"/ prr Lhtft Books
foi- ti.e fntntfivz of a. Coiltgi in thts Colo.-.j"

DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

THE DRAMA OF THE
APOCALYPSE

•The

•&

THE DRAMA OF THE
APOCALYPSE

IN RELATION TO THE LITERARY AND
POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCES
OF ITS TIME

BY
FREDERIC PALMER
AUTHOR OF " STUDIES IN THEOLOGIC DEFINITION '

N«fo gfltfc
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd.
I903
All rights reserved

Copyright, 1903,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped May, 1903.

J. 8. Cashing Sc Co. — Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface  vii
CHAPTER I. The Dramatic Character of the Apoca
lypse  i
II. Signs of the Times  22
III. The Drama  35
IV. The End of All Things .... 87
V. The Person of Jesus  98
VI. The Literary Value of the Apocalypse . 113
VII. The Book of the Revelation . . .122
Appendd!  191

PREFACE
The following Study of the Apocalypse is
intended to be not so much a critical exami
nation as an appreciation. It does not aim
to be a commentary, a museum of research,
nor an embodiment of decisions upon the
many scholastic questions involved. It en
deavors rather to invite, and to smooth the
way before the ordinary reader. There is
lying ready much piety which would gladly
find fresh food, much literary appreciation
which would welcome a new masterpiece,
much poetic sensibility waiting to test fire
by itself. Too often when one of these has
approached the Book of the Revelation it
has been repelled by language it could not
understand. But for all these classes the
Book is peculiarly an inheritance. It needs
but a little to put them in possession of their
own. That little this Essay is ambitious to
accomplish. One of the first principles of the Biblical
Study of our day is that we cannot know

viii Preface
what the Bible means for us until we know
something of what it meant for those to
whom it was uttered. It is in accordance
with this principle that in coming to the
Apocalypse we seek first to find what it
meant to the Christian of the latter half of
the first century. Its value for us may not
be the same as for him, but it will be on
the same lines. The spiritual lessons will
be similar, though the circumstances through
which they are taught may be different. It
is this conviction of the necessity of pene
trating through its outer circumstances to a
knowledge of the mind of the time, that has
led to the present Study of the Apocalypse. F. P.
ANDOVER, MASS.

"And the Apocalypse of St. John is the majestic image of a
high and stately tragedy, shutting up and intermingling her solemn
scenes and acts with a sevenfold chorus of hallelujahs and harping
symphonies." — John Milton, "The Reason of Church Government."
" The soul has said, ' I do not know what all these emblems, in
which angels and devils and beasts with heads and horns are intro
duced, may exactly signify, but I do see that all brute-power will
be overcome by holy love ; I do see that all vain cunning will be
proved to be vain by holy wisdom; I do see that the Lord of the
great heavens will, governing here as well as on high, and manag
ing His transactions according to great preparations made in the
invisible scene, bear down with helpful powers upon the earth, and
make the changes below correspond to the changes above.' "
— Frederick D. Maurice, " Lectures on the Apocalypse."

THE
DRAMA OF THE APOCALYPSE
CHAPTER I
THE DRAMATIC CHARACTER OF THE
APOCALYPSE
THE Revelation of St. John is probably
one of the least read and least valued
of the books of the New Testament. The
second and third chapters, the last, and parts
of the twentieth and twenty-first stand, it is
true, on a different plane in the mind of the
ordinary reader, from the other parts of the
Book. These speak a language as easily
understood as that of the Gospels. The
chapters which are supposed to be a descrip
tion of Heaven have furnished a precious
basis for the devout imagination in all ages.
But the greater part of the Book is to
most readers of the Bible a confused mass,

2 The Drama of the Apocalypse
into which angels and dragons and beasts
with heads and horns, vials and trumpets,
are introduced in no order and with no per
ceptible plan. And the ordinary reader is
in one respect right. He can find what is
better adapted to his purpose much more
readily elsewhere. The value of the Book
does not lie where he is accustomed to look
for value, in texts, short quotable passages
full of comfort or guidance or wisdom. It
is a poetic value, requiring some power of
literary appreciation to apprehend it. But
when one comes to it with some degree of
such capacity, the Book is found to be full
of unity and force, of gorgeous coloring and
majestic movement, full of those qualities of
imagination which, when joined with the
insight and judgment of a spiritual nature,
give the power of inspiration. In many
respects the Apocalypse is like that poem
which owes so much to it, " Paradise Lost " ;
the excellences of both are to be sought in
the same direction.
It is not a commentary, but a study of

Dramatic Character of the Apocalypse 3
materials, which is here aimed at in regard
to the Apocalypse. What were the condi
tions of the mind of the time? What im
print was given to those conditions by the
special characteristics of the author? What
were the circumstances of the age which
made a background for the writer's imagina
tion? What the terms of time and place
in which he set forth the eternal processes
of the Kingdom of Heaven ? Such a con
sideration of elements does not eliminate,
but exhibits, the directly spiritual qualities —
the power of reaching men's souls and bring
ing them into direct contact with the spirit
of God — which the age contemporary with
the Apocalypse recognized abundantly in it,
which gave it a place in the Canon, and
which have also been recognized, to some
degree at least, by the ages since.
Like all Hebrew prophecy, the Apocalypse
was designed by its author for the times in
which he wrote, and had no intended applica
tion to future ages. Indeed, he did not con
template the possibility that the world would

4 The Drama of the Apocalypse
last to future ages, for it was the object of
his book to assure the Christian community
that the end of the world would come in a
very short time, a few years at the utmost.
But like all Hebrew prophecy too, the author
was dealing with facts and principles which
were universal, and the words he uttered
were too large to fit the immediate circum
stances only. The future is really the same
as the present ; it is enfolded within it, and
is governed by the same laws ; and so what
is true of the universal elements of the pres
ent, is true without limitation of time. This
was expressed and strengthened to the mind
of a Hebrew by the fact that his language
had but two tenses, one for an action regarded
as complete, whether present or past, the
other for an action still incomplete, whether
past, present, or future. A prophecy then
which was true for its own time, was, because
it dealt with universal elements, true for all
time ; but the form of it was that of its own
day and conditions. It was uttered to
meet present needs, and those present needs

Dramatic Character of the Apocalypse 5
must be taken into account if the prophecy
is to be understood either in its temporary or
its permanent form.
The aim of the Apocalypse was to comfort
and encourage the Christians of the latter
part of the first century with the thought of
the speedy end of the world and the establish
ment of the kingdom of their Lord. The
clouds which for the present concealed Him
from them were soon to roll back and He
would be seen coming in glory, raising the
dead, bringing punishment to the wicked
and rewards to His faithful. The wonderful
events which had been happening in the
world of Nature and in that of politics were
signs that His coming was at hand. There
was apparently no part of the Christian be
lief which took so strong a hold on the im
agination of those who had it, as this of the
visible coming of Jesus to set up His king
dom in Jerusalem. His disciples were plan
ning for it while they were with Him. Their
first thought after His resurrection was that
now it was to be accomplished.

6 The Drama of the Apocalypse
We can trace the development of this belief
in the mind of St. Paul. His earliest Epistle
is partly an answer to questions about which
the Thessalonian Church had apparently writ
ten to him. It indicates how little the doctrine
of the resurrection was understood, that their
difficulty was profound and widespread. The
question was, Since the reward of the faithful
would be to share in the kingdom Christ
would establish, how about those who died
before the establishment of the kingdom ?
Their fate seemed hard, for they would be
debarred from their reward. But St. Paul
says (i Thess. iv. 13L) that he and the rest
of them who will witness the coming of the
Lord will have no advantage over those
who had fallen asleep, for there will be a
sudden shout by an archangel, and Jesus will
descend from the sky and sit upon the
clouds, and then the faithful who are dead
will rise from their graves and be joined by
the faithful who remain alive, and all to
gether will ascend into the air and be for
ever with the Lord. And this great event

Dramatic Character of the Apocalypse 7
may occur at any moment. This intelligence
not unnaturally produced confusion in the
Thessalonian Church. If the coming of the
Lord might take place at any time, what was
the use of carrying on longer one's ordinary
business? It could not be needed if the
world was to pass away soon. And so the
members of the church fell into that disorder
and antinomianism which the prospect of a
speedy end of all things has always tended
to produce. St. Paul therefore writes them
again (2 Thess. ii. 3), telling them that the
conditions of the Parousia are not fully ripe,
and that whenever it may come, soon or late,
they must abstain from lawlessness and
anarchy and meet it walking soberly in the
paths of ordinary life. But it is true, he
assures them, the Lord will descend from
Heaven with His mighty angels in flaming
fire, bringing judgment and glory.
When now we turn to those Epistles of
his which hold a middle place in date, we
find that the details of the Lord's coming
bear a less prominent part in them. The

8 The Drama of the Apocalypse
time is short, and one must not be entangled
with the affairs of this life (i Cor. vii. 29).
The night is far spent ; it is time to awake,
for the day is at hand, and their salvation is
nearer than when they entered the faith
(Rom. xiii. 11, 12). They are to wait and
keep blameless until the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ (1 Cor. i. 7, 8). But the reward
of the faithful is now regarded not so much
as rising into the sky to meet the Lord, as a
spiritual change progressively into the like
ness of Christ (2 Cor. iii: 18). And when we
come to his latest Epistles we find that the
circumstances of the Parousia are hardly
mentioned, while its spiritual significance is
brought still more fully into prominence.
Our lower natures will be fashioned like the
glorious body of Christ (Phil. iii. 20, 21).
We shall be delivered from the power of dark
ness and made partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light (Col. i. 1 2, 1 3). Belief
in the great fact of the coming of Christ still
remains; "The Lord is at hand " (Phil. iv. 5);
but its material dress has become of no

Dramatic Character of the Apocalypse 9
importance. And at last the apostle sits in
prison, an old man, having given up the ex
pectation of himself beholding the coming of
the Lord, but knowing that he shall depart
and be with Christ, which after all is far
better (2 Tim. iv. 6; Phil. i. 23).
This idea of the visible coming of the
Lord entered most deeply into the mental
atmosphere of Christian believers of the
first century. It was to them what the con
viction of the superiority of good over evil
is to us, the centre of their faith, the source
of their consolation and courage. Many cen
turies have shown the spiritual character of
a belief in which to those who held it first,
there was no separation between spiritual
and material. And so it has come to pass
that while to us the life of Christ marks the
beginning of an era, to the early Christians
it marked the end of one. This then was
the aim of the Apocalypse, to assure them
that their belief was correct; their triumph
was sure and was at hand.
The Book is in the form of a drama. It

10 The Drama of the Apocalypse
could hardly have had any other form, for
the events it has to deal with are essentially
dramatic, events which step by step inevi
tably bring about a final denoument. It is
interesting to compare it with the other two
dramas of classic Hebrew literature, the
Book of Job and Solomon's Song ; if, indeed,
the Book of Job is Hebraic and not Idumean.
Unlike Solomon's Song, which not improb
ably has been often represented at the mar
riages and feasts of the kings and nobles of
Northern Israel, the Apocalypse can never
have been intended for representation. Yet
its stages or acts are marked by much greater
precision than those of the older drama.
When compared with the Book of Job, the
changes which time had been working can
be plainly seen. The Book of Job is an
example of the meditative tendency of the
Hebrew mind. The Greek mind delighted
to consider events in their relations, one
event as necessarily leading on another ; and
so a series of events, in which there was
unity, formed, when that unity was exhibited,

Dramatic Character of the Apocalypse 11
a drama. The Hebrew mind, on the other
hand, is idyllic. It loves to pore over a
thought, examining it from many points of
view, stating and restating it, brooding upon
it, seeing in it not so much a problem to be
solved as a theme to be meditatively dwelt
upon. The genius of its language is op
posed to structural unity. It has no concep
tion of a sentence formed otherwise than by
addition; its only conjunction is "and."
Of clauses main and subordinate, relative
and causal, it knows nothing. It therefore
rarely attempts to advance by steps to a
conclusion. So the Book of Job, while we
may call it dramatic because of its various
stages and conclusion, yet has really no
progress in it. It ends where it began,
with the problem of the suffering of the
righteous still unsolved, the voice of the
Almighty silencing questions, but not an
swering them. So Jesus gave no systema
tized constitution of His kingdom, but He
illustrated many aspects of it : " The king
dom of heaven is like . . ." In the cen-

12 The Drama of the Apocalypse
turies however between the Book of Job
and the Apocalypse the influence of Greek
thought had been affecting the Hebrew
mind, and the form of the Apocalyptic drama
is therefore far more Greek than Hebrew.
But it shows its Oriental birth in its use of
concrete symbols instead of abstract thoughts.
The Western mind strips off from an idea
all that is circumstantial and special and
uses the abstract result as a term to think
with. The Oriental mind will have nothing
to do with abstractions, but must embody its
thought in a concrete, form. We are inclined,
in trying to think in this way, to limit our
thoughts either to the special image or to
its significance. For the Oriental this breach
does not exist, but the symbol and what it
connotes are the same. This is why apoca
lyptic works, such as the books of Daniel
and Enoch, abound in visions of horses and
dragons and various beasts. It was not that
the writer saw these very creatures, but that
he translated his thought into these concrete
terms, just as modern metaphysicians transJ

Dramatic Character of the Apocalypse 13
late theirs into abstract terms, neither set
expressing fully the conception of the writer,
and the nomenclature in each case having to
be learned before he can be understood.
There may have been another reason also
why the ideas of an apocalyptic writer should
have been expressed not too plainly. Apoca
lypses always spring from a dissatisfaction
with the state of things as they are, and the
downfall of the existing government there
fore has usually a prominent place in them.
In the Apocalypse of St. John the fall of the
Roman Empire is announced as near at
hand. If it had been uttered too plainly, it
would have attracted too much attention in
official quarters. Apocalyptic literature must
always speak chiefly to the initiated.
Ancient drama, unlike the modern, had no
formal divisions into acts and scenes. Ob
jection may therefore be raised to the imposi
tion of this apparently modern form upon the
Book of the Revelation ; and exception may
perhaps especially be taken to the dividing
line here made between the fourth and fifth

14 The Drama of the Apocalypse
acts. But the particular points of division
which may be adopted are of little impor
tance. The main thing to be recognized is
that the poem proceeds by four or five great
steps, and that in developing each of these,
subordinate ideas or motifs are introduced.
Call these acts and scenes, or call them divi
sions and subdivisions, it matters little, so long
as the skeleton of the work is felt as a sustain
ing power to its various members, and a guide
to the understanding of their functions, indi
vidually and collectively.
It is interesting to note the difference of
attitude toward the Roman Empire exhib
ited in the Apocalypse from that in St. Paul's
Epistles. To St. Paul, proud of his Roman
citizenship, the State was a friend, which the
Christian should respect and obey. It saved
him from a Jewish mob at Jerusalem (Acts
xxi. 30-34), and its magic name delivered him
from torture (Acts xxii. 25-30). It is to him
God's vicegerent (Rom. xiii. 1 ; Tit. iii. 1),
embodying His authority (Rom. xiii. 4). He
never came in contact with the practice of

Dramatic Character of the Apocalypse 15
compelling the Christians as a test of their
Christianity to burn incense to the statue of
the Emperor, the personification of the State.
This custom belongs to a succeeding reign.
A change took place in the policy of the
Empire toward the Christians. Before the
year 64 a.d. a Christian was not put to death
as such, but proof was required that he had
been guilty of some act prejudicial to society.
After this, however, it was assumed that all
Christians were guilty of such hostility, and
might be at once condemned on confession
of the Name.1 It was the latter policy which
prevailed when the author of the Apocalypse
wrote. He had seen the glare of burning
Rome in the year 64, and the ghastly tortures
of the Christians there and throughout the
provinces. The martyrs of Smyrna, of Per
gamos (ii. 10-13), and of the whole Chris
tian world (vi. 9-12) stood before him,
clamoring for vengeance on their oppressor,
and making faithfulness to the cause seem
!Cf. "The Church in the Roman Empire," Prof. W. H.
Ramsay, p. 243.

16 The Drama of the Apocalypse
the one climactic virtue (ii. 7, et al.). His
attitude therefore toward the State is that
of determined hostility. The Church is
now persecuted by the State (Ch. xii.); but
her enemy — and what other name can the
enemy have than that of the ancient arch
enemy, Babylon? — will be overthrown and
destroyed (Ch. xviii.). He interrupts his nar
rative of the catastrophe with a burst of exul
tation over her downfall, which recalls the
fierce denunciations of the Imprecatory
Psalms : " Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and
ye saints, apostles, and prophets, for God hath
avenged you on her ! " ( xviii. 20).
The date of the Book of the Revelation is
probably the latter half of the year 68 a.d.
The author knew of the great fire at Rome
in the year 64 (Ch. xviii.), and he shows
apparently no acquaintance with the fall of
Jerusalem, which took place in the year 70.
Whether he was the Apostle John has been
much discussed. The epithet " The Divine,"
in the title of the Book, is not in any early
manuscript. This name was applied to the

Dramatic Character of the Apocalypse 17
Apostle John during the Arian controversy
of the fourth century, in the belief that he
was the author, by those who wished to
emphasize the authority of the Book against
the Arians. It is a name, not an adjective ;
meaning not " holy " but " theologian." Who
ever the author was, he was probably a Jew
ish Christian, one, that is, who regarded
Christianity as a reform of Judaism, not a
successor to it. To us, with our eyes guided
by history, it seems plain from the first that
Judaism had been superseded by Christian
ity ; but to the men of the apostolic age this
was by no means evident. There were many
of them who regarded Jesus as the Messiah,
who saw no reason why they should not
observe the Law and carry their sacrifices to
the Temple as they had always done. It
was Paul who first saw clearly that the
dominance of the new meant the subsidence
of the old ; and it was largely on this account
that he was distrusted and opposed, not only
by Jews but by his fellow-Christians of Jewish
descent. One of these latter was probably

18 The Drama of the Apocalypse
the author of the Apocalypse. He sees the
Messiah's kingdom, its king, the inhabitants
of it, and the punishment of its enemies, from
a Jewish point of view. When the nations
of the earth are saved, they are still regarded
as over against the twelve tribes of Israel
(vii. 9).1 The wedding-garment of the
Church is the righteousness of the saints
(xix. 8), that is, the prescribed acts of obedi
ence to the Law. The new Jerusalem has
but twelve gates, and each of these bears the
name of one of the tribes (xxi. 12). Jesus
is for the author preeminently the Jewish
Messiah, the Son of David (v. 5). St. Paul
is either denounced throughout the Book or
at least ignored. He has no place among
the twelve apostles of the Lamb, which are
the only basis of the Church of God (xxi. 14).
The Church of Ephesus established by St.
Paul is especially praised because it has
" tried them which say they are apostles and
are not, and hast found them liars" (ii. 2),
words which cannot but recall the almost
aCf. also "ot /u«pot'" (xix. 5).

Dramatic Character of the Apocalypse 19
identical language St. Paul himself uses of
his opponents of the Jewish-Christian party
(Gal. ii. 6, 9; 2 Cor. xii. 11). The doctrines
of the Nicolaitanes and Balaamites (ii. 14, 15)
are a distortion of those ascribed to St. Paul,
and of the side which he took when the
question of Gentile conformity was brought
before the Church at Jerusalem (Acts xv. 29,
cf. also 1 Cor. viii. and ix. 5). To the mind
of the author throughout there is but one
Church, the old Church of Judaism, which
remains unshaken by recent heresies, and
which is to develop a purified Jerusalem,
where all who are saved of all nations are to
find their home. Such is the theological
position of the author in regard to party.
The setting, so to call it, of his vision
comes very largely from the books of Ezekiel
and Daniel. Daniel's mystic numbers with
much of his Persian angelology and demon
ology reappear. Assyria, which for lack of
quarries was compelled to import its stone,
and which thus had slabs cut in relief rather
than statues, probably showed to Ezekiel its

20 The Drama of the Apocalypse
human-headed winged bulls, such as are now
preserved in our museums, and furnished
him with the imaginative basis for his visions
of wheels and cherubim (Ezek. i. and x.).
Through him these impressed themselves
upon later apocalyptic literature, and gave
birth to the strange beasts that appear in
the Book of the Revelation.
The author's mind is filled with the litera
ture of his nation, and it is hard to tell
whether its tone is more Jewish or Christian.
The Book shows us, in fact, the union, so far
as union is possible, of Judaism and Chris
tianity. In the Old Testament we see Juda
ism. In St. Paul's Epistles we see the most
distinctive features of Christianity. In the
Gospels we see the two streams flowing side
by side. But in the Revelation we see them
mingled, with no consciousness on the part
of the author that the result is not homo
geneous. The apocalypse was the ancient form of
what we now call the philosophy of history.
It aimed to classify events, to point out their

Dramatic Character of the Apocalypse 21
laws and significance, to show their connec-
. . tion with the received scheme of the universe
and their reach into the future, and to fore
cast that future in its necessary mould. And
so the Apocalypse of St. John, dramatic as
it is in form, stands as the great Epic of
the Church, the first Philosophy of Christian
History.

