,,the ,,revelation ,,of ,,st4 ,,john ,,the ,,divine ,,an ,,interpretation ,transcriber's ,notes ,punctuation has been standardized4 ,most of the non-common abbreviations used to save space in printing have been expanded to the non-abbreviated form for easier reading4 ,characters in small caps have been replaced by all caps4 ,non-printable characteristics have been given the following ,italic text3 -- text bold text3 -- text4 ,this book was written in a period when many words had not become standardized in their spelling4 ,words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text4 ,these have been left unchanged unless indicated with a ,transcriber's ,note4 ,index references have not been checked for accuracy4 ,the symbol #8' indicates the description in parenthesis has been added to an illustration4 ,this may be needed if there is no caption or if the caption does not describe the image adequately4 ,footnotes are identified in the text with a superscript number and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which they appear4 ,transcriber's ,notes are used when making corrections to the text or to provide additional information for the modern reader4 ,these notes are identified by symbols in the text and are shown immediately below the paragraph in which they appear4 ,,the ,,revelation ,,of ,,st4 ,,john ,,the ,,divine ,,an ,,interpretation ,,by ,a4 ,h4 ,,ames1 ,m4,d41 ,d4,d4 ,illustration3 7 colophon7 ,,new ,,york3 ,,eaton ,,mains ,,cincinnati3 ,,curts ,,jennings ,copyright by ,,eaton ,,mains1 #ahig4 ,,eaton ,,mains ,,press1 #aej ,fifth ,avenue1 ,new ,york4 ,preface ,,the essay which follows is based upon a conviction that the closing book of the canon of the ,new ,testament1 known as the ,revelation of ,saint ,john1 presents the thoughts of that holy man and inspired apostle upon the subject of the kingdom of ,christ1 as derived by him from the ,old ,testament ,scriptures and from the teachings of ,christ or as drawn from direct revelations made to himself4 ,the book presents a single theme and has a well-preserved unity4 ,with those theories of interpretation which would make of the book an epitome of history1 either as confined to particular epochs or as a whole1 and which presuppose its design to be the prediction of events1 great or small1 in the progress of the world or the ,church1 the writer of this essay is not in sympathy4 ,it is mainly because of the vagaries and conceits to which these theories have opened the way1 which have clouded rather than cleared the mysteries of the ,apocalypse and been more promotive of strife than of salvation1 that so many thoughtful and pious minds have been driven from the study of what is one of the most beautiful1 as it is one of the most practical1 parts of the word of ,god4 ,how readily the coincidences1 for such they are1 which have been appealed to as verifications of these theories may be explained and accounted for will be shown in the course of the essay4 ,questions of criticism or scholarship do not lie within the scope of the essay4 ,it is assumed1 not1 however1 without examination and reflection1 that the ,revelation is the work of ,john1 the son of ,zebedee1 one of the twelve1 and 8the disciple whom ,jesus loved40 ,it is also assumed that he was the author of the fourth gospel and of the epistles which bear his name4 ,commentaries upon the ,revelation have been so numerous that their titles would fill a volume4 ,it is not likely that anything can be said concerning it which is entirely new and has not been somewhere set forth4 ,the writer of this essay claims originality so far as that he has not seen the views here expressed elsewhere presented1 although they may have appeared previously4 ,it is not possible for him to say whence he has gathered the material which has grown into the essay1 so as to make formal acknowledgment4 ,alford1 ,bengel1 ,hengstenberg1 ,wordsworth1 ,the ,speaker's ,commentary1 ,ellicott's ,commentary1 ,the ,expositor's ,bible have been consulted freely1 and also ,the ,symbolic ,parables of the ,apocalypse1 published by ,t4 and ,t4 ,clark4 ,the best commentary upon the ,revelation he has found to be the ,scriptures themselves4 ,washington1 ,d4 ,c4 ,contents ,,introduction ,rules of ,interpretation,the ,structure of the ,book,reference to ,old ,testament,emblems ,interpreted by ,light of ,jewish ,scriptures and ,ritual,particular ,attention to ,numbers ,,part ,i ,the ,seven ,churches of ,asia1 or the ,kingdom as it ,actually was in the ,days of the ,apostles and is ,now ,,part ,,ii ,fundamental ,principles on ,which the ,kingdom is ,based,emblem of the ,seals,opening of the ,seals,the ,sealed ,elect ,,part ,,iii ,the ,means by which the ,kingdom of ,christ is ,advanced,natural ,providences,the ,two ,witnesses1 or the ,supernatural ,scriptures ,,part ,,iv ,the ,foes of the ,kingdom,the ,dragon,first ,wild ,beast1 or ,spirit of ,worldliness,second ,wild ,beast1 or ,spirit of ,false ,prophetism,anticipations of ,victory ,,part ,v ,the ,counterfeit of the ,kingdom1 or the ,false ,church,the ,judgments of ,god,vision of the ,vials,babylon and its ,doom,methods of ,success ,reiterated ,,part ,,vi ,progressive ,steps by ,which the ,ideal ,kingdom is to be ,realized,restraints upon the ,power of ,satan,outpouring of the ,holy ,spirit under the ,emblem of ,resurrection,union of ,christian ,believers,final ,triumph over ,barbarism under the ,emblem of ,gog and ,magog ,,part ,,vii ,the ,ideal of the ,kingdom,its ,distinctive ,features,the ,central ,principle of the ,kingdom,negative ,characteristics,fruits and ,results ,introduction ,rules of ,interpretation ,,if the ,revelation of ,saint ,john has any right to a place in the canon of the ,new ,testament1 it is reasonable to presume that its intention was to conform to that general purpose for which all divinely inspired ,scripture is said to be given1 namely1 to 8be profitable for doctrine1 for reproof1 for correction1 for instruction in righteousness3 that the man of ,god may be perfect1 thoroughly furnished unto all good works40 ,what peculiarly distinguishes it is that it clothes spiritual truth with a garb of mystery which1 by challenging investigation1 stimulates inquiry2 which affords to the mind that solves its obscurities the satisfaction always to be found in the discovery of the recondite and difficult2 which throws around prose realities the pleasing charm of poetry and art2 and which1 by connecting material things with a divine revelation1 and thus linking together nature and the supernatural1 attests the unity of the universe in which we are placed and shows the world about us and human history to be full of the presence of ,god4 ,it would surely argue great presumption in any man to claim a perfect understanding of a book so marvelous as the ,apocalypse1 whose teachings are not for one age1 but for all ages4 ,very confidently1 however1 it may be asserted that by the use of certain rules of interpretation many of its mysteries may be explained and its application to practical life and conduct be made evident4 ,the reasonableness of these rules would be readily admitted if applied to any other part of holy writ2 and hesitation to accept them here proceeds solely from that mistaken view of the design of the ,revelation which isolates it from the rest of the sacred canon as something anomalous and unique4 ,so far is this from being the case that no book in the ,bible can afford to stand by itself so little as the ,apocalypse1 inasmuch as there is no other into the fabric of which so much of the other ,scriptures is intentionally woven4 ,the impression which close study of it makes is that it was designed by its author to serve as a sacred clasp to bind together and hold in harmonious coherence the whole of ,god's wonderful volume4 8anomaioms0 replaced with 8anomalous0 ,the principles of interpretation deserving special notice are four in number4 #a4 ,the structure of the book itself furnishes some guide to its interpretation4 ,the opening chapters comprise brief letters1 seven in all1 which the author is directed to write to seven churches of ,asia1 the number indicating1 not that these comprehended all the churches in that region1 but that in them were represented all phases of religious life4 ,these letters set before us both the spiritual state and the environment of the churches1 and are advisory1 monitory1 reproachful1 or comforting as the cases demanded4 ,the closing chapters present us with a picture of the perfected ,christian ,churcha symbolical vision1 incomparable in its exquisite beauty1 of the complete and permanent triumph of the ,gospel of ,christ1 in the individual heart and on the larger field of the world1 over all opposing forces2 the realization1 in fact1 on earth of the ideal kingdom of ,god made ready for the ,lamb4 ,the most plausible suggestion1 therefore1 which presents itself is that the intermediate portion of the book is intended to present in its figures and symbols the means by which the last condition is to be reached from the earlier one1 the unformed and fluctuating state of the beginning developed into the ripeness and perfection of the close1 and that under the guise of metaphor1 trope1 and vision there are revealed to us the dangers which the ,church of ,christ must expect1 the enemies it must subdue1 the weapons by which victory must be achieved1 the encouragements upon which it may rely1 and1 in short1 the steps through which the immature and carnal must be led in order to reach up to the pure and perfect4 ,nor is it with the ,church at large that the warnings and counsels have alone to do4 ,if 8whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning10 each individual disciple of ,christ may find in this book a chart for his own life's journey and have sufficient warning against the sunken rocks1 the adverse tides1 the dangerous headlands which are to be shunned1 and which are here so clearly and plainly marked out for him that he may1 in the close and careful study of the map1 find equal profit and pleasure4 ,it is very important in this connection to note the statement of the writer in the first verse of the book1 that his commission was 8to show unto0 the servants of ,god 8things which must shortly come to pass40 ,it is only by a very forced construction of the words that they can be made to signify a prophecy whose fulfillment is to be delayed for long centuries indefinite in their number4 ,the most natural construction surely is that the revelation intrusted to him is one of which the whole1 and not a part only1 is to find its application in the times in which he lived1 or soon thereafter1 and to continue applicable until the glorious result is attained of which the closing part speaks4 ,and if we shall dismiss from our minds all prepossessions springing out from that view of the book which makes it a syllabus1 or table of contents1 of ,christian history the force of this remark will more clearly appear4 #b4 ,reference must constantly be made to the ,old ,testament4 ,this rule1 which is of importance in order to understand any part of the ,new ,testament1 becomes of the highest necessity in any attempt to interpret the ,revelation4 ,the writer was evidently a diligent student of the older ,scriptures1 absorbing their images and emblems until they had become a part of himself4 ,much in his writings that at first seems obscure becomes plain when we put ourselves in his position and study the ,scriptures1 which were evidently in his thoughts4 ,the prophetical books of the ,old ,testament especially are to be studied4 ,between the relation in which the older prophets stood to the laws and institutions of ,moses and that which the apostles of the ,new ,testament dispensation sustained to the ,lord ,jesus ,christ a strong similarity exists4 ,neither the one nor the other claimed to be originators or independent discoverers1 but rather witnesses to truths already revealed1 which they accepted as primary and fundamental facts4 ,into the clear understanding1 indeed1 of these they were enabled by divine inspiration to look more deeply than others could1 and they were also supernaturally aided to draw them out into great principles1 capable of application to human thought and conduct in the shaping of individual and national life and practice4 ,thus1 naturally and by sympathy of condition1 the later writers found themselves led into careful and profound study of their predecessors4 ,the prophecies of ,daniel and ,zechariah deserve to be especially consulted4 ,written1 as they were1 at or near the time of the captivity of ,judah1 they had peculiar interest for one who was himself an exile for the truth4 ,some of the imagery of the ,revelation is drawn from the glowing poetry of ,isaiah4 ,and almost the entire ,book of ,joel has been worked into the ,apocalypse4 ,but of all helps to an understanding of the ,revelation the most fruitful is a close and careful comparison with the ,book of ,ezekiel2 especially is this the case in reference to the closing chapters of both4 ,between the authors of these two works there were striking similarities of character and condition4 ,but a more powerful bond of union is found in the fact that both of them were preminently prophets of the ,holy ,spirit1 seeming to have reached truer and profounder views of his work in the economy of redemption than any predecessors in their separate dispensations4 ,isaiah and ,paul wrote of ,christ and his ,church2 but if we wish to learn the fullest development of the office of the ,holy ,ghost we must turn to the pages of ,ezekiel and ,john4 ,in addition to the ,old ,testament references1 the prophetical discourses of our ,lord uttered near the close of his ministry and recorded in the synoptical gospels will throw much light on the ,book of ,revelation4 ,the omission of these from the gospel of ,john may be accounted for by the fact that in the ,revelation the apostle had made such large use of them4 ,the important prediction of ,paul concerning the man of sin1 found in #b ,thessalonians ii1 must also be compared with those of ,john4 #c4 ,the emblems and symbols of the ,revelation must be interpreted by the light of the ,jewish ,scriptures and ritual4 ,this1 indeed1 follows as a corollary form the preceding rule1 but is of so much importance as to deserve special mention4 ,sometimes a word or a figure of speech or the connections of a sentence or a passing allusion to some sacrificial service will afford a clew to what at the time was in the mind of the writer4 ,inasmuch as he was a ,jew1 8taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers10 familiar with the ,scriptures1 traditions1 usages1 and history of his religion1 his interpretation of symbols and emblems would naturally be such as would occur to the mind of a ,jew4 ,we must place ourselves as near as possible to his standpoint4 ,yet1 as he was also an inspired apostle of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 we must be prepared to concede that he read deeper into these mysteries than his fellows did and was able to import into them a richer meaning4 #d4 ,particular attention must be given to the numbers found in the book4 ,much that is fanciful and extravagant has1 it must be conceded1 been written on this subject1 and to many persons any discussion of it is distasteful4 ,yet it is certain1 as the ,wisdom of ,solomon says1 that ,god has 8ordered all things in measure and number and weight40 ,otherwise there could be no such thing as exact science4 ,truths lie veiled in figures1 for these represent fixed principles and plans in the divine mind4 ,as a general truth1 it may be stated that the ideas expressed by numbers1 not only in this book1 but throughout the ,bible1 whenever these are used symbolically1 are those of fullness1 exactness1 and perfection1 on one hand1 or deficiency1 incompleteness1 and imperfection1 on the other4 ,the numbers which figure most largely in symbolism are seven1 twelve1 six1 and three and a half4 ,seven is called the sacred number1 and seems to express the idea of perfection or fullness to the highest degree and in the most unlimited sense4 ,as seven days make a complete week1 whole and entire1 without redundancy or deficiency1 so that to which the number seven is attached must be taken as perfect1 fully developed1 as a complete whole4 ,the expressions 8seven spirits10 8seven seals10 8seven trumpets10 etc41 imply that what they represent must be taken as entire1 with no possible capacities lying in them unexhausted4 ,twelve1 also1 signifies completeness2 but its use and application are more restricted4 ,it is usually connected with the ,church of ,god1 and possibly has some special reference to it4 ,thus there are twelve patriarchs1 twelve apostles1 twelve foundations to the holy city4 ,as the number is formed by the multiplication of three1 representing the ,trinity1 and four1 representing the world with its quarters1 it conveys the thought of universality as the assured destiny of the ,church4 ,six is1 also1 as a symbol1 connected with the ,church2 but1 both because it is less than seven1 and only the half of twelve1 has a sinister significance4 ,it represents the malign and baleful influences which corrupt and disintegrate the ,church1 shearing it of its power1 limiting and obstructing its mission1 and leaving it incomplete1 defective1 and corrupt4 ,three and a half is a number having special signification and requiring particular investigation4 ,a correct appreciation of its meaning will throw light upon some of the most obscure portions of the ,apocalypse4 ,it occursand is1 indeed1 the only number of which this may be saidin various forms4 ,since three and a half years comprise forty-two months1 and since forty-two months of thirty days each 7the usual prophetical computation7 equal twelve hundred and sixty days1 we may take these three forms1 three and a half1 forty-two1 and twelve hundred and sixty1 as equivalent expressions4 ,so1 also1 the expression1 8a time1 times1 and the dividing of times0 7#a #b #c71 is probably but another form of this number4 ,that some law governs the choice of these various forms is probable2 but what1 it is does not appear4 ,since three and a half falls short of seven1 it designates incompleteness4 ,but1 inasmuch as it is the exact half of seven 7in this differing from six71 it signifies an incompleteness which has1 so to speak1 a completeness of its ownthat is1 an incompleteness which is not anomalous and irregular1 such as would be expressed by six1 but one which is1 by the appointment of ,god or as a result of its own nature1 intended to be such4 ,any period of time or epoch in human history which has prescribed and well-marked limits or boundaries1 any part of the plan of ,providence which has a specified1 but only temporary and partial purpose as related to the whole course and complete plan of the divine ,being1 is always designated by one or the other of the forms of this number4 ,judaism1 for instance1 answered these conditions4 ,it was a providentially ordered dispensation1 but with a specific and limited object2 fulfilling a definite1 but not the complete purpose of ,providence2 a stage in the movement of humanity toward the kingdom of ,god1 but not itself the realization of that kingdom2 a type which needed an antitype to round it out1 and throughout which ran the marks that proved it to be only temporary and preparatory to a higher dispensation into which it was to blossom4 ,it was 8a schoolmaster to bring us unto ,christ40 ,its glory was something which was 8to be done away10 and consequently falls short of 8that which remaineth40 ,and it reached the 8fullness0 of its 8time0 when 8,god sent forth his ,son1 made of a woman1 made under the law1 to redeem them that were under the law1 that we might receive the adoption of sons40 ,and it will be found that whenever ,judaism is symbolized by a number in the ,book of ,revelation1 it is designated by one of the allotropic forms of three and a half4 ,see ,revelation xi1 #c2 xii1 #f1 #ad4 ,so1 likewise1 ,gentilism1 to which a definite and distinct character or purpose is attributed1 both by our ,lord 7,luke xxi1 #bd7 and by ,saint ,paul 7,romans xi1 #be71 but which1 when severed from its ,jewish antecedents1 has the like features of incompleteness and deficiency1 would be symbolically expressed by some form of the same number4 ,see ,revelation xiii1 #e4 ,so generally accepted seems to have been this symbolical use of numbers that it appears even in such pure and simple prose as the gospels4 ,the evangelist ,matthew1 in recording the genealogy of our ,lord1 divides the period between ,abraham and ,christ into three cycles with fourteen generations in each1 or forty-two in all4 ,this period is exactly coeval with ,judaism as a distinct dispensation2 and forty-two is1 as we have seen1 one of the interchangeable forms of the number three and a half4 ,inasmuch as the actual number of generations was1 as is generally agreed1 more than forty-two1 and some principle of accommodation must have controlled the evangelist in choosing it1 we have a right to conjecture that the symbolism was so well established that no erroneous impression would be conveyed4 ,using these rules of interpretation as a guide1 it will be found that many1 if not most of the obscurities which have made this book so perplexing and incomprehensible will be removed4 ,a unity of purpose will be seen pervading it4 ,it will no longer appear anomalous and outr1 but harmonious with the rest of the oracles of ,god2 a book for the perusal of every individual believer1 no matter how simple and unlearned he may be2 having direct reference to his heart-experience and his moral conduct2 a vade mecum for the journey of life through whose aid he may safely encounter the dangers and surely overcome the hindrances he may meet4 ,the great theme which the inspired writer and apostle here sets before us is the mediatorial kingdom of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,the principles which lie at the basis of that kingdomthe oppositions1 external and internal1 to its beginning and completion1 the agencies1 divine and human1 upon which reliance must be placed to achieve success1 its superiority to and triumph over all hostile forces1 and all these both in the heart of each individual ,christian and in that aggregation of ,christians which we call the ,churchare here delineated as they were revealed to ,saint ,john4 ,the theories which make of this book an anticipation of history1 and which find in the events of the last nineteen centuries continued fulfillments of its predictions1 or which confine those fulfillments to the periods either near the primitive age or near the future and final scenes of the drama of time are regarded as being not wholly erroneous1 but incomplete and partial4 ,that the great purposes of divine ,providence are continually finding their fulfillment in the history of men and nations is a truth not confined to this book1 but spread throughout all the sacred ,scriptures4 ,the laws of the divine administration are very exact2 they can be neither obeyed nor disregarded without the necessary accompaniments of legitimate and appointed consequences4 ,there is no improbability at all that moral and spiritual truths may have their processes and cycles of development1 just as natural things have their seasons and times of maturity4 ,whether the events that have occurred1 the organized bodies1 secular or religious1 that have appeared on the field of the world1 were in the mind of the apostle as he wrote is a question neither affirmed nor denied4 ,what is meant to be said is that the ,revelation does more than merely predict results4 ,it goes down into the profound region of causes and reveals the continuity of the plans of the divine ,being4 ,however ingenious or plausible1 therefore1 the explanations put upon the prophecies of this book by the theories spoken of above1 it is not confined to them4 ,as long as the world lasts there will be1 in every age and in the experience of every believer1 a fulfillment of the truths here set forth4 ,its warnings and comforts will never be out of date4 ,its promises and its threats are alike imperishable1 for they are a part of that 8word of our ,god0 which 8shall stand forever40 ,a definition of the phrase 8kingdom of ,christ0 is nowhere attempted in the ,revelation4 ,it was not needed in an age when the theme was the staple of preaching and teaching4 ,to show that it must not be confounded with the visible ,church was the purpose of the epistles to the churches of ,asia with which the ,apocalypse begins4 ,the fundamental principle upon which the kingdom is founded1 the universal sovereignty of ,christ based upon his redemptive work1 is taught under the emblem of the seals4 ,the writer then advances to the instrumentalities1 