and nox- ious with bitterness ; but this plague touches them all, and turns them into blood, so that the hosts of Antichrist can find nothing to drink but blood. A more dreadful plague can hardly be imagined ; but it is just. " The angel of the waters/' he who has the administration of this plague, is amazed at the greatness of the infliction, but breaks forth in celebration of the righteousness of Him who was, and is [now no longer to come, because already come], and praises Him for having thus judged. The punishment is full of horror; but it is deserved. They shed the blood of saints and prophets, and it is due that now their only drink is blood. "Yea, Lord God the Almighty," answers the altar, " true and just are Thy judg- ments!" When God once comes with His terri- ble awards upon the wicked, the righteousness of them will be so conspicuous, and the justice and truth of His administrations will be so 74 THE APOCALYPSE. clear and manifest, that it will not be in the power of any holy being to tind a flaw, to raise a question, or to withhold the profoundest Amen. And when the earth refuses to yield any drink but blood to its apostate population, angels, and altar, and all heaven must confess and answer that it is just; they deserve it. ''And the fourth poured out his bowl [here the preposition changes from ek to ^tt^] 07i or over the sun ; and it was given to it \ihe smi\ to scorch men [ina7ikind'\ with fire. Ayid the men were scorched with great scorching^' This belongs to the predicted "signs in the sun." Under the fourth trumpet (chap. 8 : 12), the heavenly bodies were affected; but in a different way from this. There the sun was one-third darkened; here its power and heat are increased, till its rays become like flames. The sun exists and shines by God's command; and He can make it scorch and torture, as well as cheer and warm. Moses and Malachi have spoken of that day as one that shall " burn as an oven,'' when men shall be " devoured with burning heat.'^ (Deut. 32 : 24; Mai. 4 : 1.) Here also belongs the fulfilment of Isaiah's words : " The earth mourn- eth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish ; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken down the ever- lasting covenant, therefore hath the curse de- voured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate ; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.'' (Is. 24 : 4-13.) Some LECTURE XXXVI. CHAPS. 15 : 1 -8 ; 16 : 1 -11. 75 eay, " It is not of the natural scorching of the sun's rays, and of the injurious effects flowing from it, such as excessive heats, drought, and famine, that we are here to think;'' but of what else can we think? It is the sun that is smitten ; that smiting causes the emission of rays that scorch and burn to a degree that John says they are^Ve; and to think of anything but scorching and consuming heat from the sun is simply to browbeat the words of inspiration. Men are scorched by an extraordinary powder of the sun, oppressed, burned, killed by its fiery rays, smitten with sunstroke, overwbelmed with siroccos, suffocated with solar heat; and yet we are not to think of the sun, or of any injurious effects from its burning rays! O the havoc which men make of God's word to fit it to their faulty theories ! Here is one of the last plagues of " the great and terrible day of the Lord ;" and it is nothing less than God's glorious sunshine, intensified with fiery heat, so that it burns and scorches earth and man, decimating the inhabitants of city and country alike. Disastrous plague ! We would think that such a succession of ills would bring the most infatuated to their senses, and that there would come forth from all the world one loud repentant cry to God for mercy. We would think it impossible for people with souls in them to hold out against such exhibitions of angry Almightiness. But no; they only blas- pheme the name of the God having command of these plagues, and repent not to give glory to Him. 76 THE APOCALYPSE. They have all sold themselves to hell and received the sacrament and seal of it upon their bodies, and they only dare and sin on to their inevitable dam- nation. Many are waiting for times of affliction and death to bring them to repentance and salvation; but those who wilfully sin away their good days count in vain on something softening and remedial from the judgments of their despised and incensed Maker. The sun may scorch, and extort still further blasphemies, but it cannot change the stubborn heart, or burn into it the saving fear and love of God. Sin is a cancer, which, if left to run too long, can never more be cured. Another judgment-plague descends, but with no better effect. " The fifth Angel poured out his bowl on or over the throne of the Beast; and his hingdom became dark- ened^ and they bit their tongues from the pain, and they blasphemed the God of the heaven from their pain, and from their sores, and repented not out of their deeds. ^^ The effects of these judgments overlap each other. The sores of the first plague are still felt during the second and third, and even here under the fifth. This proves that these plagues all fall upon the people of one and the same generation, and hence dare not be extended through centuries. The Antichrist has but 3J years, and all seven of these last plagues fall upon him and his followers. Here his very throne is assailed, and his entire dominion is filled with darkness. The last but one of the Egyptian plagues was a plague of LECTURE XXXVI. CH A PS. 15 : 1 -8; 16 : 1 - 11. 77 darkness. The Book of Wisdom (17:21) says: " Over them was spread a heavy night, an image of that darkness which should afterward receive them; but yet were they unto themselves more grievous than the darkness." Here is a corre- sponding darkness, coextensive with the world- wide empire of this Beast. From the centre of his kingdom, even to its utmost limits, everything is darkened. Isaiah prophesied of this when he said, " Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.'' (Is. 60 : 2.) Joel proph- esied of it when he said : " The day of the Lord cometh, a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.'' "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood." (Joel 2 : 1, 2, 31.) Nahum prophesied of it when he said that the fierceness of God's anger shall be poured out like fire, and "darkness shall pursue His enemies." (Nah. 1 : 6, 8.) Our blessed Saviour prophesied of it when He declared : " In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be dark- erud, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall," failing in all their offices of light-givers. (Mark 13 : 24, 25.) And great are the miseries of that darkness ; for it causes those who feel it to bite their tongues by reason of the distress which it adds to all the rest of their tor- ments. And is it nothing but the suppression of the monasteries and Romish clergy in France in 1789, and ITapoleon's levies upon the revenues and siezure of the properties and person of a helpless old Pope ? Have all the prophets been thus stirred 7g THE APOCALYPSE. up by the Holy Ghost to tell the world of those few, limited, and temporary calamities incident to ordinary human ambition and war, that all men of all ages might stand in awe and fear God lest they should come under Napoleon's dealings with the papacy ? Would it not seem as if some shadows of this coming darkness were already upon the understandings of some of Christ's professed min- isters ? God help them to the light, that they may repent out of their sad mistreatments of these great revelations, and give to Him the glory by doing just honor to His Holy Word ! The darkness which thus comes over the king- dom of the Beast must be literal, as that of Egypt was ; for that was the prelibatiou of this, — the pre- rehearsal of what is to come. If not literal, it is im- possible for any man to tell us what it is. People may guess and reason, but that cannot fix the mean- ing of God's word. And to carry the theory of a mere "figurative representation " into all the sacred predictions which refer to it, can only spread ih\s^. darkness upon some of the most momentous por- tions of .divine revelation. It is at all events vastly better to risk mistake b}^ clinging fast to the plain sense of what God has caused to be written for our learning, than to go floundering through a world of fancies, ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And if in the great day of fulfilment, when God shall turn these prophecies into living realities, things should not turn out according to the terms used by the Holy Ghost, we shall be the more excusable for LECTURE XXXVI. CHAPS. 16:1-8; 16:1-11. 79 having clung to the record as it stands. In any event, our simple faith will be our best apology. This darkening of the Beast's kingdom, added to the earlier inflictions, brings terrible distress. The description indicates the intensest writhings of anguish, the very madness of vexation and pain. The people who suffer these plagues bite their tongues, chew them, gnaw them, as their best diversion from their misery. Their tongues have spoken blasphemies, and they themselves thus punish them. Earth has become like hell for wickedness, and so it becomes like hell for darkness and torment, — nay, still further like hell, because there is no repentance in its inhabitants. Instead of cursing themselves for their impieties, they curse God as the offender, for thus interfer- ing with their preferences and their peace. To the ulcers, the bloody waters, the sun-scorches, now comes this horrible darkness; and a God of such administrations they disdain to honor, even under all their miseries. They will gnaw their tongues with pain and rage rather than speak a prayer of penitence to Him. ISTothing but curs- ing and horrid denunciations will they utter. When they saw the two slain Witnesses come to life again and ascend to heaven, they were willing to own that the God of heaven is God, and to give Him something of His glory. But it was only a temporary reverence, which soon faded away. Here they are again compelled to acknowledge Him as " the God of heaven," but it is only to heap new blasphemies on His name. VOL. III. 63 gQ THE APOCALYPSE. Some talk of conversion in hell, and of an ulti- mate restoration of the wicked. Does this pres- entation look as if such a thing were possible? If hell-torments can cure men of their wicked- ness, why are not these people subdued to peni- tence ? These are the outpourings of that very divine wrath which makes hell ; but where is the remedial impression, the turning from sin, the seeking for reconciliation ? And while sin lasts, hell must last. These people have rebelled until the very spirit of perdition has settled in upon their souls, and henceforth there is no more hope for them. Another bowl of wrath is poured out; but its efiect is the opening of the ways for the gathering of them together to the scene of slaughter; and then follows the last, which lets loose upon them all the long-chained thunders of angered Omnipotence, overwhelming their works and lives in a sea of blood ! Many, my friends, are the pictures of God's judgments upon those who reject His Gospel, and refuse to have Him rule over them. A dreadful catalogue we have had before us to-night. But with how poor and feeble an interest do many regard these momentous revelations! There is perhaps nothing which a sinner, or neglecter of God and his soul, so little expects, as the punish- ment of his sins. Of ungodliness in general, its sinfulness, its danger, and the certain judgment of God upon it, he can discourse with fluency and confidence. He has no doubt that God is a holy God, and will by no means spare those who fail to LECTURE XXXVI. CHAPS. 15:1-8; 16:1-11. g^ make their peace with Him. But wheu it comes to his own sins, negligence and disobedience, what thought or feeling has he of that awful account- ability which in the abstract he so readily admits ? To what extent does he realize that his sins will find him out, or that heis the one in danger? He listens; he assents; he hears with pleasure the array of reasoning about righteousness, temper- ance, and judgment to come; he even admires the vivid and faithful preaching of the sure and ter- rible wrath of God upon transgressors; and yet he goes on in his sins and disobedience, betimes a little disturbed, but soon recomposed in his impen- itence, unconverted from his old ways, till the end comes, and he dies as he lived, unreconciled to God, unsanctified, and unsaved. Have I thus hit upon the case of any one now listening to me ? Then let this subject be to you an effectual warning. Here is the laying open to your view of what must come upon the unbeliev- ing world. Here is the sacred foreshowing of the end which awaits them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of His Son. There is an in- dissoluble ligament which binds together impeni- tence in sin and inevitable damnation. Even the incense bowls of the holy altar are full of the wrath of God for all despisers and neglecters of the great salvation. Angels of the heavenly tem- ple stand girt in gold, prepared and ready to pour them out. And we need only listen with an atten- tive ear to hear the rustle and mutter of the dread- ful thunder of those cataracts of God's indignation 82 THE APOCALYPSE. upon them that turn not from their sins. Have you never felt the sting and rankling poison in your soul, if not in your very bones, of some past transgressions of v^hich you have made yourself guilty? Has your conscience never smitten you^ and made your sleep uneasy, and tinged your thinking with bitterness, for the sort of life you have been leading ? Is there not some conscious shame and sense of wretchedness going along with the indulgence even of those darling lusts and dis- like of sacred things which you allow to have place in your heart? And what is all this but the premonitory drops of that wrath of God which must presently come in great deluging showers ? O child of man, give heed, and turn, and fly, be- fore the threatening avalanche of the Almighty's judgments comes ! And now, whilst this little feeling of anxiety and disturbance is upon you, let it not pass without a thorough change in all your ways ; lest the next time the feeling of compunc- tion comes, it may find you amid the hopeless tor- ments of eternal death. LECTURE THIRTY-SEVENTH. THE SIXTH BOWL OF WRATH — THE EUPHRATES LITERALLY DRIED — THE UNCLEAN SPIRITS — THE ENTHUSIASM THEY AWAKEN — A SINGULAR NOTE OF WARNING — HARMAGED- DON — THE SEVENTH BOWL OF WRATH — ITS EFFECTS SYNOPTICALLY GIVEN — CONVULSIONS IN THE AIR— IN THE EARTH — TOPOGRAPHY OF JERUSALEM CHANGED — GREAT BABYLON REMEMBERED IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD — CON- FIGURATION OF THE EARTH ALTERED — AN UNPRECE- DENTED HAILSTORM — INVETERATE DEPRAVITY. Rev. 16 : 12-21. (Revised Text.) And the sixth poured out his bowl on [or over] the great river, the Euphrates ; and the water of it was dried up, that the way of the kings, they from the sunrising, might be prepared. And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits, like frogs ; for they are the spirits of demons, working miracles, which go forth on [or over] the kings of the whole habitable world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God the Almighty. (Be- hold, I come as a thief; blessed he that watcheth, and keepeth his gar- ments, that he walk not naked, and they see his shame.) And they gathered them together to the place which is called in Hebrew Harma- geddon. And the seventh poured out his bowl on [or over] the air ; and there came forth a voice out of the temple from the throne, saying, It is done. And there became lightnings, and voices, and thunderings ; and there became a great earthquake, such as became not since there be- came a man on the earth, such an earthquake, so great. And the great city became into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and Babylon the great was remembered in the presence of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his anger. And every island fled, and mountains were not found, and a great hail, like as a talent [in weight], fell out of the heaven on the men ; and the men blasphemed God on account of the plague of the bail, because the plague thereof is exceedingly great. ( 83) 84 THE APOCALYPSE. THE vision of the seven last plagues presents a distinct series of events, giving details of the last great afflictions which fall upon the world, then quite given over into the Devil's hands. Thus far we have briefly considered five of these disas- trous outpourings from the golden bowls. Two more remain to engage our present attention. Let us not forget to look devoutly to God our Father to help us understand them. ^'And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on or over the great river Euphrates; and the water of it was dried up, that the way of the kings, they from the sun- rising, might be prepared.^^ This must mean the literal river. The ulcers are literal; the sea, streams, and watersprings, turned to a condition resembling blood are literal; the heat and scorch- ing from the sun are literal; the darkness which covers the dominion of the Beast is literal ; and this must necessarily be literal too, whatever mys^ Ceriousness may be involved. The opening of a dry passage through the Red Sea, and through the Jordan, when Israel came out of Egypt and en- tered Canaan, were literal matters of fact; and they were openings for judgments upon the wicked, as well as of help and favor to the Lord's chosen. The drying up of the tongue of the Egyptian sea prepared the way for the great and final destruction of the oppressive powers that sought Israel's ruin. The rolling back of Jordan's waters was likewise the preparation and opening for the fall of Jericho, and the overthrow of the Canaanitic confederations. And this drying up LECTURE XXXVII. CHAP. 16:12-21. 35 of the great river Euphrates is a corresponding event, to prepare the way for the more wonderful destruction to which the kings of the earth and their armies are gathered in the great day of God Almighty. Isaiah (11 : 16) refers to it where he says : " With His mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river [evidently the Euphrates], and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod." A recovery of certain remnants of the Jewish people is there connected with this miracle, " as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of Egypt;" but here, as there, one of the most marked things is the opening for and leading of the doomed powers to their de- struction. Zechariah refers to this, along with some of the preceding plagues, where he says : " He shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps in the river shall dry up, and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down." (Zech. 10:11; see also Jer. 51 : 36.) At the sounding of the sixth trum- pet, the same great river was referred to as a bond or boundary to certain destructive powers, which were then let loose in dreadful inflictions upon the wicked populations of the earth.* So here it is referred to as a barrier in the way of movements which terminate in fearful disaster to those who for unholy purposes avail themselves of its re- moval. From time immemorial the Euphrates, with its * Rev. 9 : 13-21. See Vol. II, pp. 109-122. gg THE APOCALYPSE. tributaries, has been a great and formidable boun^ dary between the peoples east of it and those west of it. It runs a distance of 1800 miles, and is scarcely fordable anywhere or at any time. It is from three to twelve hundred yards wide, and from ten to thirty feet in depth; and most of the time it is still deeper and wider. It was the boun- dary of the dominion of Solomon, and is repeatedly spoken of as the northeast limit of the lands promised to Israel. (Gen. 15 : 18; Deut. 11 : 24; Josh. 1 : 4.) Some think that Abraham is called a Hebrew, and all his descendants Hebrews, because he crossed this river, migrating from the further side of it to this. History frequently refers to the great hindrance the Euphrates has been to mili- tary movements ; and it has always been a line of separation between the peoples living east of it and those living west of it. But in the time of the pouring out of the sixth bowl of judgment this river is to be mysteriously smitten and dried up, that the kings from the sunrising may have an easy passage for their armies in coming to join the great infernal crusade against the Lamb. It looks like a gracious event, and a gracious aspect it has in some of the prophecies respect- ing it, for it also facilitates the return of cer- tain remnants of the Israelitish people; but as Grod's opening through the Eed Sea proved a trap of destruction to the persecuting Egyptians, so will it be in this case to the kings from the sun- rising. Availing themselves of the easy passage thus afforded to come forth, they come to a scene LECTURE XXXVII. CHAP. 16:12-21. §7 of slaughter from which they never return. It is the outpouring of a bowl of wrath which opens their way. It is a judgment, though it seems for the time to be a favor. But the mere drying up of the river would not so much harm them were not other agen- cies at work, to induce them to make use of the facilities thus aftbrded. The kings and armies of the world would not come together into Palestine were there not a very extraordinary influence to bring about the marvellous congregation. Accord- ingly the rapt seer tells of a mysterious infernal ministry in the matter. IN'ot only does this sixth bowl of wrath dry up the Euphrates. It likewise evokes spirits of hell to incite, deceive, and per- suade the nations to their ruin. John says: "/ saio out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet, three unclean sjnrits, like frogs ; for they are the spirits of demons, ivorking miracles, which go forth on or over the kings of the whole habitable world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God, the Almighty.'^ When the unexampled wickedness of Ahab was come to the full, and it was determined in heaven that an end should be made of him, ''The Lord said : Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said: I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith ? And he 88 THE APOCALYPSE. said : I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said : Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also; go forth and do so." So the Lord put a lying spirit in the mouth of all Ahab's prophets ; and he went up to Ramoth-Gilead, and was wounded between the joints of his harness, and was brought back a dead man, and the dogs licked up his blood. (1 Kings 22:19-38.) A spirit of hell was allowed to go forth to inflame and deceive him to his ruin. And so it is in this case, only on a vastly greater scale, and with mightier demonstrations, to per- suade and deceive all the kings and governments of the earth to join in an expedition which proves the most terribly disastrous of all the expeditions ever undertaken by man. In Ahab's case there was but one evil spirit ; here are three^ if indeed this definite number does not mean an indefinite multitude. It is something of the plague of frogs repeated ; and then the number was infinite. By these demon spirits the cause of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet, is furnished with a universal ministry. They are sent out by this in- fernal Trinity, issue from it, do its bidding, act for it and in its interest. They have the power of working miracles, Satanic miracles, by which they oftset everything divinely supernatural, and per- suade by their preaching, oracles, and lying won- ders, stirring up all the powers that be to unite in one universal movement to suppress and extermi- nate the incoming kingdom and power of the Lamb. To tell exactly who and what these seducing LECTURE XXXVII CHAP. 16:12-21. §9 devils are, aud exactly how they manage their in- fernal mission, may not be in our power. It is not necessary that we should have definite knowledge of that sort. But this is not the only place where their agency and successes are mentioned. Paul tells us that the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times seducing spirits shall manifest them- selves, even teaching demons, deceiving men with their lies. (1 Tim. 4 : 1, 2.) They are spirits; they are " unclean spirits;" they are " demon spirits;" they are sent forth into activity by the Dragon Trinity ; they are the elect agents to awaken the world to the attempt to abolish God from the earth ; and they are frog-like in that they come forth out of the pestiferous quagmires of the uni- verse, do their work amid the world's evening shadows, and creep, and croak, and defile, and fill the ears of the nations with their noisy demon- strations, till they set all the kings and armies of the whole earth in enthusiastic commotion for the final crushing out of the Lamb and all His powers. As in chapter 9, the seven Spirits of God and of Christ went forth into all the earth to make up and gather together into one holy fellowship the great congregation of the sanctified; so these spirits of hell go forth upon the kings and poten- tates of the world, to make up and gather together the grand army of the Devil's worshippers. Nor need we wonder at their success. Those who will not hear and obey the voice of God, are sure to be led captive by the Devil and his emis- saries. How great was the stir, and how intense 90 THE APOCALYPSE. the enthusiasm, awakened throughout Europe by the crusader craze set on foot by Peter the Her- mit ! How were the nations aroused and set on lire to recover the holy places from the dominion of the Moslem ! What myriads rushed to arms, took the mark of the red cross on their shoulders, and went forth as one man, never once calculating by what means they should live, much less reach the expected victory ! And what thus happened throughout Europe in reference to a campaign pro- fessedly/or Christ, may readily happen throughout the whole habitable world, when the question of the sovereignty of the earth hangs upon the success or failure of one last, grand, and universal engage- ment of battle. It is in sacred irony of the univer- sal enthusiasm stirred up by these spirits, that Jeho- vah says by the mouth of Joel (3 : 9-11): " Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles ; prepare war ; wake up the mighty men ; let all the rnen of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears ; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves to- gether round about ! " The divine taunt thus ex- pressed reflects the character of the proceedings which it scorns. The heathen are on fire with rage. The kings of the earth set themselves. The rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed. The cry is. Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us ! But He that sitteth in the heav- ens laughs, and the Lord hath them in derision. (Ps. 2 : 1-4.) LECTURE XXXVII. CHAP. 16:12-21. gj Just here, however, there breaks in a singular note of warning. Whilst the unclean spirits are suc- cessfully stirring up the kings of the whole habit- able world and gathering them for the battle of the great day, John hears a voice, which says, " Behold I come as a thief; blessed he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments^ that he loalh not naked, and they see his shame.^^ What means this strange an- nouncement here ? It is plainly the voice of Jesus, and the word is like to that so often given to the Church with reference to His coming again ; but how does it apply here, after so many classes, in- cluding the great body of the saved, are already in heaven, with all their anxious watching past? By referring to the vision interjected at the open- ing of this account of the seven last plagues, we may perhaps come upon the true explanation. There is a gathering of saints under these plagues, as well as a gathering of the armies of the apos- tate world. Those who live at the time of the Antichrist do not all worship him or his image. Some hold out to the last against the acknowledg- ment of Antichrist as God, and will not be marked with his number or his name. Most of them die martyrs to their faith, but they conquer all the blan- dishments and bloody persecutions of the Beast, unstained by his hellish abominations. In the pre- ceding chapter we were furnished with an antici- pative vision of their heavenly reward for their faithfulness. They ultimately stand by the sea of glass, having harps of God, and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. John sees them there in 92 THE APOCALYPSE. glory and immortality. Their great characteris- tic is, that, having lived under the Beast, they conquered in all the terrible trials and temptations endured from him. Having thus reached their heavenly glory, there must have been a coming of Christ for them, a resurrection and translation for them, as there had been a resurrection and translation for other classes and companies at other periods and stages of these judgment ad- ministrations. The occurrence of the vision of their blessedness in connection with these last plagues indicates that it must be in among these outpourings that Jesus comes for them. When once the kings of the earth and their armies be- gin to gather for the great battle, the last act is close at hand, and the last of the Gospel age is reached. Somewhere about this time, then, Christ comes for this last band of the children of the resur- rection, whether dead or yet living. Of course, it is a coming of the same kind and character as his coming for those saints who were taken earlier ; for it is the completion of that one coming for his people which is everywhere set forth. Here also, as in all other cases, nothing but a state of watchful readiness when the call comes can secure a share in the blessing. Though these people may have fought valiantly, if at the time they be not found steadfast and faithful at their posts, they must lose their reward. And failing in readiness at this last act of Christ's coming for His saints there would necessarily be entailed upon them a peculiar and irremediable nakedness. Whatever LECTURE XXXVII. CHAP. 16:12-21. 93 might be left for them on earth, it would strip them forever of all opportunity to share in any privileges or honors of the children of the resur- rection. Hence this particular admonition in- terjected at this particular place. It is a note of indication that now at any moment Christ is about to call for such of His people as yet may be on earth. It is a note of instruction and direction to keep themselves in strictest readiness by watchful expectation and careful severance from the defil- ing abominations around them. And it is a note of warning that if found unready their nakedness and shame will be beyond remedy, as then the whole matter will be over, and the door of admis- sion into the peculiar kingdom of the elect will be closed forever. There is a blessedness for them even down amid these last extremities of the judg- ment time; but it can only be secured, as in every other case, by constant watchfulness, prayer, and readiness for the summons when it comes. But, with this admonitory note from the Sav- iour, the narrative proceeds as if nothing had oc- curred. So few will be the number of saints re- maining in those days, so obscure their condition, and so indifferent the world to what happens to them, that their sudden ereption to glory causes no interruption to the wild doings of the nations, and produces not even a ripple in the current of their movements. The mission of the unclean spirits effects its purpose. The whole world is in a furor of enthusiasm to conquer and dethrone the Lamb, and to crush out of the earth every 94 THE APOCALYPSE. vestige of His authority and power. From one end of the world to the other, everything is alive and bristling with this thought. The spirits of demons have so taught the nations, and they pro- ceed accordingly. East, west, north, and south the call to battle sounds ; and kings, nations and armies are on the march — on the march to the scene of conflict — " to the place which is called in Hebrew Harynageddonr Where, then, is Harmageddon ? Some say it is the great Valley of the Mississippi. A few years ago some said it was Sebastopol, or the Crimea. Others think it is France. Whilst many take it as a mere ideal place, for an ideal assemblage, having no existence in fact. To such wild, con- tradictory, and mutually destructive notions are men driven when they once depart from the letter of what is written. Harmageddon means the Mount of Megiddo, which has also given its name to the great plain of Jezreel, which belts across the middle of the Holy Land, from the Mediterra- nean to the Jordan. The name is from a Hebrew root which means to cut off^ to slay ; and a place of slaughter has Megiddo ever been. It is the great battlefield of the Old Testament between the The- ocracy and its various enemies. In Deborah and Barak's time, " the kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo.'' (Judges 5 : 19.) When the good king Josiah fell before the archers of Pharaoh Necho, " he came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.'' (2 Chron. 35 : 22-24.) And where God's king, in LECTURE XXXVII. CHAP. 16:12-21. 95 mortal flesh, thus fell a victim to the power of the heathen, there God's King, in resurrection glory, shall revenge himself on His enemies. Whether we take it as the mount or the valley, it makes no difierence, for the mount and valley are counted as one, each belonging to the other. It was the valley in Josiah's fall, it is the mount in Messiah's victory. But with this gathering of the kings of the earth and their armies to this place this sixth bowl ends. It breaks off abruptly because it simply brings things into readiness for the final catastrophe, which only the seventh and final bowl brings forth. " And the seventh ayigel poured out his bowl on or over the air ; and there came forth a voice out of the temple from the throne, saying^ It is done." This tells us direct from the Judgment-seat itself that here the end is reached, and that with this outpouring the whole contents of the wrath of God upon this present world are exhausted. When Christ yielded up His life on the cross. He said : " It is finished!" The great sacrifice was complete. It was the ending up of all judgment upon them that believe, leaving nothing more of divine con- demnation to come upon them. Here a similar word is given ; for it is the completion of another sacrifice, the ending up of all judgment on them that believe not, but leaving nothing more of pro- bation, help, or hope for them. The particular consequences of this seventh out- pouring are more fully described in the chapters which follow ; but the commotions and disasters VOL. III. 64 96 THE APOCALYPSE. which it brings upon the earth are here stated in general, and they are without a parallel in the history of man. " And there became lightnings, and voices, and thun- ders." These are aerial convulsions. The con- tents of this bowl are poured upon the air, and the first impressions are in the air. The whole earth is to be affected, therefore the pouring is upon the most universal and all-inclosing element. There have been many atmospheric commotions during the progress of these judgment scenes, but here they reach their climax and consummation, fulfill- ing what so many of the prophets have spoken touching the changing and folding up of the heavens (Ps. 102 : 25, 26; Is. 51 : 6), the shaking of their powers (Matt. 24 : 29; Heb. 12 : 25), the pass- ing of them with a great noise, and the dissolving of them with fire (2 Peter 3 : 10, 12). Speaking of this very time, when " the multitude of all the nations fight against Ariel," Isaiah says: "The Lord of hosts shall visit with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tem- pest, and the flame of devouring fire." (Is. 29 : 6.) Of the same did Asaph sing: " Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence, a fire shall de- vour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to che heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge his people." (Ps. 50 : 3, 4.) A world is to be fin- ally ended, and these are the signs and attendants from above. But below they are correspondingly terrible. LECTURE XXXVII. CHAP. 16 : 12-21. 97 ''''And there became a great earthquake, such as became not since there became a man on earth, such an earthquake, so great.'' Here is the fulfilment of what Isaiah prophesied concerning the arising of the Lord "to shake terribly the earth" (chapter 2 : 19, 21). Here is what Haggai wrote about, when he recorded the saying of the Lord of hosts : " Yet once, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land ; and I will shake all nations " (chapter 2 : 3, 4). The full force of this earthquake, unprecedented in time for its extent and violence, is indicated in its eifects. By reason of it, John says : " The great city became into three 'parts, and the cities of the nations felV The great city here is Jerusalem, for it is specially distinguished from the cities of the Gentiles, which are entirely ruined. It is only partially destroyed, because now in part possessed and appropriated as the Lord's. (Rev. 11 : 1, 2.) At the resurrection and ascension of the Two Witnesses, there was a great earthquake, when the tenth of the city fell (chap- ter 11 : 12, 13). Here there is a greater earth- quake, and a much vaster effect. This is the time when the Mount of Olives is to cleave in two from east to west, " and half of the mountain shall re- move toward the north, and half of it toward the south," leaving a very great valley between the two parts. (Zech. 14 : 4.) Such an occurrence must necessarily affect the foundation and topography of the city itself. The earthquake rends it into three parts. The implication is, that great chasms 98 THE APOCALYPSE. divide it, and that great damage occurs to it. Zechariah tells of a trichotomy of the land at that time, in which two parts shall be cut off and die, and one part shall be left. (Zech. 13 : 8, 9.) If the same applies to the city, then this dividing of it into three parts effects the destruction of two parts, while only one part remains standing. Three miraculous Witnesses appear there in those last years; first Enoch and Elijah, and then at last Christ himself. Enoch and Elijah are put to death, but Christ is living forever. So the death of the two miraculous Witnesses is avenged on two- thirds of the city, and the one-third, which Christ has taken for His, remains standing, as His power and dominion stand. Multitudes of the popula- tion doubtless perish amid these terrible commo- tions ; but there is a refuge provided for those who acknowledge the Lord and call upon His name. (Zech. 13:9; 14: 5.) But the calamity to Jerusalem is not so great as the effect of this unprecedented earthquake upon the cities of the Gentiles. The great city is rent into fractions, but it does not utterly fall ; " the cities of the nations" are universally ruined. The whole earth is shaken terribly by this bowl of the wrath of God, and we are told of no city in all the world that escapes. Kome falls, and Paris falls, and London falls; and wherever there are cities of the Gentiles they fall, shaken down, over- whelmed, or burnt up, under the terrible visita- tions of this great day of God Almighty. O the death and ruin which shall then be wrouofht! It LECTURE XXXVIl. CHAP. 16:12-21. 99 is the end of this present world, and this is the way it comes. ''And Babylon the great was remembered in the presence of God to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His anger,'' The description and fate of great Babylon forms the subject of the next chapters. There are peculiarities of detail with reference to her which need to be more par- ticularly set forth ; but here is the time and place in which all that befalls her occurs. There is a grade in the progress of this woe. Jerusalem is smitten, but only partially destroyed, because something of the sacred is there. Then the Gen- tile cities, which stand a remove deeper down in moral character, are entirely destroyed, for they all belong to the Beast. And then Great Babylon, standing at the base in the scale of guilt, is made to drink the bitterest draught of all, because she is the source and centre of the prevailing abomi- nations. And interlinked with the rest of the effects wrought by these convulsions of an ending world, the configuration of the earth is changed. John beheld : " And every island fled, and mountains were not found J' He does not say that islands ceased to be, or no mountains are to remain or exist after- wards ; but that there is to be a sudden recession of the islands from their present places, and that some mountains that now are shall entirely disap- pear. In other words, great portions of the earth as it now stands will be quite altered in their po- sitions and relations. The globe itself is not to 1(^0 THE APOCALYPSE. be annihilated. The matter of which it is com- posed is not to pass out of existence. But some of its elevations shall be depressed, and the pres- ent lines between sea and land shall be greatly altered, making ready for another climate, and for a better heavens and earth. What mountains shall sink, what shores be changed, and in what direc- tions or to what extent the islands shall be moved we are not told. The facts alone are stated. There was something of this change under the sixth seal, as the eflect of the great earthquake there beheld ; but that was little more than the mere loosing of the mountains and islands from their places. (Eev. 6 : 14.) Here there is an entire disappearance of some mountains, and a jfkeing, or running away from their old places, on the part of the islands. That was the beginning of the change; this is the consummation of it. Desola- tion comes to all that now is, and chaotic confu- sion to the whole face of the world. Looking down to this very period, and to these very occur- rences, Jeremiah says (3 : 23-26) : " I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and void. I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly," — leaping and gliding from their places. " I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger." And along with all the rest of these terrific and destructive convulsions comes also a most disastrous precipitation from the sky. John says : "J. great hail, like as a talent LECTURE XXXVII. CHAP. 16 : 12-21. XOl [in weight\fell out of the heaven on the men [or man- kind].'" The Jewish talent for silver-weight was about 115 pounds, and that for weighing other things was about 135 pounds. The Egyptian talent was about 86 pounds, as also the Greek. Some make the Attic talent about 56 pounds, and a talent was used at Antioch which weighed about 390 pounds. Just which of these is meant we cannot say; but taking the mean of all, or even the lightest, we have a weight equal to as much as a strong man can conveniently lift. Hail of a pound in weight is terribly destructive; but this would give us hailstones as large as the blocks of ice which commerce wagons about our streets. Such masses falling upon houses would crush in the strongest of them, batter down walls, stave ships, and leave but few retreats of safety for human life on the surface of the world.* * Few persons can form a conception of the terrible character of a great hailstorm. Here is an account of one which occurred at Constantinople in the month of October, 1831, written by one who witnessed it : "After an uncommonly sultry night, threatening clouds arose about six in the morning, and a noise, between thunder and tempest, and yet not to be compared to either, increased every moment, and the inhabitants of the capital, roused from their sleep, awaited with anxious expectation the issue of this threatening phenomenon. Their uncertainty was not of long duration ; lumps of ice as large as a man's foot, falling singly, and then like a thick shower of stones, which destroyed every- thing with which they came in contact. The oldest persons do not remember ever to have seen such hailstones. Some were picked up half an hour afterwards which weighed above a pound. This dreadful storm passed over Constantinople and IQ2 THE APOCALYPSE. The stones thrown by the Roman catapults against Jerusalem, Josephus says, were of the weight of a talent ; but these rugged ice masses, concreted in the troubled atmosphere on high, would necessarily come with more violence than Roman catapults could cast the same weight. When the plague of hail fell upon Egypt, only such lives suflered as were exposed in the open fields and highways (Ex. 9 : 19). But it will be in- finitely worse when this great hail falls. Think of the earthquake which lays men's abodes in ruins, driving them to the open plains, and then this ter- rific hail coming upon them where no shelter is ! What can they do ? How must they be cut down by this dreadful artillery of the heavens ! Day of anger ! Day of wonder ! "When the earth shall rend asunder, Smote with hail, and fire, and thunder I But what is the moral effect? Do the people bend, and own their sins, and sue for Heaven's pity and forgiveness ? Alas for those in whom the spirit of hell has once taken firm root ! E'o one having the brand of Antichrist ever repents. John along the Bosphorus, over Therapia, Bojukden, and Belgrade; and the fairest, nay, the only hope of this heautiful and fertile tract, the vintage, just commenced, was destroyed in a day ! Animals of all kinds, and even some persons, were killed, an innumerable number are wounded^ and the damage done to the houses is incalculable. The force of the falling masses of ice was so great that they broke to atoms all the tiles on the roofs, and, like musket-balls, shattered planks." What would it have been if the ice masses had been fifty or one hundred times larger ? LECTURE XXXVII. CHAP. 16:12-21. 