CHAPTER II
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
THE philosophy of history as a science
may be claimed as a modern discovery,
but the belief that history has a philosophy
was even more common in ancient times
than in modern, the belief that events were
part of a plan and were a prelude to some
thing greater than themselves. This, which
might almost be said to constitute the He
brew conception of history, would of course
become more prominent in the popular mind
at certain times ; at those times when, as we
say, a great crisis seems imminent. Such a
crisis, foreseen by the prophets, was called in
their language a "day of the Lord," and a
frequent burden of their prophetic work was
to announce that the "day" was at hand.

Signs of the Times 2}
Such a time was the middle of the sixth cen
tury b.c, when the Jewish nation had been
for thirty years in captivity at Babylon, the
time which produced among other works the
second half of the Book of Isaiah. Such
a time was the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes,
which gave birth to the Maccabean struggle
and to the Book of Daniel. And such a
time was this in the year 68 a.d., which pro
duced the Apocalypse of St. John.
Together with the belief in the speedy
coming of the Lord already mentioned was
the belief that His advent was to be preceded
by signs. Wars, civil commotions, wonders
occurring in the sky and on the earth, pesti
lences and earthquakes, these were, according
to the prophets (cf. Joel ii. 10, 30, 31 ; iii. 15;
Isa. xiii. 9, 10), the precursors of the coming
of the great Day of the Lord. And if ever
the course of events seemed to justify a be
lief that the end of the world was at hand,
certainly it was in the middle of the first
century. In the year 64 occurred the great
fire at Rome, which lasted for nine days.

24 The Drama of the Apocalypse
Whatever may have been the belief of Nero
or of the people in general as to the connec
tion of the Christians with it, it was the oc
casion for a bloody massacre of them. Their
Master had told them they should be as
lights (Xvxvol) in the world. They became
such literally, as many of them, clothed in
shirts of pitch and bound each to a stake,
were burned to satisfy the mob and light the
Emperor home. This was the first of that
series of persecutions which was to make
the early centuries the heroic age of the
Church. The Empire had long been show
ing signs of the inherent weakness of Nero's
government, and in March 68 an unmistak
able sign was given by the revolt of the army
in Gaul under Vindex. This was followed
in April by the revolt of Galba in Spain.
The great Roman Empire, whose stability
men had felt to be bound up with that of the
world, seemed breaking up. In June the
army at Rome joined the revolt and pro
claimed Galba Emperor. Then the Senate
declared Nero a public enemy and con-

Signs of the Times 25
demned him to death. When he saw that
all was lost he escaped to the villa of Phaon,
one of his freedmen, and here, after begging
the few who still remained with him to kill
him, he was at last stabbed in the throat by
Epaphroditus, just in time to save him from
being taken alive by the centurion despatched
by the Senate. But exaggeration of value
grew after death even in the case of Nero.
He had always been popular with the crowd,
who were fond of games, liked his buffoonery,
and did not dislike his cruelty. And now
men began to wish him back again. Then
it began to be whispered that after all he was
not dead ; that the wound in his throat had
been healed, and that at the instigation of the
Parthian ambassador at Rome he had taken
refuge in Parthia at the court of the Arsa-
cidas. It is not surprising that doubts of his
death should have seemed reasonable. There
had been only four persons present at the time,
and the body had been cared for and buried
privately by three of the women who were still
devoted to him. To realize the death of one

26 The Drama of the Apocalypse
who is well known without having seen him
dead, is difficult even for those who are intelli
gent and imaginative, while for those who are
not imaginative and not intelligent such reali
zation is almost impossible. So it is not
strange that a firm belief sprang up that
Nero was still alive in some quarter of the
East, and that he would soon return at the
head of an Eastern army to overthrow his
enemies and unite opposing factions. And
with this belief there was a party of his friends
strong enough to set up again his statues
and to issue edicts over his signature (cf. xiii.
11-18). For eighteen months no one of the
generals of the legions in revolt could suc
ceed in putting down his rivals and making
good his own claim to priority. It was no
wonder that the world trembled. For all the
nations which made up the complex mass
known as the Roman Empire, however much
they might wish certain conditions of life
under it to be different, were yet united in
wishing it in the main to be preserved. All
except Judaea; for the death of Nero, and

Signs of the Times 27
the anarchy prevalent through the rest of the
world, made a pause in the Roman prepara
tions for the coming siege of Jerusalem, and
gave the Jews hope of liberty once more. To
them the fall of Rome would be indeed the
beginning of the longed-for Messianic king
dom. It was no wonder, too, that with such
a belief in the existence of Nero and his
return, false Neros should appear here and
there throughout the Empire, personating
the Emperor, and that these should intensify
in the public mind the conviction which had
made their rise possible.
The materials out of which signs and
wonders are made have existed in every
age. The more intelligent the ages or the
persons, and the more convinced that every
event is not an independent happening, but
is interwoven with a far-reaching chain, so
much the more will they feel confident that
each event has a significance beyond itself.
It depends upon the amount of knowledge
they happen to possess whether a red glow
flashing along the sky signifies to them a

28 The Drama of the Apocalypse
datum for the discovery of a law of nature
or the fall of an empire. All ages have
signs, but different ages interpret them dif
ferently. And to the thoughtful mind of
the middle of the first century the strange
natural phenomena which had been taking
place were signs that something mysterious
was at hand. Brilliant meteors had been
seen in the sky. The year 66 was the
period of the earth's passage through that
belt of aerolites which cuts our orbit every
thirty years, and showers of shooting stars
seemed to show that the very heavens could
fall. Eclipses verified the words of the
prophet, and men saw the sun turned into
darkness and the moon into blood. The
palpitating glow of the red and pale aurora
seemed to open heaven and give men
glimpses of the combat of the spiritual
hosts of good and evil. Just off the coast
of Asia in the /Egean Sea, ten miles from
that Patmos which the author of the Apoca
lypse claimed as its birthplace, lay the vol
canic island of Thera, the modern Pantorin,

Signs of the Times 29
which for several years before the year 69
was in a period of eruption. Vesuvius was
preparing for its great outbreak in the year
79; and already in February, 63, Pompeii
had been almost ingulfed by an earthquake.
If, as was undoubtedly the case, the au
thor of the Apocalypse had been at Rome,
it is not improbable that he would, like St.
Paul, have disembarked at Puteoli, and have
seen on his way to Rome Lake Avernus
and that series of small volcanic craters, pits
apparently bottomless, reeking with sulphur
and vapor, the very ground sending up jets
of smoke, craters which the ancients be
lieved to be the mouths of the infernal re
gions, the abode of fallen Titans and evil
spirits. Fifty years before, forty towns of
Lydia had been destroyed by an earthquake
at one blow. In the years 37, 46, 51, and
53 earthquakes were more or less extensively
felt throughout Greece, Asia, and Italy. In
60 almost the whole valley of the Lycus
was thus destroyed, and after 59 there was
hardly a year which was not marked by

30 The Drama of the Apocalypse
some disaster of the kind. Wars, too, were
going on in every quarter. The death of
Nero had at once caused civil war among
the Roman legions whose commanders were
ambitious. Jerusalem had not yet fallen,
but the Roman armies which had been
sent to subjugate Judaea had perpetrated
bloody massacres in Galilee. There was
war beyond the Euphrates, among the Par
thians. In addition to the fact that war
then was in some respects more horrible
in its circumstances and consequences than
now, there was one of its incidental results
which has now wholly disappeared. When
a number of prisoners had been taken, the
amphitheatres of the chief cities of the vic
torious countries were supplied with them
for combat with the beasts and for the
gladiatorial games, and foreign cities also
supplied their amphitheatres by buying
numbers of them. In days, too, before
transportation had been made a science, the
destruction of the crops and food of a coun
try meant not only poverty for the people,

Signs of the Times 31
but starvation. Famine's dark horse was
a natural follower of the red horse of war;
and on other occasions, too, it had appeared
recently. In 68 the exportation of grain
from Alexandria was insufficient for the
market dependent on it. A sudden inun
dation of the sea had shortly before spread
desolation throughout Lycia. In 65 a ter
rible pestilence broke out at Rome and car
ried off thirty thousand, and in the same
year Campania had been ravaged by cy
clones, whose destruction extended to the
very walls of Rome. If we wish to trace
the local color which fills the Apocalypse,
and find the sources from which it rose to
tinge the author's mind, we must remember
that intelligence travelled more slowly then
and portents made a deeper impression, and
we must look not at Jerusalem only, not
only at Ephesus and Rome, but through all
the countries bordering the Mediterranean on
its centre and east, and even as far as the
Euphrates, which had not yet ceased to be
the centre of the power of the Old World.

32 The Drama of the Apocalypse
The twenty-fourth chapter of St. Mat
thew's Gospel in its present form dates
probably from about this time. In it Jeru
salem has apparently been compassed with
armies, but has not yet fallen. But what
ever may be its date, it represents the feeling
of the Christian mind of the time, that before
the coming of the Lord to set up His king
dom on earth — a consummation of all things
which was to be expected speedily — there
would be a general upheaval of the natural,
political, and social worlds, and that when
the whole universe seemed thus to be in
travail, it was the sign that the Lord was
at hand. And now in the years 68 and
69 the signs on every side seemed telling
thoughtful believers with unmistakable plain
ness that the time was fulfilled and the Day
of the Lord was but a few years off at the
most. Our expectations of the manner in
which the Kingdom of Heaven is to con
quer the world are different from those of
the Christians of the first century. We be
lieve — those of us who believe at all — that

Signs of the Times 33
the Kingdom is advancing gradually on every
side, as the silent tide creeps slowly up a long
reach of sand, and that it is little by little
changing the nature of the world from
within. But to the majority of the early
Christians its method was rather that of a
revolt which exists in secret, with its mem
bers known to one another and its plans
matured, which has little or no present effect
on society, but at the fixed time will sud
denly break out and carry all before it, to
the astonishment and dismay of those who
are not enrolled among its members. At
tention was consequently turned not so much
to a gradual growth in righteousness, either
for the world, or, in some cases, as we see
from the Epistles to the Thessalonians, for
themselves. What did it matter how they
passed the few short days before all would be
made new ? Their gaze was wholly fixed on
the future. Yet a little while, their Master
had said while He was with them, and they
should not see Him ; but yet again a little
while and they should see Him. And oh,

34 The Drama of the Apocalypse
the joy when they should look upon Him
once more, coming through the clouds with
thousands of His saints, and they who now
were despised should find the day of their
glory begun, and the world should see their
trust justified!
It was this message of encouragement and
consolation that the Book of the Revelation
was designed to give. The Day of the Lord
was surely at hand. The marvels which had
been taking place in the physical and politi
cal worlds, while they filled the minds of
other men with alarm, were to them, the
Christians, the joyful signs that their deliv
erance was drawing nigh. And with the
vision of their Lord standing and sending
a message of warning and comfort to His
Church, the poem opens.

CHAPTER III
THE DRAMA
THE proper action of the Apocalyptic
drama unfolded for the consolation
and strengthening of the waiting Title
Church does not begin until Chap- Prologue
ter four. What precedes consists of a Title,
a Prologue, and a Salutation. After stating
briefly the aim of the book in the Title (i.
1-4), the author draws out into a Prologue
(i. 4-20) the motifs briefly mentioned in the
Title — the purpose of the book, its author
ity, and the assurance of the near approach
of the Lord's advent, with words of warning
and comfort. To the Greek, inspiration
came oftenest through the ear; to the He
brew, through the eye. The old Greek poet
invoked the Muse and listened carefully to
hear her voice, whether within him or with-
35

^6 Tbe Drama of the Apocalypse
out him. It was a Saip,(ov, an inward monitor
which, Socrates said, gave him imperative
direction. But the Hebrew prophet, as he
sat meditating, saw before him visions, in
which problem and answer revealed them
selves clothed in concrete forms. And so,
as the prophets prefaced the announcement
of their visions with a " Thus saith the Lord,"
the author of the Revelation tells in the Pro
logue, in a way which must have reminded
his readers of the calls of Isaiah (Isa. vi.) and
Ezekiel (Ezek. i. and ii.), how he was com
missioned by the Divine messenger whom
he saw with the burden which he was about
to deliver.
It was the Lord's Day, and he was " in the
spirit," when suddenly he heard behind him
a voice clear and sonorous as a trumpet. He
turns to see the speaker, and there before
him is the figure of his risen Lord ; not now
as when He stood before Pilate, nor as when
He walked with His disciples in the fields of
Galilee, but clothed with majesty and power.
With the habit of mind already referred to,

The Drama 37
the Seer ascribes to the figure of his vision
attributes which do not make a unity when
literally interpreted by the understanding,
but which are symbols for the imagination.
The figure which he sees is like that of a
man clothed in priestly dress, one who cor
responds to the lofty type seen in former
Apocalyptic visions (cf. Dan. x. 6), who yet
bears also likeness to Almighty God (i. 8, 11).
His hair is white with the wisdom of age,
His eyes glow with the fire of youth, and His
whole face is dazzling in its brilliance. His
feet are firm and stable, His words are sharp
and powerful, and His voice is like that of
the sea. It is the risen Christ, the world's
soon-appearing King. The Seer falls pros
trate before Him in awe. But the Divine
being raises him and gives him His commis
sion, bidding him bear the message he shall
receive to the Seven Churches of Asia.
Jesus had said that a faithful disciple of
His was like a candle fitted to its due can
dlestick. So here the Seven Churches
appear surrounding their Master as well-

38 The Drama of the Apocalypse
appointed lamps, standing beside Him, as
the great seven-branched candelabrum stood
near the altar of incense in the Temple
(2 Chron. xiii. 11).
Then comes the Salutation (Chs. ii. and iii.),
the address to the audience, as it were, before
the drama begins. The use of seven
Salutation as a perfect number makes it prob
able that it was the Christian Church through
out Asia Minor that the author had in view
as audience, and not only the seven particular
churches specified; especially since we find
here (i. 3) the same directions for having the
missive read in the churches that St. Paul
was accustomed to give (Col. iv. 16).
The first Act then begins, which has to do
with the Day of the Lord as made ready by
the Roman Empire. First comes
Act 1 . r
an introduction to the Act, descrip
tive of the scenery. The Seer looks through
a window which is opened in the sky and
sees Heaven. The same mighty being whose
appearance had been described in the Pro
logue then transports him into the midst

The Drama 39
of Heaven, and afterward accompanies him
from place to place in it (xxii. 8), as Virgil
served for guide to Dante. Here is the
Court of Heaven, seen in the midst of its
ordinary occupations, just as it is eternally
while men are going about their daily pur
suits. In the midst of Heaven he sees God
sitting on His throne, surrounded by a rain
bow. It is noteworthy how completely the
best traditions of Hebrew religious usage,
that God could not be visibly represented,
and that His very name was unspeakable,
had penetrated the national imagination and
literature. His original name indeed, unpro-
nounced for many centuries, had become
lost ; so that when men saw the letters which
stood in part for it, they could only, with a
mixture of reverence and ignorance, call it
"the Lord." On this subject the literary
imagination had no materials with which to
work. The author of the Revelation could
find in the prophets and the more recent
Apocalyptic literature plenty of material from
which to construct his visions of the Court

40 The Drama of the Apocalypse
of Heaven and of the Last Judgment, of
Jesus as the King of glory, and of the new
Jerusalem. But when it attempted to picture
God, it was powerless. He could say noth
ing but " He that sat on the throne was to
look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone."
In that Divine aspect were blended some
thing of the glow and passion of the ruby,
something of the clearness and depth of the
diamond. That was all he could say. The
rainbow was a part of the furniture of the
Divine throne, like the sceptre which to us
is associated with the throne of an earthly
king, and when it appeared in the sky it was
regarded as lent for the occasion and there
fore as a mark of special grace (cf. Gen. ix.
1 2-18). But here it stands in its normal
place, while thunder and lightning and voices
come perpetually from the throne. " In the
midst of the throne," that is, in the semi
circle before the throne, stand four composite
Creatures, representative of the Divine attri
butes manifested in creation, and from them
rises continually that voice of the universe

The Drama 41
in praise to God which the ear of the He
brew poet was always hearing. These Crea
tures are another instance of the disregard
of the Oriental mind in its symbolism for
producing a unity for the understanding. It
wishes to assert that its god is wise, and it
ascribes to him the head of a man. It be
lieves he is strong, and says he has the body
of a bull. It aims to picture his omnipres
ence, and it represents him as having many
wings or, as with the Indian gods, many arms.
It wishes to ascribe to him the attributes of
majesty and dominion, and it says that he is
like a lion, or that seven thunders perpetually
utter their voices in his presence. One de
tail after another is added to the image with
no thought as to their material incongruity,
nor their unnaturalness when pictured by the
imagination. The demand that a poetic con
ception shall be naturalistically correct when
imagined, is wholly a modern one, and when
insisted on, often obscures from the spectator
the author's conception. That the images
described in the Apocalypse are unnatural

42 The Drama of the Apocalypse
and absurd when literally pictured, would
not then have been felt as an objection, any
more than we now feel it an objection to a
statue that it has a color which no human
being ever has.
Ranged in a semicircle, on each side of
the throne, are seats for Twenty-four Elders,
men of wisdom and age, representatives of
worthy humanity, the Church; the number
being taken from the twenty-four courses of
the Jewish priesthood, or from the judicial
council of the Sanhedrim.1 These, from
time to time, throughout the drama, together
with the Four Creatures, act the part of the
Greek chorus ; never criticising, however, as
that chorus did, but amplifying the motif
which is being set forth and praising God.
From the throne as a centre there stretches
away on every side a vast expanse, like the
sea, clear and shining. It is the floor of
Heaven, the upper side of the sky, of that
1 Dr. E. C. Selwyn (" The Christian Prophets and the
Prophetic Apocalypse ") thinks that the author's familiarity
with judicial procedure indicates that he had been a member
of the Sanhedrim.

The Drama 43
" firmament " which the mind of antiquity
conceived as forming the ceiling of the
world. In the right hand of God is the
Book of Fate, closed and sealed with seven
seals ; and when a celestial herald has pro
claimed throughout Heaven a challenge to
any one who is worthy, to come forward and
open the seals, no one appears. Then when
the Seer beholds this, when he sees the knowl
edge of the future, the only hope of the
Christian, withheld from him, he bursts into
tears. What is the use of beholding the
secrets of Heaven if its most precious secret
still remains hidden ? But — and with this
chapter the second scene of the Act begins —
he is bidden not to weep, for one is found
who is worthy to open the Book. And with
this Jesus comes forward and takes the Book
from the hand of God. As He takes it, a
mighty chorus bursts forth from Heaven
and earth and sky and sea, a chorus of
praise to Him who has redeemed men, and
who is about to reveal to them their future
glory. The Four Creatures and the Twenty-

44 The Drama of the Apocalypse
four Elders fall down before Him; angels,
whose ranks stretch off as far as the eye can
reach, in number "ten thousand times ten
thousand and thousands of thousands," take
up the song ; the earth from below, with all
its living beings, is heard joining in the sol
emn chorus, which closes with a deep
" Amen " from the Four Creatures who com
menced it, while the Twenty-four Elders wor
ship Him who holds the Book. Then Jesus
the Christ begins to unfold it, opening one
seal at a time. As each of the first four seals
is opened, there comes a voice from one of
the Four Creatures, like the pedal of an or
gan, " Come and see ! " 1 while there passes
across the stage a ghastly and grim proces
sion. On their horses, white, red, black, and
gray, appear, one after another, the victorious
Roman Empire, with War, Famine, and.
Death. But as this terrible train passes on,
and the fifth seal is opened, the attention of
the Seer is directed to the altar which stands
in the open space before the throne of God
1 The Revisers' text omits the words " and see."