natural and supernatural1 by means of which the kingdom is to be brought to its consummation4 ,the antagonisms which the kingdom must encounter from foes without and within are next plainly revealed1 and1 lest the revelation may cause discouragement1 prophecies of sure and final victory mingle with warnings4 ,the retributive resources of the kingdom1 the just judgments which fall upon its foes1 and especially upon the false and counterfeit ,church1 are taught under the emblem of the vials4 ,the next section discloses to us the stages of progress through which the kingdom ascends to its complete establishment1 and the signs by which we may test its advance or detect its decline4 ,and finally1 with that glowing picture of the ideal kingdom as it shall be realized on earth when the ,galilean shall have conquered1 a picture so beautiful that our highest conceptions of heaven seem embodied in it1 the divine seer closes his rapturous vision4 ,,part ,i ,the ,seven ,churches of ,asia ,revelation of ,saint ,john the ,divine ,,part ,i ,the ,seven ,churches of ,asia1 or1 the ,kingdom as it ,actually was in the ,days of the ,apostles and is now ,,the chapters which contain the epistles to the churches of ,asia need not detain us long2 not that they are devoid of interest1 but because anything like a commentary upon the text lies outside the scope and design of this essay1 whose purpose is to interpret the general intent of the book itself4 ,the value of these letters to us lies in the pictures presented in them of the religious state of the churches to which they were addressed1 and which doubtless were representative of the ,christian world in the days of the writer4 ,the reading of them will dispel any illusion in which we may have indulged as to the superiority of the apostolical age over subsequent ones1 and will shatter any hypothesis we may have formed that primitive ,christianity was anything like ,utopia4 ,the condition of the churches which they reveal to us was one in which doubt and faith1 loyalty and declension1 purity and worldliness1 evil and good were interspersed in varying proportions4 ,the tares had already begun to grow with the wheat4 ,and a moment's reflection will convince us that no other result could reasonably be expected4 ,divine grace does not obliterate human nature1 and its operations are always in accordance with rule4 ,the regeneration of a soul is not synonymous with its entire sanctification4 ,growth is an invariable accompaniment of life4 ,it would have been a new and altogether anomalous state of things if the average of conduct attained by converts from ,jewish and pagan standards of thought and morals had equaled that to which we may aspire in whom centuries of training in the family1 the ,state1 and the ,church have created a ,christian consciousness4 ,fervor and zeal the early disciples unquestionably had1 but with sad mixture of inconsistency1 inexperience1 and weakness4 ,it has always seemed hard for ,christians to comprehend and fully believe the promise which our ,lord gave to the ,church through the apostles1 that the ,holy ,ghost1 when he should come1 should 8abide0 with it 8forever40 ,and this abiding presence throughout all ages of the ,spirit of truth is not to be in partial or transient manifestation1 but in all the fullness of his divine offices4 ,and attention must be called to the fact that ,john1 in unfolding the processes and forces by which the kingdom of ,christ is to be brought to its triumphant completeness1 points us at the beginning of his prophecy 7,revelation iv1 #e7 to the seven spirits of ,god 8burning before the throne10 as if to impress upon us the perfection of degree in which the ,holy ,spirit gives himself to this work4 ,this does not mean that there is monotonous identity in the modes of his manifestation1 or that the work that he does is the same in kind with that which he has done in the past4 ,we are expressly told that 8there are diversities of gifts1 but the same spirit4 ,and there are diversities of administrations1 but the same ,lord4 ,and there are diversities of operations1 but it is the same ,god that worketh all in all40 ,some things which ,god does he never repeats4 ,his special presence or work at some periods and in some things does not imply that he is any the less1 while not in the same special way1 present at all times and in all things4 8,in the beginning ,god created the heaven and the earth40 ,that was done once for all4 ,from that period up to this time1 indeed1 the 8,father worketh20 but it is not as ,creator1 but as ,providence1 developing and evolving from that beginning the possibilities that lay in it4 ,what we call science is the record of this development1 aiming only at the accurate presentation of the facts of providence and the adaptation of them to human needs and destiny4 ,nature is the terminus ad quem toward which discovery and invention tend1 not the terminus a quo from which they start4 ,progress in them does not mean adding anything to nature or superseding it or leaving it behind and moving to something beyond it1 but merely approaching closer to it1 bringing us to better knowledge of and fuller acquaintance with it4 ,so1 likewise1 that inspiration of the ,holy ,ghost by which holy men of ,god were moved to speak and write what was specially revealed to them is never to be repeated4 ,the lines along which and the limits within which the ,christian ,church is to be led were laid down once for all1 as those of nature also were4 ,the work of the ,spirit now is that of a ,providence to bring to realization the ideal then foreshadowed2 and in doing this he has divine freedom to breathe where and when he listeth4 ,pentecost was the commencement of a process of which the closing chapters of the ,revelation disclose the completion4 ,and in order to attain this end the perpetual presence and indwelling of the ,holy ,spirit are promised in all their richness and perfection1 but in accordance with the laws of human nature and with constant increments of knowledge and power4 ,it is vain1 therefore1 to claim commanding authority for any ceremony1 formula1 or organization on the ground that it corresponds with primitive ,christianity4 ,the apostles never felt themselves bound to that first sketch of the ,church which they drew at ,pentecost1 as if this were among the things supernaturally revealed2 but they modified and revised it whenever they could say1 8,it seemed good to the ,holy ,ghost and to us40 ,nor have we any reason to believe that the process of evolution which continued throughout their lives ended therewith4 ,the ,holy ,spirit did not then cease his work of guidance and inspiration4 ,that is the truest and most apostolical ,christianity which1 like ,john1 being 8in the ,spirit on the ,lord's day10 holds itself ever ready to hear and obey the 8great voice1 as of a trumpet10 behind and above it4 ,and this is the lesson we are to learn from the seven epistles to the churches of ,asia4 ,they are the record of the beginning of the kingdom of ,christ1 repeated in the conversion and regeneration of every individual ,christian4 ,they show the point of departure from which progress is to be made toward the consummation and perfection of the ideal4 ,the ,christian world as it was then1 with its graces and its faults1 is disclosed to us4 ,the apostle1 with his clearer eye1 was able to look below the facts and recognize the principles struggling for the ascendency2 and1 using these facts as his data1 he drew from them a prophecy of the development of the kingdom of ,christ of marvelous interest and instruction for all subsequent ages4 ,nor is there a single force1 friendly or hostile to the kingdom1 which does not appear in the warnings or encouragements he is directed to write to these infant churches4 ,whoever will take the sketch of the kingdom as it actually appeared to the eye of ,john1 and contrast it with the culmination of the process so exquisitely pictured in the last two chapters of the ,apocalypse1 will have some conception of the field over which he must travel if he would 8come in the unity of the faith1 and of the knowledge of the ,son of ,god1 unto a perfect man1 unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of ,christ40 ,,part ,,ii ,fundamental ,principles on which the ,kingdom is ,based ,,part ,,ii ,fundamental ,principles on which the ,kingdom is ,based4 ,emblem of the ,seals4 ,,with the fourth chapter the symbolical part of the ,revelation begins1 and continues to the end of the book4 ,in that portion of it upon which we now enter1 and which includes chapters ivviii1 #a1 the emblem of a seal is employed so frequently as to make it the distinctive feature4 ,we are told of a book 8sealed with seven seals0 which none but the ,lamb is worthy to open4 ,then we are told of the opening of these seals1 with visions accompanying the successive loosing of them4 ,and1 lastly1 a specific number of persons sealed in their foreheads are shown us1 following which an innumerable company is seen gathered before the throne of ,god4 ,it behooves us to ascertain the typical meaning of a seal2 and if we succeed in so doing the purpose of the writer will be disclosed4 #a4 ,the ,emblem of the ,seals4,the seal has been usually taken as signifying concealment or secrecy2 sealed things have been regarded as synonymous with hidden things4 ,and very much conjecture has been offered as to what were the hidden mysteries contained in the sealed book or scroll4 ,but1 whatever secondary meaning the seal may have1 concealment is not its principal one4 ,a seal denotes1 primarily and specifically1 ownership1 not secrecy4 ,the sealing of anything implies that it is1 or is claimed to be1 the property of him who affixes the seal4 ,the outward stamp is the declaration that the owner makes of his rights and is the official token of his authority4 ,it is the mark of lordship or seigniority4 ,any concealment of contents therein involved is a secondary consideration4 ,some illustrations from ,scripture will substantiate this interpretation4 ,when it is said 7,romans iv1 #aa7 that ,abraham received 8the sign of circumcision1 a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had10 it is meant that he then became in a special sense the personal property of ,almighty ,god and entitled to all the protection of ,omnipotence4 8,he that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal #8hath set his seal to this1' ,revised ,version that ,god is true0 7,john iii1 #cc71 means that the assured conviction of ,god's reality and faithfulness has become the personal possession of the believer1 something which belongs to him of right4 8,him hath ,god the ,father sealed0 7,john vi1 #bg7 means that ,god officially ratifies and acknowledges as his own what ,christ does1 and attests it with the stamp of authority4 ,when ,pilate sealed the sepulcher where ,christ was laid 7,matthew xxvii1 #ff7 it was meant that the tomb became the property of the ,roman empire and was under the guardianship of its officials1 and that whoever tampered with it must be prepared to try questions with ,csar4 8,ye were sealed with that ,holy ,spirit0 7,ephesians i1 #ac7 means that ye received as your own possession1 in your own personal experience1 the earnest of your inheritance2 the gift of the ,holy ,spirit attests your rightful claim to it4 ,these examples will suffice to indicate the scriptural meaning of the seal4 ,we have only to apply this meaning to the solution of the problem before us4 8,a book written within and on the back side10 that is1 completely1 all over1 with no blank or empty space1 is seen lying in the right hand of ,god on the throne4 ,plainly1 this book with its contents signifies something over which the divine ,being asserts supreme sovereignty1 which he claims as his of right and alone4 ,and the number of the sealssevenindicates that this sovereignty is complete1 undivided1 perfect4 ,what the contents of the book were we may infer from the preceding chapter 7iv71 in which we are shown the court of the ,lord ,god omnipotent1 with his loyal and obedient servants and hierarchies worshiping him and saying1 8,thou hast created all things1 and for thy pleasure they are and were created40 ,the book with its seals is a symbol of the fundamental truth of all truths1 that all things and beings in this universe1 whatever and wherever they are1 belong originally and normally to the ,creator4 ,his sovereignty over his creatures is absolute1 illimitable1 and eternal4 ,it is quite in accordance with ,john's cast of mind 7and this furnishes no slight evidence as to the authorship of the ,revelation7 in unfolding to us the plan of redemption to take his stand at that period in the past1 far back and without date1 when ,god was all in all1 and when sin had not entered to dispute his supremacy2 just as in his gospel he commences1 not with the ,christ in the maturity of his powers1 or even incarnate in the flesh1 but with the prexistent ,word who was 8in the beginning10 8was with ,god10 and 8was ,god40 ,profoundest of all the apostles1 his mind reveled in the contemplation of beginnings and ends1 of the primeval origin and final consummation of things1 of the alpha and omega of creation4 ,but along with this vision of sovereignty came the coincident remembrance of the universe as it is1 disordered and in rebellion2 of a sinful world wandering from its orbit1 disputing the supremacy of its ,maker and ,god1 and in unequal and hopeless conflict with ,omnipotence4 ,into whose possession should it pass1 and who could assume the reins of power which seemed to have fallen from the hands of the ,creator8 ,a thought similar to this appears to have passed through the mind of ,isaiah when he turned from the vision of the throne 8high and lifted up10 with the seraphim veiling their faces in the presence of holy ,majesty1 to the spectacle of himself and the world1 and cried1 8,woe is me6 for ,i am undone40 ,so ,john 8wept much0 when1 after this view of immaculate purity combined with almightiness1 he contemplated a sinful world powerless to dispute what it would not willingly obey4 ,who was there worthy to 8open the book0 and to 8loose the seals thereof10 and thus to bring back creatures to their rightful allegiance8 ,if they would not submit1 yet could not resist1 the result could be only disaster1 for the heavens must rule1 and successful rebellion was impossible4 ,but there came to ,john hope and help1 as there had come also to ,isaiah2 and to both from 8the altar40 ,as ,john looked he beheld the 8,lion of the tribe of ,judah10 but in the form of a 8,lamb as it had been slain10 take the book from the right hand of ,god and proceed to break the seals4 ,now1 if a seal is the emblem of ownership it follows that the authorized and permitted loosing of a seal must mean the transference1 or delegation1 of proprietorship4 ,and this is the meaning here4 ,there is an endowmentdonation1 ratherof authority1 and the change in possession is published4 ,that which belonged to and had been under the rule of the ,father is consigned to and becomes the possession of the ,son4 ,and the change is not simply one of sovereigns1 but of the ground principle of sovereignty2 not only of rulers1 but of methods of rule4 ,the song of the 8elders0 and 8living creatures0 is now1 not 8,thou didst create10 but 8,thou hast redeemed us to ,god by thy blood40 ,there is presented to us1 in fact1 a picture of the mediatorial sovereignty of the ,son of ,god4 ,we see the inauguration of the kingdom of ,christ1 the fundamental principle of which is1 8,ye are not your own20 for 8ye are bought with a price3 therefore glorify ,god40 ,it was written in the ,psalms1 8,the ,lord hath said unto me1 ,thou art my ,son2 this day have ,i begotten thee4 ,ask of me1 and ,i shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance1 and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession40 ,john was looking upon the fulfillment of that decree4 ,of this mediatorial kingdom of ,christ1 thus presented to us in symbol1 so much is said in the ,bible that only a few texts need to be referred to out of the many which might be cited4 ,our ,lord himself said of it that the ,father 8hath committed all judgment unto the ,son0 7,john v1 #bb74 ,and again1 8,all things are delivered unto me of my ,father0 7,matthew xi1 #bg74 ,and still again1 8,all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth0 7,matthew xxviii1 #ah74 ,so in ,hebrew ii1 #h1 it is recorded1 8,thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet40 ,and ,paul has written1 8,then cometh the end1 when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to ,god1 even the ,father2 when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power4 ,for he must reign1 till he hath put all enemies under his feet0 7#a ,corinthians xv1 #bd1 #be74 #b4 ,the ,opening of the ,seals4,in the exercise of his sovereignty the mediating and atoning ,lamb assumes the authority committed to him1 and the history of redemption begins4 ,we approach the heart of this wonderful book1 and its great purpose begins to reveal itself4 ,but the unfolding of that history has been so different from the conception of it that was possible even to an apostle that 8blindness in part0 would happen to us all if we had not the revelation of ,god's plans made known to us in order to check despondency and animate to labor4 ,john was one of those to whom the ,master had said1 8,behold1 ,i send you forth40 ,he had heard and has recorded the prayer of the great ,high ,priest1 8,as thou hast sent me into the world1 even so have ,i also sent them into the world40 ,he had received the great commission1 8,go ye therefore1 and teach all nations40 ,he had been taught that ,christians were to be 8the salt of the earth0 and 8the light of the world0 and were to 8occupy0 until ,christ comes again4 ,what expectation more reasonable could he entertain than that redemption1 proceeding from the heart of the ,father1 consummated in the sacrifice of the ,son1 and applied by the ever-abiding ,spirit1 would move forward without let or hindrance from its commencement to its glorious realization8 ,and this is implied in the vision of the opening of the first seal3 8,behold a white horse3 and he that sat on him had a bow2 and a crown was given unto him3 and he went forth conquering1 and to conquer40 ,the first stroke of ,god's providence always drives the kingdom well forward4 ,it is the subsequent ones that try men's faith4 ,when the promise of the seed which should bruise the serpent's head was given to ,eve1 and1 following that1 a son was born to her1 was it not natural that1 in the fullness of her faith1 she should exclaim1 8,i have gotten a man from the ,lord80 ,when ,almighty ,god1 who had just beaten down ,pharaoh and ,amalek and written the law with his own fingers1 said to ,moses1 8,as truly as ,i live1 all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the ,lord10 could the prophet have any doubt that the ark of the covenant would move triumphantly onward until it came to perfect rest in ,canaan8 ,there is much to show that the apostles of ,christ anticipated the speedy conquest of the world by his kingdom4 ,the conversion of thousands at ,pentecost1 the multitude of accessions which followed1 the obedience of a great company of priests1 the appearance of miracles all conspired to foster this expectation4 ,the morning hour of every reformation is bright and golden4 ,it is later on that clouds gather and the skies darken4 ,painful realities soon shake men out of such sunny dreams1 and banish such fond illusions as did the murder of ,abel1 the lusting after the fleshpots of ,egypt1 the imprisonment of ,peter1 the defection of ,ananias1 the martyrdom of ,stephen and ,james4 ,and as the pendulum of hope swings so easily to the extreme of despair1 and every little ,ai seems to our alarmed imagination a walled ,jericho1 nothing can be conceived more helpful to faith and courage than to learn that such things must needs be1 and to be comforted at the same time with the assurance that1 though in the world we shall have tribulation1 yet ,christ has overcome the world and we must not lose heart4 ,this is the purpose for which the visions accompanying the opening of the seals were given to ,john4 ,the second seal signifies war2 the third1 famine2 the fourth1 pestilence2 the fifth1 martyrdom2 the sixth1 revolutions that seem to 8shake the heavens1 and the earth1 and the sea1 and the dry land40 ,these are strange instruments to do ,god's will1 unlooked-for messengers to perform his bidding4 ,but not only all things1 but all events as well1 are under the sovereignty of ,christ2 and in spite of these obstacles1 and perhaps by means of them1 his kingdom moves forward4 ,and when the seventh and last seal shall be broken1 when every messenger shall have been delegated1 when the last needed encouragement shall have been given and the last enemy destroyed1 then will come the unbroken and eternal ,sabbath of rest4 8unlookod0 replaced with 8unlooked0 #c4 ,the ,sealed ,elect4,the third part of this section comprises two visions3 first1 of the 8hundred and forty and four thousand10 out of the twelve tribes of ,israel1 sealed in their foreheads2 and1 then1 of a great multitude out of all nations and peoples1 clothed in white robes and bearing palms in their hands4 ,the purpose of these visions is to show that ,god's ownership extends1 not only to things and events1 but to persons as well4 8,the ,lord knoweth them that are his40 ,there need not be any hesitation in interpreting these visions as referring to ,jewish and ,gentile ,christians respectively4 ,the same distinction between the two is made in chapter xiv1 #af1 where the hundred and forty-four thousand who stand on ,mount ,zion singing a song which no others could learn1 namely1 the song of ,moses and the ,lamb1 are marked off from those in every nation and people to whom the angel flies with the everlasting ,gospel4 ,it is not meant1 surely1 that the number one hundred and forty-four thousand is to be taken in an absolutely literal sense4 ,the definite number in all probability stands for a great multitude4 ,how large the number of believing ,israelites was in the days of the apostle we have no means of determining4 ,that it was large may be fairly inferred from ,acts xxi1 #bj4 ,and in the great day of accounts the number may be seen to be beyond our largest calculation4 ,still less are we authorized to impute this separation of ,jew from ,gentile to any national exclusiveness on the part of ,john4 ,no apostle of the circumcision was any more emphatic than was ,paul1 the apostle of the ,gentiles1 in asserting that the order of salvation is1 first1 the ,jew1 then1 the ,gentile1 and that 8,god hath not cast away his people which he foreknew10 although 8blindness in part is happened to ,israel1 until the fullness of the ,gentiles be come in40 ,and what part the ,jew may yet play in bringing about that fullness no man is able to predict4 ,moreover1 there is no inferiority implied in the privileges and graces which the great multitude enjoys as compared with the sealed elect4 ,they are kings and priests unto ,god2 they are clothed with the robes of victory and joy4 ,and the images by which their nearness to ,christ and their participation in the fullest measure of nourishment1 safety1 and felicity are expressed are not elsewhere exceeded in the ,revelation4 ,the description of their triumph seems to anticipate the consummation of the ideal kingdom of ,christ1 with which the closing chapters of the ,apocalypse are replete4 ,,part ,,iii ,the ,means by which the ,kingdom of ,christ is ,advanced ,,part ,,iii ,the ,means by which the ,kingdom of ,christ is ,advanced,emblem of the ,trumpet ,,the section of the ,revelation which begins with chapter viii1 #b1 and closes with chapter xi1 is characterized by the symbol of the trumpet4 ,in the interpretation of this symbol the key to the understanding of the section must be found4 ,it must not be inferred1 because the vision of the trumpets follows that of the seals1 that it designates events subsequent to the latter4 ,the seals themselves1 as we have seen1 are not intended to be predictions of historical events1 but strictly emblems of truths or principles2 and the trumpets must be in like manner regarded4 ,succession1 coincidence1 or any other relation of time has no necessary connection with them4 ,they represent varying phases of the kingdom of ,christ1 and their relation thereto is the only one that need be regarded4 ,the trumpet was a familiar instrument in the ritual of ,judaism1 having a well-known and prescribed use1 and is frequently referred to in the ,scriptures4 ,the mention of the word would readily suggest to the mind of a ,jew its symbolic import1 and the writer of the ,apocalypse doubtless employed