103 beheld: ^^And the men blasphemed God on account of the plague of the hail, because the plague thereof is exceedingly great.'" Such obstinacy in sin and guilt was unknown when the world was younger. When the hailstorm was heavy upon Egypt there was something of relenting. Pharaoh confessed his sin, and asked Moses to intercede for him. For the moment, at least, he agreed to let Israel go. But here transgressors have come to the full. They are dead-ripe for final judgment. Antichrist has taught them to curse God and die ; and so they curse and blaspheme to the last, unsoftened and unchanged by all the terribleness of an oncoming perdition. It is by these plagues that their earthly existence ends, with the whole economy of things to which they cling; but their last words are curses, and their last breath is blasphemy. Friends and brethren, I am at a loss at which to wonder most : whether at the severity of Al- mighty God upon the finally impenitent, or at the unconcern, neglect, and hardihood of men, who, with all this dreadful outcome before their eyes, still march calmly on in the very path which can have no other termination. O how dreadful! Re- treat to the Lazar-house to refresh one's self with the groans and miseries of the wretched, a dance in the chamber of death, the singing of glees around the coflin of a beloved and honored friend, the making of merry jests over the fresh grave of one's own dear mother, would not be half so un- seemly, so unfeeling, and so insane, as to go on in a life of indiflference and impenitence, with eyes open 104 THE APOCALYPSE. and ears informed of all the horrible consequences which must come of it! There is but one expla- nation,— people do not half believe. They profess to receive and honor the Bible, but they do not credit what it so plainly says. They would feel indignant and resentful were we to call them in- fidels, and yet they are infidels. They may not speak the infidel's creed, but they live it every day, and think well of themselves whilst they do it. The inner temper of their souls — their spiritual tone — is infidel. The practical spirit which influ- ences and controls them is the infidel spirit, and accords with the infidel reasoning. Either they do not think at all, and so reduce themselves to the level of the irrational brute ; or their thinking is secretly, if not confessedly, tinged with the sus- picion that these mighty revelations are nothing ^nt unsubstantial speculation or doubtful theory. They have a deep persuasion of the certainty, reg- ularity, and permanence of what they call natural laws, and have schooled themselves into such a trust and confidence and worship of Nature, that they see no need, or likelihood, or possibility of any other divinity or divine administrations. Thunder, lightning, tempests, plagues, pestilences, famines, earthquakes, eclipses, comets, at which mankind once trembled as signs of God's angry interference with human affairs, they find so largely explainable on natural principles that they are slow to admit that God has anything to do with these things, or that He is able to use them as His weapons of judgment. They talk of God, but to LECTURE XXXVII. CHAP. 16:12-21. 105 them He is an impotent God. Consciously or un- consciously, their souls are thus in a condition of skepticism, which empties the Divine Word of all reality to them. They hear it, and see what it says, but have a lingering feeling that it cannot be true just as it reads, and so pass it by as a dead letter. 0 ye people of earthly wisdom, be not deceived ! Where there are such effective laws as you speak of, there must needs be an Almighty Lawgiver who made them and put them into force; and He who could make them can also unmake them, and modify them as He pleases. Is efficient gov- ernment any less the administration of sover- eign power because it acts through great, settled, and well-known laws? Is His majesty disabled by having shown itself so great? What is more irrational than rationalism? Is God helpless to fulfil His word because He in [N'ature proves him- self Almighty ? Hath He made the blunder of binding His hands with His own Omnipotence ? Such would seem to be the essence of some men's reasoning. Be admonished then, dear hearer, and be not deluded to your ruin by the impertinent indiffer- ence and unwisdom of these evil times. Be sure that God is God, and that His Word must stand, though worlds dissolve. Now is your golden op- portunity. You see what is the end that cometh. You see with what forbearance and mercy the threatened thunderstrokes of death are still held back, that men may hear and fear, and turn to Him 106 THE APOCALYPSE. and live. There is eternal security, if, with a true and honest heart, you will only believe what is written, and set your soul to obey and trust as He counsels and directs. It may cost you some sharp trials now, but it will bring you safety and salva- tion when the skeptical and blaspheming world goes down under the fierceness of His just anger. Overwhelmingly dreadful as the foreshowing is, there is no cause for despair if you will but take warning now. Only ^x your trust in Jesus, and follow and obey Him in sincerity and in truth, and when His judgment strikes, it shall not harm you. Though mountains from their seats be hurled Down to the deep, and buried there, Convulsions shake the solid world. Our faith shall never yield to fear. LECTURE THIRTY-EIGHTH. GREAT BABYLON — PROMINENCE AND DIFFICULTY OF THE SUB- JECT — THE TWO "WOMEN — NOT ROME ALONE — THE NAME CONNECTS WITH THE PRIMAL APOSTASY AFTER THE FLOOD — NIMROD AND HIS INVENTIONS — THE WORLD'S INTOXICA- TION WITH THEM — THE HARLOT'S OWN DRUNKENNESS WITH THE BLOOD OF SAINTS— THE WATERS ON WHICH SHE SITS — THE BEAST SHE RIDES. Rev. 17 : 1-17, (Revised Text.) And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, and talked with me, saying, Hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk from the wine of her for- nication. And he bore me away in spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, decked with gold and precious stone and pearls, having a cup of gold in her hand full of abominations and the unclean things of her and of the earth's fornication, and upon her forehead a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominatwns of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken from the blood of the saints, and from the blood of martyrs [witnesses] of Jesus : and I wondered great won- der when I saw her. And the angel said to me, Wherefore wonderest thou? I will tell to thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, having the seven beads and ten horns. The beast which thou sawest. was and is not, and is to ascend out of the abyss, and goeth into perdition : and they shall wonder who dwell upon the earth, whose names are not written upon the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast, because he was, and is not, and shall onoe more be here [or come again\. ( 107 ) 108 THE APOCALYPSE. Here [is] the mind that hath wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains where the woman sitteth upon them, and are seven kings; the five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come, and when he shall come, he must continue a little time. And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is out of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have not yet received kingdom ; but they receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and give their power and authority to the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they who are with him, called and chosen and faithful. And he saith to me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her with fire. For God gave into their hearts to do his mind, and to make one mind, and to givs their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. WE have already twice heard of Great Babylon, and calamity to her; once in chapter 14 : 8, by anticipation; and once in chapter 16 : 19, where her sins were said to have come into remem- brance, and the cup of the fierceness of the wrath of God to have been administered to her. The particulars of that visitation, as well as the whole character and relations of this mystic personage, are given in the chapters upon which we now enter. As the first reference was somewhat antici- pative, so these further accounts are somewhat retrogessive, and go back to exhibit in all its length and breadth what in the previous chapter was only synoptically stated. The subject itself is one of great prominence in the Apocalypse, as in all the prophecies; but it has proven about as difficult as it is conspicuous. LECTURE XXXVIII. CHAP. 17:1-17. IQ9 On none of the current methods of treating this Book is it possible to come to any clear, consistent, and satisfying conclusions with regard to it. The body of preterist expositors have found them- selves necessitated to take Great Babylon as mean- ing the city, the church, or the ecclesiastical sys- tem of Rome, not so much because the features of the record call for it, or really admit of it, when fairly dealt with, but because unable on their theory to do any better. That Rome and the Romish system are involved, may readily be ad- mitted; but that this is all, and that the sudden fall of Great Babylon is simply the fall of Romanism, or the utter destruction of the city of Rome, must be emphatically denied, if the inspired portraiture is to stand as it is written. If we cannot find more solid ground than that on which the Rome theory rests we must needs consign the whole subject to the department of doubt and uncertainty, and let all these tremendous foreshowings pass for noth- ing. Unite with me, then, dear friends, in pray- ing God to open our understandings, that we may not fail to take in what He really intends that His people should see in these sacred visions. The first thing which strikes me in the study of this subject, is one which I have nowhere seen duly noticed, namely : the evident correlation and contrast between the Woman here pictured and another Woman described in the twelfth chapter. There, " a great sign was seen in the heaven, a Woman;^' here, it is remarked, " he bore me away in spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a Woman,'* 110 THE APOCALYPSE. Both these Women are mothers; the first "brought forth a son, a male [neuter, embracing either sex], who is to rule all the nations;" the second " is the mother of harlots and of the abom- inations of the earth." Both are splendidly dressed; the first is "clothed with the sun." Her raiment is light from heaven. The second is " clothed in purple, and scarlet, decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearls." All her orna- ments are from below, made up of things out of the earth and the sea. Both are very influential in their position ; the first has " the moon," the empress of night, the powers of darkness, " under her feet ;" the second " hath rule, or kingdom, upon the kings of the earth." Both are sufferers; against the first is the Dragon, who stands watch- ing to devour her child, and persecutes and pur- sues her, and drives her into the wilderness, and sends out a river to overwhelm her, and is at war with all her seed that he can find; against the second are the ten kings, who ultimately hate her, and make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire, whilst God in His strength judgeth her, and visits her with plague, death, and utter destruction. Both are very con- spicuous, and fill a large space in the history of the world, and in all the administrations of divine providence and judgment. That they are coun- terparts of each other there can hardly be a rea- sonable doubt. The one is a pure woman, the other is a harlot. The first is hated by the powers on earth, the second is loved, flattered, and caressed LECTURE XXXVIII. CHAP. 17.1-17. m by them. Where the one has sway, things are heavenly; where the other lives, it is *' wilder- ness.'^ The one produces masculine nobility, which is ultimately caught away to Grod and to His throne; the other produces effeminate im- purity, which calls down the fierceness of the di- vine wrath. The one is sustained and helped by celestial wings; the other is supported and car- ried by the Dragon power, — the Beast with the seven heads and ten horns. The one has a crown of twelve stars, wearing the patriarchs and apos- tles as her royal diadem ; the other has upon her forehead the name of the greatest destroyer and oppressor of the holy people, and is drunken with "the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth." The one finally comes out in a heavenly city, the ^ew Jeru- salem, made up of imperishable jewels, and ar- rayed in all the glory of God and the Lamb ; the other finally comes out in a city of this world's superlative admiration, which suddenly goes down forever under the intense wrath of Heaven, and becomes the habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit. These two Women, thus related, and set over one against the other as opposites and rivals, must necessarily be interpreted in the same way. As Antichrist corresponds to Christ as a rival and antagonist of Christ, so Great Babylon corre- sponds to the Woman that bears the Man-child, as her rival and antagonist. By recalling, therefore, who and what is meant VOL. III. 65 112 THE APOCALYPSE. by the first Woman, we will be in position to un* clerstand who and what is meant by the second. Beyond question, the sun-clad Woman is God's great symbol of the visible Church, — the Lamb's Wife, — the bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh, fashioned out of His rifted side as the Second Adam, who fell into the deep sleep of death for that purpose. As Methodius taught, " The woman seen in heaven, clothed with the sun, and adorned with a crown of twelve stars, is, in the highest and strictest sense, our Mother. The prophets, considering what is spoken of her, call her Jeru- salem, at other times The Bride, the Mount Sion, the Temple and Tabernacle of God." She is not the church of any one period or dispensation, but the entire Universal Church of all time, as Victo- rinus, the earliest commentator on this Book, held and affirmed, saying : " The Woman clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet, is the Church of the Patriarchs, and of the Prophets, and of the holy Apostles " — that is, the Church from the days of Adam and Eve on to the last victory over the worship, name, and mark, of the final Antichrist. What then can this rival Woman be but the organized Antichurch, the pseudo- church, the Bride made out of Satan, the univer- sal body and congregation of false-believers and false-worshippers ? As Christ has had a visible Church in all time, embodying the wisdom and spirit of heaven, and maintaining the confession of His truth and worship, so has the Devil had a corresponding following in all time, embodying LECTURE XXXVIII. CHAP. 17 : 1-17. H^ the sensual and devilish wisdom and spirit, and maintaining the profession and teaching of Satan's lies. And as the first Woman denotes the one, so the second Woman denotes the other. The proofs of this will appear as we consider the particulars of the case. 1. One of the most characteristic features of this Woman is her harlotry. The Angel calls her " The Great Harlot,'' and she wears on her forehead as her name, " The mother of the harlots, and of the abominations of the earth." Harlotry is the stand- ing symbol in the word of God for a debauched worship, idolatry, and false devotion. When people worship for God what is not God, or give their hearts to idols, or institute systems, doctrines, rites, or administrations, to take the place of what God has revealed and appointed, the Scriptures call it whoredom, adultery, fornication. (Jer. 3 : 6, 8, 9 ; Ez. 16 : 32 ; Hosea 1 and 2 ; Eev. 2 : 22.) The rea- sons are obvious. The breaking down of the divine laws and ordinances necessarily carries with it the dishonor of the marriage institution, and hence all supports of godly chastity and pureness. Ac- cordingly all false religions are ever attended with lewdness, even in connection with their most hon- ored rites. The sacredness of marriage has no place in them. Besides, the very essence of the divine law is, that we love God our Lord with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength. This is Je- hovah's due and requirement of all that live. Hence the bestowal of worshipful affection on any other object, or the putting of anything whatever 11^ THE APOCALYPSE. in the place of the true God, is, in the very nature of the case, a great spiritual harlotry ; for it is the turning of the soul from the only legitimate ob- ject of its adoration, to take into its embrace what has no right to such room and place. And as this Woman is a harlot, " the great Harlot," and " the mother of the harlots and the abominations of the earth," she must needs be the great embodiment, source, and representative of all idolatry, false worship, and perversion of the word and institutes of God. This helps to determine her character as the rival and antagonist of the Woman clothed with the sun, and makes her the symbol of the universal body of the faithless, just as the sun- clad Woman is the symbol of the universal body and congregation of believers. She can by no means be Eome alone, whether Pagan or Papal, any more than the sun-clad Woman is the early Church alone, or Protestants alone. There were believers and saints in the 4000 years before the Christian era, and so there were idolaters and per- verters of the institutes of God in plentiful abun- dance before there were Popes or Roman emper- ors. And as the pure Woman is made up of the whole congregation of the fsiithf ul from the begin- ning, so must this great Harlot be made up of all the faithless from the beginning. 2. This conclusion is rendered the more neces- sary by the name which this Woman has written upon her forehead. How could she be " the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth" if her existence does not date back to, and above LECTURE XXXVIII. CHAP. 17:1-17. II5 all include, the great harlotries and abominations which preceded both the Popes and the Roman emperors? Besides, we have here the mother- hood of various harlots, or systems and economies of harlotry and abominations of the earth. If Pagan Rome is to be understood, that was but one individual system. If Papal Rome is to be under- stood, that again is but one individual system. The implication would thus be that the earth had no systems of harlotry or abominations but the one found in Pagan or Papal Rome, and this mother of the harlots would thus have no children to show ! The record is that she is herself the great original of all harlotries and abominations of the earth, that many others have sprung from her, and that all the harlotries of time have her for their primal representative and mother. The imagery, therefore, goes back to the beginnings, out of which all false systems, and false worships, and abominations of the earth have come. 3. Accordingly, also, we have in the very front of this Woman^s name a designation which carries us back to the commencement of the whole ill- condition of things in this present world. Rome never was "Babylon " in the sense of being " the mother of the harlots and the abominations of the earth." Her place in the chart of time renders that impossible ; just as impossible as that some Sarah of to-day should be tlie mother of the patri- arch Isaac, and so of the Jewish race. Neither was the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar's day '* the mother of the harlots and the abominations of the 116 THE Ai'OCALTPSE. earth," and for the same reason. It comes too late. We must go further back, and much nearer to the landing of the Ark on Ararat, for such a beginning and motherhood. But when we search for it we find it, and find it under the very name which this mother of all harlots and abominations of the earth bears written on her forehead. The tenth and eleventh chapters of Genesis tell the story. Turning to these chapters of national origins, we learn that the beginning of the kingdom of Nirnrod, the grandson of Ham, was Bab-el, or Babylon, in the land of Shinar, whither the then inhabi- tants of the earth, who were as yet of one language and one speech, journeyed together from the East. The implication is, that they came thither under the leadership of Nimrod, whose name means a rebellious panther^ and that under him began that first great w^ork of rebellion against God which brought the confusion of tongues, and inaugurated the original of all the subsequent harlotries and abominations of mankind. Against the command and known intent of the Almighty, it was there undertaken to " build a city and a tower whose top might reach unto heaven," and to make them- selves a name that they might not be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. It appears, also, that from the hunting and slaying of wild beasts, and with the armed forces grouped around him in that business, Nimrod betook himself to the subjugation and enslavement of men, compel- ling them into his service and daring schemes. LECTURE XXXVIII. CHAP. 17:1-17. H? Thus he " began to be a mighty one iuthe earth, '^ the organizer of an arbitrary imperialism over against the patriarchal order and the divine insti- tutes. The Arab records tell us that he was the first king, and thus the beginner of all kingcraft and tyranny which have since so much oppressed the world. It is said of him that he professed to have seen a golden crown in the sky, that he had one made like it, and that he put it on his own head, and thus claimed to rule in the name and as the earthly impersonation of the powers of the sky, either as Orion or the Sun. The Bible says that it was further arranged for the people to make for themselves " a name,''— a Sem, token, sign, banner, ensign, or mark of con- federation, fellowship, and organized unity, as an undivided people, lest they should become dis- persed over the earth into separate societies. (Compare Jer. 13 : 11; 33 : 9; Ezek. 39 : 13; Zeph. 3 : 20.) Against God they had determined to hold together, and they wished to have a badge, stand- ard, something by which they could be known, and in which they could all glory and rejoice as the centre and crown of their unity. That Sem, or Sema, was to be a mark of consolidated great- ness, a loftiness and pride to them ; that is, in the language of the time, a Sema-Bama, Thus we have the name of the mythic Semiramis, the Dove- Goddess, which was the ensign of all the Assyrian princes, and which figures so largely as Ashtaroth, Astarte, the heavenly Aphrodite, and Venus. Semiramis is said to have been the wife of Nim- 118 THE APOCALYPSE. rod ; so that the Sem^ or token, of the Nimrodic coiifederatiou was probably the image of his wife, with a dove upon her head, with wings spread like the horns of the new moon. This, in the language of the time, would be called Sema-Mama, because the great Sent, name, or token, of the combination against being scattered abroad. The symbol of such a name or confederation would naturally and almost necessarily take the place of a god, and become the holy mother, the great heavenly protectress, the giver of greatness and prosperity to those rallying under it. So again, Nimrod called his first and capital city Bab-el, which, in the language of the time, means The Gale of God; of course not the God of Noah and Shem, for the whole proceeding was in known and intended antagonism to the true God and His will and commands. Hebraistically, and by way of accommodation to the judgment which Jehovah there inflicted. Babel is made significant of confusion (Gen. 11 : 9), but in the original ap- plication of the name it means The Gale of God. Thus, in the very name of the place, we have the intimation and proof that these Nimrodic proceed- ings were not only the organization of a new and oppressive style of government, but with it, as an essential part of it, the inauguration of a new and idolatrous religion, the parent apostasy of the post-diluvian world. The Bible says that Mmrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. The Targum of Jonathan inter- prets this to mean that he was a mighty rebel before LBCTlj RE XXXVIII. CHAP. 17 : 1-17. II9 the Lord, the mightiest rebel before the Lord that ever loas in the earth. The Jerusalem Targum reads it that he was mighty in sin before the Lord, a hunter of the sons of men, exhorting them to leave the judgments of Shem and adhere to the judgments of Mmrod. Hence it was the proverb concerning every notorious adventurer in wickedness and op- pression, As the mighty Mmrod in rebellion and sin before God. Jarchi accordingly understands the record to be, that Mmrod was a most brazen offender, who did not fear or hesitate to withstand God to his very face. And every intimation con- cerning him shows that he was the Heaven-defy- ing founder of a new system of rule and worship, instituting a government by brute force and earthly wisdom and policy, and a religion which quite abolished the true God, and set men to the adoration of the sun, moon, and stars, imperso- nated in himself, wife, relatives, and chief con soci- ates, and represented in the idol standards of his kingdom. It is a mistake to suppose that idolatry was the gradual growth of well-disposed but unenlightened human thinking. Its rise was sudden. It was conceived in intentional rebellion. It was the in- vention of a proud and tyrannous ambition at war with Jehovah's commands. It was brought into being to counteract the will and worship of the true and known God. It was the creature and handmaid of power for the deification of '' the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" in the place of the Creator. And it origi- 220 THE APOCALYPSE. nated with old Babylon, and Babylon's first king, the great rebel Mmrod, that very Bar-Chus (son of Ciish), or Bacchus^ who figures among the Greek and Roman gods as the great overflowing, enliven- ing, healing, and directing power. It is also a fact that all the Pagan mythologies and idolatrous devo- tions the world over, whatever their diversities, show a oneness of character, and an underlying like- ness which proves that they are from one original source, and but modifications of one and the same primal invention, traceable to old Babylon and the Nimrodic plan to defeat the purposes of the God of Noah. The original design was thwarted by the confusion of tongues. Contrary to their oaths to the Dove-goddess of their standards, the people were obliged to disperse and leave off" the building of their tower. But the charming novelties which Nimrod taught them were not lost. The seeds of the fascinating invention went with the dispersion, planting themselves in every new settlement, and growing ever fresh crops as the streams of hu- manity ran on amid the centuries, but ever re- producing the likeness of the original mother. Whatever changes or additions came, it still was old Babylon, which ever abides, potent through all the ages, and known to the judgment angels as ^'Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth.'' 4. It is further said of this Woman that " the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk from the wine of her fornication." This is not true of Rome, Pagan or Papal ; for before and beyond LECTURE XXXVIII. CHAP. 17:1-17. |21 either, the earth had a hundredfold more inhabit- ants untouched and uninfluenced by one or the other than ever were under the tutorage of both of them together. To talk of the Roman earth" in such a description is worse than impertinence. " The inhabitants of the earth " are the inhabiiants of the earth, and the people of the generations before Rome, and where Rome has never reached, as well as under Rome. The wine of old Babylon's fornication was a debauching system of idol wor- ship and carnal self-exaltation, over against the revelations and institutes of Jehovah. It was already bottled and labelled before the first disper- sion. It went with that dispersion into every country and nation under heaven. As a matter of fact, we find it to this day among all the nations of the earth, aftecting if not controlling their thinking, their policies, their faith, and their wor- ship. Not less than two-thirds of the population of the earth at this hour are Pagan idolaters, drivelling under the same old intoxication which came forth from Nimrod and Babylon ; whilst the great body of the other third is either Moharame^ dan. Catholic, Jewish, infidel, or adherents of some tainted and antichristian faith and worship. Nor is there a kingdom or government on the face of the whole earth at this hour which does not embody and exhibit more of the spirit and rebellion of Nimrod than of the spirit, command- ments, and inculcations of God. All the kings of the earth and all the governments under heaven have more or less joined in the uncleanness and 222 'fHE APOCALYPSE. fornication of that same old Babylonian Harlot, who has defiled every spot and nook of the whole inhabited world, notwithstanding that God from the beginning set the seal of His wrath upon it. The Jewish whoredoms, and the Papal whore- doms, and the Mohammedan whoredoms, and the whoredoms of all perverted Christian religionists, though not entirely letting go the confession of the one only God, are still in essence the same old harlotry which first found place and embodi- ment on the banks of the Euphrates. It is the same old Babylon, and her harlot daughters, bear- ing rule or kingdom upon the dominions of the earth, and intoxicating the inhabitants thereof out of the wine of her fornication. The cup held out is golden. To the sensual and carnal heart and imagination the world's religion and progress is something bright and glorious, the glittering fulness of good and blessing. But in that shining cup is only abomination and unclean- ness — spiritual prostitution — nothing but spiritual prostitution. The cup is one ; and in all the varied systems of fiilse faith and false worship which taint our world there is held out and received but one and the same essence, and that essence is the harlotry of old Babylon. It is most direct in Paganism ; but it is in Mohammedanism, in Papism, in the degenerate Catholicism of the Eastern churches, and in all the heretical isms, infidelities, and mere goodishnesses which afilict our Protestant Christianity as well. So true is it that Great Babylon, the mother of the LECTURE XXXVIII. CHAP. 17:1-17. 123 harlots and of the abominations of the earth, hath made the inhabitant.^ of the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication. 5. This Woman is also herself drunken — " drunken from the blood of the saints, and from the blood of the martyrs or witnesses of Jesus." " In her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that have been slain [as martyrs] upon the earth." This is proof positive that the Great Harlot is not Papal Rome only, for all the prophets were dead hundreds of years before the rise of the Papacy; and myriads on myriads of God's true people died as martyrs to the faith ere ever there was a Pope or a Papal hierarchy. The same is proof positive that she is not Pagan Rome alone; for the old prophets were dead or gone before either Caesar lived, or ever Romulus was born ; and great hosts of martyrs suffered before Rome was at all. Drunken as the Romish power made itself upon the blood of the witnesses of Jesus, Roman government is not chargeable with the shedding of all the martyr blood that has flowed upon the earth. It is, however, very certain, and beyond dispute, that all the persecution and slaying of saints, and prophets, and witnesses for God that have ever occurred upon earth, past or present, ancient or modern, stand charged against the mystic kingdom of idolaters, false religionists, and such as accepted fellowship with spiritual har- lotry. Persecution of God's prophets or people is itself a mark and evidence of spiritual whore- dom. It shows alienation from God and His true 124 THE APOC ALl I SE. worship. And wherever such presentation finds place, or saints are sacrificed for their faith, there this great Harlot is in living and visible force and presence, whether among Pagans or Jews, Mo- hammedans or Christians, Catholics or Protestants. It is the old Nimrod over again, tyrannously en- forcing his murderous will against the will and commands of God. 6. Again, this mystic Woman sits upon many waters, which waters the angel says " are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." There is a vastness and universality in these terms, and in the extent of these symbolic waters, which ill accords with the extent of the Papal dominion. Though extending over many peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues, there are many, many more peoples, and far greater multitudes, and numbers of nations, and tongues, over which the hierarchy of Rome has no control, whose interest and sym- pathy she does not possess, and on whom she can- not lean for support. So with regard to Pagan Eome, there were peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, never within the territory of the Csesars, and many indeed of whom the Csssars had no knowledge. Giving the words the latitude which properly belongs to such a descrip- tion as this, the masses of the earth's population, not only of one period, but of all periods since nations came into being, would seem to be the conception. And it is only when we understand this mystic Harlot as the whole body of organized alienation from God, as in heathenism, false re- LECTURE XXX VI 1 CHAP. 17:1-17. 125 ligion, and spiritual prostitution, that we find an object coextensive in time and territory vs^ith the " peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues,'' which make up the seat, dependence, and support of this great Harlot. At one period or another she has been found sitting on every people, and nation, and tongue, since the tongues or mul- titudes of men have been sundered. 7. John further saw this Woman sitting upon a scarlet Beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. This Beast is the same described in chapter 13. He is referred to here, not so much to make us better acquainted with him, as to give us a full understanding of the Great Harlot and her relationships. The " wis- dom " or inner sense and meaning of the presen- tation is, that " the seven heads are seven moun- tains, where the Woman sitteth upon them, and are seven kings." These are the words which are supposed to fix the application of the picture to the city of Kome, as Rome is called a city of seven hills. But a flimsier basis for such a controlling and all-conditioning conclusion is perhaps no- where to be found. The seven hills of the city of Rome, to begin with, are not mountains, as every one who has been there can testify; and if they were, they are not more characteristic of the sit- uation of Rome than the seven hills are charac- teristic of Jerusalem. But the taking of them as literal hills or mountains at all is founded upon a total misreading of the angel's words. A mountain, or prominent elevation on the sur- 126 ^HE APOCALYPSE. face of the earth, is one of the common scriptural images, symbols, or representatives of a kingdom, regal dominion, empire, or established authority. So David, speaking of the vicissitudes which he experienced as the king of Israel, says: "Lord, by Thy favor Thou didst make my mountain to stand strong " — margin, " settled strength for my mountain;'^ meaning his kingdom and dominion. (Ps. 30 : 7.) So the Lord in His threat against the throne and power of Babylon said: " I am against thee, O destroying mountain, which destroyest all the earth ; and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain," (Jer. 51 : 25.) So the kingdom of the Messiah is likened to '*a stone, which became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." (Dan. 2 : 35.) And this is ex- actly the sense in which the angel uses the word here, as he himself tells us. He does not say " the seven heads are seven mountains, where the Woman sitteth upon them," and there leave off; but he adds immediately, " and they are seven kings,'' or personified kingdoms. The mountains, then, are not piles of material rocks and earth at all, but royal or imperial powers, declared to be such by the angel himself. The description, therefore, so far from fixing the application to the Papacy, or to the city of Rome, decisively settles that it can- not possibly apply to either, for neither has seven such mountains. The late Albert Barnes has written in his Notes that "all respectable inter- preters agree that it refers to Rome; either Pagan, LECTURE XXXVIII. CHAP. 17 : 1-17. 127 Christian, or Papal/' Of course he is one of the " respectable interpreters," but then he should be able to tell which of the objects he names it is, for it cannot be all three. Most people assign Dr. E. W. Hengstenberg, the great Berlin professor, a place among " respectable interpreters," but Hengstenberg says Rome cannot possibly be meant by these seven heads. The angel says they are seven regal mountains, seven kings, seven great ruling powers. Eome Papal cannot be meant, for Rome Papal has no such count of seven regal powers. Rome Christian cannot be meant, for Rome Christian, as distinguished from Rome Papal, never supported and carried the great Har- lot in any possible sense, and could not without ceasing to be Christian. Rome Pagan cannot be meant, for Rome Pagan ceased with the conver- sion of the throne, and no count of emperors or kings can be found in it to " respectably " fill out the angeFs description. The succession of the forms of administration, enumerated as Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, Military Tribunes, and Emperors, were not seven kings or regal moun- tains. Prior to the empire most of these admin- istrations were less than anthills in the history of the world, and furnished rather slender ponies for the great purple-clad and pearl-decked mother of harlots to ride on in her majesty. Rome surely comes into the count of these seven mountains of empire ; but to make Rome the whole seven, in- cluding also the eighth, requires a good deal more "respectability" of interpretation in that line VOL. III. 66 228 THE APOCALYPSE. than has thus far appeared. Barnes is sure the whole thing applies to Eome because this Woman " hath rule or kingdom upon the kings of the earth, and there was no other empire on the earth to which this could be properly applied." But this assumes that the Woman is an empire, for which there is not a particle of evidence. The Woman is not an empire any more than the Church of Christ is an empire. She rides upon empires, kings, and powers of the world, and inspires, leads, and controls them ; but she herself is not one of them, and is above all of them, so that they court her, and are bewitched and governed by her — governed, not with the reins of empire, but with the lure of her fornication. This Woman is longer- lived than any one empire. We have seen that she began with !Nimrod, bears the name of Baby- lon, and is not destroyed until the day of judg- ment. The seven imperial mountains on which she rides must therefore fill up the whole interval ; or there was a time, and the most of her history, when she did not ride at all, which is not the fact. Seven is itself the number of fulness, which in- cludes the whole of its kind. The reference here is to kings, to mountains of temporal dominion, to empires. It must therefore take in all of them. Aud when men once get over their " respectabil- ity," and rise to the height and range of the in- terpreting angel's view of things, they will have no difficulty in identifying the mountains, or the times to which they belong. Of these seven regal mountains, John was told LECTURE XXXVIII. CHAP. 17:1-17. 129 " the five are fallen^'' dead, passed away, their day over ; " the one is,'" that is, was standing, at that moment, was then in sway and power; " the other is not yet come, and when he shall come, he must con- tinue a little time J' What regal mountain, then, was in power at the time John wrote? There can be no question on that point ; it was the Roman empire. Thus, then, we ascertain and identify the sixth in the list, which shows what sort of kings the angel meant. Of the same class with this, and belonging to the same category, there are five others — five which had then already ran their course and passed away. But what five imperial mountains like Rome had been and gone, up to that time? Is history so obscure as not to tell us with unmistakable certainty? Preceding Rome the world had but five great names or nationalities answering to imperial Rome, and those scarce a schoolboy ought to miss. They are Greece, Persia, Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt; no more, and no less. And these all were imperial powers like Rome. Here, then, are six of these regal moun- tains; the seventh is not yet come. When it comes it is to endure but a short time. This implies that each of the others continues a long time; and so, again, could not mean the die tators, decemvirs, and military tribunes of th(ir early history of Rome, for some of them lasted but a year or two. Thus, then, by the clearest, most direct, and most natural signification of the words of the record, we are brought to the identification of these seven mountain kings as the seven great world-powers, which stretch from the begiuukig 130 THE APOCALYPSE. of our present world to the eud of it. Daniel makes the number less; but he started with his own times, and looked only down the stream. Here the account looks backward as well as for- ward. That which is first in Daniel is the third here, and that which is the sixth here is the fourth in Daniel. Only in the commencing point is there any difference. The visions of Daniel and the visions of John are from the same Divine Mind, and they perfectly harmonize, only that the latest are the amplest. By these seven great powers then, filling up the whole interval of this world's history, this great Harlot is said to be carried. On these she rides, according to the vision. It is not upon one alone, nor upon any particular number of them, but upon all of them, the whole seven-headed Beast, that she sits. These seven powers, each and all, sup- port the Woman as their joy and pride ; and she accepts and uses them, and sways their adminis- trations, and rides in glory by means of them. They are her devotees, lovers, and most humble servants ; and she is their patronizing and most noble lady, with a mutuality of favors and inter- communion belonging to her designation. This is the picture as explained by the angel. But, to say that the Romish Papacy was thus carried, nurtured, and sustained by the ancient empires of Greece, Persia, Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt, would be a great lie on history. It was not so. In the nature of things it could not be so. By no means then can this Harlot be the Papacy alone, as maintained by all ^^respectable interpreters." LECTURE XXXVIII. C H A P. 17 : 1 - 17. 131 Furthermore, it is a matter of fact, that as surely as Rome in John's day, and Greece, Persia, Bab- ylon, Assyria, and Egypt, before Rome, existed and bore sway on earth as regal mountains, so surely and conspicuously were they each and all ridden by this great Harlot. They were each and all the lovers, supporters, and defenders of organ- ized falsehood in religion, the patrons of idolatry, the foster friends of all manner of spiritual har- lotry. Nimrod, the hunter of the sons of men and author of despotic government, established his idolatrous inventions as the crown and glory of his empire, and intertwined the worship of idols with the standards of his power. It was the same with Egypt, whose colossal remains, un- fading paintings, and mummy scrolls confirm the Scripture portraitures of her disgusting devotions, and tell how the priests of these abominations were honored by the throne, of which they were the chief advisers. It was so with Assyria, as the recent exhumations of Nineveh abundantly attest. It was so with the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar, as Daniel, who lived amid it all, has written. It was so with Persia, as her various records all de- clare. It was so with Greece, as her own most cherished poets sung, her mightiest orators pro- claimed, and all her venerated artists and histo- rians have set forth. It was so with Rome, as all her widespread monuments still show, and all the Christian testimonies, with her own, render clear and manifest as the sun. And it will be so with the last, which is yet to come, as declared in the apocalyptic foreshowings, and in all the prophecies 132 THE APOCALYPSE. in the Book of God upon the subject. It requires but a glance at history to see that spiritual har- lotry has ever been the particular pet and delight of all the Beast-powers of time. If ever the worship and requirements of the true God won their respect and patronage, they soon corrupted it to their own selfish and ambitious ends, or never were easy until freed from the felt restraint. True religion and an uncorrupted Church have never suited the representatives of power, or pleased them long. Dragon agencies are ill at ease without some form of Dragon worship. Only what will dignify, if not deify, lust and selfishness, is in accord with their spirit. They simply favor and honor their own when they favor and cherish the base Woman. Her gaudiness and pomp, her gayety and ready compliances, her ennoblement of " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," enamour them, and make them glad to bear her on their shoulders. It is a sad com- mentary on humanity, but it is the truth, that all the great world-powers, from first to last, are the paramours and props of the Harlot Woman. Gov- ernment is indeed a thing of God, instituted for human good, necessary to man, and invested with rights from the eternal throne; but Satan has ever known too well how to pervert it to his own base ends. And so the mountains of worldly power have ever served him as grand homes for his adul- teress Bride. What else remains of the story must wait for anofher occasion. God help us all to keep our- selves from idols ! LECTURE THIRTY-NINTH. GREAT BABYLON CONTINUED — THE WILDERNESS IN WHICH SHE APPEARS — HER TWOFOLDNESS, IN MYSTERY AND AS A CITY — SHALL THE CITY OF BABYLON BE RESTORED — PROPHECIES OF HER ABSOLUTE OBLITERATION NOT YET FULFILLED — PROPHECIES WHICH SEEM TO REQUIRE HER RESTORATION — ZECHARIAH'S EPHAH — HER FEATURES AND FALL TOUCHING THIS QUESTION — REASONABLENESS OF THE IDEA. Rev. 17 : 18. (Revised Text.) And the Woman whom thou sawest, is the great city, which hath rule [kingdom] upon the kings of the earth. WHEJST Jolm was taken to see "the judgment of the Great Harlot," he was borne " into a wilderness." This description of her dwelling- place is very expressive. Where spiritual har- lotry occupies the place of the true worship of God, there is desolation. There may be riches and worldly glory, as here. There may be the ful- ness of power and dominion ; there may be pur- ple, and scarlet, and gold, and gems of stone, and pearls, and drink from golden cups; there may be luxuries, sumptuous living, pomp, display, and everything to delight the sensual heart; and yet, where the word, worship, and institutes of God are trampled under foot, it is wilderness. Some set great store on general education, on the achieve- ( 133) 134 THE APOCALYPSE. ments of science, on the progress of man in his material and social interests, on the success of re- forms in government and laws, on the universal spread of liberty, equality, and fraternity, wrought out by the diffusion of intelligence and right reason. Those claiming to be leaders in this liue of thought are everywhere full of prognostications of a great and glorious condition of humanity to be achieved by the new ideas over against what they consider the old nonsense, superstition, and ignorance, which, as they say, have too long held dominion. And in proportion to the confidence and zeal in these hopes is the averseness to the Bible and its teachings, or any such way of re- ceiving it as takes it for what it says. Indeed the Church, its doctrines and confessions, are ignored, sneered at, and more and more resisted and set aside, as the particular impediment to the true interests of man, and the worst hindrances to human progress and blessedness. But the Scrip- tures have anticipated this, and tell us that so things will go on until the world believes itself wiser than its reputed Maker. And when the gospel of the sensual and devilish wisdom has once won its way to victory, as it surely will ; when the atheistic materialism to which so many are betaking themselves has attained its bloom; and when the ten thousand goodishnesses for which so large a portion of the professed Church is selling its birthright have brought forth their inevitable fruits, the result will be a universal wilderriess, with nothing but a monster Beast from LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP. 17:18. 