The Drama 45
and the seats of the Elders, and to the cavity
within it, corresponding to that into which,
in the altar of the Jewish temple, the drink-
offerings were poured. There he sees the
souls of the martyrs — for the year 64 was
still fresh in the memory of the Christian
Church. They raise their voices to God,
crying out for justice, and for the avenging
of their blood on this terrible Roman Empire
with its train. But no, the time is not yet
come. The victor's white robe is given to
each of them, and they are bidden to wait in
patience for a while, until their brethren, who
are yet to suffer as martyrs on the earth, shall
join them. The sixth seal is opened, and
the Seer beholds the convulsions of Nature,
which had been filling men's minds, exhib
ited as indeed the precursive signs of the
Day of the Lord, which now with the open
ing of the last seal may be expected to be
gin. The angels who hold in check the four
winds of the four quarters of the earth
take their stations ready to loose the winds
for the earth's final destruction. But an

46 The Drama of the Apocalypse
angelic herald comes hurrying from Heaven,
bidding them delay until the righteous have
been preserved from the evil that is coming,
that they may not be overtaken by the catas
trophe which is to overwhelm the wicked.
Then, as the Israelites in Egypt were
marked that the destroyer might pass over
them, he proceeds to seal the elect in their
foreheads, with God's signet, which he car
ries ; and the Seer, from his post in Heaven,
hears announced the number of those who
are sealed. It is 144,000, the complete num
ber of all the tribes of Israel. At the same
moment this great host becomes visible,
standing before God's throne, clothed, like the
victors in the games, with white robes, and
palm branches in their hands. As they raise
a chorus of thanksgiving to God for their
deliverance, all the angels and Elders and the
Four Creatures break out again into the song
which they sang before, ending with the same
deep " Amen." And while the Seer stands
gazing at this great multitude, one of the
Elders tells him who they are. " These

The Drama 47
are they which came out of great tribula
tion, and have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore, are they before the throne of God
and serve Him day and night in His temple ;
and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell
among them. They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more; neither shall the
sun strike on them, nor any heat. For the
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall feed them, and shall lead them unto liv
ing fountains of waters ; and God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes."
The seventh seal is opened. And now
we expect the fulfilment of all things and
the end of time. But, as says a writer who
has ably set forth the dramatic nature of the
Apocalypse,1 "the fundamental idea of the
poem is to show the Great Judgment con
tinually postponed at the moment when it
seems as if it must take place.2 ... In the
1 Renan, " L'Antechrist," Ch. xvi. pp. 388, 391.
2 For a similar suspension of the dramatic development,
cf. that which takes place after the opening of the fifth and
sixth seals ; also x. 6, l.c.

48 The Drama of the Apocalypse
poem, as in reality, the catastrophe is forever
fleeing. Now, we think, it has arrived ; but
nothing occurs. In place of the final denou-
ment, which was to be the result of the open
ing of the seventh seal, there is a silence in
Heaven for half an hour, indicating that the
first Act of the Mystery is ended and another
is about to begin." 1
The first Act was the opening of the
seals, and pointed chiefly to the Roman
Empire and its train as precursive
Actu .
signs of the coming of the Day of
the Lord. The second Act is the sounding
of the archangels' trumpets, and deals chiefly
with the convulsions of nature, which had
been taking place. These the author has
indeed referred to (vi. 1 2), but he now dwells
on them more in detail. But as the seven
archangels, whose place is before God's
throne, are about to blow the trumpets
which are now given them, there occurs
an episode or introductory scene, as in the
1 The division into chapters and verses in the A. V. is of
course to be disregarded ; viii. I is properly the conclusion
of Ch. vii, just as xxii. 2,f.c, belongs to xxii. I, as in the R. V.

The Drama 49
case of the first, third, and fourth Acts.1 An
angel comes to the altar, which stands in the
semicircle before the Elders' seats and the
throne, and throws incense upon it ; and as
the smoke rises, he fills his censer with the
coals and casts them down to the earth.
The incense, we are told, is the prayers of
the saints; and these prayers, rising in
silence to God, and calling for the destruc
tion of the wicked world where the saints
have suffered, turn to burning coals, de
stroying and consuming the earth wherever
they strike.
And now the seven archangels prepare
to sound the trumpets which they hold. At
the sound of the first trumpet there bursts
upon the earth a storm with lightning and
bloody hail. At the sound of the second a
volcanic island appears in the sea (cf. what
was said of Thera, p. 24). At the sound of
the third a burning meteor falls from Heaven.
With the fourth a darkness as of an eclipse
— a phenomenon always mysterious and ter-
1 Cf. Chs. iv., xi., xv.

50 The Drama of the Apocalypse
rible in early ages — covers the earth. As
the fifth angel sounds, the entrance to the
infernal regions is unclosed, and with the
smoke that streams forth there comes an
army apparently of scorpions which spread
over the earth and work destruction upon
it ; but as this is a Divine plague, it is com
manded not to harm God's sealed elect.
Possibly the imagination of the Seer had
for its basis in this vision the sulphurous
pits filled with noxious reptiles near Puteoli,
to which reference has already been made.1
After the sounding of the fourth trumpet
there occurs some delay — a delay which re
curs after the fifth and sixth trumpets also.
It is, as has been said,2 a part of the plan of
the poem to exhibit the delays in the estab
lishment of Christ's Kingdom, under which it
was so hard to remain faithful, as part of God's
eternal purpose, and therefore as steps, not
hindrances, to the Kingdom's development.
The non-appearance of the Kingdom must
therefore be not disregarded, but emphasized.
1 p- 29. 2 p. 47-

The Drama 51
The first five trumpets have been fol
lowed by convulsions of nature. The sixth
brings with it a plague which must have
seemed as startling as any convulsion of
nature, so sudden and destructive and ter
rible was it whenever it occurred. In the
absence of the means of rapid communica
tion, the coming of an invading army was
often not announced until it fell upon the
destined country, and all the convulsions of
nature combined could hardly be more dis
astrous than such an army's presence. The
whole Roman world had for a long time
been expecting almost daily an invasion of
the Parthians. And now the Seer beholds
the dreaded Parthian cavalry pouring forth
from beyond the Euphrates, breathing out fire
and smoke and destroying a third of man
kind. But all these plagues have no regen
erating effect upon the world. Men still
continue in their evil ways, and by so
doing make more imminent the judgment
of the Day of the Lord, which is to burst
upon the earth at the sounding of the

52 The Drama of the Apocalypse
seventh trumpet. All things are prepared
for the end. A herald comes from God,
and standing with one foot on the sea and
the other on the land utters in a mighty
voice the secrets of the future. The Seer
is about to write and announce the mystery
of the Kingdom of Heaven thus revealed
to him, when he is bidden to desist. The
secrets of God can never be told in a word
nor learned in a moment. Experience
alone can reveal them to men. And so
here again as in the first Act, the end of
all things, ever imminent, is ever postponed.
Instead of the sound of the last trump
there comes a delay. The mighty herald
promises that there shall soon be delay (A. V.
" time ") no longer, but that when the seventh
angel's trumpet shall sound the mystery of
God shall be finished. Meanwhile the Seer
is told that his burden is not simply to an
nounce the deep things of God, — how easy
if that were the preacher's only work ! —
but that he has a mission in translating
generals into particulars; he must reveal

The Drama 53
their destinies to many rulers and nations.
And thus, his imagination filled with the
striking figure of the old prophet (Ezek.
iii. 1), who represented himself as devouring
the written words of God, the Seer takes
from the angelic herald the Book contain
ing the destinies of the nations and eats it.
After he has eaten it, he is at once filled
with a new message, and with the mingling
of sweetness and pain which it is the char
acteristic of divine truth, when vividly felt,
to inspire.
Here is the turning-point in the action
of the drama. Hitherto the first and second
Acts have had reference chiefly to events
which had actually taken place on the
earth, or were taking place at the time the
author wrote, his aim being to show them
as signs of the coming of the Day of the
Lord. But now he passes to the future.
He sees the Kingdom of Heaven estab
lished, as indeed it will be in a short time ;
and the remainder of his poem is occupied
with portraying the results for the saints

54 The Drama of the Apocalypse
and for the wicked nations of the world, of
its establishment.
Jerusalem must inevitably be the scene
of action; for the Jewish imagination, even
when joined with Christian ideas, could
conceive of no other place as the radiating
centre of the Kingdom of Heaven upon
earth. The Seer now has revealed to him
the events which are to take place in the
short time, three years and a half, which is
to elapse before the kingdom is established
at Jerusalem. The three years and a half,
forty-two months, must be taken as a round
number, though the writer sometimes com
putes it in days for the sake of greater ap
parent certainty. It is just half of the
sacred week of seven years which played
so prominent a part in the Jewish social
economy (cf. Lev. xxv. 1-7), and which is
sometimes used, like the numbers 3,7, 12,
and 40 in other connections, to express
unity of time. It was the current belief in
the Jewish Church that a divine witness
would be sent, before the advent of the

The Drama 55
Messiah, to announce His coming and pre
pare the world for it (cf. Mal. iv. 5, 6 ; St.
John i. 19, 25; St. Matt. xvi. 14). It was
also a widespread belief that the final judg
ment would be preceded by two witnesses,
who would " pacify the wrath of the Lord's
judgment before it broke forth into fury,
and turn the heart of the father unto the
son, and restore the tribes of Jacob " (Ecclus.
xlviii. 10). These messengers were differ
ently identified with Enoch, Moses, Elijah,
and Jeremiah.1 In the passage now before
us the author may have had in view two
persons of prominence in the Church, then
or recently living in Jerusalem. At all
events, the two prophetic witnesses whose
life and words are to usher in the great
judgment are seen undergoing in these
three years and a half the fate of all out
spoken witnesses to the truth : prophesying,
accomplishing wonders, bearing down op
position, but finally overcome and killed,
amid the exultation of those who felt their
1 Cf. with this belief, St. Matt. xvii. 3.

56 The Drama of the Apocalypse
presence a rebuke to themselves. But these
two martyrs do not have to wait for their
justification, for they are at once raised
from the dead and taken up into Heaven,
while a great earthquake shakes the world.
Their exulting enemies, alarmed by this
apotheosis and the earthquake, are converted
and give glory to God.
The fulness of the Gentiles is now come
in, and there is no more occasion for delay.
The seventh angel sounds. It is the last
trump so long expected which is to bring in
the Kingdom of the glory of the Lord and
of His Christ. At once solemn voices pro
claim throughout Heaven that the Kingdom
is established. The Twenty-four Elders fall
down before God and worship with their
choral song: —
"We give Thee thanks, Lord God Al
mighty, which art and which wast, because
Thou hast taken Thy great power and dost
reign. And the nations were wroth, and
Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead
is come to be judged, and the time to give

The Drama 57
their reward to Thy servants the prophets,
and to the saints, and to them that fear Thy
name, the small and the great, and to destroy
them that destroy the earth."
The Kingdom of God is established. The
great event for which the Christian heart
has waited with longing has hap
pened. But the mind of the Seer
has been so long occupied with signs that he
cannot turn at once from this employment,
so congenial to Apocalyptists, to seize and
set forth merely the central facts of the
glory of the newly established Kingdom
with its results affecting the good and the
evil on the earth. The logical development
of a plan is not to be expected of him. He
is less concerned with due proportion in the
unfolding of his plot than with pouring forth
the visions with which his imagination has
been filled by the older Apocalypses. In the
third Act, in the twelfth and thirteenth
chapters, he gives a series of visions which
have comparatively little to do with the
movement of the drama, though they enrich

58 The Drama of the Apocalypse
it with color, and were no doubt adapted to
the consolation of those who lived in the
midst of the events they symbolically
describe. The first of these visions is of the Church,
that is, the Jewish Church. To us who see
the long centuries of the life of Christianity
and its clearly developed individual exist
ence, it is difficult to conceive it as a mere
phase, even an improved phase, of Judaism.
But to the devout Jewish Christian of the
first century, the Church of his fathers, stretch
ing back indefinitely into the past, was still
the only Church, and Christianity, with all
its wonderful future, to him unforeseen, was
but a passing phase of it. In his vision the
Seer looks back and sees the Church in
travail with her mysterious birth, the Messiah.
He sees the persecutions to which she is sub
jected by her arch-enemy, the Roman Empire,
with its seven Caesars and ten provincial
proconsuls. And he sees that the contest
between the woman and the dragon is but a
part of the mighty war going on in Heaven,

The Drama 59
as well as on earth, between the powers of
good and of evil.
Strict consistency in the use of images and
their mutual exclusiveness must no more be
demanded from an Apocalyptist than fidelity
to nature. That he has represented an idea
in one form is no bar to his representing it
in another. And so in his next vision the
Roman Empire, just now a dragon, becomes
a beast from across the sea, having the same
chief marks as before, seven heads and ten
horns ; but this time attention is drawn to
one of the heads, which has in it a deadly
wound, partly or wholly healed. The dragon
of the previous vision, even in it, was alter
nately the Roman Empire and Satan — for
were not the two synonymous? And now
Satan appears as this beast, while another
beast, whose identification is doubtful, acts as
assistant to the first and procurer of honor
for him. The head with its deadly wound
healed is so prominent in the writer's imagi
nation that he speaks of it and of the beast
to which it belongs as identical. He then

60 The Drama of the Apocalypse
gives the name of the beast in a form in
which it would be known only to the ini
tiated. " Here is wisdom," he exclaims ; " let
him that hath understanding count the num
ber of the beast, for it is the number of a
man ; and his number is six hundred three
score and six."
Writing in cipher was as well known to
the ancient world as to the modern ; and the
use of numbers for names, even where no
other concealment is used, has often been
a favorite form of cipher.1 Sometimes the
number is a purely arbitrary one. Some
times, as here, its composition can be traced
in the circumstances of the case. In most
ancient languages each letter was also a
numeral. The letters of a name then could
be translated into figures, and these figures
added into a number that should stand for
the name it was desired to express covertly.
1 " I was as confident, till you tell me you believe it, that the
devil himself cannot decypher a letter that is well written, or
find that loo stands for Sir H. Vane." — Correspondence of
Edward Hyde, afterward Earl of Clarendon, with Dr. John
Barwick, Feb. 20, 1659-60.

The Drama 61
The letters of the name " Nero Caesar " in
its Hebrew form make up the number 666.1
That care was necessary in connecting politi
cal personages or events with prophecy may
be seen in a book some twenty years earlier
in date, the Second Epistle to the Thessa
lonians, where the periphrases of St. Paul are
almost as difficult to unravel as a cipher.
He warns those to whom he writes that the
Day of the Lord will not come "except the
falling away come first, and the man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition, he that op-
poseth and exalteth himself against all that
is called God or that is worshipped ; so that
he sitteth in the temple of God, setting him
self forth as God. Remember ye not that
when I was yet with you I told you these
things ? And now ye know what restraineth,
to the end that he may be revealed in his
own season. For the mystery of lawlessness
I 3 = 50, 1 = 200, 1 = 6, f = 50, |5 = 100, D = 60, "I = 200
= nop JTTJ = 666.
The shorter Latin form for Nero, 113, would give 616
which is mentioned by Irenaeus as an ancient reading here for
666. For list of various opinions, cf. De Wette or Diisterdieck
in loc.

62 The Drama of the Apocalypse
doth already work ; only there is one that
restraineth now, until he be taken out of the
way. And then shall be revealed the lawless
one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the
breath of His mouth, and bring to nought by
the manifestation of His coming, even he
whose coming is according to the working
of Satan, with all power and signs and lying
wonders."1 Such obscurity, obscure in the
original as in the translation, could not have
been accidental, but must have been inten
tional. It was designed to conceal the thought
as well as to reveal it. St. Paul was saying
in effect to his friends in Thessalonica: " He
that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Unto
you it is given to know the mysteries of the
Kingdom of Heaven, but unto them that are
without it is not given ; that seeing, they
may see and may not perceive, and hearing,
they may not understand." 2
1 2 Thess. ii. 3-10.
2 Instances of cryptograms in the Old Testament are Jer.
xxv. 26 ; where by using the second and twelfth letters from
the end of the alphabet instead of from the beginning,
" Sheshach " is written instead of " Babel," i.e. Babylon.

The Drama 63
So the author of the Revelation aimed to
write in such a manner as should be intelli
gible to the initiated, but should pass unno
ticed by the authorities or remain hidden
from them. He has said it. The Beast,
the arch-enemy of the Christian Church, the
great Antichrist, is Nero, the mighty Emperor.
Nero was still alive, according to the popular
belief,1 and would return from the East.
And it will not seem surprising that the
author, after having designated Nero by one
of the heads of the Beast, should then think
of the whole Beast as Nero, if we remember
that the logic of a vision is spiritual rather
than formal, and that its progress is not so
much a necessary sequence of mutually
exclusive ideas as a succession of pictures,
which must seem arbitrary unless their inner
connection is perceived.
But while the Seer's gaze is bent upon
Jerusalem in these dark days of the last
times, he sees a brighter vision. It is inter-
Also probably Isa. vii. 6, where by a different system " Tabeal "
stands for " Remaliah." 1 Cf. p. 25.

64 The Drama of the Apocalypse
esting to note in the Old Testament the
Jew's conviction that the moral worth of
his nation's little strip of territory made it
the peer of the broadest and most favored
country in the word. Princes were to come
out of Egypt, and Ethiopia was to stretch
out her hands toward Israel on account
of the God who dwelt within her borders.1
So, too, Mount Zion, a hill in the southwest
ern part of Jerusalem, only 450 feet above
the bottom of the valley at its base, was to
the exultant mind of the Jew loftier than the
highest of mountains. " The hill of God is
as the hill of Bashan (i.e. Mount Hermon, the
highest mountain known to the Hebrews),
an high hill, as the hill of Bashan. Why
leap ye, ye high hills ? This is the hill
which God desireth to dwell in!"2 And
now as the Seer's gaze is directed upon
Jerusalem, he sees this spot, the centre of
the world's righteousness, at last publicly
exhibited as such. The Church, the true
Israel, the 144,000 that comprise all the faith-
1 Ps. Ixviii. 31. 2 Ps. Ixviii. 15, 16.

The Drama 65
fui of the earth, appear surrounding their
King upon the Temple-hill, Mount Zion.
They break out into their choral song,
which the listening Seer has already heard
in Heaven, while the great orchestra of the
universe, harps and thunders and " the voice
of many waters," gives its accompaniment.
It lends perhaps color to the traditional
belief that the Revelation was written at
Patmos, to note how the author is impressed
by the " voice of many waters " as one of
the prominent and majestic tones of nature.
No inland-dweller could have felt this ; but
there is a peculiar fitness in its selection as
one of the elements of the heavenly orches
tra, if we may think of it as perpetually
sounding in the ears of the writer as he
walked the rocky shores of Patmos. It is
possible, too, that we may see a reflection
of his insular condition in his statement that
in the new Heaven and new earth which he
saw " there was no more sea." His isolated
position, if such it was, would have accen
tuated his race characteristics. For while

66 The Drama of the Apocalypse
to us the sea is a means of communication
and civilization, to the Hebrews it was a
type of separation and destructiveness and
an object of dread. Greece, with its deeply
indented coast, produced a nation of mariners
and bound itself through them to every part
of the world. The Hebrews, on the other
hand, possessed but one port,1 and their
maritime commerce was always small. The
sea held with them much the same place
that the forest holds in mediaeval literature, —
a region lying beyond civilized habitations,
largely unknown, and inhabited by strange
beasts and strange men, into which prudent
people did not venture. They knew but
little about it from experience. As the
Psalmist stood on a hill and looked upon
the blue line of the Mediterranean in the
distance, he saw more with his imagination
than with his eyes : " This great and wide
sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable,
1 I.e. Joppa. Dor (cf. LXX.), Accho, Achzib, and Zidon
were within the territory assigned to the tribe of Asher;
but the Asherites never acquired possession of them. Cf.
Judges i. 31, 32.

The Drama 67
both small and great beasts. There go the
ships. There is that leviathan, whom Thou
hast formed to sport with him."1 Those
who go down to the sea have a special
opportunity for seeing the dread works of
the Lord in mighty waves, sea-sickness,
storm, and calm.2 The ships of Tarshish
are enumerated among the worldly pomps
which shall be brought low;8 and though
the ideal Jerusalem of the future shall be
surrounded by broad rivers and streams,
yet there shall be no boat nor ship upon
them.4 It was apparently not only a dis
approval of the foreign policy of King
Jehoshaphat, but also a feeling that naval
affairs were unbecoming a godly man, which
made the Chronicler take a grim satisfac
tion in recording that the king's ships, which
he had taken such pains to construct, never
made a voyage, for " they were broken, that
they were not able to go to Tarshish." 5 And
1 Ps. civ. 25, 26. 2 Ps. evi. 23-31.
8 Isa. ii. 16. 4 Isa. xxxiii. 21.
6 2 Chron. xx. 35-37.

68 The Drama of the Apocalypse
to a non-seafaring people the threat for
disobedience was peculiarly severe — that
they should be carried back to Egypt "in
ships." x But the conditions of the heavenly
Kingdom precluded all alien, divisive ele
ments, and therefore in the new earth there
would be " no more sea." 2
Now that the Kingdom of Jesus is thus
set up on earth, three angels fly to the zenith
and proclaim there, as from a new Sinai,
the Law of the new Kingdom — that is, the
everlasting Gospel — and announce the fall
of the arch-enemy, Rome. The mention of
Rome and of the Beast could but recall to
every mind the persecutions of the year 64,
in which so many of the faithful had per
ished, and also arouse again a question which
troubled deeply the minds of the devout
Christians of the middle of the first century.
As they saw the years passing on, and one
and another of their friends falling asleep,
1 Deut. xxviii. 68.
2 On the effect of the scenery of Patmos upon the author of
the Revelation, cf. Dean Stanley's Sermons in the East,
"Patmos."