it in this sense4 ,the trumpet was used as a means of summons4 ,when an assembly was to be gathered1 when an alarm was to be given1 when a message was to be communicated1 it was by the trumpet that attention was arrested and a hearing enforced4 ,it signified that tidings were to be delivered to which it behooved men to listen4 ,it increased the range of the unassisted human voice1 with the difference that1 while the intensifying of the sound through the use of the instrument carried it over larger spaces1 there was a loss of that delicacy1 flexibility1 and capacity to convey emotions which belong to the unaided human organs of speech4 ,it was by the trumpet1 sounding long and loud1 that ,jehovah announced his presence at ,sinai to ,moses and the awe-stricken people1 and bade them prepare to receive his law4 ,it was by the blowing of trumpets that the approach of the jubilee year was announcedthat very striking type of the redemption purchased by ,christ4 ,when the ,israelites were marching around ,jericho 8seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns0 went before the ark of the ,lord2 and on the seventh day1 when1 8at the seventh time10 the priests blew with the trumpets1 the walls fell4 ,and the prophet ,joel says1 8,blow the trumpet in ,zion1 sanctify a fast1 call a solemn assembly3 gather the people40 ,so familiarly has this symbolism passed over into the ,christian ,church that the preaching of salvation is very commonly spoken of as the blowing of the ,gospel trumpet4 ,if the seals emblematize the truth that all things belong of right to ,christ as ,mediator1 the question very naturally follows1 ,how is this de jure ownership to be made a de facto one1 and what instruments are put into the hands of the ,church to enable it to establish the kingdom of ,christ on earth8 ,the vision of the trumpets is designed to be the answer to this question4 ,the trumpets1 then1 signify the instrumentalities by which men are called to the kingdom of ,christ1 or the measures which the divine ,being employs to advance that kingdom4 ,their number1 seven1 indicates that these measures are complete and comprehensive1 including every available resource and employing all possible methods of approach to man4 ,god avails himself of every legitimate device to constrain a sinful world to accept the proffer of salvation ere he passes from chastisement and correction to retributive and final judgment4 ,thus those who reject the offer will be found without excuse1 and the despisers of the wedding garment will be stricken speechless in the day of accounts4 ,the sounding of the trumpets1 it will be noticed1 is preceded by the 8prayers of the saints20 for that 8the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much0 with ,god is one of the fundamental facts of the kingdom 7,psalm xviii1 #fag74 ,and the token of the hearing of the prayers is seen in the 8voices1 and thunderings1 and lightnings1 and an earthquake0 that followed when the seven angels with the trumpets prepared to sound4 ,the vision doubtless recalled to ,john's mind the remembrance of that day when1 as the disciples prayed1 8the place was shaken where they were assembled together20 ,god revealing himself in the new dispensation as he had done at ,sinai when about to communicate his law4 ,the grandeur of the preparation suggests the importance of the tidings to be communicated4 ,it will be also observed that the episode of the 8two witnesses0 7chapter xi7 falls within the section marked by the trumpet emblem4 ,the appropriateness of this and the ease with which it takes its place here furnish no slight evidence that the explanation of the ,revelation adopted in this essay is correct4 ,there are two modes by which the divine ,being has chosen to communicate the knowledge of himself and of his will4 ,these are his works and his word4 ,the one is that manifestation of himself in nature of which ,paul speaks when he says1 8,the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen1 being understood by the things that are made1 even his eternal power and ,godhead40 ,the other is supernatural1 the revelation of himself as a power above nature and not limited by its laws4 ,it is of this that ,peter says1 8,we have also a more sure word of prophecy40 ,the most searching and subtle analysis to which knowledge and its sources have been subjected has resulted in thisthat even in the alembic of modern doubt1 after the most biting acids have tried their solvent power1 there is left as the residuum a conviction that1 besides this known and knowable universe1 there exists a first cause or force4 ,at the beginning and basis of all things a duality must be acknowledged4 ,if human thought by its unaided light is incompetent to go beyond this1 it is not allowed to stop short of it4 8,the momentum of thought10 ,herbert ,spencer says1 8inevitably carries us beyond conditioned existence to unconditioned existence40 8,the certainty that1 on the one hand1 such a power exists1 while1 on the other1 its nature transcends intuition and is beyond imagination1 is the certainty toward which intelligence has been from the first progressing4 ,to this conclusion science inevitably arrives as it reaches its confines40 ,this power1 which science may know only as 8an infinite and eternal energy10 is the ,being whom the ,scriptures reveal to us as the ,lord ,god1 of whom and through whom and to whom 8are all things3 to whom be glory forever40 ,from this first ,cause knowledge comes to us through two channelshis deeds and his words4 ,the first of these is accessible to all mankind2 for the ,gentiles1 which have not the law1 8show the work of the law written in their hearts1 their conscience also bearing witness40 ,but as that which is constant and habitual soon ceases to attract attention1 and the orderly and uniform processes of nature excite less interest and awaken feebler curiosity than the anomalous and occasional1 in like manner it is most frequently by calamities1 adversities1 seeming withdrawals of ,god's face that men are brought to reflection1 consideration1 and obedience4 8,when thy judgments are in the earth1 the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness40 ,it is this truth that the vision of the trumpets symbolizes4 ,it signifies the warnings in the field of natural providence which the divine ,being gives to men1 in order to show the evil and peril of sin and thus draw back their souls from the pit4 ,the second of these channels of knowledge is found in the oracles of ,god1 the ,scriptures committed to the chosen people4 ,and these are symbolized in the episode of the 8two witnesses10 which forms a part of the trumpet section4 ,the details of the trumpet scenes are not1 it must be confessed1 easy of interpretation4 ,they seem to be selected from various parts of the ,old ,testament1 and grouped according to some plan not explained to us1 suggesting the thought that the interpretation of them is not to be found in any single event1 but in some common truth embodied in many events4 ,the conjunction of 8hail0 with 8fire0 7viii1 #g7 is also found in ,exodus ix1 #bd2 that of 8fire0 with 8blood0 7viii1 #g7 in ,joel ii1 #cj2 while all three of these elements are separately mentioned in many passages4 ,the moving of mountains 7viii1 #h7 is referred to in ,psalm xlvi1 #b1 and ,isaiah liv1 #aj2 and a burning mountain in ,jeremiah li1 #be4 8,wormwood0 7viii1 #aa7 occurs in ,jeremiah ix1 #ae1 and ,amos v1 #g4 ,the darkening of the heavenly bodies 7viii1 #ab7 is found also in ,isaiah xiii1 #aj2 ,amos viii1 #i2 and ,joel ii1 #ca4 8,locusts0 7ix1 #c7 are mentioned in ,exodus x1 #d2 ,nahum iii1 #ag2 ,joel i1 #d4 ,but the assemblage of the events in the ,revelation differs from any other in the ,bible4 ,it is more systematically arranged than in the series foretold by our ,lord in ,matthew xxiv4 ,it differs from the account of the ,egyptian plagues of ,exodus in omissions1 the introduction of new details1 and in the fact that the plagues occur in a different order4 ,the hail1 for instance1 which is the seventh ,egyptian plague1 is the first of the plagues in the ,revelation4 ,all this may be explained by the fact that the plagues of ,egypt were confined to that country and were adapted to its local climatic conditions1 while the plagues of the ,revelation have for their field the world itself1 and were intentionally diversified in being fitted to this larger sphere4 ,that a close connection exists between man and his dwelling place1 the earth1 is a truth in which both science and the ,scriptures cordially concur2 the dispute1 if any1 between them is not as to the fact1 but its cause4 ,the doctrine of evolution1 which receives such wide acceptance1 rests upon this connection as a fundamental axiom2 and the ,scriptures confirm the fact in the accounts of the creation and the fall4 ,the difference between science and the ,scriptures is1 that what evolution attributes to the operation of natural law the ,bible explains by the working of a moral power4 ,as for man's sake the ground was cursed and all nature made to suffer by reason of his rebellion1 so do they bear constant witness to his advance or degeneration in righteousness4 ,as purity is in general promotive of prosperity1 so does sin produce disaster4 8,as the moral life of the soul expresses itself in the physical life of the body for the latter's health or corruption1 so the conduct of the human race affects the physical life of the universe to its farthest limit in space4 ,the ,old ,testament is not contented with a general statement of this great principle1 but pursues it to all sorts of particular and private applications4 ,the curses of the ,lord fell1 not only on the sinner1 but on his dwelling1 his property1 and even on the bit of ground he occupied4 ,the doctrine of the ,old ,testament is that man's sin has rendered necessary the destruction of his material circumstances1 and that the divine judgment includes a broken and rifled universe40 ,isaiah1 vol4 i4 chap4 xxxviii1 pp4 #dai1 ff41 in the ,expositor's ,bible1 ,new ,york1 ,a4 ,c4 ,armstrong ,co4 ,and these calamities1 whether brought about directly by the divine ,governor1 or through the operation of general laws1 which is but another mode of his action1 are so many trumpet calls from ,god warning men to retrace their erring steps and submit to his kingdom4 8,it was plague and fire10 ,leigh ,hunt says1 8that first taught the ,londoners to build their city better40 ,and the divine ,being may make use of like means to forward his moral government4 #a4 ,natural ,providences4,in the first trumpet scene the blow falls upon the earth itself4 ,its productive resources were severely diminished through the destructive agencies of nature1 intensified1 it may be1 by the horrors of war4 ,the hail and the fire were mingled with blood4 ,and1 since food is essential to life1 8the king himself being served by the field10 such a disaster must sorely oppress mankind4 ,the apostle had himself witnessed at least one widely-extended famine1 and had noted how the exhibition of ,christian benevolence had been made the means of promoting the kingdom of ,christ 7,acts xi1 #bhcj74 ,the second trumpet scene deals with disasters affecting 8the sea10 the great highway of commerce1 and disturbing the exchanges of the products of labor among men4 ,more than once in the history of the world social revolutions have been the plowshare turning up the soil1 that seeds of religious reformation might the better grow4 ,in the third trumpet scene it is the sources of water supply that are affected4 ,a star1 falling from heaven1 turns them to wormwood1 which in the ,old ,testament is used as a symbol of bitterness and poisoning4 ,it is in the contamination of these sources that epidemics and pestilences usually find their commencement1 and a merciful ,providence generally spares them until other and milder warnings have been tried4 ,in the fourth trumpet scene the heavenly bodies are involved1 carrying out the idea1 so frequently expressed in the ,bible1 of the sympathy which the whole creation seems to feel with the great events transacted on earth4 ,the universe is so bound together that whatever touches one part of the great ,governor's empire ultimately affects every other 7,exodus x1 #babd2 ,isaiah xiii1 #iaa2 ,joel ii1 #ca2 ,matthew xxiv1 #bi2 xxvii1 #de74 ,yet the images in this scene may be figurative emblems of the ruling powers of earthly kingdoms1 and the vision may be interpreted as synonymous with the predictions of ,haggai ii1 #fi1 and ,hebrews xii1 #bfbi1 in which the shaking of heaven and earth is made to precede the coming of the kingdom of ,christ4 ,the fifth trumpet scene is undoubtedly the most difficult of all to interpret and requires more elaborate treatment4 ,in striving to explain its obscurities the only safe and satisfactory method is to search for what may be regarded as certain and plain in the vision1 and from this as a starting point to essay the more difficult4 ,two things seem to stand out prominently and comparatively clearly in the scene4 ,assuming the star which fell from heaven1 to whom was given the key of the bottomless pit1 and who is closely connected with the angel of the pit named ,abaddon or ,apollyonthat is1 destroyerto be a representation of ,satan1 then for the first time this archenemy of ,god and man is introduced personally upon the stage4 ,in whatever the fifth trumpet signifies he directly or indirectly has a preminent share4 ,then1 again1 the mention of locusts points us to the prophecy of ,joel1 where the destructive ravages of this scourge are such a conspicuous figure4 ,if we can reach a satisfactory solution of ,joel's prophecy we may reasonably expect an understanding of this prophecy of the ,revelation4 ,in the great prophecy of ,joel1 brief in extent1 but comprehensive in import1 the background upon which the earnest preacher of ,god paints his vivid pictures is the alarming condition of spiritual declension and apathy into which the people had fallen1 accompanied with fearful neglect of the service of ,god and its ordinances4 ,to awaken the people out of this deadly state he predicts the approach of an awful scourge1 the ravages of which would be felt in a resultant condition of extraordinary impoverishment and penury4 ,poverty of spirit must precede entrance into the riches of the kingdom of heaven4 ,and so the prophet is commissioned to promise that1 after repentance and renewal of consecration1 there shall be a rich and plentiful effusion of the ,holy ,spirit2 and he assures the penitent that 8whosoever shall call on the name of the ,lord shall be delivered0 and shall escape the impending destruction4 ,nothing is more probable1 therefore1 than that the writer of the ,revelation meant to warn the ,church of ,christ against a decline in faith or relaxation in zeal4 ,he assured it that such a lapse would be followed by the intrusion into its field of some dangerous enemy4 ,what the character of this enemy should be is indicated by two things4 ,it will be noticed that1 if ,john deviates from the description of the locusts given by ,joel1 it is in the direction of bringing humanity more into the picture4 ,the locusts spoken of in this fifth trumpet scene are to have crowns like gold upon their heads2 their faces are to be as the faces of men2 their hair to be as the hair of women2 they are to hurt1 not as real locusts do1 the earth and its products1 but men2 their sting1 unlike that of other locusts1 is to be as the sting of scorpions2 and their work will be1 not the destruction of human life1 but the causing of such misery as to make human life unhappy and undesirable4 ,they are to be under the direction of ,satan1 whose field of operations in the warfare he wages against the kingdom of ,christ is1 not the earth1 but the world of human beings4 ,the truth1 then1 which seems to be indicated in this obscure vision is1 that whenever a ,christian man or ,church declines into lukewarmness or apathy there may be expected to follow an incursion and invasion by other and lower forms of religious life and thought4 ,wherever iniquity abounds and the 8love of many0 waxes cold there is sure to be an inroad of heresy1 false doctrine1 more or less heterodoxy of creed4 ,the human heart1 like nature1 abhors a vacuum4 ,where true godliness wanes false religions rush in to fill the void2 and the intensity of zeal which false religions awaken measures the declension that has befallen true faith4 ,the evil spirit that comes back to a home from which he has been once expelled1 and finds it empty1 swept1 and garnished1 takes to himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself1 8and the last state of that man is worse than the first40 ,the temperature of religion when it falls to lower levels never does so equably4 ,the nobler and more ideal parts suffer most severely1 and1 like the shriveled idol of the ,philistines1 at last 8only the stump of ,dagon is left to him40 ,there can be no question that the advocates of the historical interpretation of the ,revelation have a very strong support for their hypothesis in the application of this part of it to the rise and growth of ,mohammedanism4 ,it is not to be denied that many of the essential characteristics of that false religion are quite accurately delineated in this picture4 ,the rise and rapid extension of ,mohammedanism were possible only because of the dead1 formal1 and corrupt condition of the ,christendom which it encountered4 ,its prophet and founder preached a faith which was purer than that of many a so-called ,christian bishop2 and it achieves its triumphs now only in those regions where ,christianity has degenerated into spiritual barrenness and puerile ceremonialism4 ,but in this1 as in so many instances1 the historical interpretation errs1 not through incorrectness1 so much as through incompleteness4 ,in claiming any one historical event as the fulfillment of prophecy it impoverishes inspiration by confining that fulfillment to a single fact4 ,mohammedanism is but one illustration of a profounder truth4 ,the ,revelation of ,john is meant for all ages4 ,it is constantly finding new illustrations and applications4 ,in setting before us the causes of decline as well as of growth1 the ,revelation teaches us to be looking for these causes at all times1 that we may avert the decline or forward the growth2 and thus it is furnishing new examples of its divine truth and new evidences of its divine origin1 without exhausting its force in any single example or any single evidence4 ,the sixth trumpet sounds1 and the vision which is presented to us is one of increasing danger and darkness4 ,warnings unheeded give way to alarms still more threatening4 ,the noonday bell of invitation deepens into the curfew toll of departing day4 ,the approach of an immense and imposing array of horsemen armed for battle strikes deeper terror than did the invasion of the locusts and indicates judgments more formidable4 ,the power of ,satan to harm is overmastering mercy's efforts to save1 and the restrictions which had been laid upon his authority are being relaxed4 ,we are told now that 8by these three was the third part of men killed1 by the fire1 and by the smoke1 and by the brimstone40 ,as there is suggested a spiritual condition which has gone beyond mere declension and apathy to deeper states of alienation from ,god1 so the perils threatened end1 not with a destruction of the happiness of life1 but in death itself4 ,it must be noticed that the region from which the new and alarming scourge proceeds is the 8great river ,euphrates40 ,to understand this we must place ourselves at the standpoint of the apostle4 ,the river ,euphrates was to ,palestine what the ,danube and the ,rhine were to the ,roman empirethe line of demarcation between civilization and barbarism4 ,the ,east was the quarter from which the earlier prophets always apprehended danger4 ,it was in the ,euphrates that ,jeremiah was bidden to cast the book with the stone tied to it 7,jeremiah li1 #fc74 ,on the hither side of the great river lay the kingdoms with which ,israel had mainly had intercourse4 ,on the north of ,palestine was ,syria1 on the south1 ,egypt2 on the banks of the ,euphrates and ,tigris or near by were ,assyria and ,babylon4 ,the peoples of these kingdoms were1 indeed1 nations whose ,god was not the ,lord2 yet between them and ,israel a modus vivendi had to some degree been established1 and some common rules of international intercourse were recognized4 ,but on the farther side was the land of barbarians among whom the arts of civilization were unknown1 who acknowledged no code of comity or obligation with which the chosen people were familiar1 whose ways and modes of warfare were impenetrable and strange1 and from whom all possible evils might be expected4 ,there is1 it must be sadly confessed1 in all human beings a latent germ of barbarism1 a survival of the carnal or animal nature4 ,suppressed1 indeed1 it may be by culture1 education1 or other moral or secular forces1 and its existence hardly surmised1 yet it only awaits fostering conditions to manifest its presence and reassert its power4 ,without divine grace no ,christian is free from liability to an outburst of the carnal mind which may destroy the spiritual life of the soul4 ,nor does any grade of civilization exempt nations from the possibility of a reversion to barbarism1 if the excitements to it are allowed to exist or precautions against its inroads are neglected4 ,bishop ,butler expressed the opinion that whole communities1 like individuals1 might become insane4 ,perhaps it is nearer the truth to explain the sudden frenzies to which men and nations have sometimes given way as an uncontrolled irruption of the barbarous element within4 ,farther on1 in the twentieth chapter of the ,revelation1 we shall find this tendency toward barbarism more particularly referred to by ,john1 and the appreciation of it will help us there to solve one of the most perplexing problems of the book4 ,ethnology either ignores this liability to revert to barbarism or denies it1 and by so doing impairs the value of those hypotheses as to the primitive condition of the race which it seeks to substitute for the ,bible story4 ,it is not always easy to determine whether any particular stage of barbarism marks a step upward in the advance of a growing people or a decline toward animalism from a superior state2 yet the correctness of our inferences depends upon an accurate diagnosis of this question4 ,but human experience is constantly furnishing illustrations confirming the utterances of the word of ,god as to the possibility of a fall from high grades of cultivation to the depths of savagery4 ,if the counsels of ,god are unheeded and the convictions of the ,holy ,spirit are resisted nothing can follow but a descent into lower grades1 until the savage forces that underlie our nature assert supremacy and overleap the weak barriers which reason and judgment set up to stay them4 ,something like this seems to be the warning meant to be conveyed through the sixth trumpet4 ,a striking commentary upon this was given but a few centuries after ,john's death1 when the hordes of barbarians that had been only waiting opportunity swept with irresistible fury over the crumbling walls of the corrupt and decadent ,roman ,empire1 and imposed upon the ,christian ,church the task of saving civilization itself from destruction4 ,we may not even now relax our watchfulness or put off the armor of our faith1 lest this may involve a reversion of mankind to barbaric naturalism4 ,and a return to barbarism is the lowest condition to which human nature can fall4 ,from such a state recovery is well-nigh hopeless and repentance an extreme improbability1 for the resources of mercy will have been almost exhausted1 and beyond lies only doom4 ,it should be noticed that the ,revelation speaks of three woes4 ,the first one predicted is described under the fifth trumpet4 ,the second one is declared by the sixth trumpet4 ,the third one is not uncovered at all4 ,it lies in that future world from which the curtain is not lifted and into which even the light of revelation feebly penetrates4 ,whoever has rejected all the warnings of love and descended the moral scale until he has reverted to the state of sensualism is but a step from the second death4 8,he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption40 #b4 ,the ,two ,witnesses1 or1 the ,supernatural ,scriptures4,the episode of the 8two witnesses10 to which we are now brought1 is one that has sorely tried expositors4 ,though many and various solutions of it have been attempted1 ,alford1 in his commentary upon the passage1 says1 8,i will further remark1 and the reader will find this abundantly borne out by research into histories of ,apocalyptic exegesis1 that no