235 the abyss for government, a hell-inspired self-will for law, and the uncleannesses of a gaudy Harlot for paradise. And this is the world in its final outcome, when Antichrist reigns and Great Baby- lon reaches its full development. The true people of God will then have been removed to the heavenly pavilion, or killed off by the powers of a blaspheming persecution. According to the prophet's figure, they will have become as scarce on earth as the remaining grapes after the vintage has been gathered. The Living Ones will have reached their places in connection with the celes- tial throne. The Elders will have obtained their crowns and golden seats. The numberless multi- tude will have taken its stand before the throne of God. The salt of the earth and the light of the world will have been mostly withdrawn. And whatever of accumulated wealth, gorgeousness, luxury, or perfected human civilization may re- main, what can this habitation of mortals be but one great moral wilderness and desolation, where the powers are full of blasphemy, and the accred- ited worship is abomination ? Such, at least, is the pictured scene of things to which the Apos- tolic Seer was carried to see the Great Harlot and the end that awaits her. "When John beheld the Woman, he was much astonished. He tells us himself that he " won- dered great wonder." When the Beast first dis- played himself all the world wondered after the Beast. (Chap. 13 : 3.) But that w^as a wonder of admiration; this is a wonder of perplexed horror. 136 THE APOCALYPSE. He had had a view of that Beast before. He had beheld and described his heads and horns. He had seen the wounding to death and the healing from the wound, and how men were carried cap- tive by the marvel. But he experienced no such astonishment as here. But he had seen and de- scribed the glorious Woman, whose mystic child was caught up to God and to His throne. Could it be that this was the same Woman, — the Bride of Heaven transformed into such a character, with such names on her forehead, and thus associated with the Son of Perdition? God had once ex- claimed over the defections of Jerusalem, " How is the faithful city become an harlot !" (Isa. 1 : 21.) Was John to understand a similar transformation here? This was the seat of his amazed horror and bewilderment. But the angel at once inter- posed to relieve him. The Beast is the same which he saw before, but the Woman is not. And the Beast is here seen in the fulness of his devel- opment. No color was noticed on his first rise ; but by this time he has developed his bloody hue by his slaughter of the saints. Then he had names of blasphemy on his heads ; by this time he is full of them all over. There his infernal origin did not so fully appear; by this time he has demon- strated that he comes up out of the abyss. His seven heads were there left in mystery; here they are explained, and his true history and relations indicated. There his ten horns were noted ; but only here is it told that they are ten contempo- raneous kings, who arise contemporaneously with LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP. 17:18. 137 <;he Beast, and who colleague with him in one mind and policy, and give their power and authority to him, and join with him and each other in desolat- ing and devouring the Woman whom at tirst they carried in afiection, and finally make war against the Lamb in a contest for the sovereignty of the world. The Woman is a new and different ob- ject. The tirst was the mother of saints; this is the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth, first organized in the rebellion of Nim- rod, and the gaudy but unclean rider upon all the great mountains of world-power from the begin- ning, for whose special delectation all the martyr blood that ever flowed has been shed, and who is here shown for the purpose of exhibiting her end. There is a twofoldness of the judgment upon this great Harlot. Not only is her fall mentioned twice, and each time with a double fall; but two sorts of visitation, and seemingly at different times, are here described. At first the Beast carries the Woman ; but the angel says that the ten horns, in connection with him, eventually "hate the Harlot, and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." In the next chapter, however, there is a diflerent picture, and her final ruin takes the form of a sudden and com- plete overthrow of a great city, over which these same kings lament and mourn. These two differ- ent presentations are owing to the two diflerent aspects in which the Woman is contemplated. In chapter 17 we have the picture of Great Babylon in mystery only, in which she has various centres 138 THE APOCALYPSE. and tbrnis at different times, and presents herself in a variety of ways. The last forms of Babylon in mystery are those which the ten kings with the Beast attack and destroy. How this comes about is plain enough. The two great Beasts, as we have seen, set up an entirely new religion upon earth, — a religion which they insist on making as universal as their own dominion, and so must needs make w^ar on all existing religions, true or false. The record is, that they will not permit any one to live under them who w^ill not conform to their new worship, nor allow any one to buy or sell without first accepting their hellish sacrament or mark. Hence every form of existing worship then upon earth, be it Romanism, Mohamme- danism, degenerate Protestantism, or any other species of false worship, it will come under the ban of this great infernal confederation. What- ever riches or possessions they may have will be confiscated. Their temples, cathedrals, mosques, institutions, and treasure-depositories, will be rifled, stripped, burned to the ground, and all their owners turned out in perfect nakedness; and any of them daring to resist, or refusing to conform to the new worship of the Beast and his image, will be put to the sword. All this is necessarily im- plied in what was shown of the doings of the False Prophet, and what occurs under his administra- tions ; but it is here independently stated as part of "the judgment of the Great Harlot." This is the first part of her final calamities. But Great Babylon in final revelation is also a LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP. 17:18. 139 local city. As a system, its essential principle is alienation of soul from God, and so whatever is developed from the carnal wisdom, either against or in the place of the true worship. But as the sun-clad Woman develops into a heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, embodying all the ultimate glories pertaining to the spiritual wisdom and the true devotion, so the Great Harlot also develops into an earthly city, embodying all the completed tem- poral results of the sensual wisdom and the ulti- mate bloom of human apostasy. Hence her final overthrow sums up in the fall and destruction of a great, rich, and powerful city. Hence, also, the angel says: *' The Woman whom thou sawest is the great city which hath rule upon the kings of the earth." It is the same Woman which, as a system of false worship, rode all the governments and powers of earth, but which makes its final pres- entation in the form of a literal city. Some think only an ideal city is meant, but nearly all interpreters, however diverse their ways of looking at these visions, agree that we must here understand a real city. Most of them say it is the city of Rome ; some say it is Jerusa- lem ; and a few say it is the island of England, which they take as the great centre of an unclean system of union between Church and State. My own impressions are that a literal city is contem- plated in the vision, but that we must look for it in a difierent region of the world. However much Rome, Jerusalem, or states having national churches may be involved, they do not, and it is 140 THE APOCALYPSE. hard to see how they possibly can, fill out the pic- ture of this final Babylon. The realization is yet in the future, and we cannot speak with confidence as to how matters will eventuate ; but there seems to be reason for the belief that the literal Babylon will be restored, and that we are to look to the coming up again of that primal city for the fulfil- ment of what is here foreshown. The mention of such a thing may seem like a wild dream, and appear to clash with some of the prophecies touch- ing the irrecoverable destruction of ancient Baby- lon. But let us look a little at the subject, and en- deavor to construe the Scriptures as they are, and not according to the loose impressions which have found currency as if they were settled truths. First of all, it seems to be pretty clear that the ancient predictions concerning the utter destruc- tion of Babylon have never yet been entirely ful- filled. Isaiah gives the sentence upon Babylon, in which he says that her destruction shall come suddenly from the hand of the Almighty, that her glory and beauty shall be " as when God over- threw Sodom and Gomorrah," never more to be inhabited, nor dw^elt in from generation to genera- tion ; and that the Arabian shall never again pitch tent there, nor shepherds make their fold there. (See Isaiah 13.) So again it was said to Jeremiah, <^ Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant." At the same time he directed Seraiah to take the manuscript of this prophecy, after reading it, bind a stone to it, cast it into LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP. 17:18. 141 the midst of Euphrates, and say, " Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her." (Jer. 51.) That all this has been in large measure strikingly fulfilled must be admitted. It is part of the evidence of the truth of God's word. And if it all belongs to the past, it is equally certain that Babylon never can be restored. Two facts, however, appear, which go very far to prove that these predictions do not be- long exclusively to the past, but await further ful- filment. The one is, that Isaiah locates the de- struction of which he speaks in " the day of the Lord.'' (Is. 13:6.) That day, in literal fulness, has not yet come. The world has witnessed many earnests and prelibations of it, but that day proper is still in the future, and only comes when Christ himself shall come again. And if the utter de- struction thus suddenly to come upon Babylon belongs to " the day of the Lord," she must again revive in order to become the subject of it. The other fact is that Babylon, in all the deep calami- ties and desolations which have come upon her, never yet experienced all that has been thus prophesied. When did Babylon ever fall with so complete a fall, or meet with such an utter oblit- eration from the earth, " as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah?" Sodom and Gomorrah were completely blotted out. But this has never yet been the case with Babylon. Such was not its fate when the Medes and Persians seized it from the hands of the infamous Belshazzar, for they made it one of their royal cities. In the time of 142 THE APOCALYPSE. Alexander it still stood, and was the chosen cap- ital of the Grseco-Macedoniau empire, the second city of Alexander's dominions, where he himself lived and died. It continued to be a populous place under the Syrian kings, who succeeded Al- exander in the rule over it. In the time of the apostles it was still a populous place, for both Peter and Bartholomew preached the Gospel there, and there Peter wrote his first Epistle. As late as A.D. 260, there was a Christian church there, and an influential bishopric for many years thereafter. Five hundred years after Christ there were Jewish academies there, who issued the celebrated Baby- lonian Talmud. Here, then, was a lengthening out of the existence of Babylon as a populated city for more than a thousand years subsequent to the taking of it by Cyrus. And even to this present hour there is a city in the middle of the area occupied by old Babylon containing 10,000 people, and which pays to its governor a revenue of 342,000 Turkish piastres, more than $17,000, a year. Shepherds do make their folds there, as testified by all modern travellers, and the Arabians do pitch their tents there. It is not an utter deso- lation without inhabitant, and never has been since Nimrod laid its first foundations. The sentence upon Babylon is therefore not yet fulfilled, and cannot be unless that city comes up again into something of its former consequence. In the next place, there are Scripture prophecies which I am at a loss to understand except upon the theory that Babylon will be restored, become a LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP. 17:18. I43 great commercial centre, and be the last of this world's great centres to go down under the ter- rific visitations of the day of the Lord. What is the world's common symbol for com- merce, the accepted picture to represent it? I have asked this question, and looked to verify the answer. In general I have found it to be an or- namented coin, weight, measure, or bowl of the scales, bearing a representation of the power that authorizes it, and a figure of a woman on each side, — one surrounded with the implements of navigation looking to the sea, and the other sur- rounded with the implements of trade, husbandry, and transportation looking toward the land, — the two mutually supporting what is between them, whilst above are the wrings of some vigorous bird, to indicate the far-reaching flights of what is thus pictured to the eye and imagination, l^or would it be easy to improve on this. It has been evolved in the course of ages, and the whole modern world, so far as I know, has set the seal of its approval upon it as the accepted emblem of commerce. But it is the same that was shown to the prophet Zechariah 500 years before the commencement of the Christian era. Just at the time when he sees the great flying roll of the curse of God going forth over the face of the whole earth to cut ofi* transgressors, he beholds an ephah, the common bushel measure, and a talent of lead, the flat rounded weight used in the calculation of tonnage, put upon the mouth or top of the bushel measure, whilst on each side of it was a woman, having VOL. III. 67 144 THE APOCALYPSE. wings " like the wings of a stork," with the winds in their wings ; and the}^ two lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven to bear it away. Be- sides, in the midst of the united measure and weight, was another woman called Wickedness, the Lawless Woman, answering to the Great Harlot of these chapters. The prophet wondered what it all meant, and asked the angel in converse with him what these intended to do with the measure and weight inclosing the Woman of Wickedness. The angel said : " To build it an house in the land of Shinar ; and it shall be established and set there upon her oivn baseJ^ (Zech. 5 : 1-11.) !N'ow this joined measure and weight, with the two winged women bearing them, and the winds in their wings, is unquestionably a symbol oi com- merce ; not so much as it was then, but as it was to become in the period verging on the end, and as it has become in our day. The building of a house for it, and the establishment and settling of it upon its own base, can mean nothing less than the creation for it of a great independent centre, with its owni ruler, king, or government. The place of this house is specifically stated to be " the land of Shinar.^' What that land is we can have no difficulty in ascertaining. When the people in Kimrod's time journeyed from the East they found a plain in the land oi Shinar and dwelt there, and there built the city called Babel, or Babylon. (Gen. 11 : 2-9.) When IN'ebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, invaded Palestine, it is said that he took Jehoiakim^ and part of the vessels of the LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP. 17:18. I45 house of God, and carried them " into the land of Shimr;' that is, Babylon. (Dan. 1 : 1, 2.) "The land of Shinar," then, is Babylon; and in this Shinar the angel said this commerce, borne by the favoring winds on mighty wings, was to be estab- lished and settled on its own base. This prophecy was delivered subsequent to the Babylonish captivity, and at least half a lifetime after Babylon had been conquered by the Medes and Persians. It certainly has never yet been ful- filled according to its terms. By the connection in which it is given, its fulfilment belongs to the time when the great curse of God upon the wicked goes forth over all the face of the earth; that is, in the great judgment period. By the indications thus given as to time, and by the whole contents of the foreshowing, its accomplishment belongs to the future, and necessarily includes the revival of old Babylon as a great commercial centre, stand- ing independent of all other powers, and exercis- ing its own peculiar dominion over the govern- ments of the earth. And this is all the more con- firmed in that it exhibits the Woman of Wicked- ness, the Great Harlot, ensconced in it, as the great spirit which pervades the whole. It is also distinctly prophesied that Babylon shall be the very last of the powers of the earth compelled to drink of the cup of the divine wrath in the great day of the Lord. That cup is to go around to all the nations and potencies of this world, to " all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the 146 TS® APOCALYPSE. world which are upon the face of the earth ; and the king of Sheshack shall drink after them.'' (Jer. 25 : 17-26.) All the Jewish interpreters agree that Sheshack is only another name for Babylon^ and so, in another place, Babylon is called " the hinder- most of the nations,'^ because thus belated in the judgment which is to make her ''a wilderness, a dry land, a desert,'^ so as to be " wholly desolate," and " no more inhabited forever." (Jer. 50 : 12, 13, 35-40.) Thus far Babylon has been the foremost of the nations in experience of the judgments of God, and cannot possibly be " the hindermost," as thus described, except as rebuilt and become once more a great centre of independent power existing at the time when the final day of vengeance comes. Furthermore, it seems to me impossible to do justice to the description which John here gives of the features and fall of the Great City which he was called to contemplate, except on the sup- position of such a revival of the old Chaldean me- tropolis. The name itself is a tower of strength to the idea. There is no great city, Babylon, now; nor has there been for many ages. ISTor is there any other great city on the face of the earth that answers to the picture, or that is at all likely ever to answer to it on any possibilities that can be im- agined. And yet the name of this great city is Babylon — Babylon living and ruling over the kings and nations of the earth when the day of judg- ment reaches its consummation. It is not Bab}^- lon in mystery, but simply " the great city Baby- LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP. 17: 18. 147 Ion, the mighty city;" and there is no intimation whatever that this city of Babylon does not mean the city of Babylon. By what right then are we to think of any other city than that which has been known by this name ever since Nimrod lived ? The city here described is pre-eminently, if not exclusively, a commercial city, — a great commer- cial city, — a mart of nations. There is nothing military, nothing ecclesiastical, nothing educa- tional, alluded to in the account; everything is commercial^ or merged into the one idea of ex- change, trade, and what relates to mercantile aims and accumulations. Ships, merchants, commod- ities, are the main subjects of the description. And when this city falls, it is " the merchants of the earth " that " mourn and weep over her," and with them such as are most concerned with com- merce,— " every ship-master, and every one who goeth by sea, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea,'' for " all w^ho had ships in the sea were made rich from her costliness." The lamen- tation is of the same character as that over the fall of Tyre (Ezek. 26 ; 15-18), and we know that Tyre was the great mercantile metropolis of its time; therefore this city must also be a corre- sponding commercial centre. It cannot, therefore, be Rome, for Rome never was a great centre of commerce. In all the Bible we never read of " a ship of Rome,'' or of one sailing /rom or to Rome. It cannot be Paris for similar reasons. It might be London, New York, or San Francisco, but there is nothing whatever in the account to fix the pic- 2^g THE APOCALYPSE. ture on either of them, whilst none of them could become so independent of all government but its own, as indicated in this case. The land of Shinar is named as the locality in the old prophets, and the particular city of that land, in its own proper name, is given by John as the subject of what he describes. And such is the location of that city politically, geographically, and in all the qualities of accessibility, commercial facilities, remoteness from interferences of Church or state, and yet cen- tral ness with regard to the general trade of the whole world, as to point it out above any other known as the elect spot for just what is predicted of this great city. Even apart from the direct Scriptural prophecies and implications on the subject, the prospect is as they represent. The whole world is rapidly de- veloping a system of things which, in the ordinary working of human affairs, must inevitably result in something of the kind. In what, indeed, does the mightiest and furthest reaching power on earth now already centre ? A power which looms up in all lands, far above all individual or combined powers of Church, or state, or caste, or creed? What is it that to-day monopolizes nearly all leg- islation, dictates international treaties, governs the conferences of kings for the regulation of the bal- ance of power, builds railways, cuts ship-canals, sends forth steamer-lines to the ends of the earth, unwinds electric wires across continents, under the seas, and around the world, employs thousands of engineers, subsidizes the press, tells the state of LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP. 17:18. I49 the markets of the world yesterday that everyone may know how to move to-day, and has her living organizations in every land and city, interlinked with each other, and coming daily into closer and closer combination, so that no great government under the sun can any longer move or act against her will, or without her concurrence and consent ? Think for a moment, for there is such a power; a power that is everywhere clamoring for a common code, a common currency, common weights and measures; and which is not likely to be silenced or to stop till it has secured a common centre on its own independent basis, whence to dictate to all countries and to exercise its own peculiar rule on all the kings and nations of the earth. That power is commerce; the power of the ephah and the talent — the power borne by the winged women, the one with her hand on the sea and the other with her hand on the land, — the power which even in its pres- ent dismemberment is mightier than any pope, any throne, any government, or any other one human power on the face of the globe. Let it go on as it has been going, and will go, in spite of every- thing that earth can interpose to hinder, dissolving every tie of nationality, every bond of family or kindred, every principle of right and religion which it cannot bend and render subservient to its own ends and interests; and the time must come when it will settle itself down somewhere on its own independent base, and where Judaism and Heathenism, Romanism and Protestantism, Mo- hammedanism and Boodhi8m,and every distinction 150 THE APOCALYPSE. of nationality, — English, German, French, Italian, Greek, Turk, Hindoo, Arab, Chinee, Japanee, or what not, — shall be sunk in one great universal fellowship and kingdom of commerce. And when it once comes to that, as there is every prospect that it will, for Providence in judgment for the greed and covetousness of men will pros- per it, filling the wings of the women with the winds of heaven, where on earth is the spot so suited to the purpose as that where the first city this side the flood was built? There is the great navigable river, emptying out into the open sea, whose waters lave every country and island most filled with the treasures of the far East.* From thence there are almost level avenues for railway lines to Egypt, Smyrna, and Constantinople, con- necting with Vienna, Paris, and London, for some of which the Turkish Sultan, it is said, has granted Firman, and which Western Europe in its own de- fence will presently be compelled to construct. There could all the great mercantile combinations unite in one common centre, with no other power on earth to interfere with them. All the consider- ations which bear on the question speak for old Babylon. And with a world-wide commercial organization * G. Rawlinson, in his notes on Herodotus, says, with General Chesney's Euphrat. Expedition, that the Euphrates " is navigable without any serious interruption from Samosata to the sea, nearly 1200 miles;" that from Busrah to the sea it is on an average 30 feet deep and 1200 yards wide, and at Babylon it averages 15 feet in depth and 200 yards in width. — Vol. i, pp. 446, 447. LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP. 17 : 18. I5I thus established on its own independent base, with the great mercantile houses of England and her colonies, of the Americas, of the other countries lining the Mediterranean, of the maritime and monetary centres everywhere, represented in cor- responding houses there; with the ships, and pas- sengers in ships, congregating in and about the Euphrates as the central exchange of the world; and with the gold-kings, money-lords, and mer- chant princes of the earth, thus combined without regard to creeds or nationalities in the one great interest of regulating and managing the commerce of the globe, it is easy to see how every feature in the Apocalyptic picture of Babylon would be filled out. Her merchants would thus be the great men of the earth. Her chief purchases would neces- sarily be as here described : (1) the most precious and valuable metals ; (2) the costliest articles of clothing, ornaments, and display; (3) the most rare and sumptuous of furniture and materials for it; (4) precious aromatics, spices, and ointments; (5) the finest of eatables; (6) the most luxurious of equipages, chariots, and horses; and (7) slaves and attendants necessary to the maintenance of the style and grandeur going along with such wealth, consequence, and power. The city would thus literally be " clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearl," creating a market for the skill and most excellent products of the whole world, enriching ar- tisans, ship-masters, ship-owners, ship-senders, and all the traders in these things in all nations. Kings 152 ''^HE APOCALYPSE. of the earth would thus naturally find it their in- terest and their delight to be on good terms and friendliest intimacies with a power so much wider and greater than their own. Governments would have to throw their influence in its favor, legislate out of the way what it wishes away, direct their policies according to its desires, and make war and conclude peace as it dictates, as is even now already largely the case, for commerce is the law-maker of the world. The purse-strings of the nations would thus be in the hands of a universal inde- pendent power, whose ban would be worse than the Pope's edicts of excommunication in the Mid- dle Ages; and to make war with it would be to make war against the allied world. All the kings of the earth would thus necessarily become par- ticipant in everything belonging to the system, the very organization of which is the utter negation of all distinctive creeds, and the complete abroga- tion of all religious and moral laws which stand in the way of its purposes. And thus also the old harlotry would necessarily be the chief spirit of the whole thing. Zealous and earnest worship there would needs be, but a worship concentrated upon the ephah and the talent; a worship which makes temples of banks, and warehouses, and exchanges, and pleasure- parks; a worship not of the sun, or moon, or stars, or emperors, or popes, but of pounds, and francs, and piastres, and dollars; the worship of greed, and epicurean luxury ; the worship of Mam- mon perfected, and overriding and supplanting LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP, 17:18. I53 all other devotions; the perpetuation and crown of tlie great moral defilement of the ages, only taking to the soul's embrace and into the place of God the meaner object which the divine word stigmatizes as '''filthy lucreJ' Covetousness is idol- atr}^ and a form of it which is the root of all evil; and here will be covetousness, deep-wrapped in the embracing arms of its god, and dazing and defiling the world with the glory and grandeur of its abominations. Such would Babylon be under the suppositions to which 1 have alluded, and such is the Great Babylon of these chapters in its final outcome. Is it not reasonable, therefore, to believe that this is the way in which this prophetic description is to be realized ? Besides, it would be a strange thing if Babylon were to be the only exception to the general re- vival and renewal which is to come to the long desolations of the East in general. Egypt, long the basest of the kingdoms, is rapidly coming up again, and is everywhere presented as prominent in the time when Christ comes to take the sov- ereignty of the earth. The English occupation of Cyprus must give strong impulse to the rebuilding of the mighty cities which once had place upon and around that island. Tyre and its associated cities, and Antioch, and Damascus, and Tadmor, and Nineveh, and all the ancient localities, are be- coming more and more the objects of interest to the "Western peoples and powers, and plans for the revival of some of them, including especially old 254 'fHE APOCALYPSE. Babylon, have been put forth with eloquence and received with favor.* * In 1857 a work was published in London, entitled Memoir of the Euphrates Valley Route to India, loith Official Correspon- dence and Maps, by W. P. Andrew, F.K.G.S,, etc. After a large circulation the same was enlarged, and published in a volume, entitled The Scinde Railway and its Relations to the Euphrates Valley and other Routes to India. This enlargement and republication of the work was undertaken, on the consid- erations stated in the preface, viz., that "it is believed to be es- sential, not only to the vital interests of this country (England) in the East, and the well-being of Turkey, but to the peace and progress of the world, to establish, with as little delay as pos- sible, steam and telegraphic communication, via the Euphrates, between England and India;" and "to indicate to statesmen the political power, to the philanthropist the enlightenment, and to the merchant the profit, that would of necessity accrue from re-establishing this highway of forgotten empires and ancient commerce." The author of this book recounts the many and glowing his- tories which cluster around the Euphrates and its tributary, the Tigris ; points out the extraordinary capabilities of the country, and adds: ** Every way, commercially, historically, and politi- cally, the Euphrates Valley route is a grand scheme, and must affect immediately the commerce, and, in some measure, the des- tinies of our race ; and that depends not on a thorough traflSc, but holds within its own confines the elements of a great prosperity. " Why have the governments and peoples of the West com- bined to uphold the Sultan in the possession of Constantinople ? And why has he who thought fit to menace that position met with the armed opposition of Europe ? Because the passage from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea is of so much importance that whatever European power might become master of it would domineer over all the rest, and destroy that balance which the whole world is interested in preserving. Establish then, at another and far more extensive point of the Ottoman Empire, a similar and yet more important position ; make the Valley of the Euphrates the highway of the commercial world, and you would restore millions of unproductive acres to the revenue. LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP. 17 : 18. I55 Jerusalem, we know, is to be rebuilt and re- established as a great national and religious centre, bring thousands of merely vassal tribes within the pale of order and fair tribute, and create in the East another immovable seat of power for the great powers of Europe." So, also, an article in Colburn's Monthly, quoted by this author, says: "England and France, and even other nations, appear now called to great works, which throw into the shade the most striking deeds of history. Among these works of the future it appears that the opening of the Euphrates Valley, and the res- toration of Syria and Mesopotamia, of Assyria and Babylonia, stands first in rank. Such a proceeding, by multiplying and strengthening the ties by which people of all climates, of all races, of all beliefs, are united to Great Britain and France, would connect forever the general prosperity of nations with the happiness of those countries, their security with their power, and their independence with their liberty." Mr. Andrew further says: "Amongst the numerous ad- ministrations of a wise and merciful design of Providence, it is not unreasonable to believe that the opening of the valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and the resuscita- tion of the great nations of antiquity, are amongst the events designed to minister to the growing wants and improve- ments of the human race It is not too much to say that there is no existing or projected railroads that can for a moment compare, in point of interest and importance, with that of the Euphrates Valley. It brings two quarters of the globe into juxtaposition, and three continents, — Europe, Asia, and Australia, — into co-relation. It binds the vast population of Hindustan by an iron link with the people of Europe ; it in- evitably entails the colonization and civilization of the great valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris, the resuscitation in modern shape of Babylon and Nineveh, and the reawakening of Ctesi- phon and Bagdad of old." In the Life of Sir C. Napier, vol. iv, p. 70, there is given an extract from his journal, in which he writes: "Civilization was travelling west in Alexander's time, but now how changed is the drama ! More than 2000 years have passed, and civiliza- tion arises on the rear of barbarism ; we English have seized 156 THE APOCALYPSE. of a very numerous, rich, and powerful people. And when Israel with its wealth and commercial energy begins to rally again around its old me- tropolis, the Euphrates will again be needed as much as Germany needs the Danube, Egypt the Nile, or London the Thames; whilst the prodig- ious fertility of its great alluvial plains, and the unbounded riches of nature which there spring up almost unbidden to the band that would gather them, and a ready progress of opulence that would realize the wonder-working power of Aladdin's lamp, cannot fail to arrest and command the sharp- sighted covetousness of the human heart. How, then, are we to suppose it possible that Babylon will not also come up again with the rest of these Eastern schemes and renovations? Already a walled town there exists, taking in both sides of the river, as old Babylon did. It is encircled the baggage, are following up our blow, and in a few years shall be at Babylon, a revived empire! We shall go slowly, but one hundred years will see us at Babylon!" This was written fifty years ago. A letter written at Mosul (Nineveh), February 26th, 1854, and published in the New York Tribune, says: "There is but little soil in the world like that of the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates It is among the possibilities that a railway will ere long be built from Antioch to Seleucia along the Orontes, across Mesopotamia to Mosul, and thence down to Bagdad and Busrah, — the second short route to India. If this part of Turkey should fall into the hands of England, there is no doubt that such a road would be speedily constructed. The line has been surveyed. These barren fields are too rich always to remain idle. Its time has nearly come ! " All these statements are quite apart from what many are too prone to call mere prophetic speculations. LECTURE XXXIX. CHAP. 17:18. ^57 with villages, and approached through an out- spread country dotted with beautiful groves of date-trees, forming a broad and verdant colonnade to a growing city. That city, strangely enough, also bears the name oi Rest (llillah), as if inviting the wide-wandering tribes of an apostate world to come back to the bosom of the old mother, there to plant and erect the final tower of their finished greatness. I conclude, then, that such a great commercial city, different from all that now exist, will yet be, and that it will be old Babylon rebuilt. When the New Jerusalem, the Lamb's Wife, comes down out of heaven from God, there is every intimation that it will be stationed over the old Jerusalem. And when the wisdom, progress, and harlotries of this world come to their final culmination and em- bodiment in Great Babylon, there is correspond- ing reason to believe that it will be centralized upon the very spot where it first started, and meet ita ultimate doom in the selfsame locality in which it was born. But the description of that doom, its character, and its results, must be deferred for another occa- sion. I can only ask you now to think over what has been presented, and not to be envious at the prosperity of the wicked. Let the gold, and the silver, and the scarlet, and the purple, and the fine linen, be to those who make them their God. We have quite another Saviour, and quite another calling. They that worship these things shall lose them, and perish with them ; but they who, for 158 THE APOCALYPSE. the kingdom of heaven's sake, deny themselves and refuse to be beguiled and swayed by the de- ceitful glitter and sumptuous allurements of wealth and fortune, shall live to enjoy a far sub- limer estate, — one which shall never fade away. Yet a little while, and they shall come forth in a city whose gates are pearl and its streets gold, themselves as pure as the gates through which they pass, and as excellent and glorious as the streets on which they tread ; immortal parts of a new and everlasting system of God, when Babylon has gone down into perdition, as a millstone cast into the midst of the sea. LECTURE FORTIETH. THE FALL OF GREAT BABYLON — A PERPLEXITY RELIEVED — LENGTH OF THE JUDGMENT PERIOD — THE ANGEL WHO PRO- CLAIMS THE FALL — THE TWOFOLD FALL — THE PEOPLE CALLED OUT — FORMS OF THE DESTRUCTION — ADMINIS- TRANTS OF THE CALAMITIES — MEASURE OF THE TORMENT — THE TOTAL EXTINCTION — THE CRIMES WHICH PROCURE THIS DOOM — THE POWER AND GODLESSNESS OF COMMERCE —THE NATURE OF ITS SORCERY— ITS PRESUMPTUOUS SELF- GLORIFICATION AND ARROGANCE. Rev. 18 : 1-8. (Revised Text.) After these things I saw another angel coming down out of the heaven, having great authority, and the earth was lighted up from his glory. And he cried with mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen Babylon the great, and become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated bird ; because of the wrath of her fornication all the nations have fallen, and the kings of the earth committed fornication with ber, and the merchants of the earth became rich out of the power of her wantonness. And I heard another voice out of the heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye may have no fellowship in her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues ; because her sins have been builded to- gether as far as the heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward to her even as she rewarded, and double double according to her works ; in the cup which she mixed, mix for her double ; insomuch as she glorified herself and was wanton, to that proportion give to her torment and grief; because she saith in her heart, I sit a queen and am not a widow, and shall see no mourning ; therefore in one day shall come her plagues, death, and mourning, and famine, and with fire shall she be burnt, because strong the Lord who hath judged her. HAYING already consumed two evenings in our endeavors to identify and understand what is meant by Great Babylon, w^e come now to the consideration of her final fall. But before proceeding directly to that subject, VOL. in. 68 ( 159 ) IQQ THE APOCALYPSE. it may be well first to relieve a perplexity into which some may have fallen by reason of what I have said concerning the restoration of the literal city of Babylon. When we speak of the day of the Lord, or the judgment period, many have the notion that it is but one day, or a very brief space of time. They are consequently led to wonder how we can speak of the impending nearness of that day, and yet look for the rebuilding of a great city then to be destroyed. The ditiiculty, however, does not lie in the nature of the things, but in the popular misapprehensions of what the day of the Lord means, and the length of the period which it covers. The mistake is in taking the day of the Lord, or the coming again of our Saviour, as if one particular moment of time, and one single event or scene were to be understood. What the Scriptures describe as the day of the Lord, and the second coming of Christ, is no more limited to a single event or moment of time than was the day of his first coming, which extended over more than thirty years, and embraced various stages and successive presentations. If we take the proph- ecies concerning the first advent, we find it impos- sible to apply them to any one day, year, or scene, in the evangelic history. Micah said that Christ should '^come^' out of Bethlehem (Ephratah), but Hosea said that he would come "out of Egypt." Malachi said that he should "suddenly come to his temple," and Zechariah that he would come to Zion " riding upon an ass, upon a colt the foal LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18:1-8. IgJ of an ass;" whilst, according to Isaiah, 'Hhe land of Zebulim and the land of I^aphtali *' were to see the "great light." Ail these presentations were his coming. He did come when he was born at Bethlelera; he did come oat of Egypt; he did come when he announced himself at Naz- areth; he did come as a great light among the people of Northern Galilee; he did come riding into Jerusalem on the ass; he did come suddenly to his temple when he twice drove out the money- changers; and he came when he reappeared after his resurrection. Each one of these particular incidents is alike called his coming ; but they were only so many separate presentations, at different dates, extending through a period of thirty-three years, all of w^hich together are required to make up the first advent as a whole. And just as it was then, so it will be again. The second coming, like the first, is complex and distributive, extending through a variety of successive and diverse scenes, stages, events, and manifestations, requiring as many, if not still more, years. Just what length of time \v\\\ intervene between the first and sud- den catching away of the watching and ready saints, and the final overthrow of Babylon and Antichrist, we may not be able precisely to deter- mine; but I am fully persuaded that it will be a goodly number of years. Antichrist reigns for a full week of years, — that is seven years, — three and a half as the friend and patron of the Israel- itish people, and three and a half as the great Beast. (Dan. 10:27; Rev. 11:2; 12 : 6.) But th^ 162 THE APOCALYPSE. Antichrist is not revealed until after the Hinderer is taken away ; who is only taken away when the saints are removed, the removal of whom is the taking away of the Hinderer. The Antichrist does not appear at all amid the scenes of the Apoc- alypse until after the seven seals have been opened, and six of the succeeding trumpets have been sounded. How many years those seals and the six trumpets may consume we are not informed, but we have every reason to believe that they may be counted by tens, if not by scores, subsequent to the opening of the door in the heaven and the taking up of the saints, which is the first act in the great drama. The space occupied in narrating what occurs under the seals and trumpets would indicate this. The long waiting of the Ten Virgins for the coming of the Bridegroom, which is sub- sequent to the first translation, indicates the same thing. Forty years, at least, perhaps a whole jubi- lee period of fifty years, or even a full seventy years, answering to the period during which the judgment was upon Israel for its sins, are likely to be embraced in what the Scriptures call the day of the Lord, and the second coming and revelation of Jesus Christ. Supposing, then, that Bab34on should not even begin to be rebuilt until after the day of the Lord has commenced in the rapture of the eagle-saints (Luke 17 : 34-37 ; 1 Thess. 