The Drama 69
while their Lord still delayed His coming,
they anxiously asked what would be the
condition of those who were not alive to see
the Lord and to meet Him ? Were they to
be cut off from the blessed privileges of the
Parousia ? This is the matter which St. Paul
explains so fully in several of his epistles.1
And now the prophet of the Apocalypse
hears a voice bidding him write for the com
fort of such troubled souls that from this
time henceforth those who die in the Lord
are blessed as well as those who remain and
are alive at His coming. " Blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord," says the voice,
"from henceforth." Then follow angels
who represent symbolically the harvesting
of the earth, the gathering-in of those on
whom the judgment is to be passed.
Now begins a new Act of the drama.
The faithful who have not done Act iv
homage to the Beast are gathered
out of the earth, so that the seven last
1 1 Cor. xv. 50-53; 1 Thess. iv. 13-18; 2 Thess. i. 7-
ii. 9.

70 The Drama of the Apocalypse
plagues, which are to be sent upon the
earth as its punishment, may not hurt them.
Across the stage there passes a majestic
procession. Out of the Temple come seven
angels, clothed in white with girdles of gold,
and as they pass the Four Creatures, one of
the latter gives to each of them a golden
bowl or vial, like that in which the priests
offered the propitiatory blood in the Temple
sacrifices, but this was "full of the wrath of
God." When all have received the golden
bowls, a voice comes from the Temple, " Go
your ways, and pour out the vials of the
wrath of God upon the earth." One after
another the angels pass on and empty the
bowls, and groan after groan arises, as
plagues like those of Egypt — disease, blood,
fire, and darkness — fall upon the earth and
its inhabitants. According to popular be
lief, as already mentioned,1 Nero was still
alive beyond the Euphrates, and would
return at the head of a Parthian army to
regain his Empire. This appears, to the

The Drama 71
author of the Apocalypse,1 an infernal plan,
arranged by Satan, Nero, and his attendant.2
For although the great battle which would
follow the return of Nero would be in the
first instance against the power of Rome,
yet the author looks beyond this, regarding
that return rather as the reestablishment of
the power of Antichrist, and the mighty
battle which he foresees as the meeting of
the powers of the world with spiritual
powers. He beholds the armies of the kings
of the earth gathered on the great battle-field
of Hebrew history, — Armageddon, he calls
it, — that little strip of land on which more
battles have been fought than on any equal
area in the world, the Plain of Esdraelon or
Megiddo.8 It lay just in the road between
the empires of the north and east and that
of Egypt, and across it the armies of centu
ries have marched and countermarched. It
was the scene of the dramatic defeat of the
Syrians under Sisera by the Hebrews under
1 xvi. 12-15. 2 xiii. 11.
8 fftliBt "O, Har-Megiddon, the Hill of Megiddo.

72 The Drama of the Apocalypse
Deborah, Barak, and Jael.1 It was here that,
a little later, occurred that great slaughter of
the Midianites by Gideon's band,2 which im
pressed itself on following ages as the type of
a glorious victory for the Lord.8 Here the
young king Josiah, the one bright gleam in
the falling fortunes of the Davidic dynasty,
was slain,4 a disaster which to the far-sighted
seemed overwhelming.5 Such, in fact, it
proved. And on this spot where the house of
David had received the blow which was its
overthrow, here, the Seer foresaw, the Son
of David would meet and conquer the
kings of the nations and restore again the
old Davidic kingdom in its true, spiritual
form. As the poem goes on, the mind of the
writer becomes more and more filled with
the judgment of the great enemy of the
Church, Rome. As he has spoken of Nero
by a cryptographic name, the number 666,
and of Jerusalem as " Sodom " and " Egypt," 6
1 Judges iv. 2 Judges vii. 8.
8 Ps. lxxxiii. n, 12. 4 2 Chron. xxxv. 20-25.
6 2 Chron. xxxv. 25 ; Lam. iv. 20. 6xi. 8.

The Drama 73
so his mystical tendencies, as well as the exi
gencies of the case, lead him to employ a cir
cumlocution in speaking of Rome. To him
she is the ancient enemy of the Hebrew
kingdom, Babylon ; and as he paints the pic
ture, rich in color and full of imaginative
touches, of her destruction, his mind is filled
with the images with which the old Hebrew
prophets painted the destruction of Babylon
and of Tyre.1 If we may allow weight to
slight indications of internal evidence, we
may perhaps infer from the mention of Me
giddo as the most natural battle-field, that
the author was a Palestinian Jew who had
often wandered over this plain; and again,
from this intense bitterness against Rome,
that he had been one of those faithful in the
imperial city who had been intended for the
martyrdom of the arena or the shirt of pitch
in the Neronian persecution, but who had
escaped the fate which overtook so many of
his companions.2 It is a fine picture that he
1 Isa. xiii ; Ezek. xxvi. 27.
2 Cf. the tradition mentioned by Tertullian of St. John hav
ing escaped martyrdom in a caldron of boiling oil at Rome.

74 The Drama of the Apocalypse
draws, — the woman, Babylon, "arrayed in
purple and scarlet colour, and decked with
gold and precious stones and pearls, having
a golden cup in her hand," sitting on her
seven hills ; the city seen at a distance burn
ing ; while around there stand three groups
watching. A group of the kings of the earth,
"standing afar off for the fear of her tor
ment," bewail her and lament for her.
Another group of " shipmasters and sailors
and as many as trade by sea," wail and cast
dust upon their heads. A third group of the
merchants of the earth weep for her and
mourn that no man will buy their merchan
dise any more, " the merchandise of gold and
silver and precious stones, and of pearls and
fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet,
and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels
of ivory, and all manner vessels of most pre
cious wood, and of brass and iron and marble
and cinnamon and odours and ointments and
frankincense and wine and oil and fine flour
and wheat and beasts and sheep and horses
and chariots and slaves and souls of men." 1
1 xviii. 12, 13.

The Drama 75
As the prophet sees all this he exclaims in a
tone of sternly exultant joy, " Rejoice over her,
thou Heaven, and ye saints, apostles, and
prophets, for God hath avenged you on her ! "
And the conclusion of the judgment of Baby
lon is uttered in a strain whose recurrent
burden accentuates with its deep notes the
hopelessness and finality of the doom : " And
the voice of harpers and minstrels and flute-
players and trumpeters shall be heard no
more at all in thee ; a and no craftsman, of
whatsoever craft, shall be found any more at
all in thee ; and the sound of a mill-stone shall
be heard no more at all in thee ; and the light
of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee ;
and the voice of the bridegroom and of the
bride shall be heard no more at all in thee ; for
thy merchants were the princes of the earth ;
for by thy sorceries were all nations de
ceived." 2 Then, as has so often in the course
of the poem been the case, the scene shifts
from earth to Heaven ; the spiritual events
1 Nero's posing as a connoisseur in music no doubt gave
rise to a host of imitators at court and among the fashionable
in society. 2 xviii. 22, 23.

76 The Drama of the Apocalypse
which are taking place are seen to be the
same in both. The clouds roll asunder,
and the Seer beholds the mighty heavenly
chorus taking up the theme which has just
been set forth on earth. The song begins
and ends with the same deep chord, rising.
from the voices of the thousands that stretch
off in ranks from the centre of Heaven.
" ' Alleluiah ! ' " they sing. " ' Salvation and
glory and honour and power unto the Lord
our God! for true and righteous are His
judgments. For He hath judged the great
harlot which did corrupt the earth with her
fornication, and hath avenged the blood of
His servants at her hand.' And again they
said, ' Alleluiah ! ' And her smoke rose up
for ever and ever. And the Four and
Twenty Elders and the Four Creatures fell
down and worshipped God that sat on the
throne, saying, ' Amen ! Alleluiah ! ' "
Now comes the last Act of the Drama, the
marriage of the Prince of Heaven,
ActV & '
the final punishment of His ene
mies, and His assumption of His glory.

The Drama 77
Heaven opens, and there appears a white
horse and rider, armed for war. This is the
Prince, who rides forth to His last short
battle. His eyes glitter like fire; His gar
ments are sprinkled with blood ; on His head
are many crowns ; and on His dress and His
girdle is emblazoned His heraldic device —
" King of kings, and Lord of lords." All the
armies of Heaven follow Him upon white
horses, while, on the other hand, the Beast
and the kings of the earth collect all their
forces to meet them. But the combat is
short. The Beast and his lieutenant, the
False Prophet, are quickly taken, and their
armies are totally destroyed. We are in
clined to expect a fuller description of this
battle than is given. But the writer's lack of
art and form, and his interest in the wholly
spiritual sides of his drama, impel him to
hurry on to its conclusion.
Then appears the author's scheme of
eschatology. The Devil is seized, and, not
destroyed, but bound and cast into a bottom
less pit, which is sealed for a thousand

78 The Drama of the Apocalypse
years.1 But first comes a resurrection ; not
of all the dead, not of all the righteous dead,
but of those only who had suffered martyr
dom, or who had abstained from the worship
of the Beast. These constitute a sort of
aristocracy of the Kingdom of Heaven, and
rise from their graves and reign on earth
with Christ during the thousand years. The
mind of the Seer was cast in the mould of
the social system of his day, and if there was
a king and a kingdom, the King must of
course gather His nobles about Him. But it
is to be noted that the basis of aristocracy is
not birth nor official position, but purity and
worth of character. The rest of the dead
are not extinct ; they wait until the millen
nium is ended. At the end of the thousand
years the Devil is released from the bottom
less pit, as if to ascertain whether his nature
had been changed by his punishment, and to
give even him one more chance. But he
1 The duration of the period is apparently computed from
poetic expressions which lead to the conclusion that " the
Day of the Lord is as a thousand years." Cf. Ps. xc. 4 ;
lxxxiv. 10; 2 Pet. iii. 8, 10.

The Drama 79
immediately sets out upon his characteristic
work of evil throughout the world. He col
lects a multitudinous army and besieges the
saints in Jerusalem. But as the angel of
the Lord had suddenly smitten an army
besieging Jerusalem in ancient times,1
so now the fire of God falls and con
sumes this army, while the Devil is cast into
a lake of fire and brimstone. Then comes
the general resurrection and the Last Judg
ment. " And I saw a great white throne and Him
that sat on it, from whose face the earth and
the heaven fled away, and there was found
no place for them. And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God ; and the
books were opened, and another book was
opened, which is the Book of Life, and the
dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to
their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and the grave
delivered up the dead which were in them,
1 2 Kings xix, 35.

80 The Drama of the Apocalypse
and they were judged, every man according
to his works." 1
The last scene of the drama is the renewal
of all things, a renewal so complete that
Heaven itself shares in it, and the prophet
sees " a new Heaven," as well as a new earth.
The new earth is, however, conceived on
the same plan as the old. Jerusalem is the
centre of it, seen now in all her glory as
the bride of God. On each of its glittering
foundations — " The first foundation was jas
per; the second, sapphire ; the third, a chal
cedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth,
sardonyx ; the sixth, sardius ; the seventh,
chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a
topaz ; the tenth, a chrysoprasus ; the
eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an ame
thyst" — on each glows the name of one
of the twelve apostles ; while every one who
enters the Holy City must come in by one of
its twelve gates ; that is, must come as a mem
ber of one of the tribes of Israel. The mind
of the Seer, poetic and creative as it is, does
1 xx. il, 14.

The Drama 81
not distinguish between material elements
and spiritual, because he feels the spiritual
side of all ; and therefore, in his description,
touches of brilliant color, which appeal to the
eye, or which strike the imagination with a
sense of costliness, are mingled with those
which demand a purely spiritual apprecia
tion. But the material elements are all
recognized as subordinate to the presence
of God. This constitutes the centre and
essence of Heaven ; and, there being no
longer any temple to contain it, the glory
of it streams forth everywhere, extinguishing
the feeble lights of earth, and the very sun
itself, with its wondrous radiance. All the
charms that can touch the eye with a sense
of gorgeousness, or the weary heart with a
sense of comfort, or the pure soul with a i
sense of the joys of moral righteousness, all !
are combined in the description of the com
pleted glorified Kingdom of God. For if \
that Kingdom, as the author had known it ¦
on earth, in its struggling, incomplete condi
tion, full of difficulty, toil, humiliation, and

82 The Drama of the Apocalypse
pain, was yet so sweet and glorious, what
must its native and complete glory be !
It is interesting to note that the Seer con
templates the Kingdom of Heaven as cen
tering in a city. It has been supposed
that, as contrasted with the country, cities
are places of exceptional wickedness; and
this not so much because of the crimes that
flourish in them as because there are more
human beings collected there, more inter
ests, business, amusements, society ; in short,
they are "the world." In the country, on
the other hand, there is less of man and
consequently more of God. Cowper's line,
" God made the country, and man made the town,"
expressed a genuine theological belief of
former times, a belief not yet altogether
dead. But we may note in Hebrew litera
ture the early date and development of a
larger thought. The abode of the Divine
on earth was first pictured as in a garden.1
Later it became one spot in a community,
the Holy of Holies within a temple.2 In
1 Gen. iii. 8. 2 Exod. xxvi. 33, 34^

The Drama 83
Ezekiel's idea of the restored community all
the area surrounding the temple, and not
merely one small spot within it, had become
holy.1 In Jeremiah's prophetic outlook the
holy character extends to the city and its
suburbs.2 And when we turn to the Seer of
the New Testament, we find that it is a city
only which fills his vision. In the new Heaven
and new earth all else has become absorbed
in a city filled with multitudinous life ; there
is nothing but this. God is now limited to
no one abode in it, since He permeates its
every part. His dwelling-place is henceforth
in no curtained tent, aloof from the Congre
gation, in no temple built with hands. It
is in humanity itself.8
" And I heard a great voice out of heaven,
saying, ' Behold the tabernacle of God is
with men, and He will dwell among them,
and they shall be His people, and God
Himself shall be with them and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears
1 Ezek. xliii. 12. 2 Jer. xxxi. 38 f.
8 Rev. xxi. 3, 22, 23.

84 The Drama of the Apocalypse
from their eyes, and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain; for the for
mer things are passed away.' . . . And the
twelve gates were twelve pearls, every sev
eral gate was one pearl; and the street of
the city was fine gold, as it were transparent
glass. And I saw no temple therein, for
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are
the temple of it. And the city had no need
of the sun neither of the moon to shine in
it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and
the Lamb is the light thereof. And the
nations shall walk in the light of it, and
the kings of the earth do bring their glory
into it. And the gates of it shall not be
shut at all by day (for there shall be no
night there). And they shall bring the
glory and honour of the nations into it.
And there shall in no wise enter into it
anything that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination or maketh a lie; but
they which are written in the Lamb's Book
of Life. . . . And there shall be no more

The Drama 85
curse; but the throne of the Lamb shall
be therein ; and His servants shall do Him
service, and they shall see His face, and
His name shall be on their foreheads. And
there shall be no night there, and they need
no candle, neither light of the sun, for the
Lord God giveth them light, and they shall
reign for ever and ever."
Here what is properly the action of the
drama ends. What follows is an Epilogue,
for it refers to the whole of the
. Epilogue
poem rather than to what imme
diately precedes. The angel who has been
the guide of the Seer assures him that the
time of the Lord's coming, when all these
things shall be fulfilled, is close at hand;
and the Epilogue closes with one of those
chorales, of which there are so many in the
poem, which show the author's sense of har
mony and power of orchestration : —
" And the spirit and the Bride say, ' Come ' ;
And let him that heareth say, ' Come ' ;
And let him that is athirst come ;
And whosoever will, let him take the water
Of life freely."

86 The Drama of the Apocalypse
Finally the book closes with an Envoi or
special address from the author to the reader,
charging him to preserve the in-
Envoi tegrity of the book, and warning
hira again that the coming of the Lord is
close at hand. To this is added the usual
apostolic benediction and " Amen."
The steps of the drama, then, are as follows :
Act I, the Opening of the Seals of Fate;
Act II, the Blowing of the Trumpets of
Woe; Act III, the Establishment of the
Kingdom of Heaven, and its Results; Act
IV, the Judgment of the Earth, and of
Rome; Act V, the Marriage of the Prince
of Heaven, and the Glory of the Kingdom.

CHAPTER IV
THE END OF ALL THINGS
IT is interesting to study the difference
between the eschatology of the Apoca
lypse and that of the Fourth Gospel and of
St. Paul. The author of the Fourth Gospel
holds that there will be a "last day," when
there will be a resurrection of the just.1
Whether this is the same as the general
resurrection of just and unjust,2 which is
followed by the Judgment, is not certain.
But all the facts of eschatology have a far
more spiritual meaning given to them in the
Fourth Gospel than in the Apocalypse. The
material garment is barely sufficient, and is
apparently regarded as hardly necessary to
clothe the spiritual meaning. Identification
with the spirit of Christ constitutes the
resurrection.8 Eternal life consists in the
1 St. John vi. 39, 40 ; xi. 24. 2 v. 28, 29. 8 xi. 25, 26.
87

88 The Drama of the Apocalypse
knowledge of Christ and of God. The Judg
ment is not so much an event taking place
at a certain time in the future, as a continual,
self-fulfilling process.1 The rewards and pun
ishments of that judgment are wholly devoid
of even the appearance of arbitrariness, and
are set forth as inherently necessary, because
they are only a recognition of the existing
condition of each man.
This is, it is true, by no means inconsist
ent with the view of the writer of the Apoca
lypse, who sees God seated on a great white
throne, condemning this man to the lake of
fire and brimstone and giving to that one a
place in an everlasting kingdom. They are
not logically antagonistic ; both statements
may mean the same thing. But it requires
a certain degree of spiritual and intellectual
growth to see that they mean the same.
And it may be questioned whether, in that
age, the mind capable of feeling strongly the
scenic side of the end of the world could
have felt also the inevitableness and inherent
1 iii. 18, 19; xii. 47, 48.

The End of all Things 89
nature of the causes which brought it about ;
for the points of view of poetry and of phi
losophy were diverse then as now.
In the eschatology of St. Paul no interval
is fixed between the resurrection of the just
and the general resurrection.1 The duration
of the reign of Christ is not given, and its
character is exactly opposite to that men
tioned in the Apocalypse. In the latter it
is a time of uninterrupted happiness and
peace, for Satan is bound and powerless, and
the saints reign undisturbed on the earth.
With St. Paul it is a time of unceasing war
fare against hostile powers, and the duration
of the period is limited by the time necessary
for their complete subjugation.2 The resur
rection first of the just only, at the sound of
the last of the trumpets (cf. i Cor. xv. 52, 54
with 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17), before all are raised,
together with the victory that awaits them,
would seem to imply an intervening reign of
bliss ; but no mention is made of a millen
nium, and the character given to the inter-
1 1 Thess. iv. 15-18. z 1 Cor. xv. 23-29.

90 The Drama of the Apocalypse
vening period is militant and opposed to that
of the millennium. Among all the New
Testament writers, the thousand years' reign
of bliss, the chaining and loosing of Satan,
the attack of the heathen powers on the
camp of the saints, and the victory of the
forces of Heaven in battle are peculiar to
the writer of the Apocalypse. It is a char
acteristic sign of the social condition of the
world at the time, that the instrument of
power, the means by which changes are to be
brought about, is not legislation, education,
nor growth, but an army.
Our outlook upon the future has so radi
cally changed since the seventh or eighth
century B.C. that it is difficult for us to
understand the point of view of many
of the prophets and psalmists of Israel.
That there should be religious believers in
annihilation for all men, such as, later, was
the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, does
not puzzle us, for we see these still about us.
But a belief which should regard the region
beyond death as a sort of huge chamber in

The End of all Things 91
which all men are penned, existent indeed,
but with no joys, no great pains, no hope, no
outlook ; a belief which should add to this,
as time went on, the existence of a select few
on earth with lives supernaturally prolonged,
wielding a successful and beneficent govern
ment ; a belief which should feel no rectifica
tion necessary of the disproportion between
the lot of the few and that of the many —
such a belief is foreign to us. And yet the
Jew of the seventh or eighth century b.c
could feel no such disproportion, because he
had so limited a sense of the value of the
individual. The family, the tribe, the nation,
organized life in some of its forms, these
wholly filled his vision, and the individual
as such had as against these no rights which
could claim consideration. The sins of the
fathers were to be visited on the children
to the third and fourth generation. When
Achan was condemned for what in the judg
ment of the day was treason, not only was he
put to death, but with him " his sons and his
daughters and his oxen and his asses and

92 The Drama of the Apocalypse
his sheep and his tent and all that he had." 1
It was not until the sixth century B.C. that a
voice was raised against the traditional doc
trine by Jeremiah from amid the ruins of
Jerusalem. He declared that the sour grapes
which the fathers had eaten should no more
set on edge the children's teeth.2 At almost
the same time Ezekiel, too, in the midst of the
hostile prosperity of Babylon, reiterated the
lesson that corporate guilt or innocence
did not supersede individual responsibility.
" The soul that sinneth, it shall die." 8 Despair
at the apparent failure of God's promises in
regard to the nation led to the conviction that
they must be individually fulfilled. And from
this time the idea of corporate existence had
a complement, which was never afterwards
lost, in the idea of the individual. But the
habit of mind of the thinker of the ancient
world was to emphasize corporate relations.
To him individuals were valuable for the
sake of institutions ; to us institutions are
1 Josh. vii. 24, 25. 2 Jer. xxxi. 29, 30.
8 Ezek. xviii. 4 f.