solution at all approaching to a satisfactory one has ever yet been given 444 of this portion of the prophecy40 ,if it shall be found1 therefore1 that the principles which have hitherto guided us enable us to penetrate to the core of this mystery1 and evolve a meaning intelligible and reasonable1 and which1 while interpreting all the details without distortion or suppression1 is in harmony at the same time with the ,scriptures in general and with the purpose for which they have been revealed1 then we may indulge the hope that these principles are correct and may advance with some confidence to the problems that still lie before us4 ,though long tunnels are yet to be threaded1 with only brief intervals between them of open air1 we shall in time1 perhaps1 reach the light of day and rest in the sunshine of discovered truth4 ,it has been already said that through the vast space that intervenes between the divine ,being and man two great lines of communication stretch4 ,these are his works and his word4 ,it is this truth which the trumpets symbolize1 and we have not yet gotten beyond the section of the ,revelation in which this emblem of the trumpets is the ruling one4 ,six of the trumpets have sounded4 ,whatever can be done by natural providences to arouse men to spiritual thought and action has been sounded by them4 ,nature has no other voices with which to speak to mankind4 ,but the resources of ,omnipotence are not exhausted4 ,god has yet other means of approach to his creatures4 ,and if1 therefore1 because of heedlessness or obduracy or preoccupation of mind or absorption in temporal things1 one of these lines of light from ,god's mercy falls with too light a touch to arrest men's attention or awaken them to danger or win their consent to seek ,god's favor1 there remains another and more efficient one1 namely1 his written word2 and here is the place where we should expect allusion to it4 ,the two witnesses1 then1 may be reasonably interpreted as signifying the law and the prophets1 the titles under which the ,old ,testament ,scriptures received by ,john as divinely inspired were almost universally designated4 ,should these fail of their purpose1 even the divine ,being1 we may reverently say1 had no other way of reaching man4 ,it is our ,lord himself who says1 8,if they hear not ,moses and the prophets1 neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead40 ,when the great and strong wind rending the mountains1 and after this the earthquake1 and after this the fire1 have failed1 it is possible that the still small voice will arouse to faith and hope and duty4 ,should it not do so1 then the case is hopeless4 ,in order to verify the solution which is here proposed of the episode of the two witnesses1 a careful examination will be made of the facts as detailed in the text4 ,the introduction of the two witnesses1 however1 is preceded by two visions by way of prelude4 ,this1 we shall find1 is what we might reasonably expect4 ,if the witnesses are1 indeed1 symbols of the sacred ,scriptures1 ,god's direct revelation of his will and character to men1 it is proper that the scope and purpose of all revelation shall be plainly laid down1 that we may know how far the revealed word of ,god is to be regarded as evidence1 and also that some criteria shall be given by which we shall be able to discern what the inspired writings are1 and how to differentiate them from human productions4 ,in other words1 we have here from the pen of ,john his own views of biblical criticism1 and it would have been well if they had been more carefully heeded in the discussions of inspiration recently so rife4 ,in the first of these two visions a 8mighty angel0 is seen to 8come down from heaven1 clothed with a cloud0 and with 8a rainbow upon his head40 ,and he had in his hand a little book open4 ,but1 when 8seven thunders had uttered their voices0 and ,john was 8about to write10 a voice was heard from heaven saying1 8,seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered1 and write them not40 ,this prohibition is distinctly declared to be only for a time4 8,in the days of the voice of the seventh angel1 when he shall begin to sound1 the mystery of ,god should be finished1 as he hath declared unto his servants the prophets40 ,if the interpretation put upon the two witnesses is correct1 and if they symbolize the ,scriptures1 then the purpose of this prelude is to indicate what we are to look for in them4 ,it is not the design of the ,bible to communicate all possible truth1 but only such measure of it as has reference to the kingdom of ,christ4 ,although the things which are revealed belong to us and to our children1 there are still secret things which belong to the ,lord our ,god4 ,he has communicated much1 but he has withheld much1 and doubtless the reasons for the revelation and the reserve are equally wise4 ,there are truths which man's own powers enable him to discover4 ,there are other truths beyond his ability to comprehend even should they be revealed4 ,these are excluded from the ,scriptures as being aside from their purpose4 ,it is only 8when that which is perfect is come10 and 8that which is in part shall be done away10 that we shall know as we are known4 ,very much that we know not now we shall know hereafter4 ,but the ,bible has specific reference to the kingdom of ,christ and reveals only what has relation to that kingdom4 8,the testimony of ,jesus0 is the spirit of all prophecy4 ,that which lies within the capacity of man to discover is left to the wisdom and patience of men4 ,that which pertains to the future life1 and would simply satisfy curiosity to know1 is reserved to the time when we shall have laid aside mortality4 ,the ,scriptures reveal to us only what it is needful for us to know that we may enter and enjoy and forward the kingdom of ,christ4 ,paul was not allowed to utter the words he had heard in his heavenly ecstasy1 and ,john is likewise prohibited from uttering things which belong solely to the divine ,being and await his pleasure to publish4 ,it was sufficient for him to be told that1 however bitter and unpalatable his message might be1 he must still 8prophesy before many peoples1 and nations1 and tongues1 and kings40 8kingom0 replaced with 8kingdom0 ,the second prelude also has reference to the limitations within which all revelation is confined4 8,there was given me a reed like unto a rod3 and the angel stood1 saying1 ,rise1 and measure the temple of ,god1 and the altar1 and them that worship therein4 ,but the court which is without the temple leave out1 and measure it not2 for it is given unto the ,gentiles3 and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months40 ,there are two elements in this which furnish guides to its interpretation4 ,one is the distinction so emphatically made between the temple itself1 which1 as we know1 was reserved exclusively for ,israelites1 and the outer courts1 which were given to the ,gentiles4 ,the other is the use of the symbolical number forty-two4 ,now is it not a reasonable thing that the apostle1 when about to point us to the law and the prophets as ,god's two witnesses1 shall put a broad distinction between them and all mere human productions8 ,the temple itself is the field within which they fulfill their office1 and those only who speak from it are ,god's accredited messengers4 ,if the ,scriptures are the standard by which truth concerning the kingdom of ,christ is to be tested1 if they have authority to bind the consciences of men1 there must be some criterion by which they shall be judged4 ,and this is the criterion8,salvation is of the ,jews40 ,god's messengers and witnesses sprang from them4 ,and ,paul confirms this declaration when he says that the chief advantage which the ,jews had was that 8unto them were committed the oracles of ,god40 ,the highest creations of human genius fall short of the special inspiration which belonged to the prophets and patriarchs and apostles of ,israel4 ,the outer courts1 indeed1 were given to the ,gentiles4 ,theirs was the world of art1 of science1 of commerce1 of literature1 of politics1 of earthly dominion2 but the temple and the altar belonged to the chosen race4 ,brilliant stars brightened the darkness of the ,gentile sky1 but the sun of spiritual truth shone only to the teachers whom ,god called out of ,israel2 and ,homer and schylus1 and muse and sibyl1 must 8pale their ineffectual fires0 in the presence of his seers and anointed ones4 ,and this is confirmed by the use of the symbolical number forty-two4 ,this number1 as we have seen in the ,introduction1 typifies a period which has definite limits and fulfills a specific purpose4 ,it may designate ,judaism proper or ,gentilism proper4 ,and the meaning here is that now1 and throughout this present cycle of time1 the kingdom of ,god has been taken from the ,jew and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of the kingdom4 ,neither the temple1 nor the altar1 nor the inspired ,scriptures belong now exclusively to the ,jew4 ,the chosen race has forfeited its prerogative of exclusiveness1 and the foot of the ,gentile treads the inner as well as outer court4 ,the ,bible belongs to us as well as to ,israel4 ,with these important and interesting preludes explained1 and the reason of their introduction in this place accounted for1 we are prepared to investigate the vision of the two witnesses4 ,it has already been said1 but the importance of the matter requires its repetition1 that the paragraph containing the vision of the witnesses is a part of the section of the ,revelation of which the trumpet is the ruling symbol2 for it is not until the close of this paragraph that the seventh trumpet sounds4 ,it seems1 therefore1 plausible that what is symbolized by the witnesses has some continuous connection with that which is designated by the trumpets4 ,and1 inasmuch as the trumpets are emblems of the instrumentalities which the divine ,being employs to call men to repentance1 obedience1 and the service of himself1 the witnesses are an emblem of some such instrumentality1 having the same end in view1 but operating in a different mode4 ,the six trumpets which have already sounded represent what the divine ,being does by way of natural providence1 approaching men by calamities1 distresses1 the observed connection between impiety and moral1 as well as intellectual1 decadence1 and such like means4 ,but nature in any and all of its modes of manifestation does not comprise all the modes of communication between ,god and man4 ,nor is the testimony which it bears to ,god the highest testimony4 ,the same ,being who 8formeth the mountains1 and createth the wind10 who 8maketh the morning darkness1 and treadeth upon the high places of the earth10 also 8declareth unto man what is his thought40 8,the heavens10 indeed1 8declare the glory of ,god2 and the firmament showeth his handiwork40 ,but the law of ,god does more4 ,it converteth the soul4 ,nature's witness is given by dumb signs or inarticulate sounds4 ,it has no speech nor language4 ,its worshipers may cry aloud to their ,baal from morning until the time of the evening sacrifice1 but there is none to hear1 nor any ,god that regards4 ,it is to and through the human spirit that the divine ,spirit must communicate his deepest truths2 nor has he done all that may be done until he has given to men his word4 8,the grass withereth1 the flower fadeth2 but the word of our ,god shall stand forever40 ,the two witnesses1 human and intelligent1 aptly and appropriately represent this higher mode of communication which ,god employs to impress and teach men4 ,by them we are to understand the law and the prophets1 the two component parts of the ,old ,testament ,scriptures1 which at the date of the ,apocalypse constituted the only canonical ,scriptures known4 ,in the paragraph which follows there is an intimation of the ,new ,testament2 but as yet it was not in existence as a collected code4 ,the ,bible which ,christ and his apostles knew was the ,jewish ,bible4 ,the proof of this somewhat novel interpretation of the two witnesses1 if1 indeed1 any interpretation of any part of the ,apocalypse can be called novel1 lies in the fact that it explains all the details of the vision which are presented to us simply1 easily1 and without any forced construction4 ,it is essential to group together the separate details1 and then endeavor to explain them4 ,the seer says of these two witnesses that they prophesy in sackcloth twelve hundred and sixty days1 which1 as has been said in discussing rules of interpretation1 is one of the numbers symbolical of ,judaism2 they are identified as corresponding with the 8two sons of oil1 that stand by the ,lord of the whole earth10 of whom ,zechariah wrote 7,revised ,version72 they have power to devour their enemies and shut heaven by the miracles of withholding the rain1 turning waters to blood1 and smiting the earth with plagues4 ,there is a period when their 8testimony0 is finished4 ,when that period is reached their enemy1 the beast from the bottomless pit1 kills them1 and their dead bodies lie exposed for three and a half days 8in the street of the great city1 which spiritually is called ,sodom and ,egypt1 where also our ,lord was crucified40 ,at the end of this period 8the ,spirit of life entered into them1 and they stood upon their feet20 and they finally 8ascended up to heaven0 amid convulsions which shake the earth and fill men with terror4 ,how accurately all these features of the paragraph find their fulfillment in the law and the prophets1 or the ,old ,testament ,scriptures1 may be readily shown3 ,first4 ,it is worthy of consideration as a strong point that the expression1 8the law and the prophets0 7sometimes 8,moses and the prophets071 is the one almost invariably employed by our ,lord in designating the older ,scriptures 7,matthew v1 #ag2 vii1 #ab2 xi1 #ac2 xxii1 #dj2 ,luke xvi1 #ca2 xxiv1 #bg2 as also ,john i1 #de2 ,acts xiii1 #ae2 xxviii1 #bc74 ,secondly4 ,the testimony of the prophets and writers of the ,old ,testament may be truly said to have been given in sackcloth4 ,what one of these messengers of ,god ever met with a cordial reception8 ,well did ,stephen say1 perhaps in the hearing of ,john himself1 8,which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted80 8,they were stoned1 were sawn asunder1 were tempted1 were slain with the sword3 they wandered about in sheepskins1 and goatskins2 being destitute1 afflicted1 tormented0 7,hebrews xi1 #cg2 ,luke xi1 #diea74 ,thirdly4 ,the law and the prophets found their special embodiments and representatives in ,moses 7,john i1 #ag7 and ,elijah 7,malachi iv1 #d1 #e72 one the unequaled statesmen and legislator1 the other the most striking and1 in many respects1 the greatest of the long line of prophets4 ,the miracles ascribed to the two witnesses were actually wrought by these two extraordinary and typical men4 ,to ,moses was given power to turn waters to blood and to smite the earth with plagues4 ,it was at the prayer of ,elijah that the heaven was shut so that it rained not but according to his word4 ,fourthly4 ,zechariah's vision of the 8two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves10 and which are said to be 8the two anointed ones1 that stand by the ,lord of the whole earth10 finds its most appropriate and exact fulfillment in the ,holy ,scriptures1 which testify of ,jesus 7,john v1 #ci74 ,and it was the representatives of the law and the prophets1 or ,moses and ,elijah1 who were chosen to stand by our ,lord when he appeared in glory upon the ,mount of ,transfiguration4 ,fifthly4 ,the 8testimony0 of the law and the prophets is distinctly said by our ,lord himself to have been 8finished0 when his own forerunner1 ,john the ,baptist1 appeared4 8,for all the prophets and the law prophesied until ,john0 7,matthew xi1 #ac72 8,the law and the prophets were until ,john0 7,luke xvi1 #af74 ,sixthly4 ,although the ,jews professedly acknowledged the law and the prophets to be of divine origin1 our ,lord emphatically charged against them that they had by their glosses and traditions in effect abrogated them2 devitalizing them and making their authority to be a dead letter 7,matthew xv1 #f2 ,mark vii1 #ac2 ,luke xi1 #eb74 ,seventhly4 ,at no period did this nullification of the power of the ,holy ,scriptures reach such extremes as during our ,lord's active ministry on earth4 ,the dead bodies of the law and the prophets may be said1 without exaggeration1 to have lain exposed in the streets of ,jerusalem1 where our ,lord was crucified4 ,eighthly4 ,the bodies of the two witnesses are said to have lain 8three days and a half40 ,as the period of our ,lord's active ministry has been computed at three and a half years the number may refer to that4 ,but as three and a half is a symbolical number1 designating a half period1 it may be used to designate the same here4 ,the ministry of our ,lord was such a half period1 which was not completed until it had been supplemented by the gift of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,ninthly4 ,after the 8three days and a half the ,spirit of life from ,god0 is said to have 8entered into0 the two witnesses1 8and they stood upon their feet40 ,this was remarkably fulfilled on the day of ,pentecost1 when1 by the illumination and inspiration of the ,holy ,ghost1 the apostles were moved to draw from the law and the prophets those convincing arguments and promises and appeals which led to the conversion of thousands4 ,tenthly4 ,the two witnesses after their resurrection are said to have 8ascended up to heaven0 in the presence of their enemies4 ,this finds its fulfillment in the fact that the ,hebrew ,scriptures1 with the added life given them by the ,new ,testament1 have been accepted by the ,christian ,church1 not as the exclusive property of the ,jewish ,church or as the archives of the ,hebrew nation1 but as the common heritage of the world and the canonical word of ,god to the whole human race4 ,lastly4 ,the convulsions of nature which are said to have accompanied the ascent of the witnesses to heaven were exactly fulfilled1 as ,john could testify1 in the events that followed ,pentecostthe terror and alarm of ,christ's enemies1 the fear that came upon all1 the shaking as by an earthquake of the place where the disciples were assembled in prayer1 and the rapid increase in numbers of those who were slain of the ,lord and raised to a new spiritual life4 ,if this explanation of the episode of the two witnesses is correct the depreciation1 or rather1 perhaps1 under-appreciation of the ,old ,testament1 which exists even among those who do not question its inspiration1 is without ground or reason4 ,in the opinion of ,st4 ,john the addition of the ,new ,testament does not in any wise supersede or render obsolete the older ,scriptures4 ,in the education of the human race the ,creator did not begin with the more abstruse and highly developed teachings of the ,new ,testament1 but with the natural1 biographical1 historical1 and providential facts of the ,old4 ,with the exception of the evangelical gospels1 which belong really to both dispensations1 since the ,christ whose life and words and deeds are there recorded is both the consummation of the one dispensation and the seed and promise of the other1 no part of holy writ exceeds in interest1 attractiveness1 and simplicity the law and the prophets1 in which ,john and ,peter and ,paul were trained4 ,the ,old ,testament contains1 albeit in embryo1 all doctrines and truths essential to the kingdom of ,christ4 ,if for a while it was kept secreted within the bounds of ,judaism1 this was not because its revelations were meant exclusively for the chosen people1 but that its sacred treasures might be guarded from waste and wanton destruction until the rest of the world was prepared to welcome them4 ,if much of its meaning was misconceived and misconstrued by the ,jewish mind1 this must be attributed largely to the frailty and ignorance of human nature4 ,the ,new ,testament does not so much add to the ,old ,testament as illustrate1 explain1 and apply it4 ,it is the interpreter1 not the destroyer1 of the ,old4 ,it opens its secrets1 brings to light its truths1 reveals to us the face of ,jesus ,christ everywhere in it1 and enforces its teachings by the power of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,but the ,scriptures of the ,old ,testament are the imperishable record of the foundation of ,christ's kingdom upon earth4 ,without them the writings of the ,new ,testament would be without connection with that continuous chain of inspiration whose first link was forged when ,god said1 8,let there be light40 ,and1 equally so1 without the ,new ,testament the ,old would be merely a foundation lacking a superstructure1 and thus incomplete4 ,its chain of inspiration would be without any sure anchorage in the future eternity1 and thus hang helpless and useless1 with no power to bridge the gulf between the alpha and omega1 the beginning of time and its end4 ,but the ,old ,testament can never become obsolete4 ,not one jot or tittle of it shall pass away until all is fulfilled4 ,and the revelation given in the ,new ,testament can no more supersede or abolish it than science can supersede nature1 of which it is the ordained expositor4 8,testameut0 replaced with 8,testament0 ,there is a healthiness1 too1 about the ,old ,testament like to the quiet restfulness of nature4 ,when men are disposed to wander from the safe path into the vagaries of mysticism or asceticism nothing will correct the aberrance more surely than diligent and profound study of its sober realities and its everyday life4 ,the reading of it calms the fevers and dispels the illusions to which we are prone4 ,it brings to us those soothing influences which we feel when we look at the 8,good gigantic smile of the brown old earth ,on autumn mornings10 or1 lying under forest shades1 watch the gentle swaying of foliage1 or listen to the purling of brooks1 or catch glimpses of the calm blue sky4 ,we need its concrete facts to save us from the abstractions of a vague and unreal idealism4 ,thus closes the vision of the trumpets4 ,they represent the messengers whom ,god employs to call men to repentance1 the methods he avails himself of to forward the kingdom within and without us4 ,he will not cease to strive with us until every appeal likely to reach us has been tried4 ,when nature and the supernatural1 the word of ,god in providence and the richer word of ,god in revelation1 have exerted their power the resources of the divine ,being have been1 we may with all reverence say1 exhausted1 and the time is ripe for the closing of the drama of probation1 that he which is righteous may be righteous still1 and he which is filthy may be filthy still4 ,yet the writer of the ,revelation does not allow us to remain in doubt as to the result of ,god's efforts to save a lost world4 ,the wisdom of ,god is not astray4 8,he will rest in his love40 ,he has himself absolute confidence in the success of the plans of redemption4 ,when the seventh and last trumpet shall sound the curtain will fall upon a world restored to ,god1 upon a paradise regained1 and great voices in heaven shall say1 8,the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our ,lord1 and of his ,christ2 and he shall reign forever and ever40 ,,part ,,iv ,the ,foes of the ,kingdom ,,part ,,iv ,the ,foes of the ,kingdom ,,with chapter xii another section of the ,apocalypse begins4 ,two great truths relating to the kingdom of ,christ have been discussedthe fundamental principle of mediatorial sovereignty upon which it is based1 and the instruments1 providence and the written word1 by which it is advanced4 ,it follows very naturally and logically that the antagonists by whom the kingdom is opposed should also be disclosed to us4 ,out of his abundant grace and in tender compassion for human ignorance1 ,god has made known to us1 through this marvelous book1 the adversaries with whom we must contend before the kingdom can attain its consummation in our hearts or in the world at large4 ,while no part of the ,revelation is easy of interpretation1 or can be made intelligible without very careful study both of itself and of the whole ,bible1 there has been added to this part of it the embarrassment of the odium theologicum4 ,bitter controversial strifes have raged around the interpretation of it and have raised a cloud of prejudices1 through which the truth has been sometimes dimly seen4 ,from all such prejudices we must free ourselves4 ,we are approaching holy ground1 and it behooves us to put off our shoes1 that nothing of human invention may intervene between our naked feet and the sacred floor of ,god's temple4 ,we need this caution the more because from the nature of the case the interpretation of this part carries us more or less into the field