4 : 14-17 ; Eev. 4 : 1), there still would be ample time for it to come up in all the grandeur and force indicated before the great acts of destruction in which that day reaches LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18:1-8. Ig3 its consummation. Much can be accomplished in ibrty, lifty, or seventy years. A few years ago I was the guest of a man, scarcely older than myself, who was already grown, and secretary of a frontier trading company, before the first dwelling was built of w^hat is now the great and powerful city of Chicago. And if the rich merchants, money-kings, and great mercantile organizations of the world were to unite for the establishment of such a centre of wealth, influence, and trade, as the foreshowings are respecting great Babylon, with the treasures, facilities, and energies that would at once be brought to bear, a much shorter time would be required to realize all that has been foretold, even if nothing special were to occur to hasten the project. But the indications are that there will be special providences in its favor. Zechariah saw the winds of heaven filling the wings and favoring the flight of the two women bearing the ephah to its house in the land of Shinar. It will then be the midst of the judgment time, when great and startling events are to suc- ceed each other in quick succession, when things will move under other and mightier impulses than now, and when God in the administrations of His wrath upon nations and systems will hurry them on to the destructions which await them, or so give them over to the spirits and powers of hell because of their unbelief, that the most wonderful changes and achievements will go forward with a celerity of which we now have no conception. And even if the great day of the Lord should 154 THE APOCALYPSE. break in upon the world this night, it would not at all embarrass the idea, or prevent the possibility of the restoration of old Babylon in all the mag- nificence and power ascribed to her in these chap- ters. The time would stlil be ample for it all. But it is with the fall of Babylon, and not with the time and incidents of her restoration from present depression that we are now concerned. God help us to understand it as we should! A glorious being from heaven appears. To John he seems like an angel, but quite "another" from the one who was showing him these things. This angel does not speak from heaven, but comes down out of the heaven. He comes also with " great authority." There is reason to believe that it is Christ himself whom we are to see in this angel ; for the Father " hath given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man." (Jno. 5 : 27.) When Satan was cast out of heaven the celestial worshippers celebrated this e^uuffta^ authority, dominion, or power, as the par- ticular possession of Christ, who is appointed to " put down all rule and all authority and power." (Cor. 15 : 24.) It is said that " the earth was lighted up from his glory. '^ Such language is nowhere used concerning created angels, but is quite com- mon to all the prophets with regard to our Divine King and Saviour. The Psalmist (72 : 18, 19) blesses the glorious name of the Lord God of Is- rael, and speaks of a scene in which "the whole earth is tilled with his glory." Isaiah (6 : 1-3), in bis vision of the enthroned Messiah, heard the LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18:1-8. ^^5 seraphim cry, " The whole earth is full of his glory." Ezekiel (43 : 2) beheld the glory of the God of Israel coming from the way of the East, and says : " His voice was like the noise of many waters [answering to the ^ mighty voice ' here], and the earth shined with his glory/' The gar- ment of Jehovah is light, and such intense lumi- nousness everywhere attaches to what is divine; whilst the enlightening of things by the glory of God and the Lamb is specially spoken of in these visions. (Rev. 21 : 23; 22 : 25.) We are not likely to be mistaken, then, in taking this angel for the Lord Jesus himself, and the more so as the remem- brance of Great Babylon to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of divine wrath is spe- cially said to be " in the presence of God^^ as if God in Christ were then manifested and personally re- vealed upon the earth. (Chap. 16 : 19.) From this glorious being the word goes forth in tremendous power: '-'- Fallen^ Fallen^ Babylon the Great J' It is not simply the word of information as to what has been or what is to be, but the word which effects what it describes, — the word which brings Great Babylon down, and makes it "a hab- itation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird." The twice-repeated word describes two separate parts or stages of the fall, answering to the two aspects in which Babylon is con- templated, referring first to Babylon in mystery, as a system or spirit of false worship, and second to Babylon as a city, in which this system or spirit 166 THE APOCALYPSE. is finally embodied. The thrice-repeated cry of " woe, woe, woe," in chapter 8 : 18, meant three distinct woes, as the subsequent account makes plain; and so here, the twice-repeated "fallen, fallen," means two distinct falls. The first fall, or the fall of Babylon in mystery, is accomplished through the agency of the Beast in confederation with the ten kings (chap. 17 : 16, 17), which occurs soon after the Antichrist is fully revealed; but after the denudation and burning which they in- flict, she is represented as still existing as a city, who sits as a boastful queen, promising herself an immortality of worldly glory, and from which certain people are called out that they may not share her doom. Two falls are thus inevitably implied, and the last is more than three years after the first; for the reign of the Beast is three and one-half years, and the setting up of the enforced worship of his image, and hence the first great Babylonian disaster occurs at the beginning of those years, whilst the final catastrophe occurs at the pouring out of the last bowl of wrath, which sweeps the Beast as well as Great Babylon to per- dition. But before the mighty word of this glorious angel goes into full efiect upon the final Babylon, a voice from heaven says : " Come out of her, my people, that ye may have no fellowship in her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.'^ It seems that there will be children of Abraham among the pop- ulation of the final Babylon, for wherever there is great trade and banking we may expect to find LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18 : 1-8. IQJ Jews, and these are the people to whom this call is made. If the glorious angel is Christ, it is the Father who here speaks, and who now again ac- knowledges Israel as his earthly people. The New Testament Church is here out of the ques- tion. Every divinely acknowledged part of that has been by this time taken, and is with the Lord Jesus in heaven. But the times of the Gentiles being fulfilled, the Lo Ammi (not my people) is reversed with regard to Israel, and this is the time when the Spirit comes upon them again, and they are recovered to life and salvation. Jeremiah (50 : 4-9) writes : " In those days, and in that time [the very time of the threatened destruction of Babylon], saith the Lord, the children of Israel ^h^W come, they and the children of Judah together, ^^^^^^ and weeping: they shall go and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying. Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. My people hath been lost sheep ; their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the moun- tains ; they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotton their resting-place. All that found them have devoured them ; and their adversaries said. We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers." And in im- mediate connection with this description the com- mand is : " Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth ont of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as IQg THE APOCALYPSE. the he goats before the flocks." ''Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every 7nan his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance; he will render unto her a rec- ompense" (51: 6). ''My j^eople, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the tierce anger of the Lord" (verse 45). " Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall the spoiler come unto her, saith the Lord " (53). "And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, atid her mighty men : and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake, saith the King whose name is Lord of hosts "(57). Thus beautifully and unmistakably do the records of the ancient prophet explain what the Apocalyptic seer was shown. The merciful providence of God has by this time again taken hold on the long-rejected children of Israel and Judah, and such of them as are in Babylon are divinely warned of what is coming, and brought away from the impending destruction, as Lot was called out of doomed Sodom (Gen. 19 : 16-22), and as the people in Moses' time were called to get them up from the tents of Dathan and Abiram in the day that judgment came upon these rebels (Numb. 16 : 23-26). The particular calamities which then break forth are described as death, mourning, famine, and burn- ing with fire. Both the calling out of those who are not to share Babylon's doom, and the nature of these inflictions immediately following, prove LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18:1-8. Jgg that a literal city is meant. Part of the trouble is also of just such a character as to fall in with the idea, and so to prove that that city is Babylon, and that the drying up of the waters of the Euphrates under the sixth bowl of wrath is a literal occur- rence. Terrible mortality and famine would be the natural and inevitable result of the failure of that river to a city built upon it, and so dependent on its w^aters. All her shipping would thus be disabled. All the fertility of her gardens and sur- rounding country would be turned to dust and bar- renness. The exposed and stagnant filth of so great a river, together with the decaying vegeta- tion for the space of nearly 2000 miles, would be a source of deadly pestilence, which no skill or power of man could abate or stay. With such a plague over all the place all helpers would fear to approach, their markets would be unsupplied, their communication with the rest of the world, already so largely emptied and desolated by the march of the kings with their armies to the scene of battle against the Lamb, would be without avail. And thus black death and helpless want would stalk through every street, and highway, and lane, and alley, of the whole city, and fill all the region round about with unexampled suffering, mourn- ing, and horror. And amid it all comes the great unprecedented earthquake, by which the cities of the nations are thrown down. Fires break forth, and there is no water to extinguish them, and no hands to apply it if it were to be found. The whole city burns 170 THE APOCALYPSE. to ashes, and all its population with it, " as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,'' making the very land vitreous round about. Thus would be fulfilled what Isaiah sung: " Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daugh- ter of Babylon; sit on the ground; there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, 0 daughter of the Chaldeans ; for thou shalt no more be called, the lady of kingdoms. Thou saidst, ' I shall be a lady forever,' so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, 'I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children;' these two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one day, the loss of children and widowhood ; they shall come upon thee in their perfection, for the multitudes of thy services, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, 'None seeth me.' Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it has perverted thee ; and thou hast said in thine heart, 'I am, and none else beside me.' Therefore shall evil come upon thee; and thou shalt not know from whence it riseth ; and mischief shall fall upon thee ; thou shalt not be able to put it off; and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18:1-8. 171 of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth ; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou may est prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the as- trologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosti- cators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame.'' (Isa. 47 : 1-15.) Babylon burned Jerusalem and the temple of God, and her end is a conflagration, which leaves nothing of her. As the Lord said by Jeremiah, so it Cometh to pass : "I will render unto Babylon, and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea, all their evil that they have done in Zion.'' (Jer. 51 : 24.) The voice from the heaven says that her iniquities come into remembrance. So long a time had passed since the early wickednesses of Babylon that it might seem as if Jehovah had forgotten them, or never meant to recall them to mind ; but the last Babylon is but the final outgrowth of the same principles and spirit which animated the first, and is so interiorly identified with that same old apos- tasy that all the old oflences come forward again with the new, and help to inflame the final ven- geance; just as the full punishment of the sin of Israel respecting the golden calf is not yet over (Ex. 32 : 34), and as all the martyr blood of all the ages still cries to be further avenged. In connection with these final plagues upon Babylon the voice from heaven says : " Render to 172 '^^^ APOCALYPSE. her even as she rewarded^ and double [the'\ double ac- cording to her works ; in the cup which she mixed^ mix for her double ; insomuch as she glorified herself and was wa7itony to that proportion give to her torment and grief. ^' Some take this as a commission to the re- turning house of Israel, which is to become a cup of trembling and a burdensome stone to the people round about in connection with these events ; but I do not so understand it. Israel will at that time be so inclosed, and under the heel of the great beast, as to be quite disabled from such an office until Christ himself has gone forth to avenge them of their enemies. Besides, the final judg- ment upon Great Babylon is so miraculous and direct from heaven, that mere earthly agents have but little to do with it, if anything. There is also another and far mightier class of operators in the infliction of these great judgments. Angels are concerned, and the descended Son of God himself. But there are others in addition to these, and taking part with them in these administrations. Among the promises to the overcomers out of the seven churches, was one that they should have authority over the nations, and rule or judge them with a rod of iron, and break them to shivers as a vessel of pottery is dashed to pieces (Rev. 2 : 26, 27). Of old it was sung of the saints in glory, that, with the praises of God in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, they should exe- cute vengeance upon the nations, even punishments upon the people, to bind their kings w^ith chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18 : 1-8. J 73 upon them the judgment that is written. " This honor have all the saints/' (Ps. 149 : 5-9.) Paul reminded the Corinthians, as if indignant at their low ap- preciation of the Christian calling: '^ Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the ivorld f " (1 Cor. 6 : 2.) Of the mystic man-child caught up to God and to his throne, the record was that he should rule or shepherdize all the nations with a rod of iron. (Rev. 12:5.) When the Beast and the False Prophet, and their allied kings and armies perish at Harraageddon, the saint-armies of heaven, robed in fine linen, and riding on white horses, are those taking part in the terrible vengeance then to be executed. (Rev. 19 : 11-21.). And it would be strange, indeed, if in the rendition of final judgment upon Babylon, which sends a thrill of joy through all the holy universe, they were to have neither place nor part. To these, then, and to all the avenging powers of heaven, are we to consider this direction and commission to be ad- dressed. In the days of mercy and forbearance God is not strict to mark iniquity, or to punish it at once according to its deserts. There is much that he winks at and suffers to pass for the present. But it is all written in his book, and when the final recompense comes there is no more sparing. As the sinner has measured, so it will be measured to him again. It is an awful thought, but true, that by the ills and wrongs which people do on earth they are themselves setting the gauge or measure 274 THE APOCALYPSE. by which they are to have judgment dealt to them at the last. The language here might seem to imply that God meant to double up vengeance upon Babylon without proportion to her deservings ; but a more attentive consideration shows that such is not the case. God is always just, and the duplication and intensifying of the torment and grief still has a righteous rule underlying it. The judgment is to be double, and double double ; but it is to be " as she rewarded,'^ — ^^ according to her ivorks,'' — a cup of mixture such as she herself gave, doubled because her administration was only half of her iniquity. There mg,y be great self-sins, over and above the sins against rights and peace of others. And such are here charged against Baby Ion, even blasphemy, self- honor, self-security, wantonness, and the deification of wealth and luxury. For these, as well as for the cup of uncleanness and oppression given by her to others, the cup is doubled to her. Her real evilness is double, and she must drink her own cup double. She is herself double, being both a system of abom- inations, and a city of abominations; and what is visited upon the one is repeated or duplicated on the other. The result of all this is that Great Babylon will be blotted from the earth, " as in the day when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah," and so fulfil to the letter all that the old prophets have spoken. The symbolic act which Jeremia?i com- manded Seraiah to perform at Babylon to signify the utter extinction that was to come upon her LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18:1-8. 175 (Jer. 51 : 63, 64), John beholds repeated in a still more striking form : "J. mighty angel took uj) a stone, as a great millstone, and cast [if] into the sea, saying, Thus loiih a bound shall the great city Babylon be cast down, and shall not be found any more." When Jesus was upon the earth, he said : " Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a mill- stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." (Matt. 18 : 6.) But who or what is a greater stumbling- block to the believers in God, and to the faith of Jehovah's humble worshippers, than Great Baby- lon ! In every form in which she has existed, and through all the ages, in all the world, she has been holding up the golden cup of her abominations wherewith she has intoxicated and demented the nations, and filled the whole earth with spiritual madness. Therefore, to her neck the stone is hanged, and into the depths she is cast, descending with still increasing speed towards the seething abyss of everlasting fires. Babylon is a region full of bitumen. The mor- tar of its buildings from the beginning was not clay, but bituminous slime. All the earth around it is, therefore, full of inflammable material, as was the vale of Siddim before the conflagration of the cities of the plain, which was "full of slime-pits," so that when the fiery judgment of God de- scended, and it began to rain "brimstone and fire out of heaven,'' the thunderbolts ignited the oil- springs, and naphtha, and petroleum, and bitumi- voL. III. 69 176 THE APOCALYPSE. nous wells, till " all the land of the plain glowed and burned as a furnace," sinking as the burning went on, and swallowing up the doomed cities in a literal " lake of fire," which has left nothing but a dead sea and everlasting desolation where they stood. With corresponding conditions of the ground, and the ancient prophets assuring us that " the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah " (Is. 13:19; Jer. 49 : 18 ; 50 : 40), we may readily infer something of the nature of the fires amid which Great Babylon is to find her perdition. First is the drying up of her waters, as God said by the mouth of Jeremiah, '^I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry" (Jer. 51:36); then the consequent death-plague, mourning, and famine; and then the fires which run over her, and around her, and under her, feeding on the parched and pitchy ground, and sinking the whole region into a charred and igneous desolation, never again to be inhabited. Nimrod called it, '^ 'The Gate of God/' and lo, it proves the month of hell, where the unclean spirits throng, and the very filth of the universe finds its hold ! The world's greatest power was concentrated there, which all the kings of the earth were delighted to court and serve ; but "in one hour" all her greatness, might, and maj- esty, come to nought. She was a mart for the nations, enriching multitudes on land and sea, but in one day the harvest of her soul's desire is gone, and all her bright and dainty things perished, with no one left to buy or enjoy them any more. She LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18:1-8. 177 had " great riches/' and was " clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearl," but not a scrap or fragment of all her costliness and treasure is left. She was the very paradise of musicians, harp-singers, and flute-players, and trumpeters; for these are always a great feature and one of the chief glories of a rich, gay, luxurious, and worldly city ; but every note is silenced, and no voice of song, or dance, or opera, is ever heard there again. The finest artists and artisans of the world, of every order, had found there a very Golconda, but in one hour their glorious elysium is gone, and they and their works with it. It was the centre of the grandest and most noted of bridals, and the sublime resort of grand bridal tours, but with one stroke of heaven's judgment ever}^ sound of joy is hushed, " and the voice of bridegroom and bride " ceases to be heard there any more. When the curse upon Jerusalem was spoken, it was that "the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride," should cease from her streets (Jer. 7 : 34) ; but it was at the same time added that God would " restore the captivity of the land, as at the first," and that, in the place of the threatened desolation, there should yet again be " the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say. Praise the Lord of hosts ; for the Lord is good ; for his mercy endureth forever." (Jer. 33 : 10, 11.) But in the J78 'rHE APOCALYPSE. case of Great Babylon there is to be no recovery, no restoration. There shall be no remnant left to rebuild it, no workman to lift up tool to recon- struct it, no mills to sound there any more, no light of candle or token of joj'ous civilization to shine again amid its darkness; but it shall be "a habitation of demons, and ahold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated bird ;" and " it shall be no more inhabited forever, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation." (Jer. 50 : 39, 40.) So great a judgment argues gigantic crimes. Glance a moment then at these, that we may learn to stand in awe and " have no fellowship in her sins;" for it does not require that we should live in Babylon when she falls in order to be involved in her perdition. Every place is Babylon to them that have her spirit and exhibit her iniquities, and the same judgment awaits them. To the credit of Babylon's worldly greatness, but also as a marked ingredient of what procures her doom, it is said : *' Thy merchants were the great men of the earth.'' Most people would see no crime in that. What harm is there in buying and sell- ing and getting gain, and in making the weight of fortune felt according to its greatness?^ Noth- ing, indeed, if no wrong spirit is under it, and no wrong principles animate the accumulation, or control its management w4ien it is made. But, the son of Sirach hath truly said: *'As a nail sticketh fast between the joinings of stones, so doth sin stick close between buying and selling." LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18:1-8. ]79 jiEcclesiasticus 17 : 2.) And commerce is certainly mdicated as the chief vehicle, support, and em- bodiment of the great defiling wickedness of the last days. In the bushel measure, and under the weighing talent, sits the Woman whom the angel says is Wickedness. Nor should it be thought strange that commerce, and the machinery con- nected therewith, should supply the formative principles of a great and godless apostasy. Is there a prominent country now on earth in which commerce does not rule, or where things are not all being determined by commercial principles, ideas, and interests ? •' Have we heard nothing respecting the wondrous results expected from commerce in making nations happy, in bringing men together in ties of amity and brotherhood, in developing the resources of the earth, in making nations conscious of their mutual dependence on each other, and so effecting, by the suggestions of self-interest, a result which the Gospel (it is said) has failed to accomplish. These and such like sayings are continually being sounded in our ears. I^OY can we say that they are altogether untrue, or that there is no wisdom in them." (B. W. New- ton.) But who that looks with an attentive eye but can see in it the coming forth of a wisdom which is not from above, but which savors of him who said to Jesus, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Commerce is not necessarily sinful. Exchange on just and right principles may be a thing of beneficence and good, involving nothing against God or his truth. 280 THE APOCALYPSE. But the teudeucy is otherwise. The disposition is to concentration and consolidation on selfish prin- ciples for selfish ends. The struggle is continually more and more to monopolize, to crush out rivalry and competition, and to enter into world-wide combinations to seize first one interest and then another, till everything is finally swallowed up in one great centralized aristocracy of unbounded wealth, to which all the kings and governments on the earth must truckle. In our day an associa- tion of merchants has commanded the riches of the Indian seas, dragged along with it the armies and legislation of England to eft'ect its ends, and enriched itself at the sacrifice of innocent blood, national treasure, and every honorable principle, whilst the good Queen Victoria, helpless in its hands, must submit in royal gratitude to bear for it the title of the Empress of India ! The eloquence of a Burke, in sentences which shall never die, has given a tongue to a few of the abominations which have accompanied those administrations; but not a moiety of them has been told, as the}^ have added stain upon stain to the escutcheon of England, and dishonored the whole Anglo-Saxon race. This is but one instance, and one belonging to the baby- hood of these great commercial combinations; what then may we not expect when these priv- ileged associations, which control the local ex* changes, money markets, and commercial affairs of the nations, have fully consolidated, and a great, united, money aristocracy, takes command of the commerce of the world ? These would indeed be LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18:1-8. l^J " the great men of the earth," and their rule would be the rule of the earth. But what sort of a rule would it necessarily be? Would it be God's kingdom come, and God's will done, on earth as it is in heaven? So the argu- ments and oratory of the priests of that interest would seem to say. But, is it so? Can it possibly be so ? Look at the root-principle of these com- mercial compacts. Co-eqaality of man with man is to them the greatest absurdity. What right, or place, or standing, can a man who has no money have in them ? Wealth is the only ticket of ad- mission, and for that all seats are absolutely re- served. But who would ever think of going among these money-lords and bourse-kings to find saints of God! There are some rich men from whose hearts the Holy Ghost has not been choked out; but " how hardly shall they that have riches enter the kingdom of God? It is easier for a camel to go through the needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kindom of God." (Mark 10 : 23-25.) It has become an axiom that " corporations have no souls," and upon this all great moneyed corporations act, though the men who constitute them will find out a difierent doc- trine when they come to the day of judgment. And when it comes to these great and ever mag- nifying commercial compacts and interests, there is not a law of God or man which is not compelled to yield if found in the way. Protestant and Papist, Pagan and Jew, Mohammedan and Infidel, believer and unbeliever, Bible, Talmud, Vedas, 132 THE APOCALYPSE. Shasters, Koran, and Book of Mormon, are all alike, and stand in these organizations on one and the same footing, provided only that there is power of wealth to aid and direct the one great scramble for the world's trade and riches. If the question were ever pressed in these circles. What is truth? it would be hooted and laughed to scorn. The cry would be, " What have we to do with that ? Let every one quietly enjoy his own opinions. Give each a share, not only in the protection of the government, but in its fostering and sustaining care, for the office of government is to minister for the governed, not to concern itself with the laws and revelations of God.'' Accordingly, also, the greatest mercantile government on earth, Eng- land, Protestant England, which claims to main- tain the only true church, and hails all her sover- eigns as " Defenders of the Faith," at the dictation and demand of secular and commercial interests makes her appropriations to Romish institutions, salaries Roman priests and professors, advances Jews to her highest offices, expends her blood and treasure to sustain the tottering existence of the deadly curse of Mohammedan dominion, pensions Brahmin nobles, and pays and pampers Pagan priests. And such is the tendency and bearing of legislation in general, and from the same causes. Governments are in the hands of commerce and the money-kings; and commerce knows no God but gold, and no law but self-interest and worldly gain. Church is nothing, State is nothing, creed is nothing, Bible is nothing, Sunday is nothing, LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18:1-8. IS'3 religious scruples are nothing, conscience is nothing, everything is practically nothing, except as it can be turned or used to the one great end of accumulation and wealth. To make common cause with all classes of men, to honor Moham- medan festivals and Jewish rites alike with those commanded by the one only rightful King of the world, to pay Hindoo and Romish priests, to en- dow their seminaries, and to give aid and comfort to their idolatries alike with all Christian institutes, — which is now not only being done, but advocated and defended on the ground that this is the only rightful sphere of government, and these the only principles on which the true progress of humanity depends, — is already the incipient dethronement of all positive truth, the turning of it into a lie, or into a mere ideal thing without claims upon the human soul; the systematic inauguration of a lati- tudinarian infidelity, removing human society into many degrees of greater distance from God than ever it has been in all the ages. And when once the earth has come to acknowledge the represent- atives and embodiments of such a s^^stem of ideas and rule as its true and only ''great men,'' there lies couched in this one simple statement a whole world of iniquitous apostasy, which well deserves the doom which makes an end of Great Babylon. Yes, commerce will yet have an account to settle, at which the world shall shake. Another ingredient in the cup of Babylon's doom, is her bewitching sorcery, by which she leads all the nations astray. Some understand by 184 THE APOCALYPSE. this that she is to be the great patron and head centre of spiritism and necromancy. Magicians constituted an integral part of the state officials there in Daniel's time, and it is quite likely that a goodly share of her wisdom, and policy, and in- fluence, will come from familiar intercourse with demons and their unclean teachings. But it does not seem to me that this touches the nerve of what is here called her sorcery. The great preponder- ating idea which runs through the whole descrip- tion, is that of commercial greatness, success, and power; and the potent and contaminating sorcery must be something which is naturally construable with this, — some bewitching attractiveness going along with a mercantile system, and drawing after it the admiration and sympathy of the world. Meretricious allurement, gathering around it the homage of governments and kings, is the idea. And it is in Great Babylon's management to en- noble her chief aims and spirit that we are to find her witchery. It is hardly possible to separate traffic, and especi- ally great commercial combinations and schemes, from covetousiiess, which is idolatry. But naked covetousness is not attractive. Even the natural heart is repelled by it, and is ready to condemn and denounce it. When the possession of wealth is made the final end, when it is treasured in the coffer and not expended, or when means disrepu- table are adopted for its attainment, the pursuit of riches is regarded with disdain. The acquisition, under such circumstances, is connected with what LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18 : 1-8. I35 is 80 repulsive to pride, and taste, and respectabil- ities which hold in approved society, that it meets ou\y with frowns and disfavor. To array it in hon- orable garb, to dignify it, to make it appear good and praiseworthy, so that men may love, bless, and follow it as something noble and beneficent, — this is what calls for the magician's wand and the wizard's power. And here it is that Great Baby- lon's delusive witchery comes in. If a godless and unscrupulous commerce can be made to ap- pear as the great and only availing civilizer, if it can show its end to be, not only the welfare of in- dividuals, but the prosperit}' of nations and peo- ples; if its office is the development of the re- sources of the whole earth, and for that end visits every land and traverses every sea ; if it is really the great stimulant to intellectual effort, the helper of science, the procurer and disseminator of all useful wisdom and intelligence, the rewarder of inventive genius and engineering skill, the self- sacrificing handmaid of all social, moral, and legis- lative improvement; if it is not the mere posses- sion of wealth for its own sake, but to secure the beneficent power, and influence and glory to result from its wise and proper employment that makes up the end and aim of its endeavors, then will the ugliness of avarice be voided, bitter will have been made sweet, and all attendant deflections from right and truth swallowed up in the grandeur, and beauty, and beneficences of its purposes. The demon of covetousness would then have become an angel of light. A halo of glory would encircle 186 THE APCC ALYPSE. its head. Nations would bail its undertakings, admire its enterprise, and praise its wonderful benignity. The arts and the sciences, the muse- ums and the universities, would lay their chaplets at its feet. Kings and governments would cheer- fully become its nurses and patrons. Religions would be glad to bestow upon it their prayers and benedictions. The apostles and prophets of this world's progress would clap their hands and shout over its success. And myriads would celebrate its triumph as the ushering in of the long-dreamed millennium. And here is the sorcery with which Great Baby- lon leads all the nations astray. Linking the false doctrines of human progress and perfectibility to the worst of passions, she lures the world to her sup- port, and makes mankind the willing slave of her base idolatry. And already, from pulpit and plat- form, from philosopher and political economist, from orator and poet, are we compelled to hear just these very glorifications of the cupidities of man as the forerunner, if not the instrument, of this world's regeneration. Alas, for such philos- ophy and such hopes ! What estimate God puts upon them may be learned from what he has re- vealed of the doom of Babylon. It is sorcery^ the penalty for which is death. (Ex. 22 : 18.) I can mention now but one more particular in the count of Great Babylon's sins, and that is her presumptuous self-glorification, conceit, and arro- gance. She has no rights of kingdom from God or man, and yet she presumes to bear rule over all LECTURE XL. CHAP. 18:1-8. ^37 the kings of the earth, to dictate their policies, to fashion their laws, and to be their protector and redeemer. She acknowledges no God, no Christ, no Holy Ghost, and yet proposes to do for the world what she assumes to be beyond the power of the institutes and administrations of heaven. She makes no claims to sacred prophecy, acknowl- edges no sacred books, and glories in being en- tirely secular in her sphere and aims, and yet pre- sumes to teach the nations the ways and means of their highest prosperity and redemption, and to realize for them their sublimest peace and good. She is but human in her derivation, her principles and her power, and purely earthly in her depend- ence, her treasures, and her glory; yet she pre- sumes to think herself invincible, immortal, and forever sufficient in her own possessions against all adversity. " She saith in her hearty I sit a queen, and am. not a widow, and shall see no m.ourning." She thus exalts herself over the Church of God, in which all that is divine on earth resides, and where the preaching has ever been about divine sonship, and kinghood, and a glorious kingdom, but to which no dominion has ever come. The saints ar^ to reign ; but while the Devil reigns their kingdom is in abeyance, and Babylon taunts them and con- gratulates herself with having in reality what they have only in empty promise. They do not reign; she sits a queen. While Christ is away the Church is in widowhood; her husband is absent. All her hope is in his return. Babylon boasts that she ex- periences no such privation. She is no widow. 188 THE APOCALYPSE. Her lovers are plenteous. Her joy is full. She claims to have in fruition what the Church has in mere expectation. The people of God have per- petual sorrow and trial on earth. Like their Lord, they are poor, despised, persecuted, with scarce a place to lay their heads in peace from their ene- mies. Great Babylon glories in being far above a condition so mean, or vicissitudes so afflicting. She is rich; she is mighty; she hath all her nec- essary goods secure; she is not the one to see mourning. Thus she vaunts, professes, and glori- fies herself. Though the world from the begin- ning is crowded with monuments of the wrath of heaven upon every such spirit, and though through all the long gallery of ages the voice comes echo- ing down, " They thai walk in pride God is able to abase,'' she heeds not the lesson, and defies all judgment. Hence Jehovah writes it once more in larger letters, drawn with the black cinders of her own eternal desolation, that all the universe may read and tremble. Friends, let us learn the lesson. It is to this end that all these things have been written. Partici- pation in Great Babylon's sins must needs bring Great Babylon's doom, be the offender who or where he may. And to but little avail will we have considered this subject if it does not serve to imprint upon our souls at least this one eternal truth of God, that '''whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be ex- alted:' (Luke 14 : 11.) LECTURE FORTY-FIRST. SEQUENCES OF THE FALL OF BABYLON — THE WAILS OP ROY- ALTY— THE WAILS OF THE MERCHANTS — THE WAILS OF OTHER CLASSES — HEAVEN'S GLADNESS — THE SAINTS, APOSTLES, AND PROPHETS AVENGED — THE DOUBLE HAL- LELUIA — THE AMEN — FURTHER ITEMS OF THE JOY — THE TAKING OF THE KINDOM — BLESSEDNESS OF THE RULE OF GOD. Rev. 18 : 9-24. (Revised Text.) And shall wail and mourn over her the kings of the earth, who committed fornication with her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off through the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas (woe, woe), the great city Babylon, the mighty city ! because in one hour came thy judgment. And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her because no one buyeth their merchandise [or ship' s- freight] any more, — mer- chandise of gold, and of silver, and of precious stone, and of pearl, and of fine linen, and of purple, and of silk, and of scarlet, and all thyne [or citron] wood, and every article of ivory, and every article of most costly wood, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble ; and cin- namon, and amomum, and odors, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine meal, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep ; and [merchandise] of horses, and of chariots, and of bodies and souls of men. And thy harvest of the soul's desire has departed from thee, and all dainty things and bright things have perished from thee, and they shall not find them any more. The merchants of these things, who were made rich from her, shall stand afar off through the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, Alas, alas (woe, woe), the great city which was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearl, because in one hour such great riches hath been desolated. And every shipmaster, and every one who goeth by sea, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What is like to the great city ! And they cast heaped- up earth upon their heads, and cried out, (189) 190 THE APOCALYPSE. weeping and mourning, saying, Alas, alas (woe, woe), the great city by which all who had ships in the sea were made rich from her costli- ness [or treasures], because in one hour she hath been desolated ! Rejoice over her, 0 heaven, and saints, and apostles, and prophets, because God hath judged your judgment out of her. And one, a mighty angel, took up a stone, as a great millstone, and cast [it] into the sea, saying, Thus with a bound shall the great city Babylon be cast down, and shall not be found any more. And the sound of harpers, and musicians, and flute-players, and trumpeters shall not be heard in thee any more, and every artisan of every art shall not be found in thee any more ; and sound of the millstone shall not be heard in thee any more ; and light of a candle shall not shine in thee any more; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in thee any more ; because thy merchants were the great men of the earth ; because by thy sorcery all the nations were led astray. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth. Rev. 19 : 1-6. (Revised Text.) After these things I heard as a great voice of much multitude in the heaven, saying, Alleluia, the salvation, and the glory, and the power, of our God, because true and righteous bis judgments, because he judged the great harlot that corrupted the earth with her fornication, and avenged the blood of his servants out of her hand. And a second time they say, Alleluia ; and her smoke goeth up for the ages of the ages. And the twenty-four Elders and the four Living Ones fell down and worshipped the God, the sitter upon the throne, saying, Amen, Al- leluia. And a voice came out from the throne, saying. Praise our God all his servants, those that fear him, the small and the great. And I heard as a voice of much multitude, and as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia, because the Lord God the All-Ruler hath assumed the kingdom. npHE fall of Great Babylon is one of the most -■- marvellous events of time. More is said about it in the Scriptures than perhaps any one great secular occurrence. And when it comes to pass the whole universe is thrilled at the sight. But the emotions are not all of the same kind. LECTURS XLI. CHAPS. 18 : 9 -24 ; 19 : ] -6. ^91 Two worlds are concerned, and in nothing are they more sharply in contrast than in the manner in which they are respectively affected by the dread- ful catastrophe. Great Babylon does not mean the world, as some have erroneously supposed; for there is still a world of unsanctified people left to mourn and lament over her after she is no more. And great is the lamentation and terror which her destruction calls forth. Let us look at it for a mo- ment and see to what sudden disappointment and helplessness the schemes of human progress and development are leading. Just when the wisdom, and reforms, and utilitarian philosophies of apos- tate man have ^vrought themselves out, and their glorious fruits are being realized, the strong hand of judgment strikes, and all is confounded and blasted in an hour. And the terribleness of the disaster may be read from the lamentation which ensues. First of all the apostolic Seer hears the wail- ings of royalty and dominion. " The kings of the earth wail and mourn." They were all in close affinity with Babylon. They had lent themselves to her bewitching schemes and policy. They were enamoured with the enriching and glorifjdng power of her greatness. They had given their influence and favors to her, and consented to be the willing ministers to her wantonness. She was their par- ticular love, in whom was their chief delight, and on whom they were glad to lavish their treasures. And when she falls, the main artery of earth's glory is cut, and every government feels its life- voL. III. 70 292 ^HE APOCALYPSE. blood ebbing away. They contemplate the smoke of her burning with horror. They stand afar off in dread of her torment, alarmed and terrified at the consequences of her ruin. They leaned upon her mightiness, but the strong staff is now stricken from their hands. The mightier power of judg- ment is before them, and they tremble before its disastrous strokes. They show no penitence, but Alas, alas, — woe, looe, — is the note of outcry from every capital when it is seen and known that Babylon is no more. IN'ext come ** the merchants of the earth," full of tears and grief over the sudden collapse of their enriching trade. It was promised that the wand of the sorceress would give prosperity to nations, and that as commerce ruled all people would be blest by its administrations; and a great tidal wave of mercantile thrift and glory is indi- cated as having come over the world by this grand unification. There never was so great a market or so brisk a trade as that which grows up with the revival and restoration of Babylon. The whole world becomes alive with trafilc in " merchandise of gold, and of silver, and of precio.us stone, and of pearl, and of fine linen, and of purple, and of silk, and of scarlet, and all thyne or citron wood, and every article of ivory, and every article of most costly wood, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble; and cinnamon, and amonium [a precious preparation from an Asiatic shrub], and odors, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine meal, and wheat, and cattle, and LECTURE XLI. CHAPS. 