The End of all Things 93
valuable for the sake of individuals. These
are completely opposite points of view ; and
this must constantly be borne in mind in
considering the Canaanitish wars, the Impre
catory Psalms, and the arguments of St. Paul
as to the rejection of Israel and the adoption
of the Gentiles. The Jew of the ninth cen
tury b.c was in this respect at one extremity of
a pole of thought, and we in the twentieth cen
tury a.d. are at the other. It is interesting to
trace the gradations between the two ; but it
need only be noted here that in the Apoca
lypse there is a mingling of both elements.
The Christian mind had come to demand a
recognition in the future of the full personal
ity of each human being; consequently in
the vision of the Seer there was a resurrec
tion of all the dead, small and great, standing
before God. Sheol, the universal reception-
chamber, opens its doors, and the sea gives
back its dead. The latter were regarded as
not having gone down to Sheol, another
indication of the Hebrew ignorance and
dread of the sea.1 Each human being was
1 Cf. p. 66.

94 The Drama of the Apocalypse
to be judged according to what was written
in the book of his life, and the result was
to be misery for the wicked and joy for the
righteous. But though individualism is thus
recognized, it is chiefly the institution that
fills the writer's view — the Kingdom of
Heaven. What he exults in is its trials, its
triumphs, its power and glory ; and the
individual who does not find his joy in these
will not find it at all.
The question, " What is the scheme of
eschatology of the Apocalypse ? " is of course
different from the question, " What is the
scheme of eschatology which will be eventu
ally realized ? " While the author of the
Revelation undoubtedly recognized that
many of his utterances were symbolic, he
undoubtedly also supposed that his scheme
of the future was to be justified by the event.
It needed less than a generation to show
that in this he was mistaken, though the
principles upon which his outlook into the
future was based have been approved by
each succeeding age as genuine and pro-

The End of all Things 95
phetic. It is along these lines of eternal
justice — justice which allows no evil to go
unpunished and no righteousness to be un
rewarded, which has regard to the organic
welfare of the world and to the due of the
individual, which judges not by chance nor
whim, but by the characters engraved in the
book of each man's life, which will not cease
until the whole universe is brought into har
mony with God — it is along such lines, the
mind of humanity is convinced, that the Di
vine plan must draw to its glorious end.
The last book in the Bible is in this re
spect like the first. The Book of Genesis
does not give the actual history of the
world's beginning, but it reveals the spir
itual laws which gave the method to crea
tion. So the Book of the Revelation does
not furnish a guide to the events attendant
upon the end of the world, but it shows the
principles which must inevitably determine
the end.
One difficulty which has been found with
the eschatology of the Apocalypse is entirely

96 The Drama of the Apocalypse
unnecessary, even from the point of view
which would regard its scheme as a final
one. In the Apocalypse moral evil and its
consequences are represented by physical
pain. This, to many, has been a stumbling-
block. They have not been able to recon
cile it to their ideas of right that the wicked
should be " cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone." But this is certainly no more
difficult to interpret than the statement of
the writer that in Heaven there are Four
composite Creatures, having eyes before and
behind and within. Physical pain is a most
useful representative of moral evil, and one
which those who have to instruct immature
minds still find it wise at times to employ.
But whatever method of interpretation may
be applied to the Apocalypse, there is no
warrant for interpreting the everlasting tor
ment of the wicked in one way and the Four
Beasts and the sea of glass in another. If
the former is actual, so must the latter be.
If the latter are symbolical, so must be also
the former. And their symbolic nature

The End of all Things 97
would imply not unreality, but reality. For
every sign must have behind it something
signified. If the lake of fire and brimstone
and the sharp two-edged sword coming out
of the mouth of the Lord are in any sense
symbols, there must be an eternal reality
behind them.

CHAPTER V
THE PERSON OF JESUS
THE last chapter of the Book of the
Revelation brings before us a ques
tion, hints of which have been visible
throughout the Book. The angel who has
been the guide of the Seer hitherto, as the
latter in his wonder and awe falls down be
fore him, refuses his worship, professing to
be one of the army of prophetic fellow-ser
vants like himself, and bids him worship
God. He goes on, however, to identify
himself with Jesus, announcing that the
time of his coming is at hand when he will
judge the world. " I, Jesus," he says, " have
sent mine ayyekov [that is, the Seer] to
testify unto you [that is, the audience of
the Christian world] these things in the
Churches. I am the root and offspring of
98

The Person of fesus 99
David and the bright and morning star."1
This is not the first time that Jesus has
been regarded as an angel. In xi. 3 it is
an angel who speaks ; and yet the wit
nesses who are testifying to the Messiah's
Kingdom he calls "my witnesses." Just
after the Lamb has been mentioned, "an
other angel " is spoken of.2 " The Son of
Man," a title which elsewhere in the Book
is applied to Jesus,8 appears preceded by
three angels and followed by three.4 The
frequency with which a band of angels con
sists of seven5 would suggest that Jesus is
regarded here as one, the chief, among
them, even if the one who follows Him
were not called "another angel."6 The
same speaker who refuses the Seer's wor
ship, and bids him not to seal the prophetic
Book, goes on to say, " Behold, I come
quickly," and speaks of himself as the final
Judge.7 It is evident, then, that in these passages
1 xxii. 16. 2 xiv. 1, 4, 6. s i. 13. 4 xiv. 14.
B iv. 5 ; viii. 2 ; xv. 1. 8 xiv. 15.

100 The Drama of the Apocalypse
Jesus is regarded as having the nature of
an angel, as the highest, the first created
being. He is " the faithful and true wit
ness, the beginning of the creation of
God," l just as to St. Paul He is " the first
born of the whole creation."2 He is "the
Prince of the kings of the earth,"3 who is
exalted to a heavenly throne as a reward
for His victorious conflicts.4 But it was
characteristic of the deepest spiritual in
sight and reverence of the author's time
that it was coming to regard its dearly
loved Master as joined in some unique way
to the one Almighty God, as sharing His
nature and rank. And so there rises to
the prophet's lips the phrase descriptive of
God, " The first and the last," 5 which centu
ries earlier the great prophet of the Exile
had used, and for which he, the Seer, had
found as it recurred to his mind a fitting
Greek symbol, " to "A\<f>a ko.1 to '11." This
symbol he uses both of Jesus6 and of God
1 iii. 14. 2Col. i. 15. 8i. 5. 4 iii. 21. Cf. Phil. ii. 8, 9 ;
Heb. ii. 9. 6 i. 17 ; xxii. 13. 6xxii. 13.

The Person of Jesus 101
Almighty,1 feeling apparently no inconsist
ency in its double application. There are
still other direct ascriptions to Jesus of the
functions and attributes of God. And while
we must beware of reading into them the
metaphysical ideas which they connote to
us, we cannot avoid seeing in them an asso
ciation of Jesus with God which was possible
in case of no other being. Thus, for ex
ample, He is the final Judge;2 the receiver
of supreme worship together with God;8 the
spirit of God ; 4 the word of God ; 5 the Son
of God.6 God and the Lamb occupy not
two thrones, but one.7 Throughout the
poem the feelings with which Jesus is re
garded are those of the deepest devotion
and adoration, such as are aroused only by
an object believed to be Divine.
The question then presents itself, What
was the view of the author in regard to the
1 i. 8, where cf. also Westcott and Hort's reading " xvptos
6 0eos." The phrase in i. il is rejected as corrupt. The
identification in ii. 16 is doubtful.
2 i. 18 ; xxii. 12. 8 v. 13 ; vii. 10 ; xxi. 22. 4 ii. 7 f.
6 xix. 13. 6 ii. 18. ' v. 6 ; xxii. 1,3.

102 The Drama of the Apocalypse
mutual relations of God Almighty, of Jesus,
and of the angel? The attempt has been
made to avoid the inference that the angel
in the last chapter identifies himself with
Jesus by ascribing the different verses in it
to different speakers. Thus vs. 6 is unques
tionably spoken by the angel. But vs. 7, it
is said, is not by the angel, because the
speaker refers to the coming of the Lord as
his own coming. Again, vss. 10, 11 belong
to the angel, but 12, 13 to Jesus. 14, 15 are
doubtful, but 16 is again that of Jesus. It is
undoubtedly the case that the ancient He
brew prophets in their impassioned dramatic
utterances sometimes gave no indication of a
change of speaker, putting their words now
into the mouth of God, now speaking as
from themselves, and now by the mouth of
the people. The most usual instances of
this are where the prophet alternates between
words which he ascribes to God and those ut
tered in his own person.1 In Isa. xxviii. 9-1 1,
for example, in the midst of his own words, the
JCf. Jer. xv. 8-19; xvii. 10-19.

The Person of Jesus 103
prophet begins quoting the jeers of those
who derided his preaching as commonplace
and fit only for children. " Whom," they
say, "shall he [the prophet] teach knowl
edge ? and whom shall he make to under
stand a message? Them that are weaned
from the milk and drawn from the breasts."
It is not until a following verse that he shows
plainly who it is into whose mouth he puts
these words. It is "this people," to whom
God said, " This is the rest wherewith ye
may cause the weary to rest, and this is the
refreshing, yet they would not hear." This
is the prophet's stage-direction, as it were.
But in the last chapter of the Book of the
Revelation there are no stage-directions.
And when commentators declare, what is
undoubtedly true, that the context must
determine the speaker, and then assume that
because vss. 7, 12, 13, 16 refer unquestion
ably to Jesus they do not therefore refer to
the angel, it is unwarrantably assuming the
very point in question. Certainly the ordi
nary reader unwarned would never imagine

104 The Drama of the Apocalypse
a change of speaker to have taken place
between vss. 6, 7 and 10, 12. It could occur
to no one not preoccupied with the need of
dogmatic harmonizing. This is precisely the
attitude of mind most alien to that of the
writer of the Apocalypse. From him, as
already said, logical consistency in ideas and
images and exclusiveness among them can
not be demanded. As he identifies Nero
with one of the heads of the Beast, and then
immediately, unconsciously, and with no sign
of transition identifies him with the Beast as
a whole, so here the highest angel and the
beginning of the creation of God, the first
born of every creature and the Prince of
Heaven, the King of the new Kingdom and
the eternal Judge, pass naturally and uncon
sciously into one another. If this seems
strange, it can be so only to one who comes
expecting to find everywhere the footprints
of a carefully worked-out theological system,
such as were those of the West. Such a
system is not natural to the Oriental mind,
and was foreign to the earliest days of Chris-

The Person of Jesus 105
tianity. Valuable as such systems are, they
are an adult growth, and in the history of
Christianity it required several centuries and
the influence of the West to produce them.
Vision comes more naturally in the East
than thought; and in a vision the images
blend and pass into one another without
condemning thereby the vision's genuineness
or value.
The point of view of the Seer, then, is
continually changing. He conceives of
Jesus now as the highest of the creatures,
now as the eternal beginning and end of all
things. Our difficulty in comprehending
this arises not only from the fact that to us
each of these is a definite and separate
conception, while to him such definiteness
and separation did not exist; but also from
the single idea conveyed to us by the word
" angel " as compared with the double idea
contained in the Greek ayyeXos. To the
Greek this word meant a messenger of any
kind, as well as one of those beings whom
we call distinctively angels. To speak of

106 The Drama of the Apocalypse
Jesus as a divine ayyeXos, then, would not
be so foreign to the point of view which
regarded Him as Son of God as to speak
of Him as an " angel." But here again the
Oriental mind, averse to minute distinctions
of thought, would probably have found no
difficulty where the Western mind might
readily find one.
It is worthy of note that while the angel,
Jesus, and God are at times regarded as
separate beings and at times identified, the
bond between them which allows their iden
tification is a transcendent, spiritual one,
an internal unity of character and function.
This bond is similar to that which in the
Fourth Gospel is asserted to exist among
Jesus, His disciples, the Holy Spirit, and
God. The spirit of Jesus is not merely to
come into the world, but is to dwell with
His disciples and to be in them; and the
union among them, Himself, and God is in
herent in the nature of spiritual life. " That
they all may be one," He prays, "as Thou,
Father, art in me and I in Thee, that they

The Person of fesus 107
also may be one in us."1 It is this recogni
tion of the true nature of the bond between
Christ and His own that is the special
characteristic of the Fourth Gospel. The
author has apprehended, as has hardly any
one else, hardly even St. Paul, the fact that
the believer is joined to Christ through be
ing filled with a spirit like His; or rather,
since that would imply many distinct spirits
of one and the same kind, and since spirit
is in reality not individual but universal, it
is through being filled with Christ's spirit,
through sharing with Him in a common
spiritual life. To the other Evangelists the
relations between Christ and those who are
His are largely material and external. He
is to take them to His Heavenly Kingdom ;
they are to possess the earth. His apostles
shall sit on twelve thrones and judge the
twelve tribes of Israel. But while to the
Fourth Evangelist, as to the others, there
was no sharp line of division between mate
rial and spiritual, form and essence, with
1 St. John xvii. 21.

108 The Drama of the Apocalypse
him the spiritual had a higher range and
wider inclusiveness. It is this that gives
him his penetrating view into the essential
nature of the resurrection and eternal life.1
It is this that reveals to him the secret of
Christ's marvellous power in His profound
God-consciousness.2 And it is this depth
and intensity of spiritual gaze rather than
the dogmatic character of its discourses,
which have made the Fourth Gospel dear
to the Christian heart.
The difference in mode of treatment of
the same subjects in the Apocalypse and
the Fourth Gospel is suggestive as showing
points of view not so much opposed as
developed more or less fully. The Apoca
lypse is the earlier book, both historically
and logically, and was a necessary step
toward the capacity of spiritual apprehen
sion which the Fourth Gospel shows. " In
the Apocalypse," says Dr. Westcott, "the
thought is of an outward coming for the
open judgment of men ; in the Gospel, of a
1 St. John xi. 25, 26 ; xvii. 3. 2 iv. 34 ; x. 28-31.

Tbe Person of Jesus 109
judgment which is spiritual and self-execut
ing. In the Apocalypse the scene of the
consummation is a renovated world ; in the
Gospel, the Father's House. In the former
the victory and the transformation are
from without, by might, and the 'future'
is painted in historic imagery ; in the latter,
the victory and the transformation are from
within, by a spiritual influence, and the
' future ' is present and eternal. In a word,
the study of the Synoptists, of the Apoca
lypse, and of the Gospel of St. John in suc
cession, enables us to see under what human
conditions the full majesty of Christ was
perceived and declared, not all at once, but
step by step, and by the help of the old
prophetic teaching."
That the author of the Apocalypse iden
tified Jesus with the highest angel may be
a fact of much significance or of little. Of
much, if created limitation was the side
accented in the author's mind, if a distinc
tively angelic character and functions are
assigned to Him ; of little, if this was merely

110 The Drama of the Apocalypse
one point of view among many, and if there
are ascribed to Him the mediatorial, redemp
tive, and essentially Divine characteristics
which the Christian Church through the
centuries has insisted must form part of
the highest and truest view of Jesus. If we
remember that Jesus is apparently identified
with the angel, we must also remember that
He is as apparently identified with the
Supreme God. If we then insist upon logi
cal exactitude of thought, the Apocalypse
will have nothing to say to us. The de
mand, " He must be regarded as either
the one or the other. Which is it ? " the
inspired Seer would probably have been
unable to understand.
Other instances of this characteristic of
thought and style, which leads the author
to interchange predicates and regard the
same objects in various lights, are the fol
lowing : The final Judge is at one time
declared to be God and at another Christ.1
It is said there will be a complete renovation
xCf. xx. 12 ; xxi. 4 with xxii. 12 ; vi. 16, 17.

The Person of Jesus ill
of both Heaven and earth.1 And yet various
classes of sinners who remain from the old
condition of things are represented as hav
ing their permanent abode outside the heav
enly city;2 and this though they have already
been consigned to the lake of fire and brim
stone.8 The relations of Jew and Gentile
are also regarded with inconsistency. On
the one hand, they form one community
without distinction, and both alike are kings
and priests unto God.4 Sonship to God is
conditioned on moral character, not on an
cestry.5 The water of life is for whosoever
will.6 And yet, on the other hand, between
Jew and Gentile there is an indelible dis
tinction. The firstfruits of the Messiah's
Kingdom are the nation of Israel in its
ideal estate,7 while the saved Gentiles are
set in contrast with them,8 and are even
not mentioned as belonging to the re
deemed.9 The Kingdom of Christ is built
on a distinctively Jewish model. It is not
1 xxi. i. 2 xxii. 15. 8 xxi. 8. 4 i. 6 ; v. 10.
6 xxi. 7. 6 xxii. 17. ' vii. 4-9. 8 vii. 9.
9 xiv. 1, 3.

112 The Drama of the Apocalypse
only that it is regarded as Jerusalem made
new, but every one who enters must come
in through one of twelve gates, each of which
represents one of the tribes of Israel.1 The
fruit of the tree of life is designed for Israel
ites, for there are twelve kinds of it, while
for the Gentiles there are only its leaves for
healing purposes.2 Such inconsistencies
would have seemed to the author and to
every Oriental mind to involve no breach
of thought nor detraction from the worth
of the literary work in which they occurred.
1 xxi. 12. 2 xxii. 2.

CHAPTER VI
THE LITERARY VALUE OF THE APOCALYPSE
APOCALYPSES were a favorite form
of literature in times when the outlook
was dark and the glow of original prophetic
genius was dim. Their object was to en
courage and comfort by holding out the
hope of speedy deliverance. Much as the
later Jewish and early Christian literature
was in this form, and the masterpieces of for
mer ages influenced profoundly the author
of the Book of the Revelation. For example,
the details of the new Jerusalem, the measur
ing of the city, the river of life, the ever-
fruitful tree, are taken from Ezekiel, though
their roots are earlier still, and in the New
Testament more of spiritual significance is
infused into them. The beasts with many
heads and horns, the measuring of time by
i "3

114 The Drama of the Apocalypse
the prophetic week, the name " Son of
Man," and the appearance of the Ancient of
Days are found also in Daniel. Among
other apocalypses which formed part of the
later Jewish literature are the following :
Ethiopic Enoch, dating 200-95 B-c-! tne
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, sec
ond and first centuries B.C. ; the Psalms of
Solomon, 70-40 B.C.; the Fourth Book of
Ezra, perhaps 97 a.d. ; the Book of Jubi
lees, or the Little Genesis, the first quarter
of the first century a.d. ; the Assumption
of Moses, the same date ; the Apocalypse of
Baruch, the latter half of the first century.
Among Christian apocalypses of this period
are the Apocalypse of Esdras, belonging
to the second or third century a.d. ; the
Ascension and Vision of Isaiah, the same
date ; the Apocalypse of Paul, late in the
fourth century; the Apocalypse of John,
not earlier than the fifth century.
As the years went by and the Lord's King
dom did not appear upon earth ; as devout
believers had to meet not only the jeers of

The Literary Value of the Apocalypse 1 1 5
their opponents, but the harrowing doubt
of their own minds, — " Where is the prom
ise of His coming ? For since the fathers
fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation," — as
the world went on its course, giving no sign
of any fulfilment of their hopes ; men, on the
one hand, settled down into the conviction
that the Kingdom of Christ was represented
in the Church, — a conviction established on
a firm basis by Augustine in his De Civitate
Dei, — and, on the other hand, they endeav
ored to galvanize into new life the primi
tive faith, in spite of apparent contradiction.
This attempt was begun by Montanism in
the second century, and continued in various
forms of Millenarianism to our own day.
Montanism was the first of the many Chris
tian attempts to reform the world by the
endeavor to restore conditions which were
assumed to be primitive. Like so many
other similar attempts, it was the expression
of a noble protest, a protest against the ten
dency of the Church to strike a bargain with

116 The Drama of the Apocalypse
the world and arrange herself comfortably in
it. As the hold of the Church, however, be
came firmly established, expectation of an
upheaval, even of an upheaval with Christ at
its head, died away. For the expectation of
Millenarianism was not of a kingdom which
should be the consummation of a process of
evolution and development of the Church,
but a special implanting of the glory of the
hereafter into the imperfections of this world.
When the Protestant Reformation thrilled
men with vague and infinite hopes, it seemed
as if all things were about to be made new,
and the millennial kingdom of Christ would
immediately appear. As, however, in the
first half of the Book of the Revelation, the
denoument of the drama is continually post
poned, so in the history of the world, the
ultimate moment, always on the point of
happening, never arrives; the bright vision
recedes, and life drops back into its old
humdrum ways. Yet still those who are
tied to literalism in exegesis, those whose
world is so bad that they cannot endure it

The Literary Value of the Apocalypse 117
without hope of a speedy deliverance, those
who see no reason why God should not do
anything they wish, these have been ever in
clined to fix the place and the hour when
Christ would descend through the clouds, and
by a mighty convulsion transform the world
into His Kingdom. The Irvingites in Eng
land in 1 83 1, the Millerites in New England
in 1843, the Mormons in their exodus to
Utah in 1847, are instances of religious move
ments in the last century in which the ex
pectation of an earthly kingdom played a
prominent part.
It would seem as if the strenuous exertions
which the author of the Apocalypse made to
impress upon his readers that the end of all
things was only a few years distant, might
have preserved his book from the exegetical
fate which has befallen it. For there has
never perhaps been a work which has re
ceived more divergent interpretations and
more fantastic ones. During the first three
centuries the general meaning of the Book
was preserved — the knowledge that it took