of history4 ,the foes of the kingdom of ,christ are visible foes1 as well as invisible4 ,the contest is not only for the individual man1 but for the race4 ,the commission given to the ,church is1 8,go1 preach my ,gospel to every creature20 and the keynote of the song of triumph with which the last part closed was1 8,the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our ,lord1 and of his ,christ40 ,there is1 therefore1 a tendency to confine the interpretation to the field of history1 to direct the attention to large and collective bodies of men1 either world powers or religious societies1 or to those historical events and cycles of events which have apparently changed the currents of the ages1 and to insist that in these the fulfillment of the prophecy lies4 ,but history itself is only the record of individuals4 ,we delude ourselves when we fancy that by association anything is created4 ,that mystical something which is imagined to be in collective bodies more than in the individuals that compose them is a mere figment of the brain1 and to discuss it is simply to revive the barren conceits of the schoolmen4 ,a ,church is only 8a congregation of believing men20 a ,state is a coperative association of individuals1 not a corporation2 and neither one has any powers or forces other than those which exist in the individual members4 ,man is both the microcosm and the macrocosm4 ,the chief value of the inspired book which we are now studying lies in the fact that it discloses to us those forces1 spiritual and otherwise1 the conflict between which makes up the life history of each individual of mankind4 ,it is a chart meant for every navigator of this boundless ocean of human existence4 ,its truths will be as precious and important to the last man on this globe as they are to us4 ,the reefs and breakers it describes are not perils past which any age can sail and then look back upon as things done with1 but dangers which beset every voyager4 ,it is true that in the history of large bodies of men1 whether secular or religious in their characterin the temptations1 declension1 growth1 and triumph of nations and ,churchesillustrations of its truths and fulfillments of its predictions will be found4 ,but these1 we must insist1 are merely illustrations4 ,long as the world shall last the ,apocalypse will prove itself to be a part of ,god's boon of revelation1 in that each follower of ,christ shall find it of inestimable value for his own private guidance1 inspiration1 and study4 8,apocalyse0 replaced with 8,apocalypse0 ,looking by the light of ,god's lamp through the ages to come1 ,john was allowed to foresee the successful completion of the life work and plans of ,jesus the ,saviour4 ,he who began both his gospel and his great epistle with 8the beginning0 also follows the course of the drama of redemption to its final 8amen40 ,the saint who1 leaning on the bosom of ,jesus1 looked up to him as the ,author of his faith was also permitted to fall at his majestic feet and worship him as its ,finisher4 ,and1 from personal communion with and contemplation of him as the ,son of man1 he rose to the grander conception of him as the ,christ1 the ,word of ,god1 ,king of kings1 and ,lord of lords4 ,he was taught1 also1 that the progress through which his own conceptions of the ,son of ,god had passed was but a type and example of that which shall take place in time on the field of the world and in the hearts of mankind4 ,the cross upon which ,jesus of ,nazareth suffered was1 indeed1 a throne from which he ascended to the crown of the universe4 ,but ,john1 too1 saw that ere that final consummation can be reached there are foes to be encountered1 hindrances to be removed1 antagonists to be overthrown4 ,a great and effectual door is opened unto us1 but there are many adversaries4 ,to the consideration of these he therefore now calls our attention3 #a4 ,the ,dragon1 or ,satan4,the first of the adversaries with whom the kingdom of ,christ has to dispute supremacy is the devil1 the archfiend and enemy of ,god and man4 ,that ,satan1 the evil one1 is referred to in the description of the great red dragon having seven heads1 ten horns1 and seven diadems seems an interpretation so natural that it is hardly worth while to seek for far-fetched meanings when so plausible an explanation lies near at hand4 ,the ten horns 7,zechariah saw but four,zechariah i1 #ah7 are the instruments with which he seeks to scatter and destroy the sheep of ,god4 ,the seven heads with diadems represent the pride and haughtiness of spirit in which he boasts that the power and glory of all kingdoms have been delivered to him and that he gives them to whom he will4 ,it is a struggle for life and death between him and the ,christ4 ,if ,paul1 the man of affairs1 with his practical conception of things in their concrete relations1 says1 8,our wrestling is not against flesh and blood1 but against the principalities1 against the powers1 against the world-rulers of this darkness1 against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places0 7,revised ,version71 much more strongly does ,john1 with his intuition of abstract principles1 recognize and emphasize the power and working of the dark spirit whose names are ,satan and 8destroyer40 ,no writer of the ,new ,testament speaks oftener or more clearly of the evil spirit than does ,john4 ,in vivid imagery and with graphic condensation he sums up the history of the kingdom of darkness1 the long record of ,satan's undying antagonism to the kingdom of ,christ4 ,the woman arrayed 8with the sun1 and the moon under her feet1 and upon her head a crown of twelve stars0 7see ,genesis xxxvii1 #i71 represents the ,church collectively and in its most general expression2 primarily1 the ,jewish ,church1 inasmuch as ,christianity had just begun its mission2 but not confined thereto4 ,against the ,church1 against every individual of it1 this murderer and liar from the beginning wages relentless warfare4 ,his is the power behind all other antagonisms4 ,to devour the child of the woman in the hour of its birth1 to destroy humanity itself if he can1 seems to be the aim of his being4 ,not a soul is now born into the kingdom of ,christ by regenerating grace but ,satan is there to crush the newly-given life1 if possible1 in its inception4 ,when the first gospel of salvation and victory was given to ,eve1 8,thy seed shall bruise the serpent's head10 ,satan began his machinations to defeat the prophecy1 even though he knew that he could do no more than bruise the heel of the promised seed4 ,when the promise given to ,abraham of a posterity countless as the stars of heaven was about to receive its fulfillment in the extraordinary fertility of the sons of ,jacob in ,egypt1 it was ,satan who inspired ,pharaoh to issue the cruel edict commanding the death of every ,hebrew male child4 ,when ,jesus was born in ,bethlehem of ,judea it was the same dragon that urged ,herod to his mad purpose of slaying every young child throughout its coasts4 8,this is the heir2 let us kill him1 that the inheritance may be ours40 ,and it is against this wily foe1 8the prince of the power of the air10 8the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience10 that we all have continually to struggle4 ,for protection against such an adversary there is certainly need of divine aid4 ,and that help has never been withheld4 8,there were given to the woman the two wings of a great eagle40 ,is not this an echo of ,exodus xix1 #d1 8,i bare you on eagles' wings10 and also of ,psalm xci1 #d1 8,and under his wings shalt thou trust08 ,and in addition to this we are told that ,god prepared 8a place0 in the wilderness where the woman might fly and be nourished4 ,does not this refer to ,palestine1 that quiet1 secluded land1 nigh the great highways of the world and yet aloof from them1 where in comparative isolation ,israel might develop her own resources and grow in strength until she should be ready for her broader mission8 ,if the purpose of the divine ,being fell short of full realization the fault was not his1 but hers1 through her lust to be like the surrounding nations4 ,the numbers1 too1 representing the period of this seclusion1 8twelve hundred and sixty days10 and 8a time1 times1 and half a time10 are forms of three and a half1 which1 as has been said in the ,introduction1 symbolizes ,judaism1 or any cycle with a definite purpose which is1 however1 only a half period4 ,and further confirmation of the reference to the ,church of ,israel is found in the allusion to the archangel ,michael1 who is always represented in the ,scriptures as sustaining some special relation to ,israel 7,daniel x1 #ba2 xii1 #a74 ,yet1 mighty as ,satan is and venomous as is his hostility1 the believer is endowed with weapons of offense and defense still more potent4 8,they overcame him by the blood of the ,lamb1 and by the word of their testimony0 7or 8witness0 with reference1 doubtless1 to the testimony of the two witnesses of the preceding chapter74 ,in other words1 the cross of ,christ and the word of ,god are the conquering weapons with which believers win the victory over ,satan4 ,the ,lord ,jesus had most plainly foretold the secret of victory in the hearing of ,john when he had said1 8,now is the judgment of this world3 now shall the prince of this world be cast out4 ,and ,i1 if ,i be lifted up from the earth1 will draw all men unto me40 ,and1 doubtless1 these words came with fullness and force to the memory of the apostle when he heard the 8loud voice saying in heaven1 ,now is come salvation and strength1 and the kingdom of our ,god1 and the power of his ,christ3 for the accuser of our brethren is cast down40 ,not yet1 however1 is ,satan ready to cease his efforts to destroy4 ,he changes the field of conflict1 but does not relinquish the malice of his assault4 ,if he cannot in heaven1 that is1 the ,church1 countervail the kingdom of ,christ1 he will attempt it in the earth1 on the field of secular life4 8,the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood1 after the woman3 that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood40 ,there is1 perhaps1 a reference here to ,isaiah lix1 #ai3 8,when the enemy shall come in like a flood1 the ,spirit of the ,lord shall lift up a standard against him40 ,looking back at that chapter1 we shall find that the flood spoken of means an unusual increase of social disorders and crimes4 ,that is most probably the meaning here4 ,satan is the foe alike of ,god and man4 ,his enmity is directed as much against all order and morality as against goodness and righteousness4 ,he is that 8lawless one0 of whom ,paul speaks in #b ,thessalonians ii1 #c 7,revised ,version74 ,if he were allowed to carry out his will he would subvert all government1 spiritual or secular4 ,but1 says the apostle and seer1 8,the earth helped the woman40 ,for its own protection and existence the ,state must execute laws1 must preserve order1 and must secure itself against anarchy and unbridled libertinism2 and1 in so far as it guards social morality1 it fosters spiritual prosperity4 ,in restraining crime and violence it must needs allow the kingdom of ,christ opportunity to grow4 ,foiled thus again1 ,satan does not abandon the conflict1 but resorts to other and more wily means to make war with the 8remnant0 of the woman's seed 8which keep the commandments of ,god1 and have the testimony of ,jesus ,christ20 and the history of these efforts must next engage our attention4 #b4 ,the ,first ,wild ,beast1 or the ,spirit of ,worldliness4,in the chapter of the ,revelation which precedes the appearance of the beasts 7,revelation xii1 #ab7 the warning had been given1 8,woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea6 for the devil is come down unto you1 having great wrath40 ,we are now to witness the fulfillment of this warning4 ,the apostle saw two wild beasts rise1 one from the sea1 the other from the land1 both of them formidable foes and intense in their hostility to the kingdom of ,christ4 ,there can hardly be a question but that these are intended to represent the means by which ,satan1 thwarted in his direct assaults1 endeavors to carry on his warfare4 ,and just as ,christ1 in carrying forward his mediatorial kingdom1 makes use of the two instrumentalities1 providence and the written word1 so also1 in imitation of him1 his fierce antagonist has his two emissaries and agents4 ,we shall find as we study this part of the ,revelation that one of the most deceptive and dangerous arts which ,satan employs is his manner of counterfeiting the form and aping the methods of ,christ1 in hope that he may thereby delude the unsuspecting or heedless4 ,we ought1 therefore1 very carefully to note every feature1 that we may be able to detect these dangerous incarnations of the spirit of evil1 and thus escape his snares4 ,the first wild beast of ,john's vision rose from the seaan expression which1 when used symbolically1 designates the secular or temporal world1 in antithesis to the ,church4 ,his distinctive characteristics are intense pride1 the possession of vast power1 strong vitality enabling him to recover speedily from severe injuries1 insatiable craving after homage and ability to secure it1 outrageous blasphemy1 and undisguised as well as unceasing hostility to ,christ and his saints4 ,it is a mooted question whether by this beast ,john meant to describe and foretell the coming of some individual person or some organization of men1 secular or religious1 ,state or ,church2 or whether the characteristics he portrays are intended to represent some principle of evil1 always at work1 mightier and more enduring than any organization of men1 which manifests itself in various forms and at all times1 but transcends all its manifestations1 and against which1 because it is one of ,satan's most successful means of antagonism1 every ,christian must keep perpetual watch4 ,the latter of these hypotheses seems to be more in keeping with the cast of ,john's strongly idealistic and abstract mind1 and also with the purpose of the ,apocalypse as intended for the edifying of believers4 ,and furthermore1 as the kingdom of ,god is not something that cometh 8with observation10 so that men can say of it1 8,lo here6 or1 lo there60 but is something 8within0 us1 so its opponent is not to be sought in any particular organization or special event or single individual1 but rather in some abstract principle1 all the more dangerous because it exists separate and distinct from these4 ,in his description of this wild beast ,john draws his data from the prophecy of ,daniel2 and a study of that book will aid in the elucidation of this4 ,it is1 indeed1 true that in the mind of ,daniel the antagonists and allies of ,god alike assumed the form of kingdoms1 or world powers4 ,but this resulted from the fact that his cast of mind was essentially concrete1 and also because as a statesman and man of affairs1 charged with the administration of finances and politics1 accustomed to the handling of men in collective bodies and to deal with matters affecting their external relations1 his conceptions of religion regarded rather its outward manifestations than its inward power4 ,we are not1 however1 compelled to believe that ,john1 while using the prophecies of ,daniel as his basis1 was limited to the conceptions of the older prophet4 ,he had a better key to the hieroglyphics of the kingdom and could read their meaning more clearly4 ,behind the forces which play their part upon the world's stage he could recognize the spiritual principles of which they were incarnations4 ,the world power which loomed largest to the mind of ,daniel1 and whose hostility to the kingdom of ,christ was most dreaded by him1 was one that sprang up after the death and among the successors of ,alexander the ,great4 ,that extraordinary captain and gifted statesman1 the first ruler who grasped the conception of the essential unity of mankind and who strove to realize it by the fusion of races into one nation1 left no one at his death capable of comprehending or executing his plans2 and the empire that was formed by his ten generals was a heterogeneous one1 possessing elements both of weakness and strength that were incapable of being welded into unity4 ,among the descendants and successors of these generals was ,antiochus ,epiphanes1 whose hatred of ,judaism amounted to real monomania1 and whose insane purpose to exterminate utterly the customs1 usages1 religion1 and even the existence of ,judaism carried him to such extremes as to arouse a spirit of revolt which1 under the guidance of the ,maccabees1 defeated his intent4 ,in him the prophet ,daniel foresaw the incarnation of all that is hostile to ,christ and his kingdom4 ,in the days of ,john the political sovereignty of the world was wielded by a still more formidable power1 one that combined in itself the strength of all the four kingdoms of ,daniel1 uniting the lion1 the bear1 and the leopard with the added and imparted authority and power of the dragon4 ,that power was the ,roman ,empire1 between which and ,christianity had already begun the antagonism which was to leave its decisive and disastrous effects upon both4 ,the policy of ,rome toward conquered peoples and religions had not been one1 customarily1 of harsh severity2 indeed1 it had been marked in general by unusual liberality4 ,having so many gods in her own ,pantheon1 it has been said1 the addition or subtraction of a few more or less was hardly worth consideration4 ,but upon one thing ,rome invariably and absolutely insistedthe preservation of public order4 ,her administration was one of strict1 even stern1 paternalism4 ,the individual existed for the ,state1 and had no rights but such as the ,state allowed4 ,the central power did all the thinking2 the subject had only to submit1 whatever his personal wishes4 ,upon the emperor1 as the embodiment of the ,state1 devolved the onerous responsibility of securing and1 if need were1 of enforcing peaceful and lawful relations between men and men4 ,whenever therefore1 the profession of any religion or the organization of any guild or association interfered with the prosperity of any branch of trade or commerce or manufacture1 the emperor felt called upon to interpose1 in order to redress the injury caused or wrong suffered thereby4 ,the more conscientious and upright the emperor1 the more he felt the responsibility of administering the laws2 and thus just and righteous rulers1 like ,trajan and ,antoninus and ,marcus ,aurelius1 were more likely to enforce these rules of order1 even to the point of persecution1 than such men as ,nero and ,caligula and ,domitian1 upon whom moral considerations sat loosely4 ,the early persecutions of ,christians sprang out of this fact4 ,there were things ,christian men would not do4 ,they would not eat meat sacrificed to idols2 they would not attend the spectacles of the theater2 they would not worship or own images2 and1 as the trades and professions that lived by these things suffered with the increase of ,christians1 complaint was made to the emperor1 and the power of the ,state invoked in behalf of public order4 ,the riot at ,ephesus 7,acts xix1 #bcda7 is a case in illustration4 ,very soon1 however1 the ,roman authorities came to see that there was something back of ,christian worship that differentiated it from other cults4 ,there was a principle of individual liberty1 a conviction of personal freedom1 an appreciation of unseen and divine realities which1 if unchecked1 threatened the paternalism and the emperorthe worship of the ,csars and the continuance of the empire2 and so ,christians began to be persecuted simply because they were ,christians4 ,thus began the antagonism that did not cease until the empire became nominally ,christian1 and the ,church1 striving after the universality of the empire1 became worldly and paternal in its turn4 ,this antagonism ,john clearly discerned1 and reveals it in the ,apocalypse4 ,but we shall be astray if we conceive that the beast which the apostle saw symbolized only the ,roman or any other empire4 ,there is an evil principle which was in existence long before that empire was established1 and has continued with unabating energy since its dissolution2 of whose power earthly and worldly kingdoms are but manifestations2 which ,satan has employed in all ages as one of his most successful weapons2 and whose deadly hostility to the ,christian and the ,church is implacable4 ,it is the principle of worldliness1 that spirit of the world against which the ,bible so frequently and faithfully warns us4 ,it is not easy to define worldliness4 ,if it could be described exactly1 and its bounds accurately meted1 its danger would be greatly diminished4 ,if we could point to the doing or abstaining from doing of specified things1 or the using or refraining from using of any particular faculties1 and say1 8,this is worldliness and this only10 how much easier it would be to avoid it6 ,worldliness is a principle1 a spirit and temper of the soul4 ,it can find a field for its exercise anywhere and everywhere1 in things essentially good as well as in the essentially evil4 ,its intrinsic spirit lies in thisthat it disengages men and things from their normal relation of dependence upon and subjection to ,god1 and sets them up as rivals to him4 ,it assumes to displace the ,creator from his rightful sovereignty over thoughts and desires and affections and activities1 and transfers allegiance to some created thing4 ,it substitutes something temporal and earthly for ,god and gives to it the worship that belongs undividedly to him4 ,it manifests itself1 ,john tells us1 in 8the lust of the flesh1 the lust of the eyes1 and the vainglory of life40 ,this is the spirit of which the ,bible speaks so plainly and forcibly in passages like these3 8,if the world hate you1 ye know that it hated me before it hated you20 8,the carnal mind is enmity against ,god1 for it is not subject to the law of ,god1 neither indeed can be20 8,know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with ,god8 whosoever1 therefore1 will be a friend of the world1 is the enemy of ,god20 8,if any man love the world1 the love of the ,father is not in him40 ,and every characteristic of the wild beast which ,john saw exhibits this spirit of worldliness4 ,it1 and it alone1 exhausts the fullness of the description4 ,of this beast which ,john saw1 one of the heads was1 as it were1 8wounded or slain to death0the very words which were used in the description of the ,lamb 7,revelation v1 #f71 as if there were in this an attempted1 although feeble1 imitation of ,christ4 ,worldliness1 too1 has its ,calvaries and ,gethsemanes2 but they fall far short in measure and in purpose of the great sacrifice of the cross4 ,they are compulsory1 not self-chosen sacrifices2 they are not redemptive and substitutional in their design1 but retributive inflictions of divine justice2 they involve but a part of the being1 and are not1 as was ,christ's offering1 the surrender of the whole self4 ,many such wounds has worldliness received4 ,the serpent's head has been bruised again and again by the seed of the woman4 ,in the judgments which have come upon the world throughout the course of its historyin the deluge1 the destruction of ,sodom and ,gomorrah1 the exodus from ,egypt1 the overthrow of ,nineveh and ,babylon1 the fall of ,jerusalemits spirit has been rebuked1 condemned1 punished4 ,indeed1 in all the dissolutions and decay of naturein the fading of the grass1 in the falling of the flower and of the leafthe warning is being constantly given1 8,the world passeth away1 and the lust thereof40 ,most of all1 in the cross of ,christ has the world received its deadliest wound4 ,but how soon is the wound healed1 how quickly are the lessons of providence forgotten6 and the tide of worldliness1 stayed for a moment1 resumes its volume and rapidity and carries its victims to their destruction4 ,it is this power of recuperation which contributes to the might of worldliness and makes it the more dangerous4 ,success adds to its fascinations and multiplies its votaries4 8,all the world wondered after the beast0 whose deadly wound was healed4 ,in comparison with its triumphs the cross of ,christ becomes a stumbling-block to some and foolishness to others1 because of the paucity of its victories4 ,and in worshiping the beast its followers are scarcely aware1 or are oblivious to the fact1 that they are worshiping the dragon himself2 for ,paul says1 8,the things which the ,gentiles sacrifice1 they sacrifice to devils1 and not to ,god40 ,another striking and conspicuous characteristic of the first beast was his virulent blasphemy4 ,upon his heads were 8the names of blasphemy40 ,the voices of his mouth were blasphemy4 ,his fierce1 ambitious purpose to displace ,god and usurp his throneand this is what