18 ; 9-24; 19 : 1-6. 193 sheep ; and merchandise of horses, and of chariots, and of bodies and souls of men." Never before was there such a demand for these things, and for all things dainty and goodly, as when the house of the Ephah is built in the land of Shinar, and that Ephah is settled there upon its own base. " The merchants of these things " the world over never before experienced so great a harvest, and double up riches on riches with a rapidity which seems like miracle. Everything looks like secure and perfect triumph for earth's wisdom and inven- tions. Bat all at once this mighty commerce stops, and all its wheels stand still. The mercantile circles of the whole earth are stricken with con- sternation. Every counting-room becomes a place of mourning. The great traders all weep and mourn, not so much for Babylon's sufferings, for man's sympathy for man shall then have been eaten away by the common sordidness ; nor yet for their great sins, for the day of repentance is then over for them. The centre of their distress is that their market is gone, that " no one buyeth their merchandise any more," that " in one hour such great riches hath been desolated," that the scorching of the great city's torment reaches them even at the remotest distances. Alas, alas, — woe, woe, — is the cry that comes from all their ware- houses and homes. But there is a third and still larger class of mourners. Great firms have more employes than heads, and very many are dependent on them for occupation and livelihood. Shipmasters, and sea- 194 THE APOCALYPSE. goers, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, with all their helpers and crews, also have their harvest out of this great and enriching Babylonian traffic. And these still more sorely feel the ca- lamity of its sudden interruption. Therefore, from them also comes the cry of lamentation when they behold the smoke of Babylon's burning. And so bitter is the realization of the calamity to them, that " they cast heaped-up earth upon their heads and cry out, weeping and mourning, saying, Alas, alas, — woe, woe, — the great city by which all who had ships in the sea were made rich from her costly treasures !" Thus, from every throne on earth, and from every power behind the throne, from every seat of trade, and every city, — from every continent, every island, every sea, and every ship that plies upon the sea, — comes forth the voice of woe and irremediable dis- aster. It is a triple voice, each part of which is double. It is the evil six complete. It is the in- consolable lament of all the potencies and activ- ities of earth, exhibiting another star in the crown of this world's wisdom and progress. But whilst the chorus of lamentation, disap- pointment, and terror is upon the earth, a grand jubilation fills the sky. As this world's great ones, and rich ones, and dependent ones cry Woe, woe, over Great Babylon's fall, all the peoples on high pour out their mightiest Halleluias. No sooner has the harlot city gone down amid her judgment fires, than a voice springs up spontaneous over all the holy universe : " Rejoice over her, 0 heaven, and LECTUKE XLI. CHAPS. 18:9-24- 19:1 195 saints, and apostles, and proj^heis, because God hath judged your judgment out of her.'' For all the ages had God's messengers and people been protesting, prophesying, and declaim- ing against these worldly philosophies, systems, hopes, and spirit. It lies in the very nature and essence of the profession of all saints to '^re- nounce the Devil and all his works, the vanities of the world, and the sinful desires of the flesh." ISTo one in any age can have place among God's holy ones without this. As J^oah by his faith, so the children of God in all time, by the very act of becoming God's children, "condemn the world," and give judgment against its wisdom, its prin- ciples, its spirit, and its hopes. So, too, all the teachings of the apostles, all the holy messages of the prophets, and all the sermons of God's faithful ministers the world over. What, indeed, has been the great controversy ever since the race begun, but that between revelation and the sensual wis- dom, between the system of God's salvation and that which men propose to work out for them- selves, between the bringing up of the world on principles of human progress and the only redemp- tion through faith in Christ Jesus? And between these two there is an inherent, irreconcilable, and eternal antagonism. That which makes and marks the saints, the apostles, and the prophets, is at perpetual variance with what characterizes and animates all the rest of the world, condemns It, and ever pronounces and prophesies against It. Thus far, however, as respects this world, 296 THE APOCALYPSE. the saints, apostles, and prophets have had the worst of it. Always in the minority, the world at large has never listened to them, never agreed with them, never consented to accept their sys- tem, never sympathized with their hopes, never respected their profession. They depreciate its interests too much. They are too severe on its principles. They are in the way of its lib- erties. They would draw a cowl over its joys. They would disable its beneficent progress. They are pessimists, who shut off all blessed outcome from its philosophies and efforts touching the amelioration of the condition of the race. In a word, they are intolerable to the world, a poor croaking set, fit only to be killed off by the hand of power where they are too persistent and loud, and unfit at best to receive respectful attention. If the world can find a Balaam, ready to compro- mise himself for gold, to bless it for a price, and to speak God's benediction on its lusts and pas- sions, him it will honor, and to him will Balak's nobles come; but for the Elijahs, Isaiahs, Jere- miahs, Peters, and Pauls, their fate has ever been to be mocked, scourged, imprisoned, stoned, sawn asunder, slain with the sword, nailed to the cross, thrown to wild beasts, or compelled to seek asylum in deserts, mountains, and dens and caves of the earth, being destitute, tormented, afflicted, because they condemn the godless world, its Ahabs, its Jeze- bels, its Herods, and its sins. Compared with the great mass of mankind, the true Church has always been a " little flock," toiling with difiiculties, oppo- LECTURE XLI. CHAPS. 18:9-24; 19:1-6. ^97 8ition,and hatred, and never able to make effective headway against the powers holding sway over the race. Now and then the course of history seemed on the point of justifying her principles and pro- fession, but then came internal defections, setting her back again, and almost extinguishing her being. And so it will be unto the end. So far as this present world is concerned, the general verdict of mankind, sustained by the great current of human history for 6000 years, is against the faith and testimonies of the saints, apostles, and prophets of God. To the general population of the earth their profession stands branded as mere hallucination and lies. But at last their vindica- tion comes. When the vaunted wisdom, and progress, and experiments of unregenerate man are consummated, and there is nothing to show from it but a valley of burning cinders and deso- lation, with the whole earth from highest kings to meanest subjects howling in helpless lamentations, terror, and despair, history will have added its seal to all that saints, apostles, and prophets have said and maintained. Then will their judgment have been judged out of that world which de- spised and persecuted them, and spurned their hated pessimism for more flattering philosophies. Then will their renunciation of this world and its delusive hopes be justified by the ruin of its most cherished greatness. Then will the false verdict under which they have lain and suffered for sixty centuries be reversed in the living facts, of which they never ceased to tell and prophesy. Now they 198 THE APOCALYPSE. have sorrow, and can only weep and lament, whilst the world rejoices and sets them at naught; but then the sorrow and joy will exchange places, and the sorrow of the one be turned to joy, and the joy of the other to enduring lamentation. It is in answer to this call for heaven, saints, apostles, and prophets to rejoice, that the sublime outbursts described in this chapter occur. John listens and looks, and sounds fall on his ears, and sights pass before his eyes, which stir and affect him more deeply than anything he yet had seen or heard since the first vision. First of all he hears " a great voice of much multitude in heaven, saying, Alleluia J^ Here, for the first time in the New Testament, we come upon one of the most admirable words of praise ever made known on earth. It is the same that occurs so often in the most exultant of the Hebrew Psalms. Anselm, of Canterbury, con- siders it an angelic word, which cannot be fully reproduced in any language of man, and concurs with Augustine that the feeling and saying of it embodies all the blessedness of heaven. The Apocrypha (Tobit 13 : 21) gives it as among the great glories of the New Jerusalem that all the streets shall say. Alleluia, And this word John hears sounding from the sky. Loud as from numbers without number, Sweet as from blest voices uttering joy. It is one of the very highest acknowledgments and celebrations of Grod. Where it is understand- ingly sung there is at once the profoundest adorft- LECTURE XL I. CHAPS. 18:9-24; 19:1-6. ^99 tion and the most exultant joy. And this is the feeling and experience in the heaven when the proud system of this world's apostate wisdom and glory falls. We are not told precisely from whom this voice comes. It may be from the souls under the altar who waited so long to be avenged. It may be from that multitude which no man could number who come out of the great tribulation. It may be, but not so likely, from the host of holy angels who had been ministering for all these ages for what is then being realized. It may be from the 144,000 remembering the terribleness of the Antichristian severities they suflered, whose acclaim is else- where compared to mighty thunder (chap. 14 : 2). But whoever the particular parties may be, it is the voice of a multitudinous company of people in the heaven, and it is the voice of exultant ado- ration, celebrating ^' the salvation, and the glory, arid the power of our God,^' Thus, what the kings, mer- chants, and shippers on earth mourn and lament as destruction, is celebrated in heaven as divine " salvation." What is considered nothing but woe here is praised as divine glory there. And what is here regarded as the unmaking of all that earth called mighty is sung there as the very triumph of divine goodness. Heaven's estimate of things is widely different from that entertained by this world. The object of earth's fondest love and delight is the object of God's intensest wrath. That which men most work for, and most fondly serve, is that which God most severely judges. 200 ^^^ APOCALYPSE. And that which the great ones most deplore is the very thing which evokes the sublimest heavenly Halleluias. The destruction of Great Babylon is an illus- trious exhibition of the truth and righteousness of the divine administrations. Often it would seem as if God had forgotten his word, or quite abandoned the earth, so great is the prosperity of the wicked, the triumph of injustice, the wrongs and afflictions which those who most honor him suffer. But it is not so. He is true. His ways are just. Everything will come out fully equal- ized at the last. And here is a signal demonstra- tion of the fact. The godless wisdom and pride of men are left to work themselves out to the full, but when the harvest is ripe the sweep of the sharp sickle of judgment comes against it and it suddenly falls, and all its just deservings it gets. The harlot has her day; but then comes her night, with never a star of hope to rise upon her any more. She is permitted to lure, delude, and debauch the world, because men preferred her abominations to the truth and kingdom of God; but only that her judgment may be the more conspicuous, and her destruction the more signal and complete. And the Halleluia of eternity is all the louder and more intense because her judgment comes as it does. Ah, yes, God's ways are right; his judgments are true and righteous. Perplexing and trying as they may be for the time, our Halleluias will be all the deeper and the sweeter by reason of what we may now deplore. Nay, they will be double then, by LECTURE XLI. CHAPS. 18 ; 9-24; 19;l-6. £01 reason of the darkness now; for ''a second time they say, Alleluia." And what the unnamed heavenly multitude so exultantly express, the twenty-four Elders and the four Living Ones equally feel and indorse. They even prostrate themselves in profoundest adora- tion, and " worship the God, the sitter upon the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia." And here we meet with another of those pecu- liarly sacred and expressive words, reasonably sup- posed to have had their origin in heaven. From our first meeting with it in the Scriptures (J^umb. 5: 22) to the concluding word of this Book, we find it used as the special word of holy acquiescence and sacred ratification. It was constantly on the lips of the Saviour in his most solemn enuncia- tions. It is the sealing word to all the Gospels and Epistles. It is not an oath, yet it has much of the solemnity and force of an oath. It contains no adjuration or appeal, yet it authenticates, con- firms, binds, seals, and pledges to the truth of that to which it is affixed. It is not an imprecation upon him who utters it, but it is a tying up and giving over of his whole being and life to what he thus acknowledges and confirms. When placed at the end of an utterance or act of devotion, as placed by the Saviour at the end of the prayer he propounded as our model and form, it has the office of an underwriting or subscription, carry- ing the hearty consent and confidence of the wor- shipper with what has gone before. It is the word of fervency and soul-earnestness by which every 202 THE APOCALYPSE. utterance is grasped up again, and renewedlj laid before God, as the full and ardent desire of our hearts, and as that which our souls most feel and most sacredly rest in. And so it is in the case now before us. The Elders and the Living Ones hear the triumphant celebration of the salvation, and the glory, and the power of our God, as sounded forth in the great voice of the much mul- titude, and feel the convictions and emotions of their own souls so completely expressed that they adoringly bow down and sacredly make it their own. All heaven is of one mind and of one soul. Therefore the self-prostrated Elders and Living Ones answer the Halleluias of the unnamed host with a third Ualleluia, prefaced with the Amen^ which makes the other two theirs also. But this triple utterance of exultant praise and celebration of the salvation, glory, and power of our God, is still further urged on by a voice that comes out from the throne itself, saying, '' Praise our God, all his servants, those that fear him, the small and the greats We are not told whose voice this is. Some take it as the voice of Christ, who is elsewhere said to be "in the midst of the throne." (7: 17.) If it is his voice, he thus recognizes the Father as his God, as he did in the days of his earthly life, and at the same time owns all the glorified as his associates. But whether it is Christ's voice or not, it is the voice of the throne, a voice having author- ity to command and lead off in further exultation for the marvellous things then being accomplished. LECTURE XL I. CHAPS. 18:9-24; 19:1-6, 203 I^or is it unlikely that the Saviour himself leads in the praise enjoined. So the promise runs in Psalm xxii: "I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation ; / will 'pay my vows before them that fear him..^' The subject of the praise here called for seems to look two ways, embracing the judgment just executed, and new glories about to be realized, of which that judgment is the pledge and inaugura- tion. The voice which gave the first and second Halleluias was the voice of a vast heavenly multi- tude. The Amen and third Halleluia were from the Elders and the Living Ones. These all centre in the display of divine truth, justice, and almighti- ness in the judgment of Great Babylon, and the avenging of the blood of the saints out of her hand. If there be any other servants and fearers of God, great or small, they are also called to join in the exulting praises for the same. But as re- sponse comes to this admonition from the throne, the songs take in other subjects, and seem to em- brace all that is described in the latter part of the chapter. The Halleluia which now comes with re- doubled power and majesty celebrates the assump- tion of the kingdom by the Lord God, which would seem to imply that the victory in the battle of the great day is included. The marriage of the Lamb, the readiness and array of the Bride, and the bless- edness of those who are called to the marriage ban- quet are likewise recounted, which can hardly be 2Q4 ^^^ APOCALYPSE. taken as coincident with the fall of Babylon. A point would, therefore, seem to be indicated in this call, from which the contemplation is both backward to Babylon's overthrow and forward to the fall of the Beast, and the contemplation of the Church's blessedness in her Lord ; the main stress gravitating now toward what follows the judgment on Babylon. No sooner does the voice from the throne give command for praise than John " heard as a voice of much multitude, and as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of mighty thunders, saying. Alleluia, because the Lord God the All- Ruler hath assumed the kingdom.'^ This is a mightier Halleluia than either of the preceding. It refers also to an ampler sub- ject. The judgment of Great Babylon demon- strated, indeed, that God is mighty, and that he is the All-Ruler. It also showed a potent taking up and enforcement of his sovereign and righteous authority. But what was thus shown in one aspect and relation is at once followed out to a much wider and more direct assumption of active rule and sovereignty. When the seventh trumpet was sounded a great voice anticipatively exclaimed : " The kingdom of the world [not kingdoms, as some versions and unsupported copies read, but i] ^affdsia TOO xofffjMu, as all the great manuscripts have it, rendered by Wickliffe, the Eheims version, the old Yulgate, and the still older Syriac, the kingdom, of the ivorld], is become our Lord^s and his ChrisfsJ' The kingdom of the world means the political sovereignty of the world, the rulership of the world, the kingly dominion or government of the LECTURE XLI. CHAPS. 18:9-24; 19; 1-6. 206 world, the same which is now exercised by the po- tentates and authorities of the earth. And this kingdom of the world, this sovereignty, this rule, this power of making and enforcing the laws reg- ulating human society, the great voice said was then about to pass into the hands of the Lord. It does not mean the leavening of existiug govern- ments with Christian principles, the spiritual con- version of countries and empires, leaving them in existence, and simply Christianizing them so as to exhibit something of Christ's spirit in their admin- istrations; but the total displacement of all this world's sovereigns and governments, the taking of all dominion and authority out of their hands, and the putting of it in the hands of Christ, as the true and only King of the world. And the actual assumption of this rulership of the earth in the place and stead of existing governments and lord- ships is what the song of praise to God here so mightily celebrates. "As a voice of much multi- tude, as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of mighty thunders," comes forth the grand ^'Alle- luia, because the Lord God, the All-Ruler, hath assumed the kingdom;'' that is, has himself entered upon the actual administration of the sovereignty and government of the world. The fall of Great Babylon heralds and begins the political regeneration of the earth. And well may the tide of holy exultation swell to its sublimest height over such an actuality. What is the crown and consummation of that prayer which the Lord Jesus put upon the lips and into 206 THE APOCALYPSE. the hearts of all his followers when he said, pray, " 7% kingdom comeP^ Does it mean no more than that our own hearts may be thoroughly subdued to our Maker, purged of idolatry and lust, puri- fied by the Holy Ghost, and tilled with all pure- ness, heavenly knowledge, devotion, obedience, and grace? That might be, and yet the earth be crushed with misrule, tyranny, corruption, and oppression. Does it mean simply that the Church may be ever dear and faithful to God, its ministers multiplied, its membership increased, its Scrip- tures distributed, its faith kept pure, its sacraments observed, its defections healed, its weaknesses re- moved, its success augmented, and all its members blessed with all spiritual riches in Christ Jesus ? That might all be and the world still be to her a valley of Baca, a Bochim, a wilderness of sorrow and hardship. Does it mean only the removal of what hinders the preaching and belief of the Gospel, or the progress of faith and piety in the individual and in the world ? That might also be and still God's kingdom be no nearer than it is at present. When Isaiah prophesied of Christ, he said: " The government shall be upon his shoulder; of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and justice." (Is. 9:6,7.) When the Holy Ghost explained the meaning of the all- crushing stone in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which broke to atoms the whole statue of worldly power and dominion, took its place, and tilled the whole LECTURE XLI. CHAPS. 18 : 9-24; 19 ; 1-6. 207 earth, the word was, This is the kingdom which the God of heaven shall set up, which shall break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. (Dan.3 : 32-45.) When Daniel was beholding till " the judgment was set and the books opened," he saw in the night visions, like to the Son of Man, brought bsfore the Ancient of days, "and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all ppople, nations, and languages should serve him," even "the kingdom, and dominion, ayid the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven;' " an everlasting kingdom:' (Dan. 7.) When Gabriel announced to Mary the child to be born of her, he said: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 1 : 26-33.) When he himself was among men, because some " thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear," he spake a parable, and said that the matter is as a nobleman going " into a far country to receive fur himself a kingdom, and to return," meanwhile intrusting to his servants certain possessions with which to trade and occupy till he should come. (Luke 19 : 11-13.) And so again he said : " When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit in the throne of his glory " (Matt. 25 : 31.) All these and many like passages treat of that very kingdom, for the coming of which all are commanded to pray. JSTor can they VOL. m. 71 208 THE APOCALYPSE. be explained according to their plain and pointed terms without taking in the coming again of Christ to reckon with his servants, to take the rule out of the hands of those who have usurped do- minion over the earth, to dethrone Satan and all his agents, and to reign from sea to sea, the only rightful King of the world. And thus, when Great Babylon falls, it will be God's kingdom come, as it never yet has come, and the burden of the prayer of all these weary ages answered. This assumption of the rule of the world will likewise bring with it the great desideratum of the race. When Adam was in Eden God was king. In the days of Israel's greatest triumph it was the same. And until the original Theocracy is restored, and the powers of heaven again take the rulership and control of the nations, there is no peace, no right order for man. There is no earthly blessing like that of good, wise, and righteous government: but there is no such gov- ernment outside of the government of the Father and the Son. Some are better than others, but none are satisfactory. Men have experimented with power for 6000 years, and yet there is no de- partment in which there is more disability, cor- ruption, and unsatisfactoriness than in the admin- istrations of government. There is nothing of which all people so much complain, or have so much cause to complain, as of the manner in which their political affairs are managed and ad- ministered. Those who live on government pa- tronage and plunder are enthusiastic enough in LECTURE XL I. CHAPS. 18:9-24,19:1-6. 209 behalf of what they call their country, and con- sider it piety to eulogize the instrument which pampers their greed and passions; but the help- less multitude is left to sigh and cry in vain over the abominations that are done. The best gov- ernments man has ever tried have invariably disap- pointed their founders, and proven themselves too weak or too strong, too concentrated or too dis- severed, and in one way or another have turned into instruments of injustice, ambition, selfishness, and afliiction. The demonstration of the ages is, that " that which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be num- bered/' So true is this that one has said, with a pathos that shows how deep the conviction was, " I know no safe depositary of power among mor- tal men for the purposes of government. Tyranny and oppression, in Church and State, under every form of government, — social, civil, ecclesiastical, monarchical, aristocratical, or democratic, — have, sooner or later, characterized the governments of the earth, and have done so from the beginning." Bad government is doubtless better than no gov- ernment. In the nature of things we must have government of some sort. Because of the worse ills of anarchy we take the lesser afflictions of gov- ernment in such forms as we can get it. But what right-thinking and right-feeling man is not out- laged every day at the injustice, maladministration, perversion, and abominations that go along with every government of man ? So it ever has been, and so it ever will be while ** man's day" lasts 210 THE APOCALYPSE. " The kingdom is the Lord's," and till he comes and assumes it there will be disappointment, mis- rule, revolution, and incurable trouble in all human calculations and affairs. Nothing but the sway and reign of heaven can redeem this fallen world out of the pestilential morasses of its incompetent and oppressive governments. But there is an All- Ruler who will yet assume the kingdom, and give the race the reign of blessedness. *' He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. All kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight. He shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba; prayer also shall be made for him continually, and daily shall he be praised. His name shall endure forever, and men shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed." Thus flowed the glorious numbers from David's prophetic harp, telling of the All-Ruler's assump- tion of the kingdom, and exulting in it, until the royal singer's soul fired up into the very Alleluia LECTURE XLI. CHAPS. 18:19-24: 19:1 211 of the text, crying, ''Blessed be his glorious name forever! and lei the whole earth be filled loith his glory. Anwi, and Amen.'' Human utterance could go no higher. The mountain summit of the promised blessedness was reached. And there the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, ended. (Ps. 72.J We thus begin to see something of the dawn and character of those better times to come when once the mystery of God is finished. Tyrants, despots, and faithless and burdensome govern- ments shall then be no more. Like wild beasts, full of savage instinct for blood and oppression, have the world-powers roamed and ravaged the earth, treading down the nations, their will tlie only law, the good and happiness of men the furthest from their hearts. But it will be otherwise then. '' The Lord shall be king over all the earth," and therein is the signal and pledge of the dominion of right and everlasting peace. Wars shall be no more. Injustice and unequal laws shall be done away. Enemies will be powerless. Men will then have their standing according to their moral worth. The salvation of God will be nigh to them that fear him. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from hea- ven. And sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Therefore the voice of eternal right is, ''Praise pur God, all his servants, those that fear him, the small and the great,'' and from all the holy uni- verse comes the song, in volume like the sea, in 212 THE APOCALYPSE. Strength like the thuuder, *' Alleluia, because THE Lord God the All-Ruler hath assumed the KINGDOM.'' LECTURE FORTY-SECOND. THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB — THE BRIDEGROOM — THE BRIDE — SEVERAL CLASSES OF THE SAVED — THE BRIDE'S MAKING OF HERSELF READY — THE MARRIAGE — CURIOUS OPINIONS OF INTERPRETERS — THE TAKING POSSESSION OF THE NEW JERUSALEM— THE MARRIAGE SUPPER— THE GUESTS — THE CERTAINTY OF THESE THINGS. Rev. 19:7-10. (Revised Text.) Let us rejoice and exult, and we will give the glory to him, because is come the marriage of the Lamb, and his wife [the Woman] prepared herself. And'it was given to her that she should clothe herself in fine linen, bright pure ; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints. And he saith to me, Write, Blessed they who have been called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb. And he saith to me. These are the true words of God. And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he said. Take heed, no ; I am a fellow-servant of thee and of thy brethren that have the witness of Jesus; worship God; for the witness of Jesus is the spirit of the prophecy. , HHHE fall of Great Babylon lifts a heavy load -■- from the hearts of all the holy universe. The day and reign of apostate man then reach their final close. The hopes and prayers of faith, and all the gracious prophecies and promises of God, then come to the goal of their fulfilment. Earth's true, invincible, and eternal king then takes the sovereignty, never again to pass it into other hands. The heavenly worlds understand it, and pour forth ( 213 ) 214 THE APOCALYPSE. their mightiest exultations. And thick and throng- ing are the subjects of joy which now crowd upon their enraptured attention. Among the rest is one singled out with special interest and delight. Whilst the song of Halleluia swells to the dimen- sions of mighty thunders, because the Lord God the All-Ruler hath assumed the kingdom, a call goes forth, ''Let us rejoice and exult, and we will give the glory to him, because is come The Marriage of the Lamb.** The Harlot swept away, the faith- ful Woman comes to her rightful honors. The betrothed, so long waiting amid privation, perse- cution, and contempt, now becomes a Bride. The time of her marriage has at length arrived, and the grand nuptial banquet begins. And that mar- riage and that banquet are what we are now to consider. God help us to understand it, and to re- joice ourselves in the contemplation ! Expositors generally have taken it for granted that this marriage is so familiar to the readers of holy Scripture, and so well understood, as to need no explanation. Perhaps had they attempted to set forth in definite form what they pass as so plain, they would have found the task less easy than they thought. Though the subject is common to both Testaments, there is not another of equal prom- inence and worth upon which so little direct atten- tion has been bestowed by modern divines, or upon which clear ideas are so scarce. In my study of it, question after question has come up, even with regard to some of the most essential points, which I find it very hard to answer satisfactorily. And LECTURE XLII. CHAP. 19:7-10. 215 if others have found it so plain and easy as to render the explanation of it a work of supereroga- tion, they would have relieved me much, as well as an almost total blank in our theologies with regard to one of the most frequently recurring subjects of Holy Writ, if they had condescended to record the results of their examinations. As it is, we must examine for ourselves. I. Who is the Bridegroom f On this point, for- tunately, there is not much room for misunder- standing. It is " The Lamb," the blessed Saviour, who gave himself to death as a sacrifice for our sins, and is alive and living forever. It is the ever- lasting Son of the Father made incarnate for our salvation, and in his twofold nature exalted, glori- fied, and enthroned in eternal majesty. And yet it may be a question whether, in his character and marriage as The Lamb, everything is to be under- stood to which the Scriptures refer under the figure of man's marriage to God; whether there is not some particular and special intimacy or relation- ship meant to be set forth in this case ; whether it respects the Jewish people only, or Christian peo- ple only, or all saints alike. The Old Testament Church is everywhere represented as betrothed to God as a candidate for a glorious union with him in due time. (Isa. 14 : 1-8 ; Ezek. 16 : 7 seq.; Hos. 2 : 19 seq.) It is the same with regard to the New Testament Church. Christ represents himself as the Bridegroom. (Matt. 9 : 15.) He speaks of the kingdom of heaven being '* like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son," and 21Q THE APOCALYPSE. those called by the Gospel as " bidden to the mar- riage." (Matt. 22 : 1-13.) He speaks often of the judgment time as the coming of the Bridegroom for his Bride. (Matt. 25 : 1-10.) John the Baptist spoke of Christ as the Bridegroom, and of him- self as " the friend of the Bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice." (Jno. 3 : 29.) Paul speaks of those whom he begat in the Gospel as espoused to one husband, whom he desired to present as a chaste virgin to Christ. (2 Cor. 11 : 2.) Earthly marriage is likewise spoken of as a mys- tery, significant of Christ's relation to his Church. (Eph. 5 : 23-32.) All this proves, as clearly as ma^^ be, that in the economy of grace and redemption our blessed Saviour takes the character and rela- tion of a Bridegroom or Husband to his people, of one class or another, and that a great and blessed union between himself and them remains to be celebrated. Whether the marriage in each case is precisely one and the same thing, or respects the same identical parties, it is equally certain that it is The Lamb, — the glorified Lord Jesus Christ, — who is here contemplated as the Bridegroom and Husband. n. Who is the Bride? Upon first blush the answer would be, the Lord's true and faithful peo- ple, all who by faith and obedience were affianced to him, and continued faithful to the end. In a general way this answer may be accepted as the truth, but in a narrower and closer view of things it cannot be taken as strictly and absolutely correct. LECTURE XLII. CHAP. 19.7-10. 217 The 45th Psalm unmistakably refers to this subject. The qualities and doings of the King, come forth from the ivory palaces, are there de- scribed with great vigor and animation. But there is also the Queen, the King's Bride, standing on his right hand, in gold of Ophir, and all glori- ous within. It is said of her that " she shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needle-work." But, besides the Queen, the King^s Bride, there is another blessed company, who are also to enter with rejoicing into the King's palace, and to share the light of his countenance. They are called "the virgins," the " companions," associates, and bosom friends of the Queen, but plainly distinct from the Queen herself. They do not go with her when she is taken, but " follow her," — come after her, — and are " brought unto the King" at a subsequent time, and in quite another capacity from that of the Queen and Bride. All of them belong to the general congregation of the saved. All of them are made forever happy in their Lord, the King. But the Queen is one class, and " the virgins her companions that follow her," are another class. So, too, in the Song of Solomon (6 : 8-9), we read of queens, concubines, and virgins, whom the fathers, for the most part, understood as referring to the various classes which make up the Church as a whole. Theodoret, and some others, have held that these are not to be taken as representino^ the true people of God; but why then are they called by names so descriptive of the King's most intimate associates and household ? Or how could 218 THE APOCALYPSE. they have that devout and admiring sympathy with the Bride, blessing and praising her as they do, if not of the same general fellowship with her? Some narrow Churchmen see here the various sects which stand opposed to what they consider the Church ; but opposition and secession are not sig- nificant of admiration and blessing, and if these queens, etc., be of the household of faith in any sense, their relation to the King, in the very na- ture of the terms, must be true and real. The oldest Christian interpretation, and that which is best sustained, sees in them none but genuine believers, but of diflerent degrees of honor and nearness to their Lord; in which case, again, not all have the Bride's place. So the parable of the Ten Virgins tells of a coming Bridegroom, and of friends of the Bride going out, as in ancient custom, to meet and wel- come him, and to go in with him to the marriage ; but where is the Bride ? Both the connection and the terms of this parable imply that she is then already within the Father's house, there awaiting the coming of the Bridegroom, whilst these her friends go out to meet him, — not in hope of be- coming his Bride, but of having the blessedness of going in with him to the marriage. As a mat- ter of fact, distinctly stated, the day of the Lord has already commenced when the kingdom of heaven assumes the precise shape here indicated. In the verses preceding, the Saviour spoke of the gathering of certain eagle saints to that body on which they live, of the mysterious taking of some, while others are left, and of the sadness of being LECTURE XLII. CHAP. 19: 7-10. 219 cut off from the high privileges and honors of that first class; and it is ''' ihen,'^ he says, only iheti, that matters take the shape described in the para- ble. Those who are '^ to^'e?i " before " then ^' are people of pre-eminent saintship and watchful pre- paredness. (Comp. Luke 17 : 33-37; 21 : 34-36.) They correspond to the Bride, whilst the wise virgins come after, not being ready when the Bride was taken, ^ay, it is the removal of these waiting and ready ones which awakens the intense advent- ism of those that are " left," and serves as the means of bringing at least half of them in as guests and witnesses of the marriage. The "left" know now that Christ is presently to come as the Bridegroom, on his way to join his Bride. To be ready for that Bridegroom coming, that they may go in with him to the marriage, is now the one great thought. In all ordinary custom — to which the allusion is — the going in would be the going into the Father's house where the Bride already is, arrayed and ready for her coming Lord. To say nothing, then, of the place and fate of the five unwise virgins, this parable, taken in its connections, inevitably implies that not all of those who finally get to heaven are of that class which actually constitutes the Bride of Christ, however related to that Bride. It is also the common doctrine of the Scriptures that there are great diversities in the portions awarded to the saints. There are some orreatest and some least in the kingdom of heaven. There are some who shall be first and some who shall be 220 THE APOCALYPSE. last. There are some who get crowns, and there are some who get none. There are some who are assigned dominion over ten cities, some over five, and some who lose all reward, and are saved only " so as by fire." The four Living Ones, and the four-and twenty Elders, are the representatives of men saved from the earth. They sing the song of redemption by the blood of Christ. But they are in heaven, crowned, glorified, and installed in blessed priesthoods and kinghoods in advance of the vast multitude whose rewards are far inferior. Diversities so great are incompatible with the peculiar honors and regality of the wife of a king. Besides, princesses and queens, above all on oc- casions of their marriage, always have their associ- ates, companions, maids of honor, attendants, suites, smd friends, who, in a general way, are counted with them as making one and the same company, but who in fact are very distinct in honor and priv- ilege from those on whom they find it their hap- piness to attend. Just as the Bridegroom comes not alone, but with attendants, companions, and a long train of rejoicing ones who make up his party, the whole of whom together are called the Bride- groom's coming, whilst, strictly speaking, there is a wide difference between him and those with him ; so it is on the side of the Bride. She has her com- panions and attendants too, — " virgins which fol- low her." They make up her company and train. In coming to wed her the Bridegroom comes also into near and close relation to them. To a blessed degree they share the Bride's honors. LECTURE XLII. CHAP. 19:7-10. 221 Aud ill general terms we must iuclade them when we speak of the Bride, although, in strict language, they are not all the Bride. The Bride has rela- tions to the Bridegroom which belong to her alone, and it is only because of her and their association and companionship with her, and not because they are the Bride in actual fact, that the whole com- pany of the saved Church of God is contemplated as the Lamb's Wife. Hence, also, the angel directed John to write, "Blessed they who have been called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb.'' It is the wider and the more general blessedness of the occasion that the seer was thus to attest. If all the saved were actually the Bride, it would have been enough, and more to the point, to say, "Blessed they that are called to be the Wife of the Lamb." But there is a blessedness of being called to wit- ness his marriage, and a blessedness of participa- tion with the bridal company in the marriage ban- quet, as well as a more special blessedness of being the actual Bride of the Lamb. The call is indeed to make up the Bride. It is out of these called ones that the Bride is chosen. But the choosing of the Bride does not, therefore, exclude the rest of the company from the honors and privileges of the marriage supper, or from companionship with the Lamb and his Wife. The blessedness of the marriage supper is much wider than that of be- coming the Bride, though the Bride has honor and nearness to the Lord which belong to her only. Hence the writing was to be, not simply '^ Blessed 222 THE APOCALYPSE. they that are called to be the Wife of the Lamb," but " blessed they who are called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb," — called as in the par- able of the marriage of the king's son, which call includes the opportunity to become the Bride as well as happy guests. In this sense also am I constrained to take the subsequent showing of "the Bride, the Lamb's Wife,'' " that great city, the holy Jerusalem, de- scending out of the heaven from God." It is called the Bride, because it embraces the Bride, and because it is the Bride's everlasting home and residence. But for the very reason that it is the home and residence of the Lamb's Wife, it must include her retinue, her companions, and her at- tendants, who share the glory with her, but who are not strictly the Bride herself. In general terms the whole city, as made up of those who inhabit it, including all the saved up to the time of the resurrection of all saints, is the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, because all that are there pertain to her company, fill out the grandeur and glory of her estate, and share immensely in it; albeit, some are there who, in a narrower and more particular discrimination, are not actually the Bride. III. What is the making of Herself ready ? The allu- sion seems to be to something of the same sort with the putting on of the wedding garment, of which so much is made in the parable of the marriage of the king's son. (Matt. 22 : 1-14.) There one of the guests was found without a wedding garment, and for that deficiency was put away from the happy LECTURE XLII. CHAP. 19:7-10. 223 company amid shame and sorrow. But in this ease the Bride "prepared herself. And it was given to her that she should clothe herself in fine linen, — bright, pure, — for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.'^ Thus it is said in Isaiah (61 : 10), "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me w4th the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels.^' Thus, also, when the seer saw the holy city coming down from God out of heaven, she was " prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." (21 : 2.) The ex- cellencies in which the Bride here arrays herself are described as the finest linen, of the intensest purity and lustre; but it is at the same time a spiritual linen, which is '' the righteousnesses of the saints." Three things appear in the notice of this ready- making. (1) There is self-activity on the part of the Bride to prepare herself. (2) There is gratuity and bestowmeut, putting what is requisite at her command. And (3) she is receptive and obedient in making the intended use of what is given her. The description evidently takes in the whole pre- vious career of those who make up the Bride. The preparation refers not only to something that is done at this time, but also to what has been in the course of doing all along, and now comes to its fruit and award. The coming to Christ, the learning of him, the espousal to him in holy con- voL. III. 72 224 THE APOCALYPSE. fession, and justification bj faith in hi» blood and merit, are unquestionably included, Paul was aiming at this very preparedness and honor of the Bride of the Lamb, and counted all tem- poral possessions as nothing, and exerted himself in every way to be fit for it. But that fitness, he tells us, was his being found not having his own righteousness, which is of the law, — a mere show of human works, — but having that righteousness which is through faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. (Phil. 3 : 8-14.) But the righteous acts and good works of the justified are also Included. The word is in the plural — " the righteousnesses of the saints.'^ Some call it the plurality of dignity, and make nothing special of it. Others say it is the distributive plural, in allusion to the many who have it. But parallel instances are wanting to sustain either of these theories. It distinctly implies that the saints have more than one righteousness, as the Scriptures elsewhere teach. There is a righteousness of justification, and a riffhteousness of life and sanctification. There is a righteousness which is the free gift of God in Christ Jesus, and a righteousness of man's own active obedience to God's ordinances and com- mands. True, saints have both; a righteousness by imputation through faith without works, and a righteousness which is the fruit of faith, consist- ing of works springing from and wrought in faith. And both enter into that adornment of the Bride wherein she maketh herself ready. She is clothed LECTURE XLII. CHAP. 19:7^10. 225 with the fine aud shining linen of "the righteous- nesses of the saints," the righteousness of a free justification by faith in her Lord who died for her, and the righteousness of a life of earnest, active, and grateful devotion to make herself meet and worthy for so good and gracious a Husband. (Comp. Luke 20 : 35 ; 21 : 36; Eph. 4:1; Col. I : 10; Rev. 3:4.) But it is not certain that the clothing of herself in these righteousnesses is all that is embraced in the Bride's preparation for the wedding. That is the part of her ready-making as respects this life; but who knows what else remains for her to do after this life is over, or what practical activities remain for the saints between the moment of their removal to immortality and the heavenly solemni- ties which are shadowed to us under the idea of the marriage of the Lamb ? Heaven is no more a scene of quiescence than earth. There is his- tory in the career of saints after they leave this world as well as in it, and far greater and sublimer history than pertains to them here. And who knows into what grand activities the people of God are ushered when their mortality is swal- lowed up of life ? or with what preparations they may then be called to busy themselves for the sub- lime events and ceremonies that lie before them in their instalment into the relations and dignities of their everlasting estate ? The celestial popula- tion seem to know of ready-making in heaven, which comes after the ready-making on earth, which is to them a subject of glad rejoicing, aud 226 THE APOCALYPSE. of new and special giving of glory to God. But just what it is, or exactly to what it relates, we must content ourselves not to know till the time for it comes. IV. What is the Marriage f Here again we must be satisfied with very imperfect information. John did not see the marriage, neither was it explained to him. He only heard the heavenly rejoicing that the time for it had come, that the Bride had prepared herself, and that he was to declare the blessedness of those who are called to the banquet then to be spread. That the marriage and the supper are not one and the same thing, the nature of the case, as well as the manner in which they are referred to, would seem to make evident. The marriage is accompanied with a becoming feast, but the feast is one thing and the marriage is another, though occurring at the same time and most intimately correlated. It is curious to observe how various are the no- tions which interpreters have given of this mar- riage of the Lamb. Beza, Robertson (of Leu- chars), Clarke, and others are confident that it refers to a happy condition of the Church in this world, when " whole contemporary churches are in covenant with Christ in a most upright man- ner." It is supposed by these that when the Church becomes more pure in her doctrines, more pious in her experiences, and more righteous in her conduct than ever she has yet been, this whole showing will be exhausted. Accordingly, the Bride of Christ would be nothing but the Chris- LECTURE XLII. GHAP. 19:7-10. 227 tiaus of one particular generation, and the Living Ones, and Elders, and the multitude which no man can number, and the 144,000 sealed ones, and other classes which this Book shows to be in heaven before the marriage of the Lamb is an- nounced, have no part nor lot in it. Fuller and William Jones see the whole picture fulfilled in a fancied Millennium on earth, " when Jews and Gentiles from every nation under heaven shall be brought to believe in Jesus, and led to confess him as their true Messiah, Saviour, and King;" which likewise cuts off all those who have lived and faithfully served Christ in all the long ages prior to the thousand years, and equally vacates the whole marriage idea as contrasted with the already existing union between Christ and his people. Hengstenberg thinks that " we are here beyond the thousand years, beyond the last victory over Gog and Magog," though he thus makes the peo- ple in heaven say it is coine a thousand years before it does come. Some refer it to the taking again of the seed of Abraham to be God's peculiar peo- ple, after the present church period has reached its termination. This would well accord with a variety of Scripture passages otherwise obscure, but it does not meet some of the main features of the case. If at all in the contemplation, it cannot be more than an earthly and inferior cor- respondence of the chief thing, which must relate to heaven, for when the Bride was shown to John he beheld her in the form of a glorious city com- ing down from God out of heaven, proving that 228 THE APOCALYPSE. her marriage must needs have been in heaven. Vaughan speaks of the marriage as " the ideal concourse and combination of the blessed com- pany of all faithful people on their entrance into their rest." This would seem to accord with the presentations as to time and place, but tells noth- ing as to what the marriage itself is. Diisterdieck understands it to be " Christ's distribution of the eternal reward of grace to his faithful ones, who then enter with him into the full glory of the heavenly life;" which may be true enough in general, for the marriage is surely the result, award, and consummation of grace toward the Bride; but it still leaves us in the region of mist and darkness as to any difference between the marriage and the judgment. The translator of Lange {in loc.) comes closer to the truth when he represents the marriage as " the union of the whole body of the saints with a personally present Christ in glory and government — the establish- ment of the kingdom." As the writer of The Apocalypse Expounded says, "It is a scene taking place in the heaven, after the resurrection of the saints, and ere Jesus and his risen ones are mani- fested to the earth, as heaven is not opened till the marriage has occurred." The blessedness of it is not inaptly described by Lange to be " the reciprocal operation of a spiritual fellowship of love." It is Christ in the character of the Lamb, the mighty Goel, formally acknowledging and taking to himself as copartners of his throne, do- minion, and glory, all those chosen ones who have LECTURE XLII. CHAP. 19:7-10. • 229 been faithful to their betrothal, and appear at last in the spotless and shining apparel of the right- eousnesses of the saints, thenceforward to be with him, reign with him, and share with him in all his grand inheritance, forever. Just what the ceremony of this marriage is we are nowhere told. Some have thought that it is the first opening of the city of God, the New Je- rusalem, to the footsteps of the redeemed. Jesus says that he is now preparing a place for us. The ancient saints looked for a city whose maker and builder is God. That city John saw and describes in a subsequent chapter. That city was shown him as the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, so called on ac- count of those who inhabit and dwell in it. The placing of the redeemed with their Redeemer in that sublime and eternal home necessarily involves some befitting formality. ]^or is it far-fetched to connect that first formal entrance into that illus- trious heaven-built city with the ceremonial of what is described as the marriage of the Lamb. When the sacred tabernacle was first opened and used it was with great solemnities, which God himself prescribed, and in the observance of which there was also a marked coming together of God and his people. By visible manifestations of Deity a point of union and communion was then and there established between man and Je- hovah, so direct and close that the holy prophet could say of Israel, " Thy Maker is thy Husband." And the fact that God so ordered and honored the occasion is ample warrant for taking it as the 230 THE APOCALYPSE. type of a corresponding formality in the heavens, answering to the coming together of the Lamb and his affianced people for the first time in that glorious city, which even the great voice from the throne calls " The Tabernacle of God." (Chap. 21 : 2, 3.) Y. What is the Marriage Supper ? Contrary to all congruity, many take it as about one and the same with the marriage itself. Marriage is the establishment of relationship and status; a mar- riage feast is the refreshment, the eating, and drinking, and general social joy on the part of those attending upon a marriage. First the Bride- groom comes, next the marriage is solemnized, and then the assembled company is invited to the special repast provided for the occasion. And so in this case. The Bridegroom appears, the mar- riage takes place, and then the grand banquet ensues; so that the supper is a different thing from the marriage, though following immediately upon it. Everywhere in the Scriptures do we hear of this feast. As in the matter of the marriage, some- thing of it is to be enjoyed already in this life. There is a supper of Gospel blessings of which we may now partake. But as the actual marriage occurs in heaven subsequent to the resurrection, so also the fulness of the Gospel supper is deferred till then. Isaiah (25 : 6-9) sung of a feast of fat things, of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined, which the Lord of Hosts is to make. The feast of Gospel bless- LECTURE XLII. CHAP. 19:7-10. 231 ings is doubtless included; but it is a feast whose glorious fulness is beyond the grave. A chief part of its glory is that then " death is swallowed up in victory," tears are all wiped away by Je- hovah's hand, the disabilities and hardships of his people are gone, and the shout is, " Lo, this is our God ; we have waited for him ; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.'' Of that same feast the Saviour spoke when he said to his disciples, " I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." (Matt. 26 : 29.) So, also, when he had finished the paschal supper, and said, " I will not any more eat thereof until it be ful- filled in the kingdom of God.'' (Luke 22 : 16.) As Melchisedek, king of righteousness, and king of peace, brought forth bread and wine to Abraham returning from the scenes of judgment upon the marauding kings, so will he whom Melchisedek typified spread before his victorious people the precious viands of a heavenly banquet, of which our holy Lord's supper is the constant prophecy and foretaste. Of what that supper shall consist we cannot yet know. The Scriptures speak of bread of heaven and angel's food, and the Saviour tells of eating and drinking there. He who supplied the wed- ding at Cana, and fed the thousands in the wilder- ness, and furnished the little dinner to his worn disciples as they came up from the sea of toil to the shore trodden by his glorified feet, can be at no loss to make good every word, and letter, and 232 THE APOCALYPSE. allusion which the Scriptures contain with refer- ence to that high festival. The angels know some- thing about it, and the angel told John that it will be a blessed thing to be there. " Write," said the heavenly voice, " write, Blessed they who have been called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb J' VI. Who^ then, are the Guests f Chief of all who sit down to the marriage banquets on earth are the bridegroom and the bride. It is in honor of their union that the feast is held, and to them is as- signed the most conspicuous place. This is a gen- uine marriage feast, the antitype of all the mar- riage feasts of time, and this particular feature cannot be wanting there. In the after chapters we are told that the Lamb is the light of the golden house in which it is held. He, therefore, is there in unveiled glory, the observed, the adored, the sublimest joy of all. And where he is there his bride is also, for they are united now, never to be separated any more. She is there in all her perfected loveliness, "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," but "all glorious within," and enfolded in her garments of needle- work, and gold, and in the faultless and radiant linen of the righteousnesses of the saints. There also are " the virgins, her companions that follow her," and make up her sublime and glorious train. And whosoever, in any age, in any land, of any language, of any tribe, has heard of the promised seed of the woman, and believed in him, and lis- tened to the calls and promises of God, and di- rected his heart and pilgrim steps for that blest LECTURE XLII. CHAP. 19:7-10. 233 city, shall likewise be there. Whether as bride or guest, the whole Church of the first-born, from Adam down to the last martyr under the Anti- christ, shall be there, radiant in that redemption for which they hoped and suffered. The quaint old hymn says truly ; There be prudent Prophets all, The Apostles six and six, The glorious Martyrs in a row, And Confessors betwixt. There doth the crew of righteous men And nations all consist ; Young men and maids that here on earth Their pleasures did resist. The sheep and lambs that hardly 'scaped The snare of death and hell, Triumph in joy eternally, Whereof no tongue can tell ; And though the glory of each one Doth differ in degree, Yet is the joy of all alike And common certainly. There David stands, with harp in hand, As master of the choir ; A thousand times that man were blessed That might his music hear. There Mary sings " Magnificat," With tunes surpassing sweet ; And all the virgins bear their part, Singing about her feet. "Te Deum," doth St. Ambrose sing, St. Austin doth the same ; Old Simeon and Zacharie Anew their songs inflame. 234 THE APOCALYPSE. There Magdalene hath left her moan, And cheerfully doth sing, With all blest saints whose harmony Through every street doth ring. And in that holy company May you and I find place. Through worth of him who died for us, And through his glorious grace ; With Cherubim and Seraphim, And hosts of ransomed men. To sing our praises to The Lamb, And add our glad Amen, VII. What authority/ have we for all this f There be those who count it all a dream, a pleasant fancy, a sweet hallucination, by which enthusiastic souls impose upon themselves. And if it were, why deny to poor, sorrowing, and afflicted humanity its consoling radiance? Be it a mere conceit, is not the race the happier and the better for believ- ing it? But no, it is not delusion. The very blessedness which it diffuses through the souls that take it to their thoughts is a voucher for its heavenly reality. The holy being who told of it to the seer propounds it as the sum of all sacred revelations, and says, " These are the true words of Godr Ah, yes; there is a Lamb, once slain, now risen and glorified, moving serene and mighty amid the principalities of eternity, himself the highest of them all, to whom all believers stand betrothed and plighted, preparing and waiting for a wedding day to come, when they shall be joined to him in fellowship, glory, and dominion forever. There LECTURE XLII. CHAP. 19:7-10. 235 is a city of gold, and light, and jewels for God's people, building for these many ages, and now near its readiness for their everlasting habitation. There is in store a banquet when once the honored Bride sets foot upon its golden streets, the call to which, if heeded, is man's superlative blessedness. Room for doubt, is none; for "these are the true words of God.'" The revelation to John was overpowering. It so thrilled upon his soul, and so stimulated his sense of grateful wonder and adoration, that he fell down before the angel's feet to worship him. It was an error to offer such honor to a fellow-servant with himself, and the same was promptly checked ; but it helps to tell the entrancing magnificence of the final portion of the saints— the overwhelming majesty of the glory to come when the Bridegroom comes. It bends the soul in awe even towards the messengers who tell of it. It is more than heart of flesh can well stand up under, even in prospect. What then will be the actual realization? A holy apostle falls upon his face in adoration when he hears of it, and the glorified in heaven cry, "Let us rejoice and exult, and we will give the glory to God," when the time for it arrives. What then, O man, O woman, is the state and feeling of your heart concerning it? To you has come the call to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb ; wTaat is the response you have made to it? To you is offered the wedding garment to appear there in honor and glory ; have you accepted it, and put it on, and kept its purity unsoiled ? The 236 THE APOCALYPSE. cry has long been ringing in your ears, "Behold, the Bridegroom corneth!" Are your loins girded about, your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto those who wait for their Lord ? Five virgins once set out to reach that festival, but when they came " the door ivas shut" They knew what was required; but the Bridegroom came, and this was the consequence of their unreadiness. God forbid that this should be your experience ! Wake, awake, for night is flying, The watchmen on the heights are crying ; Awake, Jerusalem, at last ! Midnight hears the welcome voices. And at the thrilling cry rejoices ; Come forth, yo virgins, night is past! The Bridegroom comes, awake, Your lamps with gladness take; Halleluia! And for His marriage feast prepare, For ye must go to meet Him there. LECTURE FORTY-THIRD. BATTLE OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY — THE SUBLIME HERO — COMES OUT OF THE HEAVEN— HIS HORSE — HIS CHARACTER— HIS EYES — HIS DIADEMS— HIS NAMES— HIS CLOTHING — HIS SWORD — HIS TITLE — HIS FOLLOWERS — THEIR HORSES — THEIR CLOTHING — THE ARMIES HE EN- COUNTERS — THE LAUGH OF GOD — BIRDS INVITED TO THE SLAUGHTER — THE BEAST AND FALSE PROPHET'S FATE — THE SLAYING OF THE ARMED HOSTS — THE VICTORY. Rev. 19 ; 11-21. (Revised Text.) And I saw the heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and one seated upon him, Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judgeth and wurreth ; his eyes flame of fire, and on his hend many diadems, having a name written which no one knoweth but himself, and clothed in vesture dipped [or stained] with blood, and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies, the ones in the heaven were following him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white, pure. And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he may smite the nations; and he shall rule [or shepherdize\ them with a rod of iron ; and he treadeth the winepress of the wine of the anger of the wrath of the God, the All-Ruler. And he hath upon, his vesture, oven upon his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And I saw a certain angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in mid-heaven, Hither, be gathered together to the great supper of God, that ye may eat flesh of kings, and flesh of captains of thousands, and flesh of mighty men, and flesh of horses, and of those that sit on them, and flesh of all [classes], both free and bond, and small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and his armies, gathered together to make the battle with the sitter upon the horse, and with his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who wrought the miracles in his presence with which he de- (237) 238 THE APOCALYPSE. ceived those who received the mark of the heast and those who worship his image ; these two were cast alive into the lake of fire which burneth with brimstone ; and the rest were slain with the sword of the sitter on the horse, which (sword) proceedeth out of his mouth ; and the fowls were filled from their flesh. THE marriage of the Lamb, and the grand ban- quet which attends it, are speedily followed with the closing scene of this present world. It is a scene of war and blood. It is the battle of the great day of God Almighty. It is the coming forth of the powers of eternity to take forcible possession of the earth. It finds all the confed- erated kingdoms of man mustered in rebellion against the anointed and rightful sovereign of the earth. A collision ensues, which is the most wonderful that ever occurs under heaven. And the result is a victory for the right, which is to be forever. The description is one of the grandest contained in these Revelations. In proceeding to contemplate it four things are to be considered : I. The Mighty Conqueror. II. The hosts which follow him. III. The armies he encounters. IV. The completeness of his triumph. God help us to take in these particulars to our edification and spiritual profit. I. The sublime Hero of the scene is none other than our ever blessed Lord Jesus. His name is LECTURE XL III. CHAP. 19:11-21. 239 not given, but the marks and inscriptions which he bears, and all that is said of him, infallibly identify him as that same Jesus who went up into heaven from the summit of Mt. Olivet, and whose holy feet are to stand again on these self-same heights. He comes forth out of the heaven. For this pur- pose John saw it opened. When Jesus came up from the waters of baptism, " the heavens were open unto him," and the Spirit descended upon him, and a voice from the empyrean depths said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.^' (Matt. 8 : 16.) When Stephen was mar- tyred he saw "the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." (Acts 7 : 55.) When Jesus was on earth he promised his disciples that they should see the heaven opened. (Jno. 1 : 51.) At the beginning of these visions John beheld a door opened in the heaven, and through that opening he was called up, while all was closed to the general mass of men. (Rev. 4 : 1.) But here was quite a different opening from any that has occurred or will occur till then. This is that rending of the heaven for the glorious Epiphany of Christ with his people, to which the Scriptures refer so much. For, as we believe that " he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Al- mighty,^' so we believe that " from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." So the Lamb, being married now, leaves the Father house and comes forth to take possession of what is peculiarly his own. VOL. III. 73 240 THE APOCALYPSE. He rides upon a white horse. This horse tells of royalty, judgment, and war. His white color tells of righteousness and justice. Light is the robe of divine majesty, and white is the color that most attaches to Chri-st in all these judgment scenes. When the first seal broke he rode a white horse ; when the great harvest is reaped he sits upon a white cloud ; and at the end of the thousand years he sits upon a white throne; and so here he is seated on the white steed of battle, for *' in right- eousness doth he make war." In the day of his humiliation he rode but once — when he came to the Jewish nation as its anointed king. But he then rode upon an ass, a colt, the foal of an ass. Then he was the meek and lowly one; but here the little domestic animal is exchanged for the martial charger, for this is another and might- ier coming as the King of the World, "just and having salvation." In his majesty he rides pros- perously, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness. He is Faithful and True. This presents him in sharp contrast with those whom he cometh to judge and destroy. The Dragon is the deceiver; the Beast is the False Christ; his companion is the False Prophet, and the great confederacy is made up of false worshippers. These are to be handled now, and it is the embodiment of all faithfulness and truth that comes to deal with them. There is then no hope for them, for if justice be done them they have no show whatever. The worst thing that can happen to some is to give LECTURE XLIII. CHAP. 19:11-21. 241 them what they deserve. But greatly do these at- tributes exalt this Hero. They lift him far above the level of humanity. They bespeak almighti- ness and essential Godhead. (Comp. chaps. 3 : 7; 6 : 10 ; 15:3; 16:7.) They cannot be predicated of any mere man. " Cursed be the man that trusteth in man." There is too much deceit and treachery in human nature for it to be always and implicitly trusted. (Com. Ps. 72: 9; 116:11; 118: 8; Jer. 17 : 5.) But here is one who is absolutely true and faithful. It is not in him to be or to prove unreliable. Though all men be liars, he is true, and cannot disappoint. In righteousness he judgeth and warreth. In the letter to the Laodiceans he was " the Faithful and True Witness,'' reproving and instructing his friends; here he is the Faithful and True War- rior and Judge, for the punishment of his enemies. Heaven cannot be at peace with iniquity, and jus- tice cannot be at amity with falsehood and rebel- lion. When sin is once incorrigible, and incur- able by remedial measures, it must be put down by force of arms. Mercy slighted and abused brings the executioner. The world banded to- gether in arms against its true Sovereign brings against it the sword of insulted majesty. Not as human kings and nations war, — out of covetous- ness, pride, and an ambition for selfish greatness and dominion, — but in absolute justice and right, and in strictest accord with every holy principle and every holy interest he now unsheaths and wields the sword of infinite power. Dreadful is 242 '^^^ APOCALYPSE. the carnage which follows, but no one can ever say that it is not precisely what was merited .and demanded. The powers of judging and making war are often separated in earthly sovereignties, but it is only a conventional separation. They necessarily go together after all. Wherever there is war there is first a judgment made or enter- tained against those upon whom it is made, or in behalf of those whom it is to benefit. The gen- eral in the field is simply the sheriff and hangman of the court. And Christ is both judge and exe- cutioner, all powers in one, and all exercised in righteousness. To the Church he is the High Priest, with girdle and ephod, stars and lamps, the minister of righteousness unto salvation. To the world in armed rebellion he is the mounted War- rior, the minister of righteousness unto destruc- tion ; but in both and always " Jesus Christ The Righteous." His eyes flame of fire. To judge rightly he must see through and through, search all depths, look beneath all masks, penetrate all darkness, and try everything to its ultimate residuum. Hence this flaming vision, which likewise tells of the fierce- ness of his wrath against his enemies. There is often something wonderfully luminous, penetra- ting, overawing, in the human eye. Men have been killed by the look of kings. It is like the living intellect made visible, which seems to read all secrets at a glance, and before which the be- holder cowers. It is this infinitely intensified, flashing like a sword of fire from the visual orbs, LECTURE XLIIL CHAP. 19:11-21. 243 that the holy apostle here beheld in this Warrior Judge. It is an eye-flame of Omniscient percep- tion and out-breaking indignation and wrath, which seizes and unmans the foe before he feels the sword. On His head many diadems. He is not only Judge and General, but at the same time the King himself. When David conquered the Ammon- ites, he put the crown of the vanquished king on his own head, in addition to the crown he already had. (2 Sam. 12: 30.) When Ptolemy entered An- tioch, he set two crowns upon his head, the crown of Asia and the crown of Egypt. (1 Mace. 11 : 13.) The Popes wear a triple crown, emblematic of three sovereignties united in one. The Dragon has seven diadems on his seven heads, as the pos- sessor of the seven great world-powers (chap. 12 : 3). The Beast has ten diadems on his ten horns, as combining ten sovereignties, (chap. 13 : 1.) In all these cases, the accumulation of crowns ex- presses accumulated victory and dominion. It is the same in this case. Christ comes against the Beast and his confederates as the conqueror on many fields, the winner of many mighty battles, the holder of many sovereignties secured by his prowess and power. He comes as the One anointed and endowed of heaven with all the sovereignties of the earth as his rightful due and possession. When he came as the mighty Angel, with the lit- tle book in his hand as his title to the earth, the rainbow was on his head (chap. 10); but he then came in mercy and promise to his own. He comes 244 THE APOCALYPSE. now as the Warrior, Judge, and King against com- bined usurpers in arms, against those who dispute his right to the dominion purchased with his blood, and lie puts on all his royal rights. He has an unknowable Name. John saw it written, and was awed with its splendor; but it was too much for him, or any other man, to understand or know. Jesus once said, "No man knoweth the Son but the Father" (Matt. 11 : 27); and here he appears in all those unrevealed and unknowable wonders, which connect him with incomprehen- sible Godhead. The Beast is full of names, great, high, and awful names; but they are false names— r *' names of blasphemy." This Warrior, Judge, and King has a name ineffable and unknowable, but it is a true and rightful name, — a name of real- ity, " which is above every name." We do not yet know all the majesty of attributes or being which belong to our sublime Saviour; and when he comes forth out of heaven for the war upon the Beast, he will come in vast unknowableness of greatness, — in heights of majesty and glory, "which no one knoweth but himself." (Comp. Judges 13: 18; Rev. 2:17.) Clothed in vesture dipped or stained with blood. Some are embarrassed, that the blood should here appear upon Christ's garments before the engage- ment begins, and so talk of anticipation. It is a needless perplexity, although these bloodstains are certainly not from his own blood. They have no reference whatever to his having died upon the cross. Thej^ are stains from the blood of ene- LECTURE XLIII. CHAP. 19:11-21. 245 mies slain, — enemies previously vanquished, — and so the marks of a veteran in battle. This con- quering Hero is not now for the first time to try his capacities for war. Who but he was it that "cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon?" Who but he was it that fought for Israel " in the days of Joshua, when opposing kings with kings were put to the sword and all their armies ?" Who but he was it that "fought from heaven" against the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Me- giddo, when*' the stars in their courses fought against Sisera ? ^' Who but he was the vanquisher of the six great blasphemous world-powers already dead and gone ? And as the seventh, and last, and worst of all is now to be overwhelmed, and the same almighty Conqueror comes forth to execute the doom, he properly comes in the same gar- ments worn and stained on so many battlefields, indicating that he comes in the same capacity, for the same ends, and with the same invincible power, as in other judgments upon bis enemies. That red apparel, and those garments like one that treadeth the vinefat, are at once the memorials of the past, and the prophecies of what is now to be consum- mated upon these last confederates against his kingdom. His Name is called The Word of God. This is one of the pre-eminent designations of the Son of God, who became incarnate in Jesus Christ. "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made." (Ps. 33 : 6.) " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word w^as with God, and the Word was God. 246 THE APOCALYPSE. All things were made by him. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth " (Jno. 1 : 1-14.) He is the Word of God — the Logos — as the true and only expression of the eternal Godhead, as tlie great subject and substance of the written Word, as the accomplishment and fulfiller of the written Word, and the very expression and rev- elation of the Father, the same as words express the thoughts of the heart. Out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he may smite the nations. Some take this as " the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; " but that is an instrument of mercy and salvation ; this is an instrument of wrath and destruction. It is " sharp ^' like the sickle, and fulfils the same office. It is the word of almighty justice. It proceeds out of his mouth. So Isaiah (11 : 4) said, " He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." This shows the ease with which he accomplishes his purposes. He speaks, and it is done. He commands, and it is accomplished. Something of this was preintimated when the armed mob came foHh against him in Gethsem- ane. " When Jesus spake to them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground." (Jno. 18 : 5.) If so mild an utterance prostrated his ene- mies then, what will it be when he girds and crowns himself for the " battle of the great day of God Almighty" — when he comes with all the LECTURE XL II I. CHAP. 19:11-21. 247 cavalcade of heaven to tread the winepress of the fierceness of Jehovah's anger? "The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow " (Heb. 4 : 12) ; and when that Word goes forth in execution of Almighty wrath upon those in arms against his throne, what a flow of blood, and wilting of life, and tornado of deadly disaster must it work ! And he hath upon his vesture, even upon his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Thus the Psalmist in anticipation sung, " Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most Mighty." (Ps. 45 : 3.) It is on his thigh that the warrior carries his sword ; but here the sword proceeds from the mouth, and hence in its place is a name rep- resenting it; for the Psalmist defines the sword in this case as his glory and majesty. The sword stands for authority and the right to punish rebels and evildoers. It tells of the majesty and domin- ion of him who bears it. And the authority, ma- jesty and dominion of Christ is this, that he is ^^ King of kings and Lord of lords,'^ now no longer in mere theory or appointment, but in present assertion, armed to enforce his rights. For ages the government of the world had been in other hands. Beasts held the sword and reigned. They have ever abused it against him and his people. And now they have confederated with Hell to hold it even against the forces of Omnipotence. Dread- ful miscalculation ! The Lion of the tribe of Judah 248 '^^^ APOCALYPSE. comes to meet them. He comes in the claim and majesty of the sharp sword of the King over all these kings and Lord over all these lordly ones. On his thigh is the name of his authority — the sword name of his sovereignty. And woe to the powers that now think to withstand him. "The Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them." (Ps. 21 : 19.) Such, then, is the mighty Hero who comes forth from the opened heavens to light this '' battle of the great day of God Almighty." Let us look next at the Hosts which follow him. n. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, in flaming fire taking vengeance upon them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel, he does not come alone. He is married now, and his Bride is with him. . Even before the flood, Enoch prophesied of this epiphany of the promised One, and said, "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all." (Jude 14, 15.) They are with him now, there- fore they must have been taken before. John saw, and writes, " T'he armies, the ones in the heaven, were following him.'' Christ is the Head and Leader, and he goes before; his saints follow in his train. The promise from the beginning was, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, and here it is emphasized that "He himself treadeth the v/inepress of the wine of the anger of LECTURE XLIIL CHAP. 19:11-21. 249 the wrath of the God, the All-Ruler." He himself is the Great Hero and Conqueror in thi.s battle. But he is " Jehovah of hosts." He has many under his command. The armies of the sky are his, and he brings them with him, even "the called and chosen, and faithful" (chap. 17; 14). On white horses. The great Captain is mounted, and they are mounted too. He comes as the Warrior, Judge, and King, and they share witli him in the same character. They are warrior judges and kings with him. In chapter 9, we were introduced to cavalry from the under world, of spirit horses from beneath; why not then celes- tial horses also ? Horses and chariots of fire pro- tected Elisha at Dothan. Horses of fire took up Elijah into heaven. And heavenly horses bring the saints from heaven when they come with their great Leader for the final subjugation of the world to his authority. It is up to the bridle-bits of these horses that the blood in that battle is to flow (chap. 14 : 20). These horses are all white, the same as the Great Captain rides. Everything is in har- mony. The riders all are royal and righteous ones, and the same is expressed in the color of their horses. Whether literal horses are to be understood, it is not necessary to inquire. Power is an abstract quality, incapable of being seen with the eye. It must put on shape in order to become visible. It is best shown in living forms. So we had to do with symbolic horses in chapter eleven. But here the whole character of the showing is different. 250 THE Apocalypse. This opening of the heaven, the coming forth of Christ with his heavenly armies to the battle which ensues, the destruction which is wrought, the vic- tory w'hich is won, and the kingdom which is set up, is so essentially literal in each particular, that it is hard to find room in the record for any other conclusion than that the horses are as literal as the sitters on them. Thej^ are at least the pictures of holy power bearing the King and his hosts to battle and victory over literal armies. There was reality in the powers which carried up Elijah, and there is reality in the powers on which these heavenly armies ride forth to the battle of the great day; and I know not w^hy these powers should not be in the form of real horses, of the character of the world to which they belong. " The four Spirits of the heavens, which go forth from stand- ing before the Lord of all the earth," were shown to Zechariah (6: 8)as horses, drawingfour chariots; and I know not why we may not here understand the same or similar " spirits of the heavens," put forth in similar forms. Habakkuk (3 : 8), refer- ring to this very scene, addresses the Lord, and says, " Thou didst ride upon thine horses, thy chariots of salvationJ^ There are "chariots of God;" and so there must be horses of God. It is never safe to explain away what may have in it a momentous literal reality, even though it may be very differ- ent from anything we know of. At any rate, the armies of heaven, as they here appear, are all cavalry. " Clothed in fine linen, lohiie, jmre. " The fine linen LECTURE XLIII. CHAP. 19:11-21. 251 was explained in the verses preceding. It is "the righteousness of the saints." Therefore these armies are saints, and not angels, as some have supposed. Those who share the kingdom with Christ are everywhere called " the righteous," and these have the apparel of the righteous, even that with which it was given the Bride to be clothed. Long ago, referring to this very scene, the Psalm- ist (58 : 10, 11) sung, " The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance : he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked ; so that a man shall say, verily there is a reward for the righteous : verily He is a God that judgeth in the earth." They reign with the mighty Conqueror after the battle ; and so they share in the battle and tri- umph which bring the Kingdom. "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" (1 Cor. 6 : 2.) They wear no armor. They are immortal, and cannot be hurt ; and they are not the executors of this vengeance. It is Christ's own personal vic- tory, in accordance with the Apostolic declara- tion, that " for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the Devil." (1 Jno. 3 : 8.) He bears the only sword, and he alone uses it. He treadeth the wine press alone. Those who accompany him in the scene of conflict therefore need no weapons. The sword of the great Captain is enough. Their' defence is in him, and their victory is in him. They follow up the achievements of his sword. They ride through the blood it causes to flow. 252 T^^ APOCALYPSE. They 'Svash their feet in" it, for it is up to the horses' bridles. But it is David who slays Goliath, and the hosts of God's Israel have only to follow up the mighty triumph, shouting their songs along the path of the victory. When the wicked are cut off, they shall see it ; they shall diligently con- sider the place of the wicked, and it shall not be ; but the meek shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace. (Ps. 37 : 10, 11, 34.) But who are the armies encountered ? III. Here we are left in no doubt. John says, " / saw the Beast, and the kiyigs of the earth, and his armies, gathered together to make the battle with the Sitter upon the horse, arid with his army.'' How they were gathered, we were told in what occurred under the pouring out of the sixth bowl of wrath (chap. 16 : 12-16). Devil agents working devil miracles, were brought into requisition. They went forth " unto the kings of the earth, even of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." It was through these devil oracles that they learned of Christ's coming to unseat and destroy them ; and by these devil miracles they were led to believe themselves competent to withstand all the armies of the 'heaven. Therefore they agreed to try it, and to defeat all these Jehovah purposes of ill to their usurped dominion and blasphemous pretensions. IJad they not a supernatural and immortal leader LECTURE XLIII. CHAP. 19:11-21. 253 in the Beast, that was not but is again present ? Had they not with him a great supernatural and equally immortal Prophet, who knew everything, who had power over the forces of nature, who could even command fire from heaven and give spirit to a metalic image? Would not these ad- ditional miracle-working spirits be their efficient helpers? If they made no effort, no resistance, what hope was there for them ? Was not the Beast God, " above all that is called God ?" Had eternity any- thing that could harm or vanquish such powers? Had not every soldier in their armies learned how to strengthen and sustain himself by spirit influences far above unaided human ability? Let the Rider on the white horse come;— let him be supported by myriads of his white-robed cavalry on their white horses; — if he did work miracles in his lifetime, neither he nor his followers ever wrought such as those which the potencies now urging them to armed resistance had shown. The struggle might be a hard one, but a combined and energetic effort would surely be successful. So they were taught; so they reasoned ; so they believed. ^' Strong delusion " was upon them, " that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned.'' (2 Thess. 2 : 9-12.) So they all with one accord, wentzealously into a great hell- indited and hell-sealed compact and confederation, to make battle with the Lamb, the Sitter on the horse, and his army. We may wonder how rational men could be carried with one impulse into an attempt so daring aad so absurd ; but when people put the truth from 254 'fHE APOCALYPSE. them, and submit themselves to the DeviPs lead, what is there of delusion and absurdity into which they are not liable to be carried ? How many among us comfort and assure themselves in their selfishness and sins with the belief that either there is no God, or that he is too good and merciful to fulfil his threatenings upon transgressors ? To this there needs to be added only one step more, to defy his judgments, and with that goes pledge of battle and declaration of war with his Omnipo- tence. And the final outcome of this world's wisdom, unbelief, and repudiation of the rule and government of Jesus Christ, is the assembly of all the kings and armies, and captains of thousands, and mighty men, and men of all ranks and classes, upon the hills and valleys of Palestine, from Idu- mea to Esdraelon, equipped, resolved, eager, and confident of success, to meet the Son of God and his army in hostile collision, to decide by dreadful battle whether they or he shall have the sove- reignty in the earth. Every one that denies Christ, is on the way to defy Christ, and to take up arms for the Usurper to conquer Christ. Every one who refuses to be baptized into Christ, and objects to the oath of allegiance to Christ, is a fit subject for the branding irons and infamous mark of the Antichrist ; and when that is once impressed, there is no more recession from this gathering together to fight Christ, and to be dashed to destruction against his invincible throne. And when Hell's emissaries come, with all their marvel of word and deed to encourage the enemies of God to join, LECTURE XLIII. CHAP. 19:11-21. 