118 The Drama of the Apocalypse
its rise in the conditions of the middle of the
first century, that it reflected those condi
tions, and that it was designed by its author
to apply to the present and the near future.
But when the Church came to be united with
the Empire, the ecclesiastical authorities of
the time could not recognize the inspiration
and canonicity of a book whose main burden
was hatred of Rome and prediction of her
downfall. They consequently tried to de
stroy its prestige by declaring it apocry
phal. But it had made itself too strong a
place in the mind and affections of the
Christian world to be uprooted. Attempts
were then made, by fanciful exegesis, to
explain away allusions which were objection
able. The condition of the science of Bibli
cal interpretation made such attempts natural
and easy; for the aim of exegesis then was
not so much to discover what meaning the
text actually had, as what meaning it might
with edification have. Toward the twelfth
century, when the traditions of the early
Fathers had less weight, all historical basis

The Literary Value of the Apocalypse 119
for the Book was forgotten, and it was di
rectly transferred to the province of poetic
fancy. That was declared to belong to the
remote future which its author had distinctly
asserted to refer to a period but a few years
distant from the time at which he wrote. The
custom of identifying the spiritual enemies
denounced in the Book with existing heretics
and schismatics began in the thirteenth cen
tury. Pope Innocent III affirmed the Sara
cens to be the true Antichrist, Mohammed
the False Prophet, and 666 years the dura
tion of his power. After the Reformation
the Pope himself became Antichrist, or, by
a different interpretation, the Beast was the
line of Popes. On the other hand, the star
which fell from Heaven has within a century
been identified with Luther, who renounced
his faith and thus fell. It has also been
confidently announced that the Beast was
Napoleon Bonaparte.
All such attempts leave the Book what
they found it, — a riddle composed of many
bits, each bit to be fitted into place here and

120 The Drama of the Apocalypse
there along the centuries by ingenious guess
ing. For this, as well as every other book,
must be found a riddle by any exegesis
which does not endeavor to ascertain, first
what the work in question meant to the
author and his time, and secondly, what
power of instruction and encouragement it
has for men of all time. Its function in giv
ing information as to past events or those
yet to come will always be subordinate. The
second of these considerations will determine
worth, determine whether or not a book has
" inspiration," or, more properly, the power
of inspiring.
Such inspiration in the Apocalypse was
recognized not only by early ages, but has
been recognized by all ages succeeding.
Not that power of inspiring which is felt in
the loftier Psalms and the Restoration Epic
of the Old Testament, or the Gospels and
Pauline Epistles of the New, for the spiritual
standpoint of the Apocalypse is distinctly
lower than these. But its value lies in the
certainty of the author's conviction of the

The Literary Value of the Apocalypse 121
ultimate triumph of righteousness, the stern
ness of his hatred of evil-doers, the gorgeous-
ness of his imagination, his sense of harmony,
the harmony of mighty voices filled with
pure and passionate feeling, and the more
subtle harmonies which can be heard only
with the ear of the soul. What it has done,
it can do ; and it has stirred men's souls and
raised them to the throne of God. It has
made them feel disaster, failure, persecution,
to be matters of little account. It has sent
them singing to their deaths with a vivid
realization of glory before them. It has com
forted those who were hard pressed with the
thought that it was but for a little while. It
has expressed spiritual realities in concrete
terms, so that the child and the ignorant
man could grasp them. And it has tinged
the thought of the world, so that not only
the language of devotion, but that of common
life has become colored by it. It is the last
great prophecy of the spirit of Israel, the
first poem of Christianity.

CHAPTER VII
THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE
(Revised Version, 1881)
I fTT^HE Revelation of Jesus Christ,
-¦- which God gave him to shew unto
his servants, even the things which
must shortly come to pass : and he sent
and signified it by his angel unto his
2 servant John; who bare witness of
the word of God, and of the testimony
of Jesus Christ, even of all things that
3 he saw. Blessed is he that readeth,
and they that hear the words of the
prophecy, and keep the things which
are written therein : for the time is at
hand.
4 John to the seven churches which are
in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from
him which is and which was and which

I- IO The Revelation 123
is to come ; and from the seven Spirits
5 which are before his throne; and from
Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler
of the kings of the earth. Unto him
that loveth us, and loosed us from our
6 sins by his blood; and he made us to
be a kingdom, to be priests unto his
God and Father ; to him be the glory and
the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, he cometh with the clouds ; and
every eye shall see him, and they which
pierced him ; and all the tribes of the
earth shall mourn over him. Even so,
Amen.
8 I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith
the Lord God, which is and which was
and which is to come, the Almighty.
9 I John, your brother and partaker with
you in the tribulation and kingdom and
patience which were in Jesus, was in the
isle that is called Patmos, for the word
10 of God and the testimony of Jesus. I
was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and

124 The Drama of the Apocalypse 1. 10
I heard behind me a great voice, as of a
ii trumpet saying, What thou seest, write
in a book, and send it to the seven
churches; unto Ephesus, and unto
Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto
Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Phil-
12 adelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I
turned to see the voice which spake with
me. And having turned I saw seven
13 golden candlesticks; and in the midst
of the candlesticks one like unto a son
of man, clothed with a garment down
to the foot, and girt about at the breasts
14 with a golden girdle. And his head
and his hair were white as white wool,
white as snow; and his eyes were as
15 a flame of fire; and his feet like unto
burnished brass, as if it had been refined
in a furnace ; and his voice as the voice
16 of many waters. And he had in his
right hand seven stars: and out of his
mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged
sword: and his countenance was as the
1 7 sun shineth in his strength. And when

II. 2 The Revelation 125
I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead.
And he laid his right hand upon me,
1 8 saying, Fear not; I am the first and the
last, and the Living one; and I was
dead, and behold, I am alive for ever
more, and I have the keys of death and
19 of Hades. Write therefore the things
which thou sawest, and the things which
are, and the things which shall come to
20 pass hereafter; the mystery of the seven
stars which thou sawest in my right hand,
and the seven golden candlesticks. The
seven stars are the angels of the seven
churches : and the seven candlesticks are
seven churches.
2 To the angel of the church in Ephesus
write ;
These things saith he that holdeth the
seven stars in his right hand, he that
walketh in the midst of the seven golden
2 candlesticks : I know thy works, and thy
toil and patience, and that thou canst not
bear evil men, and didst try them which
call themselves apostles, and they are not,

126 The Drama of the Apocalypse n. 3
3 and didst find them false ; and thou hast
patience and didst bear for my name's
4 sake, and hast not grown weary. But I
have this against thee, that thou didst
5 leave thy first love. Remember there
fore from whence thou art fallen, and re
pent, and do the first works; or else I
come to thee, and will move thy candle
stick out of its place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the
works of the Nicolaitans, which I also
7 hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith to the churches.
To him that overcometh, to him will I
give to eat of the tree of life, which is
in the Paradise of God.
8 And to the angel of the church in
Smyrna write ;
These things saith the first and the last,
9 which was dead, and lived again : I know
thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou
art rich), and the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews, and they are
10 not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Fear

ii. 15 The Revelation 127
not the things which thou art about to
suffer : behold, the devil is about to cast
some of you into prison, that ye may be
tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten
days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I
1 1 will give thee the crown of life. He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith to the churches. He that overcom
eth shall not be hurt of the second death.
12 And to the angel of the church in Per
gamum write;
These things saith he that hath the
13 sharp two-edged sword: I know where
thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne
is: and thou holdest fast my name, and
didst not deny my faith, even in the days
of Antipas my witness, my faithful one,
who was killed among you, where Satan
14 dwelleth. But I have a few things against
thee, because thou hast there some that
hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught
Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the
children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed
15 to idols, and to commit fornication. So

128 The Drama of the Apocalypse li. 15
hast thou also some that hold the teach
ing of the Nicolaitans in like manner.
1 6 Repent therefore ; or else I come to thee
quickly, and I will make war against
1 7 them with the sword of my mouth. He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the churches. To him
that overcometh, to him will I give of
the hidden manna, and I will give him a
white stone, and upon the stone a new
name written, which no one knoweth
but he that receiveth it.
18 And to the angel of the church in Thya
tira write ;
These things saith the Son of God, who
hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his
19 feet are like unto burnished brass: I
know thy works, and thy love and faith
and ministry and patience, and that thy
20 last works are more than the first. But
I have this against thee, that thou suf
ferest the woman Jezebel, which calleth
herself a prophetess; and she teacheth
and seduceth my servants to commit for-

H- 28 The Revelation 129
nication, and to eat things sacrificed to
21 idols. And I gave her time that she
should repent; and she willeth not to
22 repent of her fornication. Behold, I do
cast her into a bed, and them that com
mit adultery with her into great tribula
tion, except they- repent of her works.
23 And I will kill her children with death;
and all the churches shall know that I
am he which searcheth the reins and
hearts : and I will give unto each one of
24 you according to your works. But to you
I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as
many as have not this teaching, which
know not the deep things of Satan, as
they say ; I cast upon you none other
25 burden. Howbeit that which ye have,
26 hold fast till I come. And he that over
cometh, and he that keepeth my works
unto the end, to him will I give authority
27 over the nations: and he shall rule them
with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the
potter are broken to shivers; as I also
28 have received of my Father: and I will

130 The Drama of the Apocalypse ii. 29
29 give him the morning star. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
to the churches.
3 And to the angel of the church in Sar
dis write;
These things saith he that hath the
seven Spirits of God, and the seven
stars : I know thy works, that thou hast
a name that thou livest, and thou art
2 dead. Be thou watchful, and stablish
the things that remain, which were ready
to die: for I have found no works of
3 thine fulfilled before my God. Remem
ber therefore how thou hast received and
didst hear; and keep it, and repent. If
therefore thou shalt not watch, I will
come as a thief, and thou shalt not know
4 what hour I will come upon thee. But
thou hast a few names in Sardis which
did not defile their garments : and they
shall walk with me in white ; for they are
5 worthy. He that overcometh shall thus
be arrayed in white garments ; and I will
in no wise blot his name out of the book

in. 10 The Revelation 131
of life, and I will confess his name before
6 my Father, and before his angels. He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the churches.
7 And to the angel of the church in Phila
delphia write ;
These things saith he that is holy, he
that is true, he that hath the key of
David, he that openeth, and none shall
shut, and that shutteth, and none open-
8 eth: I know thy works (behold, I have
set before thee a door opened, which none
can shut), that thou hast a little power,
and didst keep my word, and didst not
9 deny my name. Behold, I give of the
synagogue of Satan, of them which say
they are Jews, and they are not, but do
lie; behold, I will make them to come
and worship before thy feet, and to know
10 that I have loved thee. Because thou
didst keep the word of my patience, I
also will keep thee from the hour of trial,
that hour which is to come upon the
whole world, to try them that dwell upon

132 The Drama of the Apocalypse in. n
n the earth. I come quickly: hold fast
that which thou hast, that no one take thy
1 2 crown. He that overcometh, I will make
him a pillar in the temple of my God,
and he shall go out thence no more : and
I will write upon him the name of my
God, and the name of the city of my God,
the new Jerusalem, which cometh down
out of heaven from my God, and mine
1 3 own new name. He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith to the
churches.
14 And to the angel of the church in
Laodicea write ;
These things saith the Amen, the faith
ful and true witness, the beginning of the
1 5 creation of God : I know thy works, that
thou art neither cold nor hot: I would
16 thou wert cold or hot. So because thou
art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I
1 7 will spew thee out of my mouth. Because
thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten
riches, and have need of nothing; and
knowest not that thou art the wretched

iv. i The Revelation 133
one and miserable and poor and blind
18 and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me
gold refined by fire, that thou mayest be
come rich ; and white garments, that thou
mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame
of thy nakedness be not made manifest ;
and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that
19 thou mayest see. As many as I love, I
reprove and chasten : be zealous therefore,
20 and repent. Behold, I stand at the door
and knock : if any man hear my voice and
open the door, I will come in to him, and
21 will sup with him, and he with me. He
that overcometh, I will give to him to sit
down with me in my throne, as I also
overcame, and sat down with my Father
22 in his throne. He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith to the
churches.
4 After these things I saw, and behold,
a door opened in heaven, and the first
voice which I heard, a voice as of a trum
pet speaking with me, one saying, Come
up hither, and I will shew thee the things

134 Tbe Drama of the Apocalypse iv. i
which must come to pass hereafter.
2 Straightway I was in the Spirit : and
behold, there was a throne set in heaven,
3 and one sitting upon the throne ; and he
that sat was to look upon like a jasper
stone and a sardius : and there was a
rainbow round about the throne, like an
4 emerald to look upon. And round about
the throne were four and twenty thrones :
and upon ' the thrones I saw four and
twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white
garments ; and on their heads crowns of
5 gold. And out of the throne proceed
lightnings and voices and thunders. And
there were seven lamps of fire burning
before the throne, which are the seven
6 Spirits of God ; and before the throne, as
it were a glassy sea like unto crystal ; and
in the midst of the throne, and round
about the throne, four living creatures
7 full of eyes before and behind. And the
first creature was like a lion, and the sec
ond creature like a calf, and the third
creature had a face as of a man, and the

v. i The Revelation 135
fourth creature was like a flying eagle.
8 And the four living creatures, having
each one of them six wings, are full of
eyes round about and within : and they
have no rest day and night, saying, Holy,
holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty,
which was and which is and which is
9 to come. And when the living creatures
shall give glory and honour and thanks
to him that sitteth on the throne, to him
10 that liveth for ever and ever, the four
and twenty elders shall fall down before
him that sitteth on the throne, and shall
worship him that liveth for ever and
ever, and shall cast their crowns before
1 1 the throne, saying, Worthy art thou,
our Lord and our God, to receive the
glory and the honour and the power:
for thou didst create all things, and be
cause of thy will they were, and were
created.
5 And I saw in the right hand of him that
sat on the throne a book written within
and on the back, close sealed with seven

136 The Drama of the Apocalypse v. 2
2 seals. And I saw a strong angel pro
claiming with a great voice, Who is
worthy to open the book, and to loose
3 the seals thereof ? And no one in the
heaven, or on the earth, or under the
earth, was able to open the book, or to
4 look thereon. And I wept much, because
no one was found worthy to open the
5 book, or to look thereon : and one of the
elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold,
the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the
Root of David, hath overcome, to open
the book and the seven seals thereof.
6 And I saw in the midst of the throne and
of the four living creatures, and in the
midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as
though it had been slain, having seven
horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven
7 Spirits of God, sent forth into all the
earth. And he came, and he taketh it out
8 of the right hand of him that sat on the
throne. And when he had taken the book,
the four living creatures and the four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb,

v. 13 The Revelation 137
having each one a harp, and golden bowls
full of incense, which are the prayers of the
9 saints. And they sing a new song, say
ing, Worthy art thou to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof : for thou
wast slain, and didst purchase unto God
with thy blood men of every tribe, and
10 tongue, and people, and nation, and mad-
est them to be unto our God a kingdom
and priests; and they reign upon the
1 1 earth. And I saw, and I heard a voice of
many angels round about the throne and
the living creatures and the elders ; and
the number of them was ten thousand
times ten thousand, and thousands of
1 2 thousands ; saying with a great voice,
Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain
to receive the power, and riches, and wis
dom, and might, and honour, and glory,
13 and blessing. And every created thing
which is in the heaven, and on the earth,
and under the earth, and on the sea, and all
things that are in them, heard I saying,
Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and

138 The Drama of the Apocalypse v- x3
unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the
honour, and the glory, and the dominion,
14 for ever and ever. And the four living
creatures said, Amen. And the elders
fell down and worshipped.
6 And I saw when the Lamb opened one
of the seven seals, and I heard one of the
four living creatures saying as with a
2 voice of thunder, Come. And I saw, and
behold, a white horse, and he that sat
thereon had a bow ; and there was given
unto him a crown: and he came forth
conquering, and "to conquer.
3 And when he opened the second seal,
I heard the second living creature saying,
4 Come. And another horse came forth,
a red horse : and to him that sat thereon
it was given to take peace from the earth,
and that they should slay one another:
and there was given unto him a great
sword.
5 And when he opened the third seal, I
heard the third living creature saying,
Come. And I saw, and behold, a black

vi. 10 The Revelation 139
horse; and he that sat thereon had a
6 balance in his hand. And I heard as
it were a voice in the midst of the four
living creatures, saying, A measure of
wheat for a penny, and three measures
of barley for a penny; and the oil and
the wine hurt thou not.
7 And when he opened the fourth seal, I
heard the voice of the fourth living crea-
8 ture saying, Come. And I saw, and be
hold, a pale horse : and he that sat upon
him, his name was Death ; and Hades
followed with him. And there was given
unto them authority over the fourth part
of the earth, to kill with sword, and with
famine, and with death, and by the wild
beasts of the earth.
9 And when he opened the fifth seal, I
saw underneath the altar the souls of
them that had been slain for the word
of God, and for the testimony which they
10 held : and they cried with a great voice,
saying, How long, O Master, the holy
and true, dost thou not judge and avenge

140 The Drama of the Apocalypse VI. 10
our blood on them that dwell on the
ii earth? And there was given them to
each one a white robe ; and it was said
unto them, that they should rest yet for a
little time, until their fellow-servants also
and their brethren, which should be killed
even as they were, should be fulfilled.
12 And I saw when he opened the sixth
seal, and there was a great earthquake ;
and the sun became black as sackcloth
of hair, and the whole moon became as
13 blood; and the stars of the heaven fell
unto the earth, as a fig tree casteth her
unripe figs, when she is shaken of a great
14 wind. And the heaven was removed as
a scroll when it is rolled up ; and every
mountain and island were moved out of
15 their places. And the kings of the earth,
and the princes, and the chief captains,
and the rich, and the strong, and every
bondman and freeman, hid themselves in
the caves and in the rocks of the moun-
16 tains; and they say to the mountains and
to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from

vii. 5 The Revelation 141
the face of him that sitteth on the throne,
1 7 and from the wrath of the Lamb : for the
great day of their wrath is come; and
who is able to stand ?
7 After this I saw four angels standing
at the four corners of the earth, holding
the four winds of the earth, that no wind
should blow on the earth, or on the sea,
2 or upon any tree. And I saw another
angel ascend from the sunrising, having
the seal of the living God : and he cried
with a great voice to the four angels, to
whom it was given to hurt the earth and
3 the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth,
neither the sea, nor the trees, till we
shall have sealed the servants of our God
4 on their foreheads. And I heard the
number of them which were sealed, a
hundred and forty and four thousand,
sealed out of every tribe of the children
of Israel.
5 Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve
thousand :
Of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand :

142 The Drama of tbe Apocalypse vn. 5
Of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand:
6 Of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand :
Of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thou
sand:
Of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thou
sand:
7 Of the tribe of Simeon twelve thou
sand:
Of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand:
Of the tribe of Issachar twelve thou
sand:
8 Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thou
sand:
Of the tribe of Joseph twelve thou
sand:
Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed
twelve thousand.
9 After these things I saw, and behold,
a great multitude, which no man could
number, out of every nation, and of all
tribes and peoples and tongues, standing
before the throne and before the Lamb,
arrayed in white robes, and palms in their
10 hands ; and they cry with a great voice,

vii. 16 The Revelation 143
saying, Salvation unto our God which
sitteth on the thone, and unto the Lamb.
1 1 And all the angels were standing round
about the throne, and about the elders
and the four living creatures; and they
fell before the throne on their faces, and
12 worshipped God, saying, Amen: Bless
ing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanks
giving, and honour, and power, and
might, be unto our God for ever and
13 ever. Amen. And one of the elders
answered, saying unto me, These which
are arrayed in the white robes, who are
14 they, and whence came they? And I
say unto him, My lord, thou knowest.
And he said to me, These are they which
come out of the great tribulation, and
they washed their robes, and made them
15 white in the blood of the Lamb. There
fore are they before the throne of God ;
and they serve him day and night in his
temple : and he that sitteth on the throne
shall spread his tabernacle over them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither

144 The Drama of the Apocalypse vn. 16
thirst any more; neither shall the sun
17 strike upon them, nor any heat: for the
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall be their shepherd, and shall guide
them unto fountains of waters of life:
and God shall wipe away every tear from
their eyes.
8 And when he opened the seventh seal,
there followed a silence in heaven about
2 the space of half an hour. And I saw
the seven angels which stand before
God; and there were given unto them
seven trumpets.
3 And another angel came and stood
over the altar, having a golden censer;
and there was given unto him much in
cense, that he should add it unto the
prayers of all the saints upon the golden
4 altar which was before the throne. And
the smoke of the incense, with the prayers
of the saints, went up before God out of
5 the angel's hand. And the angel taketh
the censer ; and he filled it with the fire
of the altar, and cast it upon the earth :

viii. ii The Revelation 145
and there followed thunders, and voices,
and lightnings, and an earthquake.
6 And the seven angels which had the
seven trumpets prepared themselves to
sound.
7 And the first sounded, and there fol
lowed hail and fire, mingled with blood,
and they were cast upon the earth : and
the third part of the earth was burnt up,
and the third part of the trees was burnt
up, and all green grass was burnt up.
8 And the second angel sounded, and as
it were a great mountain burning with fire
was cast into the sea; and the third part
9 of the sea became blood ; and there died
the third part of the creatures which were
in the sea, even they that had life ; and
the third part of the ships was destroyed.
io And the third angel sounded, and there
fell from heaven a great star, burning as
a torch, and it fell upon the third part of
the rivers, and upon the fountains of the
I v waters ; and the name of the star is called
Wormwood : and the third part of the

146 The Drama of the Apocalypse viii. u
waters became wormwood ; and many men
died of the waters, because they were
made bitter.
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the
third part of the sun was smitten, and
the third part of the moon, and the
third part of the stars; that the third
part of them should be darkened, and the
day should not shine for the third part of
it, and the night in like manner.
13 And I saw, and I heard an eagle, fly
ing in mid heaven, saying with a great
voice, Woe, woe, woe, for them that dwell
on the earth, by reason of the other voices
of the trumpet of the three angels, who
are yet to sound.
9 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw
a star from heaven fallen unto the earth :
and there was given to him the key of
2 the pit of the abyss. And he opened the
pit of the abyss; and there went up a
smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a
great furnace; and the sun and the air
were darkened by reason of the smoke of

ix. 9 The Revelation 147
3 the pit. And out of the smoke came
forth locusts upon the earth ; and power
was given them, as the scorpions of the
4 earth have power. And it was said unto
them that they should not hurt the grass of
the earth, neither any green thing, neither
any tree, but only such men as have not
5 the seal of God on their foreheads. And
it was given them that they should not
kill them, but that they should be tor
mented five months : and their torment
was as the torment of a scorpion, when it
6 striketh a man. And in those days men
shall seek death, and shall in no wise find
it ; and they shall desire to die, and death
7 fleeth from them. And the shapes of
the locusts were like unto horses pre
pared for war ; and upon their heads as
it were crowns like unto gold, and their
8 faces were as men's faces. And they had
hair as the hair of women, and their teeth
9 were as the teeth of lions. And they had
breastplates, as it were breastplates of
iron ; and the sound of their wings was

148 The Drama of the Apocalypse ix. 9
as the sound of chariots, of many horses
10 rushing to war. And they have tails
like unto scorpions, and stings; and in
their tails is their power to hurt men five
1 1 months. They have over them as king
the angel of the abyss: his name in
Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek
tongue he hath the name Apollyon.
12 The first Woe is past: behold, there
come yet two Woes hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I
heard a voice from the horns of the
14 golden altar which is before God, one
saying to the sixth angel, which had the
trumpet, Loose the four angels which are
1 5 bound at the great river Euphrates. And
the four angels were loosed, which had
been prepared for the hour and day and
month and year, that they should kill the
16 third part of men. And the number of
the armies of the horsemen was twice ten
thousand times ten thousand : I heard the
17 number of them. And thus I saw the
horses in the vision, and them that sat on

x. i The Revelation 149
them, having breastplates as of fire and
of hyacinth and of brimstone : and the
heads of the horses are as the heads of
lions ; and out of their mouths proceed-
18 eth fire and smoke and brimstone. By
these three plagues was the third part of
men killed, by the fire and the smoke
and the brimstone, which proceeded out
19 of their mouths. For the power of the
horses is in their mouth, and in their
tails : for their tails are like unto serpents,
and have heads ; and with them they do
20 hurt. And the rest of mankind, which
were not killed with these plagues, re
pented not of the works of their hands,
that they should not worship devils, and
the idols of gold, and of silver, and of
brass, and of stone, and of wood ; which
2 1 can neither see, nor hear, nor walk : and
they repented not of their murders, nor
of their sorceries, nor of their fornication,
nor of their thefts.
10 And I saw another strong angel coming
down out of heaven, arrayed with a cloud ;

150 The Drama of the Apocalypse x. i
and the rainbow was upon his head, and
his face was as the sun, and his feet as
2 pillars of fire ; and he had in his hand
a little book open: and he set his right
foot upon the sea, and his left upon the
3 earth ; and he cried with a great voice, as
a lion roareth : and when he cried, the
4 seven thunders uttered their voices. And
when the seven thunders uttered their
voices, I was about to write : and I heard
a voice from heaven saying, Seal up the
things which the seven thunders uttered,
5 and write them not. And the angel
which I saw standing upon the sea and
upon the earth lifted up his right hand to
6 heaven, and sware by him that liveth for
ever and ever, who created the heaven
and the things that are therein, and the
earth and the things that are therein, and
the sea and the things that are therein, that
7 there shall be time no longer : but in the
days of the voice of the seventh angel,
when he is about to sound, then is finished
the mystery of God, according to the good

xi. 2 The Revelation 151
tidings which he declared to his servants
8 the prophets. And the voice which I
heard from heaven, I heard it again speak
ing with me, and saying, Go, take the book
which is open in the hand of the angel
that standeth upon the sea and upon the
9 earth. And I went unto the angel, saying
unto him that he should give me the little
book. And he saith unto me, Take it,
and eat it up ; and it shall make thy belly
bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet
io as honey. And I took the little book out
of the angel's hand, and ate it up ; and it
was in my mouth sweet as honey: and
when I had eaten it, my belly was made
n bitter. And they say unto me, Thou
must prophesy again over many peoples
and nations and tongues and kings.
II And there was given me a reed like
unto a rod; and one said, Rise, and
measure the temple of God, and the
altar, and them that worship therein.
2 And the court which is without the
temple leave without, and measure it

1 52 The Drama of the Apocalypse xi. 2
not; for it hath been given unto the
nations : and the holy city shall they
tread under foot forty and two months.
3 And I will give unto my two witnesses,
and they shall prophesy a thousand two
hundred and threescore days, clothed
4 in sackcloth. These are the two olive
trees and the two candlesticks, standing
5 before the Lord of the earth. And if
any man desireth to hurt them, fire pro
ceedeth out of their mouth, and de
voureth their enemies : and if any man
shall desire to hurt them, in this manner
6 must he be killed. These have the
power to shut the heaven, that it rain
not during the days of their prophecy:
and they have power over the waters to
turn them into blood, and to smite the
earth with every plague, as often as they
7 shall desire. And when they shall have
finished their testimony, the beast that
cometh up out of the abyss shall make
8 war with them, and overcome them, and
kill them. And their dead bodies lie

xi. 13 The Revelation 153
in the street of the great city, which
spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,
where also their Lord was crucified.
9 And from among the peoples and tribes
and tongues and nations do men look
upon their dead bodies three days and a
half, and suffer not their dead bodies to
10 be laid in a tomb. And they that dwell
on the earth rejoice over them, and make
merry; and they shall send gifts one to
another; because these two prophets
tormented them that dwell on the earth.
1 1 And after the three days and a half the
breath of life from God entered into
them, and they stood upon their feet;
and great fear fell upon them which be-
12 held them. And they heard a great
voice from heaven saying unto them,
Come up hither. And they went up
into heaven in the cloud ; and their ene-
13 mies beheld them. And in that hour
there was a great earthquake, and the
tenth part of the city fell; and there
were killed in the earthquake seven

154 Tbe Drama of tbe Apocalypse xi. 13
thousand persons : and the rest were
affrighted, and gave glory to the God
of heaven.
14 The second Woe is past: behold, the
third Woe cometh quickly.
15 And the seventh angel sounded; and
there followed great voices in heaven,
and they said, The kingdom of the world
is become the kingdom of our Lord, and
of his Christ: and he shall reign for
16 ever and ever. And the four and twenty
elders, which sit before God on their
thrones, fell upon their faces, and wor-
17 shipped God, saying, We give thee
thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty,
which art and which wast ; because thou
hast taken thy great power, and didst
18 reign. And the nations were wroth, and
thy wrath came, and the time of the
dead to be judged, and the time to give
their reward to thy servants the proph
ets, and to the saints, and to them that
fear thy name, the small and the great ;
and to destroy them that destroy the earth.

xii. 5 The Revelation 155
19 And there was opened the temple of
God that is in heaven; and there was
seen in his temple the ark of his cove
nant ; and there followed lightnings, and
voices, and thunders, and an earthquake,
and great hail.
12 And a great sign was seen in heaven ;
a woman arrayed with the sun, and the
moon under her feet, and upon her head
a crown of twelve stars; and she was
2 with child: and she crieth out, travail
ing in birth, and in pain to be delivered.
3 And there was seen another sign in
heaven ; and behold, a great red dragon,
having seven heads and ten horns, and
4 upon his heads seven diadems. And
his tail draweth the third part of the
stars of heaven, and did cast them to
the earth: and the dragon stood before
the woman which was about to be de
livered, that when she was delivered, he
5 might devour her child. And she was
delivered of a son, a man child, who is
to rule all the nations with a rod of iron :

156 The Drama of the Apocalypse xn. 5
and her child was caught up unto God,
6 and unto his throne. And the woman
fled into the wilderness, where she hath
a place prepared of God, that there they
may nourish her a thousand two hun
dred and threescore days.
7 And there was war in heaven : Michael
and his angels going forth to war with
the dragon ; and the dragon warred and
8 his angels ; and they prevailed not,
neither was their place found any more
9 in heaven. And the great dragon was
cast down, the old serpent, he that is
called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver
of the whole world; he was cast down
to the earth, and his angels were cast
10 down with him. And I heard a great
voice in heaven, saying, Now is come
the salvation, and the power, and the
kingdom of our God, and the authority
of his Christ : for the accuser of our
brethren is cast down, which accuseth
them before our God day and night.
1 1 And they overcame him because of the

xii. 17 The Revelation 157
blood of the Lamb, and because of the
word of their testimony ; and they loved
12 not their life even unto death. There
fore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that
dwell in them. Woe for the earth and
for the sea: because the devil is gone
down unto you, having great wrath,
knowing that he hath but a short time.
13 And when the dragon saw that he was
cast down to the earth, he persecuted
the woman which brought forth the man
14 child. And there were given to the
woman the two wings of the great eagle,
that she might fly into the wilderness
unto her place, where she is nourished
for a time, and times, and half a time,
15 from the face of the serpent. And the
serpent cast out of his mouth after the
woman water as a river, that he might
cause her to be carried away by the
16 stream. And the earth helped the
woman, and the earth opened her mouth,
and swallowed up the river which the
1 7 dragon cast out of his mouth. And the

158 The Drama of the Apocalypse xn. 17
dragon waxed wroth with the woman,
and went away to make war with the
rest of her seed, which keep the com
mandments of God, and hold the testi-
13 mony of Jesus: and he stood upon the
sand of the sea.
And I saw a beast coming up out of
the sea, having ten horns and seven
heads, and on his horns ten diadems,
and upon his heads names of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto
a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of
a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a
lion : and the dragon gave him his power,
3 and his throne, and great authority. And
I saw one of his heads as though it had
been smitten unto death ; and his death-
stroke was healed : and the whole earth
4 wondered after the beast; and they wor
shipped the dragon, because he gave his
authority unto the beast ; and they wor
shipped the beast, saying, Who is like
unto the beast? and who is able to war
5 with him ? and there was given to him a

xiii. n Tbe Revelation 159
mouth speaking great things and blas
phemies ; and there was given to him
authority to continue forty and two
6 months. And he opened his mouth for
blasphemies against God, to blaspheme
his name, and his tabernacle, even them
7 that dwell in the heaven. And it was
given unto him to make war with the
saints, and to overcome them: and there
was given to him authority over every
tribe and people and tongue and nation.
8 And all that dwell on the earth shall wor
ship him, every one whose name hath not
been written in the book of life of the
Lamb that hath been slain from the foun
dation of the world. If any man hath an
9 ear, let him hear. If any man is for cap
tivity, into captivity he goeth : if any man
shall kill with the sword, with the sword
must he be killed. Here is the patience
and the faith of the saints.
1 1 And I saw another beast coming up out
of the earth ; and he had two horns like
unto a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

160 The Drama of the Apocalypse xiii. 12
1 2 And he exerciseth all the authority of the
first beast in his sight. And he maketh
the earth and them that dwell therein to
worship the first beast, whose death-stroke
13 was healed. And he doeth great signs,
that he should even make fire to come
down out of heaven upon the earth in
14 the sight of men. And he deceiveth
them that dwell on the earth by reason of
the signs which it was given him to do
in the sight of the beast ; saying to them
that dwell on the earth, that they should
make an image to the beast, who hath
15 the stroke of the sword, and lived. And
it was given unto him to give breath to
it, even to the image of the beast, that the
image of the beast should both speak, and
cause that as many as should not wor
ship the image of the beast should be
1 6 killed. And he causeth all, the small and
the great, and the rich and the poor, and
the free and the bond, that there be given
them a mark on their right hand, or upon
17 their forehead; and that no man should

xiv. 4 The Revelation 161
be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath
the mark, even the name of the beast or
1 8 the number of his name. Here is wisdom.
He that hath understanding, let him
count the number of the beast ; for it is
the number of a man : and his number is
Six hundred and sixty and six.
14 And I saw, and behold, the Lamb
standing on the mount Zion, and with
him a hundred and forty and four thou
sand, having his name, and the name of
his Father, written on their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the
voice of many waters, and as the voice of
a great thunder : and the voice which I
heard was as the voice of harpers harping
3 with their harps : and they sing as it were
a new song before the throne, and before
the four living creatures . and the elders:
and no man could learn the song save
the hundred and forty and four thousand,
even they that had been purchased out of
4 the earth. These are they which were
not defiled with women; for they are

162 The Drama of the Apocalypse xiv. 4
virgins. These are they which follow
the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These
were purchased from among men, to be
5 the firstfruits unto the Lamb. And in
their mouth was found no lie: they are
without blemish.
6 And I saw another angel flying in mid
heaven, having an eternal gospel to pro
claim unto them that dwell on the earth,
and unto every nation and tribe and
7 tongue and people; and he saith with
a great voice, Fear God, and give him
glory; for the hour of his judgement is
come: and worship him that made the
heaven and the earth and sea and foun
tains of waters.
8 And another, a second angel, followed,
saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the
great, which hath made all the nations
to drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication.
9 And another angel, a third, followed
them, saying with a great voice, If any
man worshippeth the beast and his

xiv. 14 The Revelation I63
image, and receiveth a mark on his fore-
10 head, or upon his hand, he also shall
drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is prepared unmixed in the cup
of his anger; and he shall be tormented
with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels, and in the presence of
1 1 the Lamb : and the smoke of their tor
ment goeth up for ever and ever; and
they have no rest day and night, they
that worship the beast and his image, and
whoso receiveth the mark of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints, they
that keep the commandments of God,
and the faith of Jesus.
1 3 And I heard a voice from heaven saying,
Write, Blessed are the dead which die in
the Lord from henceforth : yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their la
bours ; for their works follow with them.
14 And I saw, and behold, a white cloud;
and on the cloud I saw one sitting like
unto a son of man, having on his head
a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp

164 The Drama of the Apocalypse xiv. 15
15 sickle. And another angel came out
from the temple, crying with a great voice
to him that sat on the cloud, Send forth
thy sickle, and reap : for the hour to reap
is come ; for the harvest of the earth is
16 overripe. And he that sat on the cloud
cast his sickle upon the earth; and the
earth was reaped.
17 And another angel came out from the
temple which is in heaven, he also having
18 a sharp sickle. And another angel came
out from the altar, he that hath power
over fire ; and he called with a great voice
to him that had the sharp sickle, say
ing, Send forth thy sharp sickle, and
gather the clusters of the vine of the
earth ; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel cast his sickle into the
earth, and gathered the vintage of the
earth, and cast it into the winepress,
the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without
the city, and there came out blood from
the winepress, even unto the bridles of the

xv. 5 Tbe Revelation 165
horses, as far as a thousand and six hun
dred furlongs.
15 And I saw another sign in heaven,
great and marvellous, seven angels having
seven plagues, which are the last, for in
them is finished the wrath of God.
2 And I saw as it were a glassy sea
mingled with fire; and them that come
victorious from the beast, and from his
image, and from the number of his name,
standing by the glassy sea, having harps
3 of God. And they sing the song of
Moses the servant of God, and the song
of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvel
lous are thy works, O Lord God, the
Almighty ; righteous and true are thy
4 ways, thou King of the ages. Who shall
not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name ?
for thou only art holy ; for all the nations
shall come and worship before thee ; for
thy righteous acts have been made mani
fest.
5 And after these things I saw, and the
temple of the tabernacle of the testimony

166 The Drama of the Apocalypse xv. 6
6 in heaven was opened : and there came
out from the temple the seven angels
that had the seven plagues, arrayed with
precious stone, pure and bright, and girt
7 about their breasts with golden girdles.
And one of the four living creatures gave
unto the seven angels seven golden bowls
full of the wrath of God, who liveth for
8 ever and ever. And the temple was filled
with smoke from the glory of God, and
from his power; and none was able to
enter into the temple, till the seven
plagues of the seven angels should be
finished.
16 And I heard a great voice out of the
temple, saying to the seven angels, Go ye,
and pour out the seven bowls of the
wrath of God into the earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out
his bowl into the earth ; and it became a
noisome and grievous sore upon the men
which had the mark of the beast, and
which worshipped his image.
3 And the second poured out his bowl

xvi. 10 The Revelation 167
into the sea; and it became blood as of
a dead man ; and every living soul died,
even the things that were in the sea.
4 And the third poured out his bowl
into the rivers and the fountains of the
5 waters; and it became blood. And I
heard the angel of the waters saying,
Righteous art thou, which art and which
wast, thou Holy One, because thou didst
6 thus judge : for they poured out the blood
of saints and prophets, and blood hast
7 thou given them to drink : they are
worthy. And I heard the altar saying,
Yea, O Lord God, the Almighty, true
and righteous are thy judgements.
8 And the fourth poured out his bowl
upon the sun ; and it was given unto it
9 to scorch men with fire. And men were
scorched with great heat : and they blas
phemed the name of the God which hath
the power over these plagues ; and they
repented not to give him glory.
io And the fifth poured out his bowl upon
the throne of the beast ; and his kingdom

168 The Drama of tbe Apocalypse xvi. io
was darkened ; and they gnawed their
n tongues for pain, and they blasphemed
the God of heaven because of their pains
and their sores ; and they repented not of
their works.
12 And the sixth poured out his bowl
upon the great river, the river Euphrates ;
and the water thereof was dried up, that
the way might be made ready for the
13 kings that come from the sunrising.
And I saw coming 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 spirits, as it
14 were frogs: for they are spirits of devils,
working signs ; which go forth unto the
kings of the whole world, to gather them
together unto the war of the great day of
15 God, the Almighty. (Behold, I come as
a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and
keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked,
16 and they see his shame.) And they
gathered them together into the place
which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon.

xvii. i The Revelation 169
17 And the seventh poured out his bowl
upon the air; and there came forth a
great voice out of the temple, from the
18 throne, saying, It is done: and there were
lightnings, and voices, and thunders ; and
there was a great earthquake, such as was
not since there were men upon the earth,
19 so great an earthquake, so mighty. And
the great city was divided into three
parts, and the cities of the nations fell :
and Babylon the great was remembered
in the sight of God, to give unto her the
cup of the wine of the fierceness of his
20 wrath. And every island fled away, and
2 1 the mountains were not found. And great
hail, every stone about the weight of a
talent, cometh down out of heaven upon
men : and men blasphemed God because
of the plague of the hail ; for the plague
thereof is exceeding great.
17 And there came one of the seven angels
that had the seven bowls, and spake with
me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee
the judgement of the great harlot that

170 The Drama of the Apocalypse xvii. 2
2 sitteth upon many waters ; with whom
the kings of the earth committed fornica
tion, and they that dwell in the earth were
made drunken with the wine of her forni-
3 cation. And he carried me away in the
Spirit into a wilderness: and I saw a
woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured
beast, full of names of blasphemy, having
4 seven heads and ten horns. And the
woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet,
and decked with gold and precious stone
and pearls, having in her hand a golden
cup full of abominations, even the unclean
5 things of her fornication, and upon her fore
head a name written, mystery, babylon
THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the
blood of the saints, and with the blood of
the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw
her, I wondered with a great wonder.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore
didst thou wonder ? I will tell thee the
mystery of the woman, and of the beast

xvii. 13 Tbe Revelation 171
that carrieth her, which hath the seven
8 heads and the ten horns. The beast that
thou sawest was, and is not ; and is about
to come up out of the abyss, and to go
into perdition. And they that dwell on
the earth shall wonder, they whose name
hath not been written in the book of life
from the foundation of the world, when
they behold the beast, how that he was,
9 and is not, and shall come. Here is the
mind which hath wisdom. The seven
heads are seven mountains, on which the
10 woman sitteth : and they are seven kings ;
the five are fallen, the one is, the other is
not yet come ; and when he cometh, he
11 must continue a little while. And the
beast that was, and is not, is himself also
an eighth, and is of the seven ; and he
1 2 goeth into perdition. And the ten horns
that thou sawest are ten kings, which have
received no kingdom as yet; but they
receive authority as kings, with the beast,
1 3 for one hour. These have one mind, and
they give their power and authority unto

I72 Tbe Drama of the Apocalypse xvn. 14
14 the beast. These shall war against the
Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome
them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of
kings ; and they also shall overcome that
are with him, called and chosen and faith-
15 fui. And he saith unto me, The waters
which thou sawest, where the harlot sit
teth, are peoples, and multitudes, and
16 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 utterly with fire.
17 For God did put in their hearts to do his
mind, and to come to one mind, and to
give their kingdom unto the beast, until
the words of God should be accomplished.
18 And the woman whom thou sawest is the
great city, which reigneth over the kings
of the earth.
18 After these things I saw another angel
coming down out of heaven, having great
authority; and the earth was lightened
2 with his glory. And he cried with a

xviii. 7 The Revelation 173
mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is
Babylon the great, and is become a habi
tation of devils, and a hold of every un
clean spirit, and a hold of every unclean
3 and hateful bird. For by the wine of the
wrath of her fornication all the nations
are fallen; and the kings of the earth
committed fornication with her, and the
merchants of the earth waxed rich by the
power of her wantonness.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven,
saying, Come forth, my people, out of
her, that ye have no fellowship with her
sins, and that ye receive not of her
5 plagues: for her sins have reached even
unto heaven, and God hath remembered
6 her iniquities. Render unto her even as
she rendered, and double unto her the
double according to her works: in the
cup which she mingled, mingle unto her
7 double. How much soever she glori
fied herself, and waxed wanton, so much
give her of torment and mourning: for
she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and

174 The Drama of the Apocalypse xviii. 7
am no widow, and shall in no wise see
8 mourning. Therefore in one day shall
her plagues come, death, and mourning,
and famine ; and she shall be utterly
burned with fire ; for strong is the Lord
9 God which judged her. And the kings
of the earth, who committed fornication
and lived wantonly with her, shall weep
and wail over her, when they look upon
10 the smoke of her burning, standing afar
off for the fear of her torment, saying,
Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the
strong city ! for in one hour is thy judge-
11 ment come. And the merchants of the
earth weep and mourn over her, for no
man buyeth their merchandise any more ;
12 merchandise of gold, and silver, and
precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen,
and purple, and silk, and scarlet ; and all
thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory,
and every vessel made of most precious
wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble ;
13 and cinnamon, and spice, and incense,
and ointment, and frankincense, and wine,

xviii. 19 The Revelation I75
and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cat
tle, and sheep ; and merchandise of horses
and chariots and slaves ; and souls of men.
14 And the fruits which thy soul lusted after
are gone from thee, and all things that
were dainty and sumptuous are per
ished from thee, and men shall find them
15 no more at all. The merchants of these
things, who were made rich by her, shall
stand afar off for the fear of her torment,
16 weeping and mourning; saying, Woe,
woe, the great city, she that was arrayed
in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and
decked with gold and precious stone and
1 7 pearl ! for in one hour so great riches is
made desolate. And every shipmaster,
and every one that saileth any whither,
and mariners, and as many as gain their
18 living by sea, stood afar off, and cried
out as they looked upon the smoke of
her burning, saying, What city is like
19 the great city? And they cast dust
on their heads, and cried, weeping and
mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great

176 The Drama of the Apocalypse xviii. 19
city, wherein were made rich all that had
their ships in the sea by reason of her
costliness! for in one hour is she made
20 desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven,
and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye
prophets; for God hath judged your
judgement on her.
21 And a strong angel took up a stone as
it were a great millstone, and cast it into
the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall
shall Babylon, the great city, be cast
down, and shall be found no more at all.
22 And the voice of harpers and minstrels
and flute-players and trumpeters shall be
heard no more at all in thee ; and no
craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be
found any more at all in thee; and the
voice of a millstone shall be heard no
23 more at all in thee; and the light of a
lamp shall shine no more at all in thee ;
and the voice of the bridegroom and of
the bride shall be heard no more at all
in thee: for thy merchants were the
princes of the earth; for with thy sor-

xix. 6 The Revelation \yj
24 eery were all the nations deceived. And
in her was found the blood of prophets
and of saints, and of all that have been
slain upon the earth.
19 After these things I heard as it were a
great voice of a great multitude in heaven,
saying, Hallelujah; Salvation, and glory,
2 and power, belong to our God: for true
and righteous are his judgements; for he
hath judged the great harlot, which did
corrupt the earth with her fornication,
and he hath avenged the blood of his
3 servants at her hand. And a second
time they say, Hallelujah. And her
4 smoke goeth up for ever and ever. And
the four and twenty elders and the four
living creatures fell down and worshipped
God that sitteth on the throne, saying,
5 Amen; Hallelujah. And a voice came
forth from the throne, saying, Give praise
to our God, all ye his servants, ye that
6 fear him, the small and the great. And
I heard as it were the voice of a great
multitude, and as the voice of many

178 The Drama of the Apocalypse xix. 6
waters, and as the voice of mighty thun
ders, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord
7 our God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let
us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let
us give the glory unto him : for the mar
riage of the Lamb is come, and his wife
8 hath made herself ready. And it was
given unto her that she should array her
self in fine linen, bright and pure : for the
fine linen is the righteous acts of the
9 saints. And he saith unto me, Write,
Blessed are they which are bidden to the
marriage supper of the Lamb. And he
saith unto me, These are true words of
10 God. And I fell down before his feet to
worship him. And he saith unto me, See
thou do it not : I am a fellow-servant with
thee and with thy brethren that hold the
testimony of Jesus: worship God: for
the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
prophecy.
11 And I saw the heaven opened; and
behold, a white horse, and he that sat
thereon, called Faithful' and True ; and

xix. 18 The Revelation I79
in righteousness he doth judge and make
12 war. And his eyes are a flame of fire,
and upon his head are many diadems;
and he hath a name written, which no
13 one knoweth but he himself. And he
is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with
blood : and his name is called The Word
14 of God. And the armies which are in
heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and pure.
15 And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp
sword, that with it he should smite the
nations: and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron: and he treadeth the wine
press of the fierceness of the wrath of
16 Almighty God. And he hath on his
garment and on his thigh a name writ
ten, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the
sun ; and he cried with a loud voice,
saying to all the birds that fly in mid
heaven, Come and be gathered together
18 unto the great supper of God; that ye
may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh

180 Tbe Drama of the Apocalypse xix. 18
of captains, and the flesh of mighty men,
and the flesh of horses and of them that
sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both
free and bond, and small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of
the earth, and their armies, gathered
together to make war against him that
sat upon the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him
the false prophet that wrought the signs
in his sight, wherewith he deceived them
that had received the mark of the beast,
and them that worshipped his image:
they twain were cast alive into the lake
2 1 of fire that burneth with brimstone : and
the rest were killed with the sword of
him that sat upon the horse, even the
sword which came forth out of his
mouth : and all the birds were filled with
their flesh.
20 And I saw an angel coming down out
of heaven, having the key of the abyss
2 and a great chain in his hand. And he
laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent,

xx. 6 The Revelation 181
which is the Devil and Satan, and bound
3 him for a thousand years, and cast him
into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it
over him, that he should deceive the na
tions no more, until the thousand years
should be finished : after this he must be
loosed for a little time.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon
them, and judgement was given unto
them: and I saw the souls of them that
had been beheaded for the testimony of
Jesus, and for the word of God, and such
as worshipped not the beast, neither his
image, and received not the mark upon
their forehead and upon their hand ; and
they lived, and reigned with Christ a
5 thousand years. The rest of the dead
lived not until the thousand years should
be finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part
in the first resurrection: over these the
second death hath no power; but they
shall be priests of God and of Christ, and
shall reign with him a thousand years.

182 The Drama of the Apocalypse xx. 7
7 And when the thousand years are fin
ished, Satan shall be loosed out of his
8 prison, and shall come forth to deceive
the nations which are in the four corners
of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather
them together to the war: the number
9 of whom is as the sand of the sea. And
they went up over the breadth of the
earth, and compassed the camp of the
saints about, and the beloved city : and
fire came down out of heaven, and de-
10 voured them. And the devil that de
ceived them was cast into the lake of fire
and brimstone, where are also the beast
and the false prophet; and they shall be
tormented day and night for ever and
ever.
11 And I saw a great white throne, and
him that sat upon it, from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away ; and
1 2 there was found no place for them. And
I saw the dead, the great and the small,
standing before the throne ; and books
were opened: and another book was

xxi. 3 Tbe Revelation 183
opened, which is the book of life : and the
dead were judged out of the things which
were written in the books, according to
13 their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it; and death and
Hades gave up the dead which were in
them : and they were judged every man
14 according to their works. And death
and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, even the lake
1 5 of fire. And if any was not found writ
ten in the book of life, he was cast into
the lake of fire.
21 And I saw a new heaven and a new
earth: for the first heaven and the first
earth are passed away; and the sea is
2 no more. And I saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God, made ready as a bride adorned
3 for her husband. And I heard a great
voice out of the throne saying, Behold,
the tabernacle of God is with men, and
he shall dwell with them, and they shall
be his peoples, and God himself shall

184 Tbe Drama of the Apocalypse xxi. 4
4 be with them, and be their God-: and
he shall wipe away every tear from
their eyes ; and death shall be no more ;
neither shall there be mourning, nor cry
ing, nor pain, any more : the first things
5 are passed away. And he that sitteth
on the throne said, Behold, I make all
things new. And he saith, Write: for
6 these words are faithful and true. And
he said unto me, They are come to pass.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end. I will give unto
him that is athirst of the fountain of the
7 water of life freely. He that overcometh
shall inherit these things ; and I will be
8 his God, and he shall be my son. But
for the fearful, and unbelieving, and
abominable, and murderers, and fornica
tors, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all
liars, their part shall be in the lake that
burneth with fire and brimstone ; which
is the second death.
9 And there came one of the seven angels
who had the seven bowls, who were laden

xxi. 1 6 The Revelation 185
with the seven last plagues; and he
spake with me, saying, Come hither, I
will shew thee the bride, the wife of the
10 Lamb. And he carried me away in the
Spirit to a mountain great and high, and
shewed me the holy city Jerusalem, com
ing down out of heaven from God, having
1 1 the glory of God : her light was like unto
a stone most precious, as it were a jasper
12 stone, clear as crystal: having a wall
great and high ; having twelve gates, and
at the gates twelve angels; and names
written thereon, which are the names of
the twelve tribes of the children of Israel :
1 3 on the east were three gates ; and on the
north three gates ; and on the south three
14 gates ; and on the west three gates. And
the wall of the city had twelve founda
tions, and on them twelve names of the
15 twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he
that spake with me had for a measure a
golden reed to measure the city, and the
16 gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And
the city lieth foursquare, and the length

186 The Drama of the Apocalypse xxi. 16
thereof is as great as the breadth: and
he measured the city with the reed,
twelve thousand furlongs : the length
and the breadth and the height thereof
17 are equal. And he measured the wall
thereof, a hundred and forty and four
cubits, according to the measure of a man,
18 that is, of an angel. And the building of
the wall thereof was jasper : and the city
19 was pure gold, like unto pure glass. The
foundations of the wall of the city were
adorned with all manner of precious
stones. The first foundation was jasper ;
the second, sapphire ; the third, chalced-
20 ony ; the fourth, emerald ; the fifth, sar
donyx ; the sixth, sardius ; the seventh,
chrysolite ; the eighth, beryl ; the ninth,
topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the
eleventh, jacinth ; the twelfth, amethyst.
2 1 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls ;
each one of the several gates was of one
pearl : and the street of the city was pure
22 gold, as it were transparent glass. And
I saw no temple therein: for the Lord

xxii. 2 The Revelation I87
God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the
23 temple thereof. And the city hath no
need of the sun, neither of the moon, to
shine upon it: for the glory of God did
lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the
24 Lamb. And the nations shall walk
amidst the light thereof : and the kings
of the earth do bring their glory into it.
25 And the gates thereof shall in no wise be
shut by day (for there shall be no night
26 there): and they shall bring the glory
and the honour of the nations into it:
27 and there shall in no wise enter into it
any thing unclean, or he that maketh an
abomination and a lie: but only they
which are written in the Lamb's book of
22 life. And he shewed me a river of water
of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of
2 the throne of God and of the Lamb, in
the midst of the street thereof. And on
this side of the river and on that was the
tree of life, bearing twelve manner of
fruits, yielding its fruit every month : and
the leaves of the tree were for the healing

188 The Drama of the Apocalypse xxn. 3
3 of the nations. And there shall be no
curse any more : and the throne of God
and of the Lamb shall be therein: and
4 his servants shall do him service; and
they shall see his face ; and his name
5 shall be on their foreheads. And there
shall be night no more; and they need
no light of lamp, neither light of sun ;
for the Lord God shall give them
light : and they shall reign for ever and
ever.
6 And he said unto me, These words are
faithful and true : and the Lord, the God
of the spirits of the prophets, sent his
angel to shew unto his servants the things
7 which must shortly come to pass. And
behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he
that keepeth the words of the prophecy
of this book.
8 And I John am he that heard and saw
these things. And when I heard and saw,
I fell down to worship before the feet of
the angel which shewed me these things.
9 And he saith unto me, See thou do it

xxii. 15 The Revelation 189
not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and
with thy brethren the prophets, and with
them which keep the words of this book :
worship God.
10 And he saith unto me, Seal not up the
words of the prophecy of this book ; for
1 1 the time is at hand. He that is unright
eous, let him do unrighteousness still:
and he that is filthy, let him be made
filthy still: and he that is righteous, let
him do righteousness still : and he that is
1 2 holy, let him be made holy still. Behold,
I come quickly ; and my reward is with
me, to render to each man according as his
1 3 work is. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the first and the last, the beginning and
14 the end. Blessed are they that wash
their robes, that they may have the right
to come to the tree of life, and may enter
15 in by the gates into the city. Without
are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and
the fornicators, and the murderers, and
the idolaters, and every one that loveth
and maketh a lie.

190 The Drama of the Apocalypse xxu. 16
1 6 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify
unto you these things for the churches.
I am the root and the offspring of David,
the bright, the morning star.
1 7 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.
And he that heareth, let him say, Come.
And he that is athirst, let him come : he
that will, let him take the water of life
freely.
1 8 I testify unto every man that heareth
the words of the prophecy of this book,
if any man shall add unto them, God
shall add unto him the plagues which
19 are written in this book : and if any man
shall take away from the words of the
book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part from the tree of life, and
out of the holy city, which are written in
this book.
20 He which testifieth these things saith,
Yea: I come quickly. Amen: come,
Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with
the saints. Amen.

APPENDIX

The following table of the Acts and Scenes of the drama
is arranged with reference to the scheme here adopted.
Together with this are given the corresponding passages in
the Book of the Revelation, where they may be found, and
the pages of this Essay on which they are mentioned.

Page 3535
" 38

Act I. The Opening of the Seals of Fate

Title,

Chap.

I, 1-4.

Prologue,

a

I, 4-II

Salutation,

it

II-IV.

Chap. IV-VIII, 2.

Page 38-48

Scene 1,

IV.

38

" 2,

V.

43

" 3.

" VI.

44

" 4,

" VII-VIII, 2.

45

Act II. The Blowing of the Trumpets of Woe
Chap.
Scene 1, "
" 2, "
" 3,
" 4,
« s, 191

VIII,

2-XII.

Page 48-57

VIII,

2-6.

" 48

VIII,

6-X.

49

x.

" 52

XI,

1-15.

53

XI,

15-XII.

" 56

192 Appendix
Act III. The Establishment of the Kingdom, and
its Results

Chap.

Scene I,
" 2,
" 3,

XII-XV.

Page 57-69

XII.

57

XIII.

59

XIV.

63

Act IV. The Judgment of the Earth and of Rome

Chap. XV-XIX, 5.

Page 69-76

Scene 1,

" XV, 1-5.

" 69

« 2,

" XV, 5-XVII.

" 70

" 3,

" XVII, XVIII.

" 72

" 4,

XIX, 1-5.

75

Act V. The Marriage of the Prince of Heaven,
and the Glory of the Kingdom
Chap. XIX, 5-XXII, 6. Page 76-85
Scene I, " XIX, 5-XX. " 76
" 2, " XX. " 77
" 3, « XXI-XXII, 6. " 80
Epilogue, Chap. XXII, 6-18. Page 85
Envoi, " XXII, 1 8-. " 86

New Testament Handbooks

EDITED BY
SHAILER MATHEWS
Profess fr of New Testament History and Interpretation,
University of Chicago
Arrangements are made for the following volumes, and the publishers
will, on request, send notice of the issue of each volume as it appears and
each descriptive circular sent out later; such requests for information
should state whether address is permanent or not : —
The History of the Textual Criticism of the
New Testament
Prof. Marvin R. Vincent, Professor of New Testament Exegesis,
Union Theological Seminary. [Now ready.
Professor Vincent's contributions to the study of the New Testament rank him
among the first American exegetes. His most recent publication is " A Critical
and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles to the Philippians and to Philemon "
{.International Critical Commentary), which was preceded by a " Students'
New Testament Handbook," "Word Studies in the New Testament," and
others.
The History of the Higher Criticism of the
New Testament
Prof. Henry S. Nash, Professor of New Testament Interpretation,
Cambridge Divinity School. [Now ready.
Of Professor Nash's " Genesis of the Social Conscience," The Outlook said: " The
results of Professor Nash's ripe thought are presented in a luminous, compact,
and often epigrammatic style. _ The treatment is at once masterful and helpful,
and the book ought to be a quickening influence of the highest kind ; it surely
will establish the fame of its author as a profound thinker, one from whom we
have a right to expect future inspiration of a kindred sort."
Introduction to the Books of the New Testament
Prof. B. Wisner Bacon, Professor of New Testament Interpretation,
Yale University. [Now ready.
Professor Bacon's works in the field of Old Testament criticism include " The
Triple Tradition of Exodus," and " The Genesis of Genesis," a study of the
documentary sources of the books of Moses. In the field of New Testament
study he has published a number of brilliant papers, the most recent of which is
" The Autobiography of Jesus," in the A merican Journal of Theology.
The History of New Testament Times in Palestine
Prof. Shailer Mathews, Professor of New Testament History and
Interpretation, The University of Chicago. [Now ready.
The Congr,_
Teaching i
scholarly
eminent!} — 
toward man, society, the family, the state, and wealth, the reader will not agyce
with us in this opinion, we greatly err as prophets."

The Life of Paul
Prof. Rush Rhees, President of the University of Rochester.
Professor Rhees is well known from his series of " Inductive Lessons " contributes
to the Sunday School Times. His *' Outline of the Life of Paul," privately
printed, has had a flattering reception from New Testament scholars.
The History of the Apostolic Age
Dr. C. W. Votaw, Instructor in New Testament Literature, The
University of Chicago.
Of Dr. Votaw's " Inductive Study of the Founding of the Christian Church," Modern
Church, Edinburgh, says: "No fuller analysis of the later books of the New
Testament could be desired, and no better programme could be offered for their
study, than that afforded in the scheme of fifty lessons on the Founding qf the
Christian Church* by Clyde W. Votaw. It is well adapted alike for practical
and more scholarly students of the Bible."
The Teaching of Jesus
Prof. George B. Stevens, Professor of Systematic Theology, Yale
University. [Now ready.
Professor Stevens's volumes upon " The Johannine Theology," " The Pauline The
ology," as well as his recent volume on " The Theology of the New Testament,"
have made him probably the most prominent writer on biblical theology in.
America. His new volume will be among the most important of his works.
The Biblical Theology of the New Testament
Prof. E. P. Gould, Professor of New Testament Interpretation. Prot
estant Episcopal Divinity School, Philadelphia. [Now ready.
Professor Gould's Commentaries on the Gospel of Mark (in the International Criti'
cal Commentary) and the Epistles to the Corinthians (in the American Com
mentary') are critical and exegetical attempts to supply those elements which
are lacking in existing works of the same general aim and scope.
The History of Christian Literature until Eusebius
Prof. J. "W. Platner, Professor of Early Church History, Harvard
University.
Professor Platner's work will not only treat the writings of the early Christian
writers, but will also treat of the history of the New Testament Canon.
OTHERS TO FOLLOW
** An excellent series of scholarly, yet concise and inexpensive New Testament hand
books." — Christian Advocater New York.
" These books are remarkably well suited in language, style, and price, to alt
students of the New Testament." — The Congregationalist, Boston.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

If