the ,bible defines blasphemy to bemoved him to demand such homage as can be given rightly to ,god alone1 and to set up his own tabernacle and name as competitors with ,god's4 ,is not this descriptive of the spirit of worldliness8 ,how exacting it is of the worship of its devotees6 ,in place of the ,creator1 who is blessed for ever1 it substitutes the creature4 ,it enthrones nature in some one or other of its phases as the rival of the divine ,being4 ,it will not admit the visible universe1 with its laws1 to be merely the vehicle through which ,god reveals himself and his thoughts1 but demands for it equality of homage with its ,maker4 ,it does not claim for itself power to work miracles1 and will not believe that any are possible4 ,it does not base its authority upon any supernatural revelation1 and denies that any is needful4 ,like ,absalom1 in the gates it whispers in every man's ears1 8,o that ,i were made judge in the land60 and thus draws unwary souls into treason against their ,king4 ,it arrogates to itself the right to the whole of man's beingto all beauty and life1 to all literature and art1 to all recreation and enjoyment1 to the exclusive and undivided use and administration of all earthly powers and faculties4 ,and how ruthless and cruel this spirit of worldliness can be6 ,does any human soul1 driven by dissatisfaction and heartache1 seek to lift the veil and penetrate to the secret shrine of the universe1 or to pierce the 8rose mesh0 of mystery that surrounds us and ascend to the divine ,spirit above and beyond it1 how quickly is the fascinating smile of the world turned to bitter scorn1 and its smooth flattery to remorseless persecution6 ,with what haughtiness and assumption does it contend that1 in everything relating to music and poetry1 to the sthetic arts1 to finance and politics and social matters1 the question of morals has no place and ,god and religion have no right to enter6 ,to this beast1 we are further informed1 power1 or authority1 was given 8to continue forty and two months40 ,this number1 it has been previously said1 is the symbol of an epoch which is limited and fractional1 but which has a definite purpose pervading it4 ,throughout the whole period of ,judaism this beast raged with all his ferocity against the ,church of the ,old ,testament4 ,and1 although the wild beast next to be delineated was a more formidable adversary to religion than even he1 yet the temptation to fall into the ways1 and follow the practices1 and to drop down to the religious level of the ungodly world of heathenism around constituted a peril to the ,hebrew faith against which the prophets had need frequently to lift their voices4 ,and how constant even now is the peril to the ,christian ,church and the ,christian believer of falling into the worship of the same beast of worldliness1 is so patent a truth that every man's observation and experience are sufficient to prove it4 ,the victims of worldliness are1 indeed1 many1 and to resist sorely tries 8the patience and the faith of the saints40 ,but its doom is sure and irretrievable1 whether that doom shall come by the sword of ,god or by captivity4 ,its own methods of hostility shall be turned against itself4 #c4 ,the ,second ,wild ,beast1 or the ,spirit of ,false ,prophetism4,in attempting to solve the mystery of the second wild beast which ,john saw we are confronted with a task much more serious than has as yet been presented to us4 ,not only is this antagonist of ,christ a more formidable one than any hitherto encountered1 but there seems an almost purposed obscurity and indistinctness about the description1 as if to the seer himself the beast appeared in so vague and nebulous a form1 or else was of such composite and heterogeneous character1 as to be incapable of more exact delineation4 ,the only way to reach the truth is to seek out such features of the description as may be regarded plain1 and from them to advance to the more perplexing ones4 ,it will be noticed1 then1 that the second beast rises not as the preceding from the sea1 but from the earth2 that is1 from the ,church1 not in its ideal state1 but in its actual condition1 as the field of human activity and influence4 ,again1 it is noticeable that1 while in the description of the first beast the expression 8it was given him0 occurs again and again 7much more conspicuously in the original than in the translation71 in the case of the second one this expression is1 in the main1 although not in every instance1 superseded by words suggesting active agency8he doeth10 8he maketh10 8he causeth0these being all various renderings of the same ,greek word4 ,this would seem to imply that1 while the first beast is merely an emissary or instrument executing the will of another1 the second differs from him in that he has1 or assumes to have1 some power of originating action1 some causative agency1 and that he regards himself as having independent authority4 ,while1 therefore1 the results effected by both are the same 78,he had power to give breath to the image of the beast071 those results are brought about in different ways4 ,another very important feature of the description is that1 while the distinguishing characteristic of the first beast is blasphemyan open and undisguised assumption of the prerogatives of ,god1 with intense and avowed hostility to himthe properties of the second are duplicity1 deception1 and self-deceitperversion of the truth rather than antagonism to it2 and hypocrisy1 if more insidious1 is far deadlier than open opposition4 ,he has the appearance of a lamb1 while speaking as a dragon4 ,he is said to work miracles1 or at least is said to profess so to do1 which the first beast did not4 ,and he counterfeits the work of ,god1 in that by a peculiar mark he stamps upon his followers his claim to them1 as the divine ,being affixes to his a seal in attestation of his ownership4 ,one further remark may be made4 ,three times in the subsequent part of the ,revelation 7,revelation xvi1 #ac2 xix1 #bj2 xx1 #aj7 these two adversaries of ,christ are brought into juxtaposition1 and in these instances it is the first beast alone who is designated by that name4 ,the second beast has the synonym of 8the false prophet40 ,the term seems to mark his superior power or craft2 to the malice of a beast is added the higher intelligence of a man4 ,the combination attests the formidable character of this wily antagonist4 ,in this last-named feature lies a suggestion which may serve as a clew to the interpretation of the symbol and unveil its mystery4 ,a false prophet can stand only in contrast with a true one4 ,it will be needful1 therefore1 to discuss1 somewhat in detail1 the characteristic functions of the prophetical office as set forth in the ,scriptures4 8,the usage of the word prophet10 says ,cremer1 8is clear4 ,it signifies one to whom and through whom ,god speaks4 ,what really constitutes the prophet is immediate intercourse with ,god1 a divine communication of what the prophet must declare4 ,two things1 therefore1 go to make the prophetan insight granted by ,god into the divine secrets or mysteries1 and a communication to others of those secrets4 ,new ,testament prophets were for the ,christian ,church what ,old ,testament prophets were for ,israel1 inasmuch as they maintained intact the immediate connection between the ,church and1 not the ,holy ,spirit in her1 but the ,god of her salvation above her4 ,the prophets1 both in the old and the new dispensations1 were messengers or media of communication between the upper and the lower world40 ,lexicon of ,new ,testament ,greek1 third ,english edition1 pp4 #efh1 #efi4 8,the primary idea of a prophet10 says ,ewald1 8is of one who has seen or heard something which does not concern himself1 or not himself alone1 which will not let him rest4 ,it wholly absorbs him1 444 so that he no longer hears or is conscious of himself1 but of the loud and clear voice of another who is higher than himself4 ,he acts and speaks1 not of his own accord2 a higher one impels him1 to resist whom is sin4 ,it is his ,god1 who is also the ,god of those to whom he must speak40 ,prophets of the ,old ,testament1 vol4 i1 p4 #g4 ,london1 ,williams and ,norgate4 8,that which10 says ,oehler1 8made the prophet a prophet was not his natural gifts nor his own intention2 and that which he proclaimed as the prophetic word was not the mere result of instruction received nor the product of his own reflection4 ,the prophet1 as such1 knows himself to be the organ of divine revelation1 in virtue both of a divine vocation capable of being known by him as such1 444 and also of his endowment with the enlightening1 sanctifying1 and strengthening ,spirit of ,god40 ,theology of the ,old ,testament1 #bje1 #bjf4 ,new ,york1 ,funk and ,wagnalls4 ,with these statements the concurrent testimony of the ,new ,testament is in harmony3 8,god 444 at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets0 7,hebrews i1 #a72 8,the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man3 but holy men of ,god spake as they were moved by the ,holy ,ghost0 7#b ,peter i1 #ba74 ,it was1 therefore1 essential to the credibility and authority of the prophet that he should have received some direct revelation from ,god4 ,the message intrusted to him to deliver must be from a source above and outside himself4 ,it was not sufficient that ,god spake in him2 he must be able to say that ,god spake to him4 ,when to the student prepared by the guidance of a teacher to receive them nature reveals its facts and laws1 these come to him as something external to him4 ,they are not suggestions or inspirations of his own mind1 but owe their origin to a source exterior to it4 ,so likewise with the prophet4 ,how the revelation came to him1 and how his hearers became convinced that ,god had spoken to him1 are questions that do not touch the truth of his message4 ,the important thing is that the prophet was the agent and representative of ,god in delivering a message which had previously been committed to him4 ,herein lay the distinction between the priesthood and the prophetical office4 ,a priest was a man on whom was laid the responsibility of appearing before ,god on behalf of men2 a prophet was one who stood in the presence of men on behalf of ,god4 ,a priest represented man in the court of ,god2 a prophet represented ,god in the court of human life4 ,a priest was man's advocate2 a prophet was ,god's advocate4 ,the function of the priest was to intercede for his fellows2 identity of condition and tender sympathy with them were therefore prime requisites4 ,the function of a prophet was to deliver ,god's word to man2 strict fidelity to his message and to the truth were his essential qualifications4 ,as the priesthood1 then1 was a type of ,christ1 finding its perfect realization in him who laid down his life a ransom for us1 the prophetical office was a type of the ,holy ,ghost1 whose work it is to convey to man the message of ,god1 whether it be of conviction1 of justification1 of sanctification1 of inspiration1 or of assurance4 ,if1 therefore1 by a 8false ,christ0 is meant one who usurps the place of ,christ and substitutes himself for him1 demanding from men the allegiance due only to the ,son of ,god1 then by a 8false prophet0 must be meant one who unconsciously or purposely substitutes himself for the ,holy ,spirit1 setting forth his own conceptions or visions as the voice of ,god4 8,the characteristic10 says ,oehler1 8of the false prophets is declared to be that they speak that which they themselves have devised4 ,these latter are designated 7,ezekiel xiii1 #b7 as prophets #8out of their own hearts1' who #8follow their own spirit1 and have seen nothing2' #8they speak1' according to ,jeremiah xxiii1 #af1 #8a vision of their own heart1 and not out of the mouth of the ,lord4'0 ,theology of the ,old ,testament1 p4 #dfd4 ,no stage of history has been free from such presumptuous prophets4 ,their existence and the disastrous work they wrought are set forth again and again in the ,old ,testament ,scriptures4 ,but that their appearance in larger numbers and under more formidable guises may be expected in the ,new ,testament dispensation follows from a consideration of the influence of ,christianity upon human nature4 ,unquestionably1 one marked result of that copious effusion of the ,holy ,spirit1 which beginning at ,pentecost has continued until now1 was a quickening of the human soul to a realization of its individuality4 ,fifteen centuries of sad experience and a convulsion which disrupted ,western ,christendom were needed to bring any large portion of the ,church to an appreciation of the privileges which inhere in this individualism4 ,since the great ,reformation of the sixteenth century1 men have come by freer study of the ,bible to discern more clearly the possibilities which it teaches of personal consciousness of sonship1 and of the individual possession by the ,holy ,spirit of every soul availing itself of the privilege2 although there have never been wanting those who have discerned the possibility of individual communion with the spiritual world4 ,in individualism lurks a danger against which no revelation can absolutely secure us4 ,i may transgress its prescribed limitations and become excessive4 ,it may strive after independence from its ,creator and put forth its hands to forbidden fruit4 ,it may assume prerogatives which the divine ,being reserves to himself4 ,it may substitute its own imaginings and volitions for voices of ,god1 and displace that real spirituality which only the ,holy ,ghost can create with an auto-spiritualism which is deceptive1 illusory1 and specious1 the precursor of spiritual and intellectual anarchy4 ,our ,lord gave warning of this peril when1 predicting the trials which should come1 he said1 8,there shall arise false ,christs1 and false prophets1 and shall show great signs and wonders2 insomuch that1 if it were possible1 they shall deceive the very elect40 ,paul foresaw it1 saying to the ,ephesian elders1 8,of your own selves shall men arise1 speaking perverse things1 to drawaway disciples after them40 ,it was this which led ,john to write1 8,believe not every spirit1 but try the spirits whether they are of ,god3 because many false prophets are gone out into the world40 ,the writer of the ,revelation had no need to go beyond his own memory to find symptoms of this spirit4 ,already it had begun to manifest itself in the apostolic ,church4 ,simon ,magus was a conspicuous but not solitary example4 ,in the epistles to the seven churches there are cautions against 8the ,nicolaitans0 and 8the woman ,jezebel1 which calleth herself a prophetess10 very distinct from those which denounce the pleasures or the persecutions of the world4 ,in the ante-,nicene age gnosticism1 with its pretensions to a theosophy more profound1 a knowledge more extensive and exact1 a code of ethics more consistent1 and a self-denial more rigid than those of the faithful1 was a more dangerous adversary than the ,roman empire2 and we who appreciate the skillfulness of its specious arguments realize that nothing but the providence of ,god carried the artless and unsuspicious ,church safely through the peril4 ,and throughout the ages since there has been a continuous reappearance of this spirit1 sometimes within1 sometimes outside the ,church2 not always avowedly antagonistic to ,christianity1 but assuming to be a more perfect form of it2 not impugning the authority of the ,scriptures1 but claiming to possess deeper views of their esoteric meaning2 not openly subverting the foundations of morals1 but superseding them by a show of a more austere and uncompromising sanctimoniousness4 ,it so puts on the appearance of a lamb that its dragon nature is hard to detect4 ,it has cropped out in ,manichism1 in ,paulicianism1 in ,albigensianism1 among hermits and pillar saints1 among pietists1 mystics1 occultists1 and other professors of a strained and exalted perfection and illumination to which only the elect initiate can aspire1 and from which the common masses of believers are excluded4 ,bigg1 ,christian ,platonists of ,alexandria1 ,bampton ,lectures1 #ahhf1 lecture i1 p4 #ce2 ,harnack1 ,history of ,dogma1 book i1 chapter iv4 ,it is hard to describe this spirit by a single name4 ,it wears so many forms that no one word can comprehend all of them4 ,even the apostolic pen failed to depict this adversary clearly or sketch its outline with distinctness4 ,deceit seems to be the pervading and controlling element of its being1 and to affect both substance and form4 ,but it has as its usual accompaniment one mark which it stamps upon its devoteesa scrupulous and rigid asceticism which deludes itself with the hope of emancipation from the necessary conditions of earthly life1 which denounces as sinful things proper in themselves1 simply because they are natural or secular1 and which aims at the profitless and impracticable task of anticipating in this life the celestial state of disembodied spirits4 ,no creature can ever with impunity contravene the laws imposed upon his nature4 ,the abnormal and excessive development of one side of man's constitution is sure to involve a corresponding atrophy of some other side1 and thus the sins excluded by one system of defenses find entrance through some other avenue left unguarded4 ,and the constant result of asceticism has been in the end to revive with new power the worldliness it aimed to destroy2 so that in this sense the second beast gives 8life0 and breath 8unto the image0 of the first4 ,for the termination of all hyperspiritualism has been either in an arrogant self-exaltation1 the very opposite of ,christian humility and love1 or in an antinomianism which1 under the affectation of liberty1 gives loose rein to sensualism4 ,to the question1 which thus becomes of vital importance1 ,how shall we 8try the spirits0 to know 8whether they are of ,god08 ,john has elsewhere furnished a sufficient answer3 8,every spirit that confesseth that ,jesus ,christ is come in the flesh is of ,god3 and every spirit that confesseth not that ,jesus ,christ is come in the flesh is not of ,god3 and this is that spirit of antichrist1 whereof ye have heard that it should come2 and even now already is it in the world0 7#a ,john iv1 #b1 #c74 ,the central principle of all asceticism1 in whatever form1 and whether perceived and acknowledged or not1 is that matter is essentially evil and spirit essentially good4 ,it is in the contact of soul with body and of spirit with matter that sin lies4 ,holiness1 therefore1 means only the diminution or destruction of this contact4 ,all bodily desires1 activities1 and enjoyments1 if they cannot be annihilated1 must be reduced to the minimum1 that thereby the ascendency of the spirit may be gained and maintained4 ,thus human nature is mutilated to half its capacities4 ,religion becomes only a 8concision10 not a process of transformation4 ,the problem of redemption is no longer the moral one of the salvation of the soul from the guilt and pollution of sin1 but the metaphysical one of the liberation of the spirit from matter4 ,by such as hold this view of things the assumption by the ,son of ,god of the likeness of sinful flesh1 his birth1 his fellowship with earthly conditions and experiences1 can never be fully accepted2 his crucifixion is attenuated into a figure of speech or becomes a mere parable1 and cannot be the necessary means of our salvation4 ,mller1 ,history of the ,christian ,church1 vol4 i1 pp4 #aeb1 #aec4 ,new ,york1 ,swan ,sonnenschein ,co41 #ahib4 ,against such a theory the ,revelation is one long protest4 ,its keynote is salvation through 8the ,lamb that was slain40 ,nor does anything prove so conclusively that ,john was the author of the ,apocalypse as the fact that in it1 in the fourth gospel1 and in the epistles which bear his name1 the central and fundamental truth was the same3 8,the ,word was made flesh1 and dwelt among us20 and1 8,this is he that came by water and blood1 even ,jesus ,christ2 not by water only1 but by water and blood4 ,and it is the ,spirit that beareth witness1 because the ,spirit is truth40 ,the acquisition of knowledge depends as much upon a right method as upon an earnest purpose4 ,alphabets must be mastered before sentences can be read4 ,no one can understand the higher mathematics who has not been grounded in the fundamental axioms4 ,and one of the axioms of the spiritual life is that the ,holy ,spirit cannot be given until ,jesus is glorified 7,john vii1 #ci74 ,whoever does not accept1 with all implied therein1 the exemplary earthly life and the atoning and sacrificial death of the ,son of ,god may well pause to reflect whether the spirit which leads and moves him is indeed the ,spirit of ,god1 or whether it is not the spirit of evil and untruth4 ,we may not set limits to the spiritual flights of which the soul is capable1 but it must have a solid basis from which to start2 otherwise it wastes its strength in aimless wanderings amid mazy fogs and vagaries4 ,the path of truth lies between extremes1 and from either side of the ridge along which it winds steep declines lead to dangerous abysses4 ,if a man1 on the one hand1 accepts to the full the reality of the incarnation of the ,son of ,god1 and then does not advance to that other revealed truth1 that the ,holy ,ghost is of equal power and divinity and that his mission is as wide in its range and as complete in its effects1 religion will be to him a thing of externals1 of outward and mechanical forms and rites4 ,on the other hand1 the ascetic who would aspire to the full heights of the revelation of the ,holy ,spirit without accepting what must precede successthe real humanity of our ,lord1 his cross1 his grave1 his resurrectionwill surely miss the path and be lost in abstractions1 fanaticisms1 delusion1 and deceit4 ,one last feature descriptive of the second beast remains to be consideredthe number of his name4 8,let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast3 for it is the number of a man2 and his number is six hundred threescore and six40 ,if ,john meant to cover a mystery he has certainly succeeded1 for no explanation has as yet been offered convincing enough to command the acceptance of the ,church4 ,unquestionably this is the most difficult to solve of all the problems of the book1 and the apostle is thought to intimate this in saying1 8,here is wisdom20 although possibly his meaning is that the special need for wisdom lies in defense against the wiles of this adversary1 rather than in solving the mystery of his name4 ,the interpretation which has met with the largest assent is based on the usage of employing the letters of the ,greek and ,hebrew alphabets as numerals4 ,men have attempted to discover some name the letters of which when added will give the numerical value six hundred and sixty-six4 ,the name which has secured the largest number of advocates is ,lateinos 7,latin71 which1 written in ,greek characters and numbered1 gives six hundred and sixty-six4 ,by ,roman ,catholic interpreters who accept this solution the empire of ,rome is supposed to be meant2 by ,protestants1 the ,church of ,rome4 ,dr4 ,adam ,clarke thought this solution to 8amount nearly to demonstration40 ,in recent times many ,german and other scholars1 mainly for reasons based on a special theory of the date of the ,revelation1 prefer the words ,nero ,csar1 which1 written in ,hebrew letters1 number six hundred and sixty-six4 ,irenus 7died about #bjb71 who attempted the problem1 out of many names preferred ,teitan1 possibly to suggest an analogy between the attempts of ,roman emperors to crush the ,church and the unsuccessful war of the ,titans against the gods1 without venturing to put forth his opinions in more definite form4 ,very many other names of men1 ancient and modern1 have been proposed1 with greater or less plausibility2 for curiosity to decipher numerical symbols1 when it possesses a man1 holds him with almost the fascination of gambling4 ,but it is apparent that the combination of names possible with only a few letters is so much beyond computation that almost apostolical inspiration is requisite to decide upon the right one4 ,to the word 8,lateinos10 strong as are its claims1 the objection lies that the ,roman or ,latin empire can scarcely be meant1 since the beast ,john describes is evidently a spiritual power1 not a secular one4 ,nor can the ,roman ,church be meant1 for it was not known as ,latin in the days of the apostle1 nor for centuries afterward2 and1 as one design of the ,apocalypse was to comfort and instruct the generation in which ,john lived1 it would have been inconsistent with that design to select a name which could have no meaning intelligible to it or to many generations succeeding4 ,there is wisdom in the words of ,bleek3 8,the discovery that a definite name