255 assemble, strike, and have the world forever to themselves, deluded mortals are persuaded, and march their armies to that field of blood from which there is no more return. " The heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take coun- sel together against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asun- der, and cast away their cords from us." (Ps. 2: 1-3.) Never was there a more wicked or more disastrous madness. But when men cut loose from the bonds of obligation to their Maker, there is no limit to the delusions to which they expose them- selves, and no enormity of daring or wickedness into which they are not liable to be betrayed, thinking it the true wisdom. And thus the kings of the earth and their armies gather toward Jeru- salem, to conquer the Son of God, and to crush out his rule and Kingdom for ever. What, then, IS the result? lY. One of the most awful expressions in the Word of God, is that which the Psalmist utters with re- gard to these enraged and deluded kings, and this their expedition, where he says, ''He thai siiieth in the heavens shall laugh : the Lord shall have them in derision." (Ps. 2 : 4.) That laugh of God, who shall fathom it ! How shall we even begin to tell its dread significance ! From the depths of his eter- nal being, he so loved the world, as to give his VOL. III. 74 256 ^HE APOCALYPSE. co-eternal and only begotten Son for it. Ko gift was too precious in his sight, no sacrifice too great, to be made for its redemption. For six thousand years he has been ordering his gracious Provi- dence in heaven and earth for its recovery from sin and death. His prophets and his Son have labored, wept and died, and the ministries of his sublimest servants have been unceasingly employed, to bring it to salvation. But now he te^As.' What failure of love, what exhaustion of grace, what emptying of the sea of his infinite mercies, what decay and withdrawal of all kindly interest and afilection must have occurred that there should be this laugh ! The demonstrations of these confederates with the Beast are tremendous. The whole world moves with one heart, one aim, with all its genius and power concentrated on one end, and with all the potencies of Hell to nerve and help and guide it. ;N"ever before was there such a combination of forces, natural and supernatural, directed with such skill, or animated with so daring and resolved a spirit. Yet, Jehovah laughs ! What an infini- tude of majesty and sovereign contempt does he thus express? The rebels are confident. They believe their leader invincible. They are sure of powers to handle all nature's forces. They have no question about being able to cope with mortals or immortals, with men or gods. They despise alike the names and the sword of Him who rides the white horse, and all his heavenly cavalry. They deem themselves ready and equal for any emer- gency of battle even with him who calls himself LECTURE XLIII. CHAP. 19:11-21. 257 Almighty. But God laughs! Oh the disappoint- ment and destruction which that laugh portends ! An angel stationed in the sun anticipates the coming result. With a great voice he cries to all the birds of prey that fly in mid heaven to come to a supper on the flesh of kings, captains, mighty men, horses and their riders, free and bond, small and great. This tells already an awful story. It tells of the greatest of men made food for the vul- tures;— of kings and leaders, strong and confident, devoured on the field, with no one to bury them ; — of those who thought to conquer Heaven's anointed King rendered helpless even against the timid birds ; — of vaunting gods of nature turned into its cast ofi*and most dishonored dregs. And what is thus foreintimated soon becomes reality. The Great Conqueror bows the heavens and comes down. He rides upon the cherub horse, and flies upon the wings of the wind. Smoke goes up from his nostrils, and devouring fire out of his mouth. He moves amid storms and darkness, from which the lightnings hurl their bolts, and hailstones min- gle with the fire. He roars out of Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, till the heavens and the earth shake. He dashes forth in the fury of his incensed greatness amid clouds, and fire, and pil- lars of smoke. The sun frowns. The day is neither light nor dark. The mountains melt and cleave asunder at his presence. The hills bound from their seats and skip like lambs. The waters are dislodged from their channels. The sea rolls back with howling trepidation. The sky is rent 258 THE APOCALYPSE. and folds upon itself like a collapsed tent. It is the day for executing an armed world, — a world in covenant with Hell to overthrow the authority and throne of God, — and everything in terrified !N"ature joins to signalize the deserved vengeance. So the Scriptures everywhere represent. John saw it, but does not describe it. He only tells the result he beheld. 4.710? the Beast was taken. The great Judgment strikes the head and leader first. He is not a system ; or he would not fall till the myriads of his supporters fall. He is a person^ as truly as his Captor is a person. He is distinct from his armies, as Christ is distinct from his ; or he could not be taken in advance of his armies. He is the living god and confidence of all his hosts, and all this war is for his glory; therefore the assault is first made upon him. He is a supernatural being, a man resurrected from the dead by the Devil's power, and seemingly incapable of corporeal death ; for he is not slain. No sword smites him. He does not die. In contradistinction from all save his companion, the False Prophet, it is speci- fically stated that he is simply 'Uaken^' — taken ^'alive^'^ and ''cast alive into the lake of fire.'' His worshippers held him to be invincible. They asked in the utmost confidence and triumph. Who is like unto the Beast? Who can war with him ? But, without the striking of a blow, and with all his worshippers in arms around him, he is " taken,'' captured as a lion seizes his prey, dragged away from the field as a helpless prisoner. With all his LECTURE XLIII. CHAP. 19:11-21. 259 power, greatness, and resurrection-vigor and im- munity from death, he is " taken." With greater ease than the Jewish mob^took the unresisting Jesus, the Sitter on the white horse catches him away from the very centre of his hosts. All the resistance he makes is the same as if it were not. He cannot help himself, and all his armies cannot help him. He must go whither his mighty Cap- tor would take him. Tophet gets its own. And into the lake of fire he sinks to rise no more. And with him the False Prophet who wrought the miracles in his j^i^esence. This is no warrior; but still a main author of this culminated wickedness of the nations. From him, together with the Dragon and the first Beast, went forth the miracle- working spirits who wrought this terrible decep- tion, and stirred up the world to this war. By his instigations were these armies equipped and gathered to the dread attempt to vanquish the Son of God. He caused men to adore the Beast, and he shares the Beast's fate. He is no system, no abstraction, no succession, no mere ideal figure, but a person. He is not slain; he does not die; he seems like the Antichrist incapable of death. But he is "taken,'' as the Beast was taken, made a captive, and hurried away to the same seething prison. All his miraculous power cannot save him. All his boasted wisdom cannot help him. All the armies of the world cannot rescue him from the grasp of the Sitter on the white horse. The two great leaders gone, short work is made with their followers. A few awful words tell the 260 THE APOCALYPSE. story. They are mortals all, and there is no sal- vatiou for them. In terrible brevity, the Seer records what came to pass. " And the rest were slain, with the sword of the Sitter on the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth ; and the fowls were FILLED FROM THEIR FLESH.'' Such a feast of death was, perhaps, never before seen. Long ago had the holy prophets sung of this Mighty One, and this his triumph. As the Psalm- ist foresaw, his arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies, whereby the people fall under him. (Ps. 45 : 5.) He sends out his arrows, and scattereth them ; and shoots out lightnings, and discomfits them. (Ps. 18 : 14.) He marches through the land in indignation ; he threshes the heathen in anger. (Ilab. 3 : 12.) All the strength of the nations is dashed to fragments before him, like pottery struck with an iron rod. (Ps. 2 : 9.) The stone from the eternal mountain falls on the great statue of this world's power, and it is ground to powder, never again to be regathered. (Dan. 2 : 35; Matt. 22:44^ The victory of the Sitter on the white horse is complete ! And He shall ride or shepherdize them with an iro7i rod. With many a severe judgment on the sur- vivors of that day, the Conqueror now assumes the dominion. With their heads and armies de- stroyed in the winepress of the wine of the anger of the wrath of the God the All-Ruler, he now sends forth the new law from Jerusalem. After the sword of destruction, comes the rod of correc- tion and reorganization. The world now gets a LECTURE XLIII. CHAP. 19:11-21. 261 new Master, a King whose eternal right it is to reign, and whom they must at once obey or die. The shepherdizing rod of iron, is the administra- tion which follows up the battle, gathers the populations of the earth into their proper flocks, assigns them their laws and rulers, and allows of no more disobedience. Thus ends this present world. Thus comes in the final reigii and kingdom of the Prince of Peace. It only remains to tell the Devil's fate, and then come the glorious pictures of the other side of this " great and terrible day of the Lord." I only add, that our contemplations to-night will fail of their end, if they do not serve to teach us,' and to write it indellibly upon our hearts, that rebellion against God is death ; — that no weapon formed against Jehovah can prosper ; — that those who will not have Christ to rule over them must perish! Though the wicked should wield the power of archangels, they cannot withstand the punitive majesty of the Warrior Judge and King who rides upon the white horse. His sword is mightier than Satan, mightier than the Beast deemed invincible, mightier than the command of infernal miracle over nature's laws, mightier than all the forces of earth and hell combined. And that sword is pledged to drink the life-blood of all who neglect his mercy, despise his laws, and stand out against his authority. All may seem well and promising now. People may indulge their unbelief and passions during these days of 262 THE APOCALYPSE. forbearance and grace, and see no disadvantages growing out of it. They may get angry at our earnestness, and account us croakers and fools when we put before them the demands and threat- enings of the Almight3\ But " woe to him that striveth with his Maker T' There is a deluge of bottled fury yet to be poured out on them that refuse to know God, and on the families that call not on his name, from which there is no escape, and from whose burning and tempestuous surges there is no deliverance. God help us to be wise, that we come not into that sea of death ! Kighteous Judge of retribution, Grant thy gift of absolution, Ere that day's dread execution 1 LECTURE FORTY-FOURTH. THE BINDING OF SATAN— HIS FOUR NAMES— THE ANGEL WHO APPREHENDS HIM— A LITERAL TRANSACTION— THE ECON- OMY OF THE UNDERWORLD— THE WORD "HELL," SHEOL, HADES— CHRIST'S DESCENT INTO HELL— HADES NO LONGER THE ABODE OF DEPARTED SAINTS— " ABADDON," THE ABYSS —TARTARUS— GEHENNA— THE BEAST AND FALSE PROPHET IN GEHENNA-SATAN IMPRISONED IN THE ABYSS— OBJECT OF HIS IMPRISONMENT— SATAN NOT BOUND AT THE COMMENCE- MENT OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA, NOR AT THE CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE, IS LOOSE NOW. Rev. 20 : 1-3. (Revised Text.) And I saw an angel coming down out of the heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in [or resthtg upon] his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old ser- pent, which is the devil, and satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and locked and sealed [it] upon him, that he should not lead astray the nations any more until the thousand years be accomplished : after these he must be loosed a little time. THE issue of the battle of the Great Day goes beyond the disaster to those found in arms against the Sitter on the white horse. There is another and still greater power back of those armies, by whose instigation this war was under- taken, by whose influence these kings and mighty ones with their troops were deceived into the fatal idea of conquering the King of kings and Lord of ( 263 ) 264 THE APOCALYPSE. lords, and by whose malignant cunning they were marched into the wine-press of the wrath of God. The judgment, therefore, proceeds to deal with this chief culprit. He is called by four names, the same that were given him in chapter 12 : 9. The Sitter on the white horse also had four names ; and as in his case, so here, the names describe the being who wears them. He is called " the Dragon^ This is his designation with particular reference to his connec- tion with earthly sovereignties and his administra- tions through the political world-powers, which, up to this great day, are continually contemplated in the Scriptures as the Dragon powers. But when these kings and their armies fall, the Dragon power ceases. Though the same evil spirit comes up again after the thousand years, he comes with only two of his four names, and not as "the Dragon ;" for he never again gets possession of the sover- eignty of the earth. Christ and his saints reign on the earth from this time forth forever; so that whoever those may be whom Satan then deceives and brings into rebellion, they are not the govern- ors, kings, and rulers of the earth. They are from its distant corners, not its great central ad- ministrations. He is the Dragon now, as he ever has been since the days of ^imrod, and as he ever will be till the confederated kings of the earth meet their final fall at Harmageddon ; and he is " the Dragon " with particular reference to the relation which he holds to this world's political powers. LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20 ; 1 - 3. 265 He is further called " the Old Serpent ;''—'' old'' in allusion to the fact that he has been in existence since the beginning of human history ; and " the SerpenV in allusion to his subtlety, his crooked and deceiving ways, his subtle poisons, and his deadly malignity. It was as the serpent that he beguiled our first parents and seduced them into sin and death. It is as the serpent that he de- ceives souls, insinuates false doctrine, unbelief, and presumption into the human heart, corrupts the purity of the Church, and deludes men with a false and perverted wisdom. It refers, particularly, to his subtle temptations of the good. Since the days of Adam's innocence in Eden, and on to the glori- ous Epiphany of his great Conqueror, he fulfils this particular designation ; but it does not appear that he ever comes up again in that precise capacity. The good are thenceforward beyond the power of temptation, and the deception by which he finally brings Gog and Magog against the citadel of the saints does not seem to be of the sort which he now practices as "the Old Serpent." He is still the same evil spirit as to his individuality, but his particular serpentine manifestation seems to cease with the present order of things, the same as his Draconic manifestation. Only as *' the Devil and Satan " does he reappear at the end of the thousand years. The word Devil means a slanderer, a calumni- ator, a malignant liar ; and this has been one of this evil spirit's chief characteristics from the be- ginning. His first suggestions to Eve were full 2(Jg THE APOCALYPSE. of base aspersions cast upon God, and burdened with all manner of ruinous falsehood. Hence the Saviour says : " He was a murderer from the be- ginning, and abode not in the truth ; when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own ; for he is a liar, and the father of it." (Jno. 8 : 44.) This is his essential character, the same everywhere and always. And as a murderous liar, calumniator, slanderer, and author of malignant untruth, he comes up again subsequent to the thousand years. The lie is his deepest nature, and it is that which makes him in bad pre-eminence " the DeviU^ Satan means an adversary, an accuser. It is a Hebrew word simply transferred. It is mostly used as a proper name of some great spirit of evil. It is used in this sense about forty times in the Scriptures. It denotes one who lies in wait to entrap, to oppose, to disable, to bring under con- demnation or into disaster. And such the evil one has ever shown himself. So he accused and opposed God at the beginning. So he accused Job and sought to destroy his peace. So he assailed Christ, questioning his divine Sonshipand power, if not proven to him as he chose to dictate. And so he is the adversary of all the children of God, and still stands as their accuser before God, even when the time comes for their birth to immortal glory. In this character he also reap- pears after the thousand years, stirs up enmity to God's holy people, and instigates an attack upon their citadel. It is in all these particular aspects that this great LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20:1-3. 267 spirit of evil was concerned in bringing about this war against the Sitter on the white horse and his army. It was first and principally as ''the Dragon," operating with and through the polit- ical powers; for he gave the Beast his power, throne, and great authority, and sent the lying spirits to influence the kings of the earth in this fatal business. It was next as " the Old Serpent," beguiling, deceiving, and leading into the wicked- est unbelief and false faith. It was furthermore as " the Devil," calumniating and blaspheming God and Christ, all true worship, and all rightful divine authority. And it was finally as " Satan," the malignant adversary and opponent of God and all good, disputing his right to reign, and bent on defeating his becoming the King of the earth. And as this great spirit was thus the life and soul of all this tremendous rebellion against the Son of God, the anointed All-Ruler, it was impossible that he should be permitted to escape, or to re- main at liberty, when the Warrior King and Judge comes forth to enforce his royal rights. We accordingly read of an Angel from heaven advancing to dispose of this old, malignant, and subtle Deceiver. Who this Angel is, we are not told. The particulars w^ould seem to indicate, as many able commentators have concluded, that he is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It was Christ who, in the first vision, claimed to have "the Keys of Hades and of Death," which would most naturally seem to include " the Key of the Abyss," which this Angel possesses. The w^hole achieve- 268 THE APOCALYPSE. ment of this victory is also so emphatically ascribed to the Saviour himself, that it would seem incon- gruous, if not conflicting, to make the arrest of the chief of all this dreadful antagonism the work of a created Angel. The mere fact of the angelic ap- pearance argues nothing against its being Christ himself, for we have seen him appearing several times already in the character of an Angel. (Comp. chap. 10 : 1-7; 14 : 18, 19 ; 18 : 1.) When he comes to vanquish and destroy armies, it is fitting that he should appear as a mighty Warrior; but when he appears for the seizure and binding of a fallen angel, it is equally fitting that he should appear as an Angel. His appearances continually vary according to the work to be done, and, all things considered, we would most naturally expect that this particular act would be done in the character of an Angel. The point is of no great consequence either way ; for it is still the act of Christ, and part of his victory, whether done by himself or by a created angel. It was Michael the Archangel who fought Satan in the battle in heaven (chap. 12 : 7), but that was rather a forensic contest. This is a dif- ferent work, the grasping of the Devil's person, the chaining of him, and the casting of him into prison. This Angel possesses the Key of the Abyss, and carries a great chain. He lays hold on the Dragon, the Old Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, ' binds him with the chain, casts him into the Abyss, and locks and seals him in, that he may no more delude the nations for a thousand years. Is this a literal transaction ? Certainly it is LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20.1-3. 269 The battle is literal ; the taking of the Beast and the False Prophet is literal; the slaying of the kings and their armies is literal ; Satan is literal; and his binding must be equally literal. It will not resolve itself into anything else, and fit to the connections or the terms. Some have asked, with an air of triumph, How can a chain of iron or brass bind a spirit, and that spirit an archangel? But the record does not say that it is a chain of iron, or brass, or steel, or any other material of earthly chains. It is a chain of divine make, as the sword that proceeds from the mouth of the Son of God. It is a spirit-chain, as the horses of the celestial army are spirit-horses. It is a chain of a character that can bind spirit and fetter angels. Jude tells of such chains, actually holding now (Jude 6), and which not even the angels can break. What they are made of, and how they serve to bind the freedom of spiritual natures, it is not for us to know or show ; but they are not therefore any less real and literal chains. Figures, tropes, and shadows cannot bind anybody, unless it be some commen- tators, who seem to be hopelessly entangled in them. The Abyss is a reality, and the chain is also a reality, or it is not what inspiration says it is. It is called " a great chain ; " and " great " it must be to hold and confine the great Red Dragon.* But it is adequate to its purpose. Heaven makes no miscalculations. It is fastened on the limbs of the old monster. He cannot resist it, nor shake it ofi: * See vol. ii,pp. 307-311. 270 THE APOCALYPSE. Archangel as he is, he is compelled to submit, bound as a helpless prisoner, and violently cast into his dungeon, there to lie in his fetters for a decade of centuries. 21ie 'place into which Satan is cast is called i) aj3o(Tao^, the Abyss. This is a different place from that into which the Beast and the False Prophet are cast. They w^ere thrown into " the lake of fire which burneth with brimstone." The Devil, after the thousand years, is also cast into that same burning lake (chap. 19:10); but here he is cast into " the Abyss,'' whence the Beast came (chap. 17 : 8), and also the terrible plague of the spirit- locusts (chap. 9 : 1-3). The question thus arises, What is the difference between "the Abyss" and "the lake of fire?" I might answer truly, that "the lake of fire" is the final Hell, the place of the eternal punishment of the damned; whilst "the Abyss" is a sort of fore-hell, a prison in which evil spirits are de- tained prior to their final judgment. The relation between the two is much like that of the county jail in which accused criminals are detained prior to their sentence, and the state penitentiary to which they are assigned for final punishment. But, as the question calls up the whole economy of the underworld, about which the Scriptures tell us more than is generally suspected or understood, it may be proper and desirable to look a little deeper into the matter. In general, people have very dim, confused and inadequate ideas with regard to the whole unseen LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20:1-3. 271 world. This is owing in part to the reserve of the Scriptures on the subject, but more particularly to the obscuration of what is revealed by the faulty rnauuer in which our English translators, though generally so correct, have dealt with the words and phrases of the sacred writers referring to this particular subject, begetting erroneous impres- sions, which reappear in our theological systems. Thus the word Hell, which in the Saxon vocabu- lary means simply the covered or unseen place, is used as the equivalent of words of very different signification, whilst those for which it is properly the equivalent are frequently rendered by other words which carry the mind quite aside from the real meaning. And so again, in popular language, the word Hell is carried away from its etymological signification, and made to stand for the place of final punishment, with which all other terms refer- ring to the hidden abodes of wicked spirits are again confounded, whilst some of the original terms for which it is made to stand do not refer to the place of final punishment at all. The whole matter has thus become most sadly confused, in- volving in that confusion the article of the Creed respecting Christ's descent into Hell, and urgently needing to be unravelled and set right according to the true ideas of Kevelation and of the early Church. There is a word used sixty-five times in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament, which our English translators in thirty-one instances render Hell, in thirty-one instances Grave, and in three VOL. III. 75 272 THE APOCALYPSE. instances the jnt. That word is Sheol^ uniformly rendered Hades in the Greek of the Old Testament, and wherever the JS'ew Testament quotes the pas- sages in which it occurs. By common consent the Greek word Hades is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol. It occurs eleven times in the New Testament, and always in the same sense as the Old Testament Sheol. To all intents and purposes, therefore, Sheol and Hades denote one and the same thing. But Sheol or Hades is never used to denote the Hell of final punishment. Neither is it * ever used to denote the mere receptacle of the body after death, the grave. Nor yet is it ever used to denote the mere state of being dead as to the body; and still less to denote the pit or Abyss as such. A careful inventory of all the passages conclusively proves that Sheol or Hades is the name of a place in the unseen world, altogether distinct from the Hell of final punishment or the Heaven of final glory. Its true and only meaning is, *' the place of departed spirits,'^ — the receptacle of souls which have left the body.* To this place all departed * "Translating the word Hades, according to its etymology and its use among the Greeks, it is rendered an invisible place, which was all that Homer intended when he said the souls of his brave heroes were hurried, by the Trojan war, into Hades, where he exhibits them celebrating the Elysian games. The fathers, therefore, condemn the language of our translation (of the New Testament), and in the article of what is called the Apostles' Creed, which says Christ descended into Hell, mis- leading the vulgar by an English word, which 7iow conveys an idea not contained in the original. This is so well known as to rec[uire no argument ; but so little regarded as to demand re- LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20:1-3. 273 spirits, good and bad, up to the time of the resur- rection of Christ, went. In it there was a depart- ment for the good, called Paradise by the Saviour on the cross, and another department for the bad. Thus both the rich man and Lazarus went to Hades when they died ; for the word is, " in Hades he lifted up his eyes, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom." Lazarus was then in Hades too, as well as Abraham ; and the only dif- ference between them and Dives was, that the good were separated from the bad by an iifipassable gulf, and that Lazarus was comforted and Dives tor- mented.* So the dying Saviour told the penitent malefactor that they would yet that day be together in Paradise ; that is, in the more favorable part of Hades. There they were neither in Heaven proper, nor in Hell proper; but simply in Hades. To this Hades all departed spirits went, the good witb the good, and the bad with the bad. There was com- fort there for the pious, and privation and torment for the wicked ; and they of the one part could peated ^roiQ^V'— Bennett's Theology of the Early Christian Church, pp. 323, 324. •' I cannot give a better periphrasis of it (the word Hades) than by translating it, that invisible place where the souls that leave their bodies live, whether it be a place of bliss or torment. In this sense it is taken in Scripture, the Apocrj-pha, Fathers, yea, and in heathenish authors too. And as for the Latin inferi, it is often taken in the same sense, and mostly used to express Hades.''— Beveridge on the XXXIX Arts., pp. 115, 116. * " Lazarus in Hades obtained comfort in Abraham's bosom ; the rich man, on the other hand, the torment of flame."— T'er- tullian, De Idol. 13. 274 THE APOCALYPSE. not pass over to the other part ; but still they could see and converse with each other, and none of them were yet in their final happiness or misery. Even at the best, it was not a place to be coveted. With all the blessed release which it brought to pious sufferers, and the good promise it bespoke of something better for them at the resurrection, the Scriptures everywhere describe it as a sombre world, — a place of detention and waiting even for the best. There is nothing ever said about going up to it, or of full compensation there for works of piety and deeds of love. The ancient saints drew satisfaction from the thought of being gath- ered to their fathers, and of resting there with the holy dead; but^iever as enjoying there the bright presence of God and the society of angels. All the higher and better recompenses to which they looked, they invariably connected with the resur- rection, and located quite beyond the Hadean world. It was to the Paradise side of this Hades that the Saviour and the penitent thief went when they died, as all the pious dead up to that time. But this going of Christ into the place of de- parted spirits with the penitent thief was not the descent into Hades of which the Creed speaks. By virtue of having died, Christ thus became an inmate of Hades, just as all other good men who had died before him; whilst the descent into Hades, of which the Creed speaks, was part of his active redemption work, and the beginning of his exaltation as the successful Redeemer, which LECTURE XL IV. CHAP. 20:1-3. 275 wrought a great change in Hades itself, and in the whole condition of the pious dead from that time on. His dead body having been requickened and glorified by his divine power, recalling his de- parted soul to it, even before he reappeared on earth, he went to Hades, not as a subject of death, but as the Conqueror of death, heralding his victory to the spirits therein detained (1 Pet. 3 : 18, 19), and actually bringing out with him all faith- ful souls, even resurrecting many of them. (Matt. 27 : 52, 53; Ps. 68 : 18.) It is with special reference to this, that he announced himself to John, in the first vision, as having "the Keys of Death and of Hades." Paradise now is no longer in Hades, but above, in the heavens, where its inmates enjoy a f^r more blessed portion than was ever enjoyed in Hades. Christ "led captivity captive" when he made his triumphant descent into Hades of which the Creed speaks, and no true believer now ever goes to Hades. Christ said of his Church, that the gates of Hades should never prevail against it ; that is, it should never close on any true members of his Church. Paul, in triumphant exultation over the portion of believers now, exclaims: "O Death, where is thy sting? 0 Hades, where is thy vic- tory?'' The "grave" holds the victory now just as it ever has done, but Hades does not; and the vic- tory of which the Apostle speaks and gives thanks is a victory over Hades, not over the "-grave"' as our translators have put it. Hence our Confession says, " Christ descended into Hades., and abolished 276 THE APOCALYPSE. it for all believers.'" {Formula of Goyi.y Hades now is, therefore, the receptacle of only such departed * Speaking of the several opinions concerning the descent of Christ into Hades, and the efficacy of it, Bishop Pearson makes this observation : " Of those who did believe the name oi Hades to belong to that general place which comprehended all the souls of men, as well those who died in the favor of God as those who departed in their sins, some of them thought that Christ de- scended to that place of Hades^ where the souls of all the faithful, from the death of the righteous Abel to the death of Christ, were detained ; and there dissolving all the power by which they were detained below, translated them into a far more glorious place, and estated them in a condition far more happy in the heavens above." Pearson did not himself accept this view, which is so evidently that of the Scriptures, still he adds this testi- mony concerning it : " This is the opinion generally received in the schools, and delivered as the sense of the Church of God in all ages; but though it were not so general as the schoolmen would persuade us, yet it is certain that many of the fathers did so understand it." He then quotes Eusebius, Cyril, Ambrose, and Jerome in evidence of this fact. The same author quotes Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hillary, Gregory of Nyssa, and others, as holding and teach- ing that the souls of believers do not enter heaven immediately upon their death, but go into the bosom of Abraham, into Para- dise, where the patriarchs and prophets are, where they all re- main till the time of the resurrection, when first they get their crowns, and enter upon the fulness of their blessedness. But the place where departed saints now are, or go at their death, is plainly no longer in Hades ; for when Paul in vision was taken to behold that place, the action or motion which took him to it from the earth is described as an ascent, — " he was caught up to Paradise" (2 Cor. 12 : 4), — whereas the action or motion describ- ing the entrance into Hades, even for the saints, is everywhere represented as a descent. Not only is it declared that Korah and his company " went down alive into Hades," or Sheol, but Jacob said, " I will go down into Hades unto my son." (Gen. 37 : 35.) So also Samuel, after his death, and in his rest, said, "Why LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20:1-3. 277 spirits as have no share in Christ's redemption, — a mere prison of bad and unbelieving souls, who there pine over their crimes, awaiting the day of judg- ment, when all in Hades, and Hades itself, shall be cast into the Hell of final punishment (chap. 20 ; 14). Sheol or Hades then is not Hell, except in the old and now obsolete sense of the covered 'place, the hidden temporary receptacle of departed spirits, into which all departed souls formerly went at death, but since Christ's resurrection only the bad and unbelieving go.* The Old Testament speaks of another place in the underworld, called in Hebrew Abaddon (Greek Apoleia), which our English Bible renders destruction. Thus we read " Hades is naked before him, and Abaddon hath no covering.^' (Job 26 : 6.) " Abaddon and death say. We have heard the fame hast thou disquieted me to bring me up ? " (I Sam. 28 : 15.) And so of Jesus, when he went to that place, it is said he ^^ descended into the lower parts of the earth." (Eph, 4:9.) Paradise then was below in Hades ; now, since the resurrection of Christ, it is above, in the heavenly regions, and no longer in Hades. Thus Basil, Cyprian, and Ambrose speak of Paradise now as a place of rest m heaven^ in which the pious are, but still not in heaven, in the same way as they shall be after the resurrection. * From these representations of the economy of the under- world, which are the result of a more matured study of the whole subject, some obvious modifications are required to the state- ments made in Vol. I, page 99, which were written some fourteen years prior to the writing of this Lecture. I then believed that all departed souls went to Hades, whereas, it is now plain to me that, since the resurrection of Christ, none of the souls of the saints ever go there, as they did previously. "When a man has learned better, it is due that he should be allowed to correct himself. 278 THE APOCALYPSE. thereof.'' (Job 28 : 22.) '' It is a fire that consumeth to Abaddon:' (Job 31: 12.) " Shall thy loving kind- ness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in Abaddon f (Ps. 88 : 12.) " Hades and Abaddon are ever before the Lord." (Prov. 15 : 11.) "Hades and Abaddon are never full." (Prov. 27 : 20.) Abaddon thus connects with Sheol or Hades, but is a deeper, darker, and a more wretched place. " The pit of the Abyss," referred to in chapter 9 : 1-3, and from which came the plague of spirit- locusts, seems to identify with this Hebrew Abad- don ; for the Angel of this pit, and the King over these locusts, has a name " which in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apellyon." I^ine times do we read of this Abyss in the !N"ew Testament. The demons, whom Christ cast out of the wretched man of Gadara, besought the Saviour not to command them into the Abyss. (Luke 8 : 26-3L) Paul says that our faith needs not to inquire '^Who shall descend into the Abyss, that is, to bring Christ up again from among the dead" (Rom. 10 : 7), as if he were only one of the more powerful of these demons. Thus also the great Beast, the Antichrist, cometh uip out of the Abyss {^ev. 11:7; 17:8). Abaddon and the Abyss would therefore seem to be the abode of demons, a sort of deeper pit beneath Hades, where the wickeder and baser spirits of dead men, and other foul spirits of the lower orders, are for the most part held as melancholy prisoners till the day of final judgment. It is a place intermediate between Hades and the final Hell, as Paradise is LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20:1-3. 279 now a sort of intermediate place between Hades and the final Heaven. It is a remove below Hades, as Paradise is now a remove above Hades. It does not appear that fallen angels now have their place in Hades. The Lucifer of whom Isaiah (14: 15) speaks as having been "brought down to Hades'' is explained (verse 4) to be the king of Babylon, and so a bad man, and not an angeL Fallen angels are never said to be in Hades. The place of their present detention is described by quite another name. Thus Peter tells us that " God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment." (2 Pet. 2 : 4.) Our translators also call Tartarus Hell, as if Tartarus, Hades, the Abyss, and the final lake of fire were all one and the same thing* The truth is, that they are each distinct and sepa- rate, though all departments of the underworld. The burning lake is the only true Apoleia, per- dition, destruction, second death, or the final Hell. It too has its own proper name. It is called Tophet in the Old Testament. (Is. 30 : 33 ; Jer. 7 : 31, 32.) In theNewitis twelve times called Gehenna, which, in the Greek, is the same as Tophet in Hebrew. From denoting a place of horrible burning on earth, it came to be used to denote the place of final punishment. Our translators have uniformly translated Gehenna by the word Hell. But Ge- henna is altogether a difierent Hell from Sheol, Hades, the Abyss, or Tartarus. Thus the Saviou'' says, that whosoever indulges malignant and 230 THE APOCALYPSE. devilish spite towards his brother "shall be in danger of Gehenna iire'*' (Matt. 5:22); that it is much better to sacrifice a right eye or a right hand in this world than that " the whole body should be cast into Gehenna'' (Matt. 5 : 29, 30); that we are not to fear tliern which kill the body, but rather to fear him " who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna'' (Matt. 10 : 28); and that "it is better to enter into life with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into Gehenna fire'' (Matt. 18 : 9). Thus also he denounces the hypocritical Pharisees as the candidates for " the greater damnation," the "children of Gehenna'' (Matt. 28 : 14, 15), and asks them, " How can ye escape the damnation of Gehenna?" (Matt. 23:33). This Tophet or Ge- henna, as will be seen at once, is something dif- ferent from Hades, Tartarus, or the Abyss. It is manifestly the same which John here calls " the lake of fire which burneth with brimstone," and into w^hich the Beast, the False Prophet, Satan, Death, Hades, and whosoever is not found w^ritten in the book of life, are finally cast, and swallowed up forever; that is, it is the ultimate Hell of full punishment. Into this final Hell no one has ever yet entered. It is " prepared for the Devil and his angels;" but none of them is there now. The first persons that ever go into this place are the Beast and the False Prophet, at the time of the battle of the great day of God Almighty (chap. 19:20). The next to get into it is Satan himself, more than a thousand years afterwards (chap. 20 : 10), where the Beast and the False Prophet are represented as still alive LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20:1-3. 281 and suffering at the time when he is cast in with them. And then follows the casting in of all the wicked, along with Death and Hades (chap. 20 : 14, 15). It is not a little surprising that things should come out so clearly from the original Scriptures, and that there should be such confusion on the subject in the popular mind, and even in our theologies. But in the light of what I have thus briefly indi- cated, any one can readily see the consistency and propriety of all these terms and references touch- ing the underworld, and what is meant by the different places from which or to which these in- fernal actors either come or go. The Beast is from the Abyss, the under-pit of Hades, as twice distinctly stated. The False Prophet, his com- panion and prime minister, is doubtless from the same place. Under the fifth Trumpet, "the Key of the Abyss'' was given to the fallen star, which is none other than Satan, and he unlocks the Abyss for the bringing up of the spirit-locusts, and then for the bringing forth in Satanic resur- rection from thence these two great instruments of his malice and deception, the Beast and the False Prophet. It is not in the DeviPs power thus to resurrect any one from the Abyss now; but in the ongoing of the judgment, and for the greater punishment of the unbelieving, the power is given him to do it, and he does it. He is allowed to have " the Key," and he uses it, un- locks the Abyss, and brings forth again into the activities of life the two ablest of his particular 282 TB.E APOCALYPSE. servants. They go through with their blasphe- mous and dreadful work in judgment upon the world for its unbelief. And when the end comes, they are at once cast into the final Hell, the very first that ever try those awful fires, which they so richly deserve. The kings and armies whom they deceive into this presumptuous war are mortal men, who are simply " slain," — killed, — and so turned into Hades, there, with the wicked dead, to await the judgment at the end of the thousand years, when they all shall be brought forth to- gether, and assigned their place in the same final Hell of the burning lake. The old Serpent, the Devil, who has been at the back of it all, is arrested and imprisoned. But there is still a reason in the divine purposes why he should not yet be finally disposed of; therefore he is not yet cast into the burning lake of ultimate perdition. Nevertheless, he is chained as to his power, and locked and sealed up as to his place, in that under-pit of Hades, where only the foulest and basest of spirits are, — in the Abyss whence he brought up the two Beasts and their demon helpers, — there to writhe in his helplessness till the thousand years are fulfilled. The particular object of this binding and im- prisonment of Satan is not so much for his due punishment, as for the temporary restraint and prevention of his deceptions of men. It is specially stated to be, 'Hhai he should not lead astray the na- tions any more until the thousand years be accomplished,'' Ruinous deception is the Devil's trade, and all LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20:1-3. 283 false ones and deceivers are bis apprentices and children. The truth is ever against him; there- fore falsehood is his particular recourse and instru- ment. But naked falsehood is only repulsive. What we know to be a lie cannot command our respect. " In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird." There is in the very framework of the soul an impossibility of feeling toward known falsehood the same as if it were truth. The struc- ture of our being revolts against it. Untruth can only gain credence and acceptance by being so disguised as to appear to be the truth. Falsehood can have no power over us until we are led to be- lieve and conclude that it is the truth. And this deluding of men, getting them to accept and follow lies and false hopes, under the persuasion that they are accepting and following truth, is the great work and business of Satan in every age. From this work and business he never rests so long as he has the liberty to act. In this work and busi- ness he has been engaged from the beginning. And in this work and business he is engaged now; for his binding and imprisonment do not occur until after "the Battle of the great Day of God Almighty," and that battle has not yet come off. Some assume and teach that this binding and imprisonment of Satan occurred at the opening of the Christian dispensation, and point to the mira- cles wrought by the Apostles and early Christians, the silencing of the Pagan oracles, and the on- ward march of the Church to political victory over 284 THE APOCALYPSE. Paganism, as the evidence of it. But then the inspired Peter was all wrong; for he sent out a general Epistle to all Christians, in w^hich he wrote: "Your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walkeih about, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Pet. 5 : 8.) Others assume and teach that this binding and imprisonment of Satan occurred at the conversion of Constantine and the consequent triumph of Christianity over Pagan Eome. But that event was followed by a millennium of corruption and apostasy for the Church, and of darkness and bar- barism for the world, far worse than had occurred during the thousand years before ; whilst the ter- mination of the thousand years after Constantine brought a period the brightest in evangelic purity and activity, and the most triumphant for truth and constitutional liberty, that has ever been since Constantine occupied the imperial throne. Still others assume and teach that, to whatever date we are to refer this binding and imprisonment of Satan, he is bound now, because imperialism in government has been wellnigh banished from the earth, and hierarchism in the Church is quite dis- abled from its old dominion, and general intelli- gence and freedom are becoming the common possession of the race. I wonder that there should be sane men who can come to such a conclusion. If ever there was a time when the Devil was loose, active and potent in human aftairs, thai time is now\^ in the days in which we live. The Devil's domin- ion is the enthronement of error, falsehood, decep- LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20:1-3. 285 tion, lies, and moral rottenness ; and when was this dominion evermore patent than in these years of the existing generation ? The Devil bound ! And yet the people who claim to be the most enlightened, and occupy the very top waves of modern progress, do not hesitate to give out that it is with them a matter of serious doubt whether there is a God, a Providence, a soul to live after this life, anything eternal but matter, any Lord but ITature, any retribution but what natural laws administer in this world, any principles of moral- ity but expediency, and scout all idea of a personal incarnation of Deity, of atonement by divine sacri- fice, of justification by faith in the merits of a substi- tute, of any coming again of Christ as King to judge the world and reign in righteousness. We look abroad upon society in general,and whatdo we see? Reverence, that great balance-wheel in the econo- mies of life, scarcely exists anymore; oaths are noth- ing ; good faith is scarce as grapes after the vintage; and all moral bonds are trampled down without compunction under the heels of greed, and lust, and deified selfishness. Falsities and treacheries con- front us unblushingly at every point. People not only make falsehoods, speak falsehoods, print false- hoods, and believe falsehoods ; but they eat them, and drink them, and wear them, and act them, and live them, and make them one of the great elements of their being. One-half, at least, of all that the eye can see, or the ear hear, or the hands touch, or the tongue taste, is bogus, counterfeit, pinchbeck, shoddy, or some hash or other of un- 286 THE APOCALYPSE. truth. A mail cannot move, or open his eyes, with- out encountering falsehood and lies. In business, in politics, in social life, in professions, and even in what passes for religion, such untruthfulness reigns, that he who would be true scarcely knows any more whom to trust, what to believe, how to move, or by what means to keep his footing, amid the ever-increasing flood of unreality and decep- tion. And yet the Devil is bound ! Do I color the picture too deeply ? Look, consider, and see for yourselves. Is not the world full of people, many of them your neighbors and personal ac- quaintances, some of them under your own roofs, in your own homes, — people with their apostles, male and female, on the rostrum everywhere with applauding crowds around them, — people to whom the Church is a lie ; the ministers of the Gospel, a fraud ; the sacraments, absurdity ; prayer, a weak delusion ; the Bible, a dull record of super- annuated beliefs; special providence, an impossi- bility; a personal God or Devil, a superstitious conceit; moral accountability to a future judg- ment, a thing to be laughed at ; society, marriage, and the body of our laws, mere faulty convention- alities; government a mere device of the ambitious and self-seeking; immortality, a mere fiction; and even life itself, something of an impertinent imposition, or a mere freak of mother !N'ature ! And with such ideas afloat, and swaying the hearts and minds of the multitude as the new Gospel of advanced thought and human progress, what is truth f Where is it? On what are we to rest? LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20:1-3. 287 How find a foundation to build on for anything? To such a philosophy, what is not a lie, a perver- sion, a delusion, a superstition, a cheat? And, on the other hand, if our Gospel be true; if what the Bible says of God, and Christ, and the nature and destiny of man, is indeed reality; was there ever a more subtle, more specious, more potent, more Satanic deception and misleading of the race, than that which the wiseacres and savants of our time would thus palm upon our world ? And yet the Devil is bound! By what eccentricity of the human intellect, or freak of human intelligence, or stultification of man's common-sense, could such all-revolutionizing and infernal falsehood find place on earth, and pass current for the true and higher wisdom, but for the living presence and effective operations of that old Deceiver who cheated our first parents out of Paradise, beguiled the early world to its destruction in J^oah^s flood, and is now engaged preparing the way for his favorite son to captivate all the great powers of the earth to their inevitable damnation ! No, no, my friends; the Devil, that old Serpent, is not bound. He is loose. He ranges at large, with his ten thousand emissaries, all the more active and earnest in his Satanic schemes as he seeth that his time is short. He has his nests and conventicles in every city, town, and hamlet all over the world, labelled with all sorts of attractive and misleading names. Clubs, institutes, circles, societies, conventions, lyceums, and a thousand private coteries, under show of investigating sci- voL. III. 76 288 THE APOCALYPSE. ence, improving knowledge, inquiring into truth, and cultivating the mind, free from the disturb- ing influences of sect, religion, tradition, and old fogy notions, — these are among the common ma- chinery through which he instils his deceits and subtle poisons. A broader philosophy, a more compliant church, a more active humanity dis- daining theological dogmas and positive creeds, a larger liberality to take every one for a child of God who refrains from denouncing the devilish atheisms and heresies of the times, — these are the flags he hangs out for the rallying of his unsus- pecting dupes. And see how he induces men and women to usurp ministerial functions without ministerial responsibilities, and gives them power on the plea of breaking down denominationalism and making better saints without any church at all; how he prostitutes the pulpits to entertaining sensationalisms, defying all sense and sacred de- cency, or narrows them down to sweet platitudes which serve to bury the true Gospel from those whom it was meant to Bave,--and how he stirs up Christian ministers of place and influence to say and make believe that all this attention to sacred prophecy is nothing but a stupid craze, that the holy writers never meant just what they said, and that all these ill-bodings touching the destiny of this present world are but the croakings of birds that love to fly in storms! And yet he is bound ! O, ye people, on your way to the nearing judgment of the great Day, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." You mav be sincere, but that is not LECTURE XLIV. CHAP. 20:1-3. 289 enough. Eve thought she was innocent and safe when she took the Devil's recommendation of the forbidden fruit; but her trustful confidence did not excuse her. E"o delusion can serve to justify be- fore God. No tricks or disguises can impose on him. He will be true though that truth should make every man a liar. His old and everlasting Word must stand till every jot and tittle of it be fulfilled. The existence of a Devil is not a myth, but an awful reality, and to his doings and destiny we have other relations than that of mere spec- tators. His dread power over those who will not have Christ as their Saviour is not a nightmare fancy, or the dream of a disordered mental diges- tion, but a thing of living fact. And these solemn and momentous Revelations are Jehovah's finger- boards, set up in mercy along the path of human life, to point out the places of danger and the way of safety. To despise, neglect, or disregard them is not a characteristic of wisdom. To refuse to note and heed them, is to try the insane experi- ment of seeing how near you can graze the brink of perdition, and yet win the credit of not tumbling in. Can you be wiser than God who made you ? Then mark the signals he has given, and follow them implicitly. LECTUEE FOETY-FIFTH. VISION OF THE ENTHRONED SAINTS — ITS CONNECTION WITH PRECEDING CHAPTER — THE SHEPHERDIZING OF THE NA- TIONS— THE SHEPHERDIZEIiS — THEIR THRONES — THEIR JUDGING POWER AND REIGN — SPECIAL NOTICE OF THE MARTYRS — THE WORD *' SOULS " — A CORPOREAL RESUR- RECTION NECESSARILY IMPLIED. Rev. 20 : 4-5, (Revised Text.) And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment [the power of judging] was given to them. And (I saw) the souls of them who had been beheaded on account of the testimony of Jesus, and on .account of the word of God, and [of those] who did not worship the beast nor yet his image, and did not receive the mark on [their] forehead and on their hand; and they lived (= lived again) and reigned with the Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead ones lived not (again) until the thousand years be completed ; this [being] the resurrection the first. A RICH aod magnificent revelation here comes before us. Beautiful and blessed contempla- tions would it also afford were it not for the noise and dust of controversy which surrounds it. Un- fortunately it has become a battle-ground of oppos- ing schemes, not only of the interpretation of the Apocalypse, but of the whole outcome of God's promises and man's redemption. A war of the theologians has hung upon it for centuries. Hence it is seldom treated otherwise than polemically, or (290) LECTURE XLV. CHAP. 20:4-5. 291 with partisan bias. Nor is it possible to touch it at all without entering in some degree into the deep and far-reaching controversy which here comes to its intensest and final tug. It is a great pity that it is so. The effect is disastrous in many directions. It turns multitudes from looking at the subject. It creates suspicions of any doctrines that seem to depend on the passage in question. It induces numbers to accept the unwarranted conclusion that the whole thing is so mysterious, incompre- hensible, and dark, that no light or spiritual edi- iication is to be gained from it. It has led dis- putants into inventions, assertions, and ways of dealing with the Divine Word, which, if consist- ently followed out, would undermine every dis- tinctive doctrine of Inspiration. 'Nov is there, perhaps, another section of holy Scripture the consideration of which so much needs the aid and guidance of the Holy Ghost to keep the inquirer in balance and temper, to look and see with un- prejudiced eyes, and to form conclusions with sound and conscientious regard to what has been written for our learning. God help us in our handling of the subject that we may rightly con- ceive, embrace, and rest on his own everlasting truth ! The first point to which I direct attention, and one too much overlooked, is the connection of these presentations with the scenes and statements of the preceding chapter. We there saw the 292 ^HE APOCALYPSE. heaven opened, and the Lord of lords and King of kings, with his risen and glorified saints, comiiior forth to meet the Beast and his confeder- ated kings and their armies in dreadful battle. The result was the taking and casting of the Beast and the False Prophet alive into the final Hell, the slaying of the rest with the sword, and the chaining and locking up of Satan in the prison of the Abyss. But, in connection with these ad- ministrations, it was said of the Sitter on the white horse, as.it was said of tlie Manchild in chap. 12 : 5, " And he shall rule or shepherdize the nations with a rod of iron " (chap. 19 : 15). The repetition of this declaration renders it particularly significant, and calls for our special attention. The numerous references to it in the Scriptures assign to it every element of a special dispensation. That it does not refer only, if at all, to the ca- lamities inflicted on the Beast and his armies is clearly evident from the record. The instrument of that infliction was not a rod, but is twice stated to be the sharp sword, proceeding from the mouth of the Sitter upon the white horse. The eflfect in that instance was slaughter and death; hut shep- herdizing, with whatever severity of judgment and invincible force, is not the taking of life. The word Tcoifiacvw occurs often in the !N"ew Testa- ment, but always in the sense of feeding, tending, directing, and helping, with a view to preservation, not destruction. Thus Christ was fore-announced by the Father, as '*a Governor that shall shepherdize Cmsivg\n,feed) my people Israel." (Matt. 2:6.) So LECTURE XLV. CHAP. 20:4-5. 293 Christ speaks of one '' having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle,'^ literally, shephcrdizing. (Luke 17:17.) So his command to Peter was, ^'- Feed {shepherdize) my sheep." (Jno. 21 : 16.) And so Paul said to the elders at Miletum, " Feed (shep- herdize) the Church of God." (Acts 20 : 28; also 1 Pet. 5 : 2.) In all these instances the word is used to express a gracious and merciful proceeding, the very contrary of slaughter and destruction. And when it is here said of the King of kings that he {jzoqiavei) shcdl shepherdize the nations, even though it be " with an iron rod," we would do great violence to the word to interpret it of the slaying of the armies of the Antichrist. Besides, this shephcrdizing is a dealing with "M^ nations^^ as such ; whilst the subjects of the destruc- tion at Harmageddon are not "the nations" as such, but " the kings of the earth and their ar- mies." Kings may fall, and armies in the field of battle be destroyed, and the nations, or peoples to which they belong, still continue to exist. The de- feat and capture of Napoleon at Sedan did not extinguish the French people, or even the French nationality. Had he and every French soldier perished on that field, France would still have remained ; though the conqueror might have fol- lowed up the victory, and given to the French quite other laws and institutions, and organized them under a new rule for an entirely new life. In that case he would have done to and for the French something of what is implied in these terms as done to all nations by the Conqueror of 294 THEAPOCALYPSE. the Beast and his armies. The kings fall, and their armies are clean swept away, making an utter end of the Dragon dominion upon the earth ; but then comes the rod of iron in the hands of the Conqueror, to shepherdize, provide for, and put into new and better order, the home-peoples out from among whom these armies went into the disas- trous field. The battle of the Great Day of God Almighty is one thing; the shepherdizing with the rod is another. The two are closely connected. They are both judgment administrations. The one is the sequel to the other. But they are wholly difi:erent in their immediate subjects, character, and results. The one is temporary, the other is continuous. The sw^ord comes first, and strikes down the enemy in the field; and then follows the shepherdizing with the rod of discipline and new rule over the peoples whose kings and armies are no more. The two together fulfil what is stated in Psalm 2 : 5-12, Isaiah 11, and Matt. 25 : 31-46, w^here the same rod power and shep- herdizins: are further described. The Shepherdizer is the same who conquers in the battle with the Beast and his confederate kings. He is the All-Ruler, and it is his power and do- minion which are thus enforced with justice and with judgment. But his army of glorified saints accompanies him. They follow him in his victo- rious treading down of his armed enemies. They ride through the blood of his foes up to the horses* bridles. They pursue the triumph with him. And particularly in this shepherdizing with the LECTURE XLV. CHAP. 20:4-5. 295 rod of iron, the Scriptures everywhere assign to them a conspicuous share. Hence the Psalmist sung: '' Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds (resting-places). Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron ; to execute upon them the judgment written : THIS HONOR HAVE ALL HIS SAINTS." (Ps. 149.) The same is also very pointedly declared by the Saviour himself To his twelve Apostles he said, that when he should sit in the throne of his glory, they also should " sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel' ' (Matt. 19 : 28.) In the address to the Church at Thyatira, he said: *'He that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations, and he shall shepherdize them with a rod of iron ; as a vessel of earthenware shall they be broken to shivers as I also received of my Father." (Rev. 2 : 26, 27.) If there were not another passage on the subject, this alone would be decisive of the point, that this shepherdizing of the nations is shared in by the saints in resurrection glory. But there are other passages (see Dan. 7: 26, 27; 1 Cor. 6 : 2, 3 ; Rev. 3 : 21). One particularly to the point is that in which it is said of the Manchild, born into immortality, and caught away to God and his throne, that he shall '''shepherdize all the nations with a rod of iron." (Rev. 12 : 5.) We have seen that this Manchild is a figure or symbol of the 296 THE APOCALYPSE. true Church, with Christ at its head, and that the birth and catching away to God is the resurrec- tion and glorification of the saints with their Lord.* iTo other consistent interpretation of that marvellous " sign'' is at all possible. And yet, to that Manchild, after its removal to glory, is as- signed this very shepherdizing of the nations. It is therefore scripturally certain that this ruling or shepherdizing with the rod of iron, which follows up the destruction of the armies of the Antichrist, is a thing in which the glorified saints have a very conspicuous part. Where, then, in the apocalyptic chart do we find this very particular administration but in the grand vision now before us? As I have been led to view things, we have here the picture of the victorious Christ, with his enthroned and glorified saints, in the rule or shepherdizing of all the na- tions with a rod of iron, the same which is cele- brated by the Psalmist, promised by Christ, and so distinctly affirmed in the description of the Manchild, as well as in the account of the coming forth of the Sitter on the white horse. II. With this view of the connection and scope of this vision, we pass to the more direct considera- tion of its presentations, every item of which goes to prove that this is the natural, true, and neces. sary conception of the whole matter. * See Lectures XXVI and XXVIII in Vol. II of this work. LECTURE XLV. CHAP. 20:4-5. 297 John saw " thrones.'^ Judicial or regal adminis- trations imply seats of authority. The Sitter on the white horse came crowned. His shepherdizing of the nations is in his character as conquering King. It is therefore, in its very nature, an ad- ministration of sovereign authority. The saints share with him in it, as we have seen. Hence the need for thrones, or royal seats, for these sover- eign shepherdizers. Daniel speaks of these same thrones. He saw them set, and the going forth of authority from them, which is further described as the authority of one like a Son of man, to whom was given " dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him." (Dan. 7 : 9-14.) They are the same of which the Saviour spoke to his twelve Apostles, and con- cerning which he has promised, " To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne." (Rev. 3: 21.) These are not empty seats. John says ; " The}/ sat upon ihem.'^ Who ^'ihey'' are, seems to have troubled commentators to determine. Some say *' they " are the martyrs ; some say " they " are the spirits or disembodied souls of the martyrs; some say "they'' are the principles of the martyrs; some say " they" are the men of that generation quick- ened from the death of sin and raised up to emi- nent zeal, saintship, and influence while yet living in mortal flesh; some say "they" simply repre- sent a more potent dominion of Christianity, the sway of the Gospel over the nations ; and some 298 THE APOCALYPSE. are entirely at a loss to say who " they " are. Bat there must be something fundamentally wrong in men's theories of the Apocalypse as a whole, or they could not here be in such straits of uncer- tainty. Surely the sitters on these thrones are those to whom this implied judicio-regal authority is every- where promised. Kor are the passages few in which those promises are given. In the text itself it is expressly said that these sitters upon these thrones are '^priests of God and of Christ, and reign with him,'' — ''reign loith Christ.'' But what atten- tive reader of the Bible does not know that God's chosen and anointed kings and priests are none other than his true and faithful people ? In the opening of this Book, John spoke of himself and fellow-Christians, — all who are freed from sin by Christ's blood, — as those whom God hath made kings and priests (chap. 1 : 5, 6). The Living Ones and the Elders gave glory to the Lamb for making them " kings and j^riesis of God,'^ destined to ^' reign on the earth." Who are they but glori- fied men, redeemed unto God by the blood of the Lamb " out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation ?" (Rev. 5 : 9, 10.) These king-priests must therefore be God's ransomed people ; Peter pronounces his fellow-Christians "a chosen gene- ration, a rogal priesthood,^' who, "when the chief Shepherd shall appear," for this shepherdizing of the nations, "shall receive a glorious crown." (IPet. 2:9; 5:4.) To what did he thusrefer but these very dignities, LECTURE XLV. CHAP. 20:4-5. 299 and to the true people of God as the inheritors of them ? Daniel, in vision, saw the judgment sit, and the dominion of the Beast taken away by the mighty power of God, and declares that then "the Kwgdom and dominion, and the greatness of the King- dom under the lohole heaveri, shall be givm to the people of the saints of the Most EighJ' (Dan. 7:26, 27.) What did he mean but the very thing here beheld by John, and that the sitters on these thrones are the saints of God ? Paul wrote of " a crown,'' for which he strove, which is to be the possession of all "good soldiers of Jesus Christ," and which the Lord, the righteous judge, would give him "at that day," and "unto all them that love his appear- ing.'' (2 Tim. 2:3-5; 4 : 7, 8.) And so the Saviour himself exhorts his "little flock" not to fear, as it is the Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom (Luke 12:^2), enjoins upon his disci- ples to hold fast that no one take their crown (Kev. 3 : 11), and promises every faithful and good ser- vant to "make him ruler over all his goods" (Matt. 24 : 46, 47). It is also an inevitable principle, that the conquerors take the dominion ? The Sitter on the white horse conquers in the Battle of the Great Day, and by virtue of that triumph he becomes the Supreme King. But with him through all the mighty engagement were his glorified saints, in white apparel, on white horses, indicative of their character of associate governors and judges. (Judges f) : 10.) With him in the fight, they are with him in the victory, and share the sovereignty which that victory secures. He conquers, and therefore 300 THE APOOALtPSB. reigns; they conquer with bim, and therefore they " reign with him." Thus the sitters on these thrones are none other than Christ's saints whom John saw^ following their Lord when he came forth to make an end of theantichristian domination, and inaugu- rate ids own shepherdizing of the nations. Their sitting upon these thrones is not an empty show. As Christ's taking of the sovereignty of the earth is a sublime reality, so must that of his victorious peoples' participation in it also be. Nor are we left to gather this by mere inference. John says expressly that '■^judgment was given to them,'' — xpi/m^ — the act or power of judging, including the foraiing of sentences and the execution of the same, as in Matt. 7:2; 19 : 28 ; Jno. 9 : 39; Rom. 2:2, 3; 1 Cor. 6:7. That is, as Altbrd remarks, "they were constituted judges." The work of shepherdizing the nations with a rod of iron nec- essarily involves intrustment with discretionary power to act ; and this is the office and power here said to be given to these sitters on these thrones.* The "judgment " which they thus receive is other- wise expressed when it is said of them that they ''reignJ^ The possession of the judging power is most intimately conjoined with sovereignty, or the office of reigning. Thus "David reigned over all Israel ; and David executed judgment and justice unto * '< Thp word KftXfia in this clause may be interpreted as applying to the supervision or making of statutes, ordinances, arrange- ments, etc., by those who are in a superior station. This seems to many to be the most easy and natural construction." — Stuart, in loc. LECTURE XLV. CHAP. 20:4-5. 30I all the people/' (2 Sam. 8: 15.) Thus the Queen of Sheba said to Solomon : " The Lord made thee king, to do judgment and justice." (1 Kings 10: 9.) Tliey are enthroned kings and priests, and they are thus endowed with the prerogatives of the regal office. The}^ are to reign. They are to exercise the royal functions. Therefore they get the power of judging and of executing judgment and justice, which is the very office of the shepherdizing prom- ised to the victorious children of God, and so em- phatically set forth in what was said of the par- ticular destiny of the Manchild. Up to this time it is a matter of promise and hope, but here it is made a matter of possession and actual fact, — a thing finally reached and realized. Once it was the fate of believers to be judged by the ungodly world-powers. Jesus told his fol- lowers that they should be brought before councils, governors, and kings, and tliat time would come when men would think it a holy thing to adjudge them worthy of stripes, imprisonment, and death. So Paul stood before the courts of earth, saying: " I stand and am judged.'' But man's day has a limit, and then comes another order, when, as Mary sung, God " shall put down the mighty from their seats," and " exalt them of low degree," — when the Pauls shall be the royal judges, and the Felixes, and Festuses, and Agrippas, and Caesars, then in place, shail be obliged to accept the sen- tences of heavenly justice from God's immortal potentates, who once stood helpless at earth's tri- bunals; for so itis written, "the saints shall judge 302 THE APOCALYPSE. the world" (1 Cor. 6:2), and "shall take the Kingdom, and possess the Kingdom forever, even forever and ever" (Dan. 7:18); and Christ, the victorious All-Ruler, according to his promise, will " give them autliority over the nations, to shepherdize them with a rod of iron " (Rev. 2 : 26, 27), invin- cibly and eflectually. Among those who suffer the greatest penalties and privations for their faith are the holy martyrs and those who hold out faithful under the dread- ful Antichrist. When a man lays down his life for his Lord, he surrenders all that he can surrender, and lets go what all the instincts of humanity lead one to cling to to the last. Human law knows no heavier penalty than the taking of a man's life; and when this is accepted, rather than deny the Saviour or his Word, the common world, as w^ell as Christianity, takes it as the sublimest testimony a man can give of his devotion. And when people consent to suffer nakedness, banishment, and death, rather than make themselves guilty of an act of homao;e to the Antichrist, it is a demonstra- tion of steadfastness as great as it is possible to furnish. Hence there is a somewhat special vision vouchsafed to the Apocalyptic seer to indicate the rewards of such fidelities. J^ot only does he behold the sitters on the thrones in general, and the giving of judicial and royal authority to the body of the saints as a whole, but he is particu- larly shown that the martyrs, and those who wor- ship not the Beast, are surely among them. Thus he tells us : LECTURE XLV. CHAP. 20:4-5. 393 " And {I saw) the souls of them ivho had been beheaded on account of the testimony of Jesus, and on account of the word of God, and [of those'] who did not worship the beast nor yet his image, and did not receive the mark on [their] forehead and on their hand; and they lived i= lived again) and reigned with the Christ.'' Whilst the body of the saints in general partici- pate in these rewards, it is thus shown that the martyrs in particular, together with the faithful ones of the last evil time, are specially included. The martyrs and the faithful ones under the Beast are not different parties from the sitters on the thrones, but special classes specifically included. A somewhat parallel presentation occurs in chap- ter 1 : 7, where it is said of the Saviour at his great Epiphany, that " every eye shall see him, and they wliich pierced him." The meaning is not that *' they which pierced him " form a separate class apart from " every eye," but that even those who slew Christ shall also be among those denoted by " every eye," and that they too shall look upon him. It deserved to be thus noted specially that the murderers of Christ will have to confront him, as well as men in general ; and so here it deserved to be noted specially that the holy martyrs, and the faithful ones under the Antichrist, have their part and place with the sitters upon the thrones, and that they particularly are among those who reign with Christ. Special notice of the martyrs in their disem- bodied state was taken in chapter 6 : 9. They were not enthroned then, but in depression, anx- voL. III. 77 304 THE APOCALYPSE. ious for their final vindication. The record says : " When he opened the fifth seal, I saw beneath the altar the souls of those that had been slain on account of the Word of God, and on account of the testimony which they held fast : and they cried with a great voice, saying, Until when, thou Master, the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood from them that dwell on the earth. And there was given to each of them a white robe, and it was said to them that they should rest yet a little time, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, shall have been completed, who are about to be slain as also they themselves had been." The very parties there spoken of are here specified as among the sitters upon the thrones; to wit, the martyrs then under the altar, their fel- low-servants who were subsequently to fall because of their refusal to worship the Beast. A necessity was thus begotten for some subsequent notice of them in connection with the final outcome for which they were told to wait. That notice we have in the text, which notice takes its special character from the previous allusion to these particular par- ties, and the implied promise given them, not as over against the sitters on the thrones, or as the only sitters there, but as specially included among them. It is a gracious note of testimony from heaven to the greatest sufibrers for Christ that, when it comes to the inheritance of the Kingdom and the reigning of the saints with their Lord, they are to be specially considered. Having laid down their lives for their faith, or having held out LfiCTURfi XLV. CHAP. 20:4-6. 3O6 'faithfully against the horrible deceptions and per- secutions of the Antichrist, the assurance is, that they particularly shall be among these priests of God and of Christ, to share in his sublime domin- ion. Though in the ashes before, they are to live again for this very purpose. Some stumble at the word souls {j^ of Elijah, ii, 225 Michael, ii, 78 ; and his angels, fighting the dragon, ii, 347-352 ; the archangel, ii, 347-349 ; Jew- ish teachings, ii. 350 ; fighting for the body of Moses, ii, 354 INDEX. 499 Millennium, false doctrine con- ) cerning, iii, 342-344 ; scriptural teachings, iii, 344-350 ; a psriod of a 1000 years, iii, 344 ; begins only at end of this present world, iii, 345 ; brings with it an alto- gether different dispensation, iii, 346 : condition of man and the earth vastly improved, iii, 348, 349 ; ending of it not the end of the happiness it introduces, iii, 350 ; followed by the loosing of Satan, iii, 351-354 Milton, Paradise Lost, quoted, i, 257, n ; ii, 344, 356, 364. 369 Moon, signs in the, i, 384, 385 Morals, state of, at sounding of sixth trumpet, ii, 105-108 Moses, conteatioa for the body of, ii, 354, 355 Murder, ii, 105 Nioolaitanes, the, i, 169, 181. 182 ; error of, described, i, 190-192 Nimrod and his idolatrous inven- tions, iii, 116-120 Number of the beast, ii, 459, 460 Numbers, the meaning of, 130-137 0. Olshausen, quoted, on Antichrist, ii, 396, n One. the number, i, 130 144,000, who they are, i, 404, sq ; iii, 16-20, characteristics of, iii, 21, 22; their reward, iii, 23 -27 Origen, quoted, on Elijah, ii, 192 Pain, banished from heaven, iii, 387 Palm-bearers, the, who they are not, i, 433-440 ; who they are, i, 441-446; their blessedness, i, 447-454 Papacy. Jezebel, the type of. i, 194-198; not the whole of the great harlot, iii. 114, 123, 124, sq Paradise, i, 360. 361 j iii, 273 278, 279 Patmos, isle of, i, 68 Pearson, quoted, on Christ's de- scent into Hades, iii, 276, n Pergamos, church at, i, 124, 159 Persecution, the fifth seal, picture of. i, 349 Pessimism, iii. 196, 197 Philadelphia, church at, i, 126, 163 Pietism, i. 179 Plagues, the seven last, iii, 63 ; heavenly economy of, iii, 66— 68 ; current interpretation of, iii, 69, 70 ; the first of the, ii», 70 i the second, iii. 71 ; the third, iii, 73; the fourth, iii, 74, 75 J the fifth, iii, 76-80 ; the sixth, iii, 84-94; the seventh, iii, 95-102 Planchette, ii, 104 Political regeneration of the earth, at the fall of Babylon, iii, 205- 211 Polycarp, i, 158 Popery, cf. Papacy Praj^er, power of ii, 33 Prayers of the saints, i, 289, 290 ; ii, 29-31 Preaching, now the work of men, iii, 29 Proclamation of the mighty angel, ii, 141-144 Prophecy, value of the study of, i, 36-38; nature of the fulfilment of, i, 106 ; definition of, ii, 154, 155 ; to be heard again on earth, ii, 154 Prophet, the false, one of the dia- bolical trinity, ii, 417; the beast with two horns, ii, 418-424 ; an individual person, ii, 420, 421 ; comes out of the earth, ii, 422 ; probably Judas Iscariot, ii, 423, 424 ; two horns of, denote natu- ralism and supernaturalism, ii, 426-428 ; his dragon speech, ii, 427 ; at one with Antichrist, ii, 428 ; his power, ii, 429, 430 ; causes " the earth " to worship Antichrist, ii, 431 ; this weird account, literally probable, ii, 432-436; the condition of things when he comes, ii, 438, 440 ; how he imposes on the world, 500 INDEX. ii, 441, 442, 448, 449 ,• miracles of, ii, 443, 444 ; causes fire to oome down from heaven, ii, 445 ; suggests that an image of the beast be made, ii, 450 ; causes this image to speak, ii, 452-454, brands all with the mark of An- tichrist, ii, 456, 457 ; taking of the, iii, 259; cast into Gehenna, iii, 280, 281 ; time of this im- prisonment, iii, 283-289 Punishment, grades of, iii, 361- 365 R. Race, perpetuity and redemption of our, iii, 368-377 ; the ongo- ing redeemed, iii, 391 Rainbow, around the throne, i, 244, 245 Red horse, the. i, 328-331 Redemption, true conception of, i, 267-270 Reformation, the great, i, 196, 197, Confessions of, i, pref. 4, 19 7 Regeneration of the heavens and earth, iii, 378-383 Rest, iii, 34, 35 Resurrection, the first, i, 227-231, 234, 250, 301; iii, 310-315; suc- cessive stages of, ii, 332-338, 339, n; iii, 321-324; of saints only, iii, 318-320 ; as a whole nowhere pictorially described, iii, 324-326 ; completion intro- duces a wonderful change in the earth's history, iii, 327-332 ; promotes the subjects of it to glory, iii, 332-336 ; to exalted place and occupation, iii, 337- 340 , the final, iii, 358-361 R'^velation, hook of, some object to study of, pref., iii, iv ; ii, 37 ; revised text of, pref., v, vi ; sub- ject and contents of, i, 15-23, 66 ; derivation and .authorship of, i, 23-31 ; value of, i, 31-35; most wonderful of sacred books, ii, 271 5 genuineness of, i, 30, n, 31, n ; key to the analysis of, i, 102-108 i second grand division of, i, 204 ; must be literally un- derstood, ii, 25, 46-49, 6V53 ; ii. 273 ; last section of, iii, 446; certainty of things contained in, iii, 447 450 ; blessings accom- panying study of, iii, 451-454, 483-486 ; Christ's summation of the contents of, iii, 487-489. Rev. 1 : 1-3, i, 13-38 ; 1 : 4-8, i, 39-64 ; 1 : 9-17, i, 65-90 ; 1 : 17 -20, i, 91-115 ; 1 : 20. i, 117- 145 ; 2 : 1 :-3: 21, i, 146-173 ; 3 . 22, i, 174-203 ; 4 . J, i, 204- 232 ; 4 : 1-11. i, 233-262 ; 5 • I -!4, i, 263-292 ; 6 : 1-2, i, 293- 320 ; 6 : 3-8, i, 321-344 ; 6 : 9- 11, i, 345-376 ; 6 : 12-17, i, 377 -401 ; 7 : 1-8, i, 402-428 ; 7 9 -17, i, 429-454 ; 8 ; 1-5, ii, 13- 37 , 8 : 6-12, ii, 38-64 ; 8 : 13, 9 : 12, ii, 65-95 ; 9 ; 13-21, ii, 98-122 ; 10 : 1-11, ii, 123-148 ; 11 : 1, 2, ii, 149-172 ; 11 ; 3, 4, ii, 173-208 ; 11 ; 5-14, ii, 209- 246 ; 11 : 15-19. ii, 247-270 ; 12 : 1, 2, ii, 271-292 ; 12 : 3, 4, ii, 293-316; 12 : 5, ii, 317-341; 12 ; 6-12, ii, 343-365 ; 12 : 12- 17. ii, 366-386 , 13 : 1-10, ii, 387-412 ; 13 : 11, 12, ii, 413- 436 ; 13 : 13-18, ii, 437^60 ; 14 : 1-13, iii, 13-35, 14: 14-16, iii, 36-58 ; 15 ; 1-8, iii, 59-82 ; 16 : 1-11, iii, 69-82 , 16 : 12-21, iii, 83-106; 17 : 1-17, iii, 107- 132 ; 17 • 18, iii, 133-158 ; 18 ; 1-8, iii, 159-188 ; 18 : 9-24, iii, 189-212 ; 19 : 1-6, iii, 189-212 ; 19 : 7-10, iii, 213-236 ; 19 : 11- 21. iii, 237-262 ; 20 : 1-3, iii, 263-289 ; 20 ; 4-5, iii, 290-315; 20 : 6, iii, 316-340 , 20 : 7-15, iii, 342-366 , 21 : 1-8, iii, 367- 393 ; 21 : 9-27, iii, 394-419 ; 22 : 1-5, iii, 420-444; 22 :6-]5, iii, 445-469 ; 22 : 16-21. iii, 470 -492 Rich man and Lazarus, i, 358 Righteousness, two kinds of, iii, 224 ; in all things enforced with iron rod, iii, 327-332 River, the wonderful, iii, 422-426 Rivers, plague of bloody, iii, 73 Roll, cf Book Romanism, Christ's judgment of, i. 192-196 s. Saiabe, cf. Believers, prayers of, i INDEX. 501 289, 290 ; ii, 29-31 ; likened to eagles, ii, 68-73 ; will prophesy again, ii, 155 ; different orders of. i, 443 ; iii, 217 ; shall judge the world, ii, 156, 157 ; persecu- tions of, iii, 123; avenging of, 195-197 ; vision of enthroned, iii, 295-302 ; holiness of, 224, 334-337; shall judge and reign, iii, 337-340 Salutation of John, to seven Churches, i, 41 ; substance of, i, 42-47 Sardis, Church at, i, 125, 126, 161, 162 Satan, the fallen star, ii, 76-78 ; receives the key of the Abyss, ii, 79, 80 ; opens the Abyss, ii, 80, 81 ; the red dragon, ii, 293- 316 (cf. Dragon) ; existence of. ii 296, 297 ; persecutes the Church, ii, 311-316, 330, 331 , his fighting against Michael, ii, 351, 352 ; his method of war- fare, ii, 356-359 ; defeated, ii, 360-364 ; cast out of heaven, ii, 366, 367 ; worship of, organized, ii, 454 ; armies of, in the war in heaven, iii, 252-255 ; binding of, iii, 263, 268 ; four names of. iii', 264-266 ; cast into the Abyss, iii, 270 ; loosed after the millen nium, iii, 351 ; not bound now, j iii, 285-289 ; seduces Gog and ' Magog into rebellion, iii, 352 ; meets his final perdition, iii, 355 Sea, the, turned into blood, ii, 50; iii, 71 Sea, the glassy, i, 247 ; iii, 63-66, the new, iii, 380-383 Sealing of the 144,000, subject of the, i, 403-412 ; nature of the, i, 413-420 ; efi'ects of. i, 421- 428, cf 144,000 Seals, the seven, i, 272 ; signifi- cance of opening of, i, 300, time covered by. i, 301, 303-305 , opening of the first, i, 307-320 ; the second, i, 328-331 ; the third, i, 332-335 ; the fourth, i, 336- 344 ; the fifth, i, 345-376 ; the j sixth, i, 377-454 ; first vision i under, i, 377-401 ; second vision j under, i, 402-4-8 ; ti;ird visi.m j under, i, 430-454 ; the seventh, I ii, 14, ff. ; includes the seven trumpets and the seven vials, ii, 14 Second advent, cf. Advent, second Self-glorification, iii, 186-188 Selnecker, on first resurrection, iii, 321 Seven candlesticks, the, i, 71, 72, 105, 112 Seven Churches, the. i, 41. 105, 112, 117-145 ; significance of, i, 128, 129, 137-139,142, 175,176; typical of Christianity, i, 142- 145, 174-203 ; the seven epistles to, i, 149-203 Seven epistles, the, to the Churches, importance of, i, 149 ; teachings of, i. 149-203 Seven, the number, i, 134, 135; ii, 131 Seven spirits of God, the, i, 45, 246 Seven seals, cf. Seals Seven last plagues, iii, 62 ; cf. Plagues. Seven priest-angels, the, iii, 67 j cf. Angels Seven stars, the, i, 82, 83, 105, 110 Seven thunders, the, ii, 130-133 Sheol, cf. Abyss, not the place of final punishment, iii, 272 Shepberdizers, the. iii, 294-296 ; their thrones, iii, 297-299; their judging, power and reign, 300- 302 Shepherdizing of the nations, iii, 293-296 Sickle sent forth, in the harvest of judgment, iii, 44-46 ; in the vintage of judgment, iii, 49-51 Sign, the great, in the heaven, the marvellous woman, ii, 272-274; the red dragon, ii, 293-315 ; the third, iii, 62 Siience in heaven, signification of, ii, 15-19 Sin, the man of, ii, 395. 396, and n, 401 Six, the number, i, 133 Sleep of the soul, i, 360-363 Smyrna, church at, i, 122-124, ]b7, 158 Society, state of, at opening of sixth soiil.i, 390-400 ; at .'mound- ing of sixth trumpet, ii, 97-108; 502 INDEX. compared with former times, ii, 108, n Soroeries, ii, 105, 106 ; of Baby- lon, iii, 184 Sores, plague of, iii, 71 Sorrows, banished from heaven, iii, 386 Souls of the martyrs, the, i, 365- 369 ; cf. Martyrs Souls, discussion of the word, iii, 305-309 ; resurrection of, 309- 315 Soul's sleep, the, i, 360-363 Spirit, in the, on the Lord's day, critical discussion, i, 22, and n, 70 Spirits, the three unclean, iii, 87; the enthusiasm they awaken. iii, 88-90 ; place of departed, iii, 276 Spiritualism, modern, ii, 101, 102 Stars, falling of, i, 385-388 Star, the great, called Wormwood, ii, 55-57 Star, the fallen, Satan, ii, 76-80 Stars, the seven, cf. Seven stars Stier, quoted, on Elijah, ii, 188 Stoughton, Dr., quoted, i, 206, 208, 209, 221 Stuart, on genuineness of Rev., i, 30, n ; on the fifth seal, i, 346 Sun. darkening of, i, 382, 383 ; ii, 58-61 ; plague of intense heat of, iii, 74 Supernaturalism, ii, 213-216 Symbolic interpretation, errors of, ii, 60, 61 ; iii, 487 Tartarus, iii, 279 Tears, banished from heaven, iii, 384 Temple, of Jerusalem, to be re- built, ii, 161-165 ; to be me:is- ured, ii, 162-166 ; outer court of, rejected, ii, 165 ; of God, in heaven, ii, 255-257 Ten, the number, i, 136 Ten virgins, parable of the, iii, 218, 219 Teitullian, quoted, i, 367, n; on Elijah and Enoch, ii, 195 Text of Apocalypse, i, pref. 5 Thenphylact, quoted, on Elijah, ii, 193 Three, the number, i, 131 Three and a half years, the, ii, 171, 172 Throne of God, i, 242-248; iii, 355 Thunders, the seven, ii, 130-133 Thyatira, church at, i, 125, 160 Time, course of, iii, pref. iv-vii Times, the, corruptions of, i, 219 Tophet, iii, 279 Tree, the wonderful, iii, 427-431 Trench, quoted, on "The Living One," 1, 94, n, 98, n, 102, n, 139, n Trinity, the Holy, ii, 415, 416 Trinity, the diabolical, ii, 415 ; persons of, ii, 417; sends forth three unclean spirits, iii, 88 Trumpets, the seven, ii, 22-25 ; sounding of the Jirst, ii, 42-48 ; the second, ii, 49-53 ; the third, ii, 54-57 ; the fourth, ii, 58-62 ; woes of, to be literally interpret- ed, ii, 46-49 ; sounding of the Jj./th, ii, 75-95 ; the sixth, ii, 96- 122, 124-148 ; nature of this judgment, ii, 109-122 ; cry is- sues out of four horns of the altar, ii, 109; angels are execu- tors of the woe, ii, 111-114 ; in- fernal cavalry overrun the earth, ii, 115-118; continuance of plague, ii, 119 ; object of, ii, 120, 121 ; woes of, continued, ii, 124- 148 ; the seveiith and last, ii, 247-249 ; includes the history to the end, ii,249 ; symptoms whicL attend, ii, 250-258; items which are embraced, ii, 259-270; reign of Christ, ii, 259-262; destruc- tion of the wicked, ii, 263. 264 ; judgment of the dead, ii, 265, 266 ; the faithful rewarded, ii, 266, 269 ; translations and re- surrections accompanying, ii, 332-340 Twelve, the number, i, 136 Twelve tribes of Israel, i. 256, 406 Two, the number, i, 131 Two witnesses, the, cf. Witnesses Victorinus on significance of seven Churches, i, 128, and n, 12S Vintage of the judgment, iii, 46 ; INDEX. 503 sending forth of the sharp sickle, iii, 48, 49 ; giithering of the vine of the earth, iii, 49-51; treading of the wine-press, iii, 52-54 ; the blood of the, iii, 55, 56 Vision, of John, in Patmos, cir- cumstances of, i, 67, fif ; sur- roundings of first, in heaven, i, 235-241 ; particulars of, i, 241- 262, 264-289 ,• of the harvest of judgment, iii, 37-45; of the vin- tage of judgment, iii, 46-58 ; of the sea of glass mingled with fire, iii, 63-66 Vitriuga, quoted, i, 176, n W. War in heaven, ii, 343-346 ; the forces marshalled, ii, 347-352 , the occasion of the conflict, ii, 353-365 ; the nnture of the but tie, ii, 356-359 ; the issue, ii, 360-365 Warning, note of, during sixth plague, iii, 91-94; to the impen- itent, iii, 103-106 Washing of robes, iii, 464-468 Weemse, quoted, i, 273, n White horse, the, i, 310-315 ; one on which Christ rides, iii, 240 ; compare, iii, 249, ff Wicked, resurrection and judg- ment of the, ii, 263, 264 ; iii, 355, sq. ; no restoration of the, iii, 80, 81 Wine-press, the treading of, iii, 52- 54; the blood of the, iii, 55-57 Witnesses, the two, ii, 171-177 ; are persons, ii, 175 ; prophecy, ii, 176 ; who they are, ii, 178- 190 ; testimony concerning, ii, 191-198; the judgment prophets, ii, 199 ; mission of, ii, 199-208 ; their times not Gospel times, ii, 211, 212 ; very evil timts, ii, 213; of intense supernaturalism. ii, 214-215; of judgment, ii, 2 16; deeds of, ii, 217-222; inflict great plagues, ii, 220-223 ; the two olive trees of Zechariah, ii, 223 ; the great preachers of the last times, ii, 224-232 ; work of, merciful, ii, 231; end of, ii, 233, 234 ; bodies unburied, ii, 234- 236 ; resurrection of, ii, 237, 238 ; ascension of, ii, 239, 240 ; events accompanying, ii, 240-244 ; tes- timony of fathers concerning, ii, 245, 246 Woe and judgment, vintage of, iii, 46-58 Woe, the last, iii, 61 Woes of the trumpets, to be liter- ally interpreted, ii, 46-49 ; pre- liminary proclamation of, ii, 66- 74 ; the fifth trumpet, ii, 75-95 ; the sixth, ii, 119, 124-148, 242; the seventh, ii, 258 Woman, the marvellous, ii, 271- 341; not the Virgin Mary, ii, 274 ; not the city of Jerusalem, ii, 275 ; but the visible Church, ii, 275-278, 320-325, 369 ; iii, li2; description of. ii, 278-292; persecuted by the dragon, ii, 373-375, 379-382 ; flees, ii, 376; is nourished, ii, 379 Woman, the, in scarlet, iii, 113- 132; not Rome, iii, 115; charac^ teristics of, iii, 113-125 Wordsworth, on genuineness of Rev., i, 31, n ; quoted, on the eagle, ii, 72, n World, government of, changes, ii, 259-262 ; end of, iii, 238-262 ; not the extinction of, iii, 369- 377 wrrrr I,. 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