contains this number as the value of its letters in ,greek would not warrant us to assume the correctness of the interpretation if other hints in the book respecting the beast did not agree40 ,lectures on the ,apocalypse1 p4 #hg4 ,london1 ,williams ,norgate1 #ahge4 ,another explanation offered is that the number six hundred and sixty-six is but a threefold repetition of the number six1 ,john thus intending to mark in the most emphatic manner that1 however mighty the power or long the duration of the beast shall be1 it will inevitably fall short of the completeness and permanence of ,christ's kingdom1 as six is less than seven4 ,still another explanation proposed is that the number was originally written with the ,greek letters 2 being equal to six hundred1 to sixty1 and to six4 ,as 7ch7 is the initial letter of ,christ1 is supposed to be an emblem of ,satan1 being afterward so used by the ,gnostics1 and is the initial of 1 cross4 ,the symbol1 it is said1 refers to some ,satanic power intervening between ,christ and the cross1 some system which honors him as teacher but denies him as ,saviour1 which accepts ,jesus1 but not 8him crucified40 ,the description accords well enough with that of the second beast2 but whether it can be extracted from the number six hundred and sixty-six is another question4 ,the monogram1 while harmonizing with the symbolism of the ,apocalypse1 and also delineating the nature of the beast1 does not explain the emphasis which seems to be laid upon his 8name40 ,there is1 however1 one detail in this part of the description of the beast often overlooked1 but which may carry us far on our way to decipher the secret of the number4 ,the number of the name is not monopolized by the beast2 it does not exhaust itself in any single individual4 ,we are told that 8no man might buy or sell1 save he that had the mark1 or the name of the beast1 or the number of his name40 ,the beast has followers who imbibe his spirit and partake of his characteristics1 and to whom his name and number are equally appropriate4 ,it is more in keeping with this statement1 as well as with other details1 to interpret the beast as a principle rather than a person1 as being some spirit of evil which1 assuming prominence in some man or organization1 is yet shared by many men and organizations4 ,the ascetic1 false prophetism which fulfills the other details of the description coincides also with this4 ,if1 following out the rule of interpretation which has guided us hitherto1 and assuming that ,john drew his prediction of the future from facts and tendencies existing in his day1 we read the epistles contained in chapters ii and iii1 we shall find that among the perils which threatened the apostolic ,church none was more imminent than that which is called 8the doctrine of the ,nicolaitans10 which was but a reproduction of the heresy of ,balaam1 the gifted and formidable rival and antagonist of ,moses2 the name ,nicolaus1 indeed1 meaning in ,greek the same that ,balaam does in ,hebrew4 ,so deep a mark did ,balaam make that throughout the ,old ,testament1 as well as the ,new1 he stands as the representative1 as he was the first example1 of that spirit of false prophetism which1 beginning as ascetism1 degenerates into antinomianism and prostitutes genius to the service of the flesh4 ,now1 it is certainly true1 as ,zllig shows1 that the words 8,balaam1 the son of ,beor1 soothsayer10 if written in ,hebrew letters do make up the sum six hundred and sixty-six4 ,it seems1 therefore1 probable that some embodiment of his insidious spirit1 some reproduction of his deadly doctrine1 with its resultant lawless practices1 is the solution of this mysterious symbol1 the second beast1 against which ,john earnestly warns the ,church in all ages to guard itself as the most dangerous foe to the kingdom of ,christ4 ,and possibly the archological researches which are now bringing to light much of the hidden history of earlier ages may yet discover to us the sect which served as the basis of his warning4 ,bleek1 ,lectures on the ,apocalypse1 p4 #bhe4 ,the interpretation which has here been put upon the symbols of the two wild beastsnamely1 that they represent1 the one the spirit of worldliness1 the other that autospiritualism or self-centered piety which1 for lack of a more comprehensive phrase1 may be designated as false prophetism or false asceticismderives some confirmation from the fact that their resulting effects have been such as the author of the ,revelation predicted4 ,worldliness seems the baser of the two1 but its dominion is briefer and less stable4 ,as the mind can never be content with agnosticism1 but must by necessity search for some explanation of the mystery of being until satisfaction is gained1 so the heart can never fully rest in hopes and themes and joys which are only earthly4 ,the religious instincts inherent in and inalienable from our nature will assert themselves and cry for ,god4 ,on the other hand1 asceticism1 while it seems to present a loftier ideal and holds men thereby with a more permanent grasp1 is all the more baleful by reason of its deceptiveness4 ,it veils pride1 ambition1 malice1 selfishness1 under the guise of superior sanctity1 which1 while imposing on others by its well-masked duplicity1 lulls its victims into almost hopeless slumber by its hypocrisy4 ,those whom it allures by its professions of superior piety it mocks with disappointing dreams4 ,it is the dark shadow that always waits on holiness and liberty2 it is the special temptation that besets souls seeking after purity and knowledge2 while worldliness is that to which those are most prone who mingle much with the world and deal with earthly realities4 ,if1 on the one hand1 it is easy for men to fall into the danger of using their heaven-given faculties for the ignoble purpose of gratifying their lower desires or of turning stones to bread simply that they may live1 it is equally easy1 on the other1 to wander into the opposite error of presuming rashly upon ,god's providence and mercy1 although humility has degenerated into boasting and love has been perverted to censoriousness4 ,from neither tendency can the regeneration of the world come2 both are alike enemies of ,god and of man4 #d4 ,anticipations of ,victory4,it is one of the characteristic peculiarities of ,st4 ,john's literary style to introduce a subject which for the moment he merely suggests to our notice1 returning to it subsequently in order that he may amplify and complete it4 ,he goes over his work again and again1 each time adding some new touch1 with the purpose of bringing out in greater prominence some detail of his subject4 ,while each section1 therefore1 contains in measure an epitome of the whole1 in each one some single point is more specifically and elaborately discussed4 ,there is1 it is true1 advance of thought2 but the eagle of the apostolic band moves in circles1 bringing into notice of his keen eye every part of the field over which he soars1 while each swoop of his wing carries him a little beyond his former orbit1 so that his progress is in spirals4 ,the principle which controlled him seems to have been that of presenting to us in sharp and striking antithesis the contrasts between conflicting ideas1 while he holds them under our observation4 ,it is also characteristic of a disposition like ,st4 ,john's1 and of a life so contemplative and secluded as his was1 to view things in the light of their essential principles2 not as they become1 modified by contact and in relation with each other1 but as they radically and germinally are4 ,by consequence such minds1 instead of being occupied with the intermediate changes1 pass at once to ultimate results and see the end in the beginning4 ,an instance of this appears in the fourteenth chapter1 which is really but an epilogue to the preceding chapters4 ,in the twelfth and thirteenth chapters we have had presented to our vision the formidable enemies with which the ,christian believer must struggle4 ,they have been described most graphically and with a fullness of detail not subsequently exceeded4 ,the dramatis person are all put upon the stage1 and no new actors in the tragedy of existence need be expected4 ,but these enemies are sufficiently numerous and terrible to excite apprehension and awaken earnest inquiries as to our means of resistance and possibilities of success4 ,the seer1 therefore1 pauses for a moment to review the resources put within our reach and to assure us of their adequacy4 8,greater is he that is in you10 he says1 8than he that is in the world40 ,and he fully indorses the emphatic declaration of ,paul1 8,the weapons of our warfare are not carnal1 but mighty through ,god to the pulling down of strongholds40 ,in prophesying victory over the dragon and the beasts to the saints of ,christ1 ,john separates them into two classes1 as he had done in chapter vii4 ,this is not in any spirit of ,jewish narrowness or exclusiveness4 ,he had long gotten beyond that and learned to call no man common whom ,god had cleansed4 ,even ,paul1 the apostle of the uncircumcision1 recognized a distinction between the ,jew1 who was first1 and the ,gentile2 so there can be alleged against ,john no bigotry in recognizing the distinction1 inasmuch as he foreshadows equal victory to both classes4 ,there can hardly be a question that by the 8hundred forty and four thousand0 ,john meant ,israelites after the flesh2 for they 8stood on the mount ,sion20 they sang a song which none others but themselves could learn1 namely1 the song of ,moses and of the ,lamb 7 xv1 #c72 they were 8the first fruits unto ,god and to the ,lamb0 7xiv1 #d72 they were without 8guile10 with reference no doubt to ,john i1 #dg4 ,they were 8virgins10 having the true asceticismfreedom from ungodliness and worldly lusts4 ,there was reason for rejoicing to a ,jew like ,john in the fact that1 in spite of the opposition of the rulers and ,herods among the chosen people to whom had been committed the oracles of ,god1 and on the very spots of the crucifixion and resurrection1 so many of his former co-religionists had become disciples of ,christ and followed the ,lamb whithersoever he led them4 ,but the word of ,god is not bound1 nor is it the exclusive property of any race2 and the seer immediately adds the vision of the multitudes of 8every nation1 and kindred1 and tongue1 and people10 to whom 8the everlasting ,gospel0 was preached and among whom it found adherents4 ,the fullness of the times had come1 and ,gentiles might 8fear ,god1 and give glory to him10 the one ,creator of 8heaven1 and earth1 and the sea1 and the fountains of waters40 ,one new feature is now introduced4 ,babylon1 which occupies so much of the subsequent part of the ,apocalypse1 is here for the first time mentioned4 ,babylon1 it will be attempted to show1 is not another adversary1 but an apostate ,church which has succumbed to adversaries and thereby become a counterfeit and rival to ,christianity4 ,it is here brought upon the stage by anticipation1 and its doom foretold1 to give completer assurance of the coming victory over all forms and results of sin and evil4 ,the age in which ,john lived was an age of martyrdom4 ,how severely this fact tried 8the patience0 and faith of the early ,christians we know from hints in other apostolical writings4 ,paul found it necessary to show to his brethren in ,rome that if they suffered with ,christ it was that they might be also glorified together with him4 ,peter1 too1 comforts those whose faith was being so sorely tried with the assurance that the trial of their faith was 8more precious than of gold that perisheth10 and would be 8found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of ,jesus ,christ40 ,and so ,john gives to the ,church of his day the glad tidings that1 although ,god buries his workmen1 he carries on his work2 that they1 if they died 8in the ,lord10 should 8rest from their labors20 and that 8their works0 should survive and go on winning victories after their departure4 ,if it should be asked how or with what weapons they were to overcome1 ,john gives the answer which is found so often in the ,book of ,revelation that it is one of the keys to unlock its mysteriesthey overcome 8by the blood of the ,lamb1 and by the word of their testimony0 7,revelation xii1 #aa72 by which latter expression is meant1 doubtless1 the ,scriptures1 as explained in the chapter upon the two witnesses4 ,that the two visions which now follow1 the harvest of the world and the vintage scene1 refer to these two weapons of success furnishes an explanation of them so simple and easy that it is strange they should have occasioned so much difficulty to commentators4 ,the prophet ,joel1 from whose writings these visions are drawn 7,joel iii1 #ac71 probably among the earliest and certainly among the greatest of the ,hebrew seers1 appears to have been gifted with a foresight of the future remarkable even for one of that extraordinary body of men4 ,the final and complete triumph of ,god's cause over all opposing foes in and through ,zion1 and the deliverance of the ,church from all bondage1 oppression1 and danger1 preceded by a plentiful outpouring of the ,holy ,spirit upon all classes1 ages1 and conditions1 stood out before him as a certain and assured fact4 ,the details of the methods by which this result was to be achieved were not revealed to him1 nor is it surprising that1 being thus left to himself1 he could conceive of no other instrumentalities than those which in his experience of human affairs had passed under his own observation4 ,this is not the only instance in which the apostles of the ,new ,testament1 while confirming the prophets of the ,old as to results1 have discerned more clearly the power of spiritual forces1 and for swords and carnal weapons and rods of iron have substituted the more peaceful instrumentalities of the sword of the ,spirit1 the breath of the ,messiah's lips1 and the staff of the ,good ,shepherd4 ,the writer of the ,revelation1 expanding and evangelizing the vision of ,joel1 saw 8a white cloud10 and ,one 8like unto the ,son of man0 sitting thereon1 8having on his head a golden crown1 and in his hand a sharp sickle40 8,out of the temple0 an angel came and cried to him1 8,thrust in thy sickle1 444 for the harvest of the earth is ripe40 ,whereupon he cast his sickle upon the earth1 and 8the earth was reaped40 ,in these words surely a reference is to be seen to the words of our ,lord himself uttered in the hearing of ,john and recorded in ,matthew xxiv1 #ad1 #cj1 #ca3 8,and this ,gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations2 and then shall the end come4444 ,and they shall see the ,son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory4 ,and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet1 and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds1 from one end of heaven to the other40 ,this metaphor of the harvest as the result of the sowing of ,god's word is one of the most common to be found in the ,scriptures4 8,the sower soweth the word0 7,mark iv1 #ad71 or 8the word of the kingdom0 7,matthew xiii1 #ai71 or 8the word which by the ,gospel is preached unto you0 7#a ,peter i1 #be74 8,so is the kingdom of ,god1 as if a man should cast seed into the ground2 and should sleep1 and rise night and day1 and the seed should spring and grow up1 he knoweth not how4 ,for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself that is1 automatically and spontaneously4444 ,but when the fruit is brought forth1 immediately he putteth in the sickle1 because the harvest is come0 7,mark iv1 #bfbi74 ,that 8the word of ,god is quick and powerful0 7,hebrews iv1 #ab72 that it has ,god's life in it 7,john vi1 #fc72 that it is the great weapon of warfare1 defensive and offensive1 to the ,church and the believer2 that it is the incorruptible seed by which men are born into the kingdom 7#a ,peter i1 #bc72 that it is the instrument whereby we are sanctified 7,john xvii1 #ag71 is the concurrent declaration of the ,scriptures themselves4 ,that it is to be preached by apostles1 prophets1 pastors1 and teachers is the commission binding on all3 8,go ye into all the world1 and preach the ,gospel to every creature0 7,mark xvi1 #ae74 ,this ,bible is sufficient of itself1 all other things are only ancillary2 8in due season we shall reap1 if we faint not0 7,galatians vi1 #i74 ,all literature and art and culture and science are but as 8the grass0 that 8withereth10 or 8the flower0 that 8fadeth20 8but the word of our ,god shall stand forever40 ,and the martyrs of the apostolical age had the inspired assurance of ,john to console them1 that if they faithfully bore witness to the word they might fall1 but 8their works0 would follow on after them4 ,and in so saying he is only rechoing the words which he himself had heard from the ,master1 8,one soweth1 and another reapeth0 7,john iv1 #cg74 ,and ,john shows how completely he had gotten away from ,jewish narrowness and absorbed the ,master's spirit1 in his recognition of the fact that the ,bible is for every nation and kindred and people4 ,the other instrumentality of victory put within the reach of the ,church1 namely1 the all-sufficient 8blood of the ,lamb10 is beautifully illustrated in the vintage vision1 which has most needlessly perplexed commentators4 ,an angelnot now the ,son of manis seen coming 8out of the temple which is in heaven0 with a sharp sickle4 ,another angel came out from the altar1 who is described as having 8power over fire0 7the same combination as is found in ,isaiah vi1 #f71 and at his cry the sickle was thrust into the earth1 and the clusters of fully ripe grapes gathered and cast 8into the great wine press of the wrath of ,god40 ,it is hardly possible to read these words without seeing in them a reference to ,isaiah lxiii1 #af4 ,by the great mass of believers the words are interpreted as an allusion to and a prophecy of the atoning work of ,christ4 ,it certainly seems that the writer of the ,revelation so understood them1 not only from the connection of this vintage scene with the blood of the ,lamb1 but also from ,revelation xix1 #aaaf1 where the same connection of the two themes1 the 8sharp sword0 issuing from the mouth of ,christ1 that is1 the word of ,god1 and the 8vesture dipped in blood10 with the treading of the wine press1 is found4 ,our belief in the plenary inspiration of the writers of the ,scriptures does not compel us to the conviction that they always comprehended the full import of their message1 or that all the particulars embraced therein stood out clearly and plainly in their minds4 ,this is one of the instances in which prophets and wise men desired to see the things which we in the kingdom of ,christ see1 but did not see them4 ,every man in painting mental pictures must of necessity use colors with which his own mind is acquainted1 and which he has acquired by experience and observation4 ,and ,isaiah and the other prophets1 in the age and with the surroundings in the midst of which they lived1 had no other means of conveying to the minds of men the true revelations which were given to them of the suffering and victorious ,messiah than terms such as they saw exemplified in the world of history and in the men about them4 ,any other terms would have been incomprehensible1 and so have failed of their purpose to help and inspirit4 ,and the divinity of the ,bible is seen conspicuously in thisthat the framework in which its glorious pictures were set is capable of expansion to the times in which we live and the larger views we have1 without fracture or distortion4 ,the signs and symbols which by divine illumination were presented to them have come down to us2 but we1 with the clearer light of the ,sun of righteousness1 can read intelligently what were hieroglyphics to them1 and1 looking with unveiled face1 can behold therein the glory of ,god4 ,that ,john1 in thus quoting from ,isaiah1 has ,calvary and ,gethsemane in his thoughts is shown by his specifying particularly that 8the wine press was trodden without the city10 bringing out the truth1 of which ,hebrews xiii1 #ab1 is the witness1 that 8,jesus also1 that he might sanctify the people with his own blood1 suffered without the gate40 ,it is true that in the prophecy of ,isaiah there appears an element of vengeance and wrath that does not comport with our ideas of salvation and redemption1 and even repels4 ,the element is still there2 but the ,new ,testament teaches us that all that was lonely1 painful1 agonizing in human redemption was borne by the ,christ for us4 ,we are 8bought with a price10 but he paid it4 ,he was 8made a curse for us40 ,he 8bare our sins in his own body on the tree10 and by his 8stripes0 we are 8healed40 ,however feeble may be the traces of vicariousness in nature1 human life is full of it1 is built about it4 ,all love is manifested in vicarious suffering4 ,scarce any rise but that some fall2 scarce any become rich but that others become poor2 there is hardly a smile or a laugh of joy for which some pain is not felt or some tear not shed somewhere4 ,and1 if ,god manifests his love by sending 8his ,son to be the propitiation for our sins10 this is but an illustration of the truth1 as apparent in the spiritual world as in that of nature1 of the transmutation of forces2 the sum not being increased or diminished1 but the places and modes of manifestation changing4 ,the remainder of the vintage scene may be easily explained1 difficult as it has seemed to most interpreters1 by applying the key which is put into our hands1 if we accept the solution offered above4 ,we must now for almost the first time take up the prophecy of ,ezekiel1 which from this place onward almost singly rules the ,apocalypse1 and the careful study of which will throw light upon what seems most obscure4 ,we are told that 8blood came out of the wine press1 even unto the horse bridles1 by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs40 ,turning to ,ezekiel1 we find that the last chapters of that great prophecy are taken up with a beautiful description1 ideal and figurative1 doubtless1 of the restored temple1 holy city1 and land of the new ,israel of ,god4 ,in the forty-seventh chapter of ,ezekiel the dimensions of this ideal land are very carefully stated4 ,the boundary line of it was1 on the north side1 ,hamath1 in latitude thirty-four degrees twenty minutes1 and1 on the south1 a line drawn from ,tamar1 at the southern border of the ,dead ,sea1 to ,kadesh1 a brook emptying into the ,mediterranean4 ,if1 now1 we measure on a map the distance between these lines1 we shall find it to be two hundred miles1 or sixteen hundred furlongs4 ,this whole space1 comprehending all of the ,holy ,land1 was thus entirely covered with the blood which flowed from the wine press trodden by the ,son of ,god4 ,could there be a more complete statement of the all-sufficiency of that atoning blood8 ,it is the same truth presented to us here which ,john has elsewhere in plainer prose revealed to our faith3 8,the blood of ,jesus ,christ his ,son cleanseth us from all sin40 ,and as if still further to verify the statement he tells us that the blood reached to 8the horse bridles40 ,there is an allusion in this to ,zechariah xiv1 #bj1 where we are told that in 8the day of the ,lord0 there shall be 8upon the bells or1 as the margin has it1 #8upon the bridles' of the horses1 ,holiness unto the ,lord40 ,the ideal land is not only covered in its whole extent with the atoning blood1 but so deep is the stream that it buries all beneath it1 except where upon the surface is displayed the significant inscription1 8,holiness unto the ,lord40 ,surely there is no lack in the provisions of salvation4 8,where sin abounded1 grace did much more abound3 that as sin hath reigned unto death1 even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life1 by ,jesus ,christ our ,lord40 ,thus1 then1 in these beautiful visions is it shown that the believer and the ,church are sufficiently armed for the encounter with any antagonist1 however furious or formidable4 ,we are supplied with 8the sword of the ,spirit0 and 8the blood of the ,lamb40 ,whatever the tasks may be that lie before us1 having these1 we have all necessary equipment4 ,nothing shall be able to harm us so long as we continue to be followers of ,god4 ,if the harvest scene illustrates the extent of divine grace1 and is an emblem of the living seed which1 small in its beginnings1 grows into a great and widespreading tree under whose branches all the nations of earth may find shelter and rest1 the vintage scene illustrates the depth to which salvation penetrates4 ,the whole extent of human need is reached4 ,neither is there a want anywhere which may not be satisfied4 ,and through the use of the divinely appointed means the kingdom of ,christ may be brought to its ideal of perfection1 in us and in the whole ,church1 until ,god shall1 indeed1 be all and in all4 ,,part ,v ,the ,counterfeit of the ,kingdom1 or the ,false ,church ,,part ,v ,the ,counterfeit of the ,kingdom1 or the ,false ,church ,,the section of the ,revelation which we now reach1 and which extends from chapter xv to the close of chapter xix1 may be called the judgment section4 ,there is a striking parallelism between it and part iii1 or the vision of the trumpets1 which symbolizes the methods through which the kingdom of ,christ is furthered4 ,as that section divided itself into two partsfirst1 the natural agencies which divine ,providence employs1 and1 next1 the supernatural wordso1 also1 this sets before us what may be designated natural judgments1 and then those special visitations of divine justice which await an apostate ,christian or ,church4 #a4 ,the ,judgments of ,god4 ,vision of the ,vials4,the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters need not detain us long1 inasmuch as the resemblance between them and the visions of the trumpets is so great that much of what might be said has already been anticipated4 ,vials1 or basins rather1 were vessels used in the ,mosaic ritual as receptacles4 ,the term is used here to designate the judgments which must fall on men if the warnings and messages symbolized by the trumpets are unheeded4 ,the ,gospel1 we are told by ,st4 ,paul1 may be a savor of death unto death1 as well as of life unto life4 ,the words of the ,lord ,jesus will either become spirit and life to us1 or they will judge us at the last day4 ,from 8the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony0 8seven angels0 are seen issuing forth with vials containing 8the seven last plagues40 ,the word for 8plague0 is the same used in chapter xiii1 #c4 ,it was there applied to a temporary wound which was quickly healed4 ,its connection here with the word 8last0 and with the number 8seven0 indicates that the wounds or blows are final and incurable4 ,the judgments are not corrective and disciplinary1 but retributive and irreversible4 ,the angels with the plagues issue from the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony4 ,this name is that which is applied to the structure ,moses erected in the wilderness and which contained the ark of the testimony4 ,its use here implies that the judgments that follow are to be found recorded in the ,old ,testament ,scriptures4 ,the old word is ,god's faithful witness1 bearing plain testimony to his righteousness and to his anger at sin and iniquity4 ,still further1 it was one of the four beasts1 or living creatures1 who put the vials into the hands of the angels2 and1 as the four beasts are supposed to be symbolical representations of the animate creation1 the truth declared would seem to be that these judgments come as natural providences1 or by the operation of laws which the divine ,being has stamped on his creation4 ,the plagues fall successively upon the same places that are named in the parallel vision of the trumpetsthe first upon the earth2 the second1 upon the sea2 the third1 upon the rivers and fountains of waters2 the fourth1 upon the sun2 the fifth1 upon the throne of the beast1 darkening his kingdom2 the sixth1 upon the ,euphrates4 ,it is very instructive to contrast these judgments with the beautiful figures by which ,john1 in the last chapters of the ,revelation1 seeks to portray the glorious privileges and blessings of the perfected kingdom of ,christ4 ,thus1 in opposition to the 8noisome and grievous sore0 that fell 8upon the men which had the mark of the beast10 we have1 in chapter xxii1 #b1 the declaration that 8the leaves of the tree0 of life 8were for the healing of the nations40 ,in opposition to 8the sea0 which 8became as the blood of a dead man10 we are told1 in chapter xxi1 #a1 that 8there was no more sea40 ,as a contrast to 8the rivers and fountains of waters0 which 8became blood10 we are told in chapter xxii1 #a1 of 8the pure river of the water of life1 clear as crystal40 ,over against 8the sun0 which 8scorched men with great heat10 the statement is made1 in chapter xxi1 #bc1 that 8the city had no need of the sun1 neither of the moon1 to shine in it3 for the glory of ,god did lighten it1 and the ,lamb is the light thereof40 ,and1 while judgment fell on the throne of the beast1 8and his kingdom was full of darkness1 and they gnawed their tongues for pain10 we learn of the new city that 8the throne of ,god and of the ,lamb shall be in it2 and his servants shall serve him40 8,and there shall be no night there2 444 for the ,lord ,god giveth them light3 and they shall reign forever and ever40 ,there seems to be in this a reminiscence of the plague of darkness with which the ,almighty visited ,pharaoh and the ,egyptians1 and which was the last one before the final stroke of his judgment upon the firstborn 7,exodus x1 #babc74 ,the fifth trumpet was interpreted as a prophecy of the blindness1 both of heart and mind1 which comes upon men when faith declines and grace wanes4 ,this interpretation appears to be confirmed by the judgment which the plague of the fifth vial inflicts4 ,the locality of the sixth plague is the ,euphrates4 ,this river1 as has been previously said1 was the boundary line between civilization and barbarism4 ,the mention of it implies that the last conflict in which the kingdom of ,christ shall engage will be waged to oppose an inroad or outburst of barbarism4 ,but as ,john presents this matter with fuller details in chapter xx the discussion of it will be postponed until that part of the ,revelation is reached4 ,one new feature1 which is introduced for the first time in connection with the sixth vial1 is the singular sentence1 8,that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared40 ,the origin of this expression is to be found in ,isaiah xli1 #b1 to which it has doubtless a reference4 ,in that passage1 8the righteous man from the east0 to whom is given 8rule over kings0 is1 undoubtedly1 ,cyrus1 whose advent and success are thus foretold4 ,and the meaning is that1 as out of heathenism ,god raised up that marvelous man as an instrument to accomplish his purposes in the deliverance of his people1 so there is such fullness of resources in the reach of divine power that in any emergency or peril he is able to find1 anywhere1 means to rescue his followers or his ,church out of danger4 ,moreover1 the apostle saw coming 8out of the mouth of the dragon1 and out of the mouth of the beast1 and out of the mouth of the false prophet0 8three unclean spirits like frogs40 ,over against the divine ,trinity1 the kingdom of darkness and sin has its counterfeit trinity4 ,each of its component persons has its emissaries and messengers4 ,for the final conflict all these will summon their entire resources4 ,behind all attempts to foil and defeat the development and perfection of the kingdom of ,christ lie these evil powers4 ,but their efforts will be futile2 inevitable destruction and doom await them2 and the inspired seer here merely suggests the judgment of which full particulars are to be subsequently given4 #b4 ,babylon and its ,doom4,no part of the ,apocalypse has given rise to so much controversy as that which now engages our attention2 and as1 unhappily1 the controversies have often originated in denominational prejudices and intensified denominational bitterness1 this section has been made a shibboleth by which to test conflicting creeds4 ,truth is1 indeed1 of paramount obligation4 ,we have no right to accept or reject interpretations of the ,scriptures simply on the ground that they accord with or are repugnant to our beliefs4 ,it is no part of our prerogative to sit in judgment upon the word of ,god or to force it to speak according to our mind4 ,and nothing is ever really consistent with love which is not consistent with truth4 ,if1 however1 the purpose of this remarkable book is to set before us those spiritual forces which work in the heart of every individual1 as well as in collective masses1 there seems no valid reason why we should in this part of it depart from those general principles upon which it is elsewhere framed1 or seek for latent meanings when one which lies on the surface is capable of explaining and harmonizing its mysteries4 ,are we to understand by ,babylon the ,church of ,rome1 or the ,roman ,empire1 or any specific body or association of men1 religious or secular8 ,is the revelation here given us an anticipatory epitome of history1 a foreshadowing of events that have already transpired and are now recorded among the annals of the race8 ,is it a prophecy the fulfillment of which can be known only by learned scholars acquainted with history1 upon whose information the wayfaring man and the untutored disciple of ,christ must depend8 ,is it a portion of ,holy ,writ whose best commentators must be found in ,gibbon and ,hume and such like unbelievers8 ,truly1 then1 ,saul is 8among the prophets20 and this book is singular and anomalous among the revelations of ,god1 whose purpose has ever been to make wise the simple1 who else would be cut off from access to the sources of truth and light4 ,if any of the prophecies of this book can be proven to find their exhaustive fulfillment in any particular and definite body1 individual1 or event1 so that when we have identified the body or individual or event we have reached the whole purpose of the writer1 then1 of course1 its value as inspiration ceases or1 at least1 is materially diminished4 ,it may have an archological interest as a record of past conditions1 but its influence upon the present and future is somewhat like that of a fossil upon living types4 ,when the prophets of the old dispensation uttered their denunciations of the luxuries1 the sensualism1 the cruelty1 the gilded vices1 or the coarser sins of the cities and empires of the ancient world their purpose was not to vent vindictiveness against conquerors under whose might the ,israel of ,god was oppressed and trampled down1 but to direct thought and attention to a spirit of evil1 a principle of the kingdom of darkness1 which for a while found an embodiment therein1 yet was not wholly comprehended in it4 ,the empires crumbled into dust1 the great capitals became masses of decaying ruins1 but the spirit which animated them lived on1 surviving their destruction4 ,such was1 doubtless1 the design of this ,apocalyptic vision4 ,babylon is a symbol of something that has its fulfillment again and again1 but is never exhausted in any manifestation4 ,the generations of men1 down to the close of time1 must watch for and be warned against the spirit which it embodied1 and every individual ,christian1 as well as the ,church at large1 needs the caution which is here given him against such forms of it as are likely to tempt him from the path of duty or safety4 ,of all the hostile powers with which the ,hebrew people were brought into contact and from whom they suffered ,babylon seems to have been the most dreaded1 and the animosity expressed toward it by the prophets was emphatic and marked4 ,its approaching doom evoked no sentiment of pity1 but was hailed with unmingled satisfaction4 ,what there was about ,babylon which justified such exceptional fear and dislike it is1 perhaps1 not possible for us fully to understand1 although we may attain some appreciation of it4 ,regarding ,nineveh1 we have reason to conjecture that its peculiarity was intense and supreme secularism4 ,no temple has been found amid its ruins that was not merely the adjunct of a palace4 ,the priest was the servant of the king4 ,all religious instincts and institutions were simply tools which the haughty monarch unscrupulously used to carry out his cruel and ambitious projects4 ,such a condition of things can never endure long4 ,it works its own destruction1 finding its cure within itself4 ,it was the demoralization resulting from a similar condition which sapped the strength of the ,greek ,empire of ,byzantium and1 by isolating it from all allies or sympathy1 led to its overthrow4 ,in ,egypt the spheres of the ,state and of the ,church maintained some independence of each other4 ,vast as was the sovereignty of the ,pharaohs1 it was not such as to encroach upon or absorb the functions of the priestly caste4 ,in ,babylon1 however1 still another condition prevailed4 ,here the priesthood was the ruling order2 the religious element dominated the secular4 ,the palace was a part of the temple4 ,it is noticeable how strongly in the prophetic descriptions of ,babylon the ,chaldean element is emphasized4 ,it is styled 8the beauty of the ,chaldees' excellency10 8the land of the ,chaldeans10 marking thus the supremacy of that order of soothsayers1 sorcerers1 and professors of magic and occult science4 ,babylon was a theocracy1 but the god who ruled it was the prince of darkness1 not ,jehovah4 ,the ,church governed the ,state1 but the ,church was one that incarnated the spirit of worldly-mindedness1 not heavenly-mindedness4 ,so that1 in an altogether peculiar and special sense1 it was the rival and counterfeit of the true ,church of ,god1 giving exercise to the religious instincts of men sufficient to satisfy conviction and quiet conscience1 while debasing them by turning them into the channels of lust and sensual gratification4 ,yet1 as a matter of fact1 the domination of ,babylon proved less hurtful to the ,jewish nation than did the hostility of any other of their great enemies4 ,the form of worldliness which the ,israelites encountered in ,egypt was such as almost to make them forget their bondage in remembering the enjoyments they had found there4 ,their actual experience in ,babylon during the years of their captivity1 the lessons they learned and the comparisons they drew when brought into personal relationship with its life1 left no lingering love of idolatry and cured them forever of any desire to worship its gods4 ,but the ,babylon of the book of ,revelation comprehends more than the ,babylon of the ,hebrew prophets4 ,the dangers which beset the ,christian would be far less than they are if the ,babylon of this world1 which opposes itself as a rival to the kingdom of ,christ1 had no fascinations beyond those which the great city by the ,euphrates could offer4 ,the wily enemy of mankind is too subtle to depend upon any such powers of attractiveness as were embodied in the capital of the ,chaldean ,empire4 ,and in describing the counterfeit of the kingdom of ,christ the writer of the ,apocalypse adds to his portrait of ,babylon features which are used by ,ezekiel as characteristic of another great capital1 ,tyre4 ,babylon was never a center of commerce2 in no sense could it be described as a city whose merchants were princes4 ,the same is also true of ,rome1 and is thus adverse to the opinion that ,john meant to describe the city of the ,csars and of the popes4 ,his delineation of ,babylon would apply to ,corinth or ,carthage in ancient times1 and to ,venice or ,amsterdam or ,london in more modern days1 with greater aptness than to the metropolis on the ,tiber4 ,in this alteration of the emblem in which the writer of the ,revelation indulges1 in the blending and interweaving of details descriptive of both the ,babylon and the ,tyre of the ,old ,testament into the composite figure of the ,apocalyptic ,babylon1 in the transition from ,isaiah's sublimely ironical shout of triumph over the metropolis by the ,euphrates to ,ezekiel's sad and pathetic dirge over the fall of the commercial emporium of ,phnicia1 a clew is given us to the interpretation of his meaning4 ,the influence of ,tyre upon the ,hebrew people and religion was always deleterious1 almost disastrous4 ,the intercourse which began in the magnificent ,solomon's love of show and splendid state and luxury1 and which was increased by the intermarriage of the royal houses of ,ahab and ,jehoshaphat with ,tyrian princesses1 was fruitful of moral degeneration4 ,from the spiritual pesthouse upon the ,mediterranean came1 first1 ,tyrian art1 then1 ,tyrian wares1 then1 ,tyrian idols1 and1 then1 the unbridled and lawless sensualities for which ,tyre was notorious1 until ,baal had displaced the golden calves set up by ,jeroboam in ,bethel and had well-nigh overthrown the altars of ,jehovah in the city of the great ,king4 ,the ,babylon which ,john saw and whose rise and fall he predicts was one that embraced in itself the unbounded pride1 the self-sufficingness1 the love of sorceries and dark arts of magic1 along with the demoralizing practices of a great mart of commercea mongrel figure into which all forms of evil and sin were woven4 ,the probability1 therefore1 is that ,john meant to describe1 not any individual or definite city or ,church1 but the incarnation of a spurious and apostate ,christianity which1 assuming the appearance of the true1 is animated by principles wholly destitute of and antagonistic to the power and life of ,christianity1 and thus deludes only to destroy4 ,this opinion derives confirmation from the connection in which the section stands4 ,up to this point the writer of the ,revelation has been collecting his data1 so to speak1 summing up the elementary forces1 friendly and hostile1 which have to do with the success or failure of the kingdom of ,christ4 ,he has announced its fundamental principles1 the means by which it is to be carried forward1 the enemies which must be encountered4 ,it now remains for him to show in a concrete form the results4 ,at the close of the ,revelation he shows us the result of success in that exquisite picture of the ideal true ,christianity4 ,but before doing this he also shows the result of failure in the picture of the ideal false ,christianity4 ,the antitheses between the two are drawn out in sharp contrasts4 ,in chapter xxi1 #i1 it is said to him1 8,come hither1 ,i will show thee the bride1 the ,lamb's wife40 ,here 7xvii1 #a7 it is said to him1 8,come hither3 ,i will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters40 ,in chapter xxi1 #f1 it is written1 8,he said unto me1 ,it is done40 ,so here 7chapter xvi1 #ag71 when the seventh angel poured out his vial a voice was heard crying1 8,it is done40 ,in chapter xii1 where for the first time the field of battle is described and the enumeration of the hostile forces is begun1 religion is presented to us under the figure of a woman who has fled to the wilderness4 ,since then the trial is supposed to have been gone through with1 the long war has been fought1 the varying moments of the struggle have been detailed1 and we are now brought to the summing up of the issue4 ,in chapter xxi1 #aj1 ,john is carried away 8in the spirit to a great and high mountain10 and there is shown him the woman in the form of 8that great city10 8the holy city1 new ,jerusalem1 coming down from ,god out of heaven1 prepared as a bride adorned for her husband0 7verse #b74 ,here 7xvii1 #c1 #d7 he is carried away 8in the spirit into the wilderness10 and he sees the woman2 but now she is sitting 8upon a scarlet-colored beast1 full of names of blasphemy1 444 arrayed in purple and scarlet color1 and decked with gold40 ,she has failed in the conflict4 ,she has not come victorious out of the wilderness1 as ,christ did after his temptation4 ,she has made peace with her enemies4 ,she has joined with the flesh1 the world1 and the devil4 ,she is no longer spotless and pure1 ready for her bridal with the ,lamb1 but has become a harlot4 ,thus1 once1 ,orpah and ,ruth stood together by the side of ,naomi1 while the ,holy ,land beckoned them all toward it4 ,ruth chose that better part and1 sheltered beneath the hovering wings of the ,god of ,israel1 found peace and rest and an eternal portion with the saints2 but ,orpah loved the blue hills of ,moab and1 though sadly and reluctantly1 turned back to idolatry and oblivion and spiritual death4 ,such a conflict awaits us all2 and the issue must be1 either that happy one hereafter to be more accurately described under the figure of the ,new ,jerusalem1 or else that alliance with the powers of darkness which ,john records in the emblem of ,babylon4 ,the details of the description given of ,babylon add further confirmation to the explanation offered above4 ,in chapters xii and xiii the three great enemies of the kingdom of ,christ were enumeratedthe dragon and his emissaries1 the two beasts4 ,in the present chapter 7xvii7 they are represented as combined4 ,the woman is seen sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast4 ,she is arrayed in purple and scarlet1 but not in 8fine linen10 which is 8the righteousness of saints40 ,she has in her hand a cup1 but instead of the sacramental blood of the ,lamb1 it is full of 8abominations and filthiness of her fornication40 ,she is not 8filled with the ,spirit10 but 8drunken with the blood of the saints10 for 8she hath cast down many wounded1 yea1 many strong men have been slain by her0 7,proverbs vii1 #bf74 ,it will be remembered that1 in the description of the first wild beast1 it is said that when the deadly wound which it had received was healed the whole world wondered after it in astonishment at the recuperative power which it exhibited4 ,but1 at this vision of the woman allied with the beast1 with a commingling of the influence of the second wild beast1 even ,john himself wondered with great wonder at a corruption of religion so complete and yet so enticing1 a perversion so unexpected and yet so alluring1 a transformation so plausibly and artfully accomplished4 ,there seems to have been awakened in him something of the perplexity he had experienced in looking at the second wild beast1 as if its duplicity were a mystery of iniquity beyond his power to fathom4 ,once one of the psalmists wondered1 as he tells us1 at the prosperity of the wicked1 until he entered the sanctuary and there saw their latter end foreshadowed4 ,so1 likewise1 was the mind of ,john relieved by the angel who came to him and said1 8,i will tell thee the mystery of the woman1 and of the beast that carrieth her20 for as the curtain was lifted the doom of ,babylon was revealed to him and the mystery was solved4 ,but1 however plain the mystery was to him1 it is assuredly not equally so to us4 ,the explanation which suggests itself to us the most readily is not necessarily the most correct one2 indeed1 the words1 8,here is the mind which hath wisdom10 seem to indicate otherwise and to force us to seek some meaning deeper than that which is most obvious4 ,although1 therefore1 the expression1 8,the seven heads are seven mountains1 on which the woman sitteth10 apparently identifies ,babylon with ,rome1 either imperial or papal1 it would satisfy all the conditions of the problem as well1 and be more in harmony with the principles on which the ,revelation is constructed1 to interpret the expression as referring to the great world empires which have successively dominated the human race and cast their shadows across the path of centuries1 and in which ,john saw the embodiment of the world-principle1 essentially and perpetually antagonistic to the kingdom of ,christ4 ,of these world empires five had already fallen,assyria1 ,babylon1 ,persia1 ,macedonia1 and the empire of ,alexander's successors4 ,the empire of ,rome1 which was the one existent in ,john's days and the most compact and formidable of them all1 was the sixth4 8,the other10 he says1 8is not yet come2 and when he cometh1 he must continue a short space40 ,of this difficult passage many explanations have been offered1 but it cannot be said that they are satisfactory4 ,whether ,john anticipated the fall of the ,roman ,empire and the establishment of another world empire to succeed it for a brief period of time we are not able to say4 ,it would not be any impeachment of the inspiration of the apostles to admit that upon matters relating to the time of our ,lord's coming they were not able to predict with certainty4 ,christ himself said that 8of that day and hour knoweth no man1 no1 not the angels which are in heaven1 neither the ,son1 but the ,father20 and we cannot concede that his disciples were more fully enlightened than he4 ,there are indications that the apostles anticipated the personal manifestation of the ,master at a date earlier than has proven to be the fact1 because1 looking through the ages1 mountains appeared in their vision to blend into one which we have found by experience to be separated by valleys deep and wide4 ,but1 inasmuch as it was revealed to ,john that prior to the realization of the ideal kingdom of ,christ there is to be a decisive conflict with the combined powers of evil1 as will be more fully discussed when we shall have reached the twentieth chapter of the book1 may it not be that it is that final embodiment of the world-principle which he here foretells as the seventh antagonistic kingdom8 8,and the beast that was1 and is not1 even he is the eighth1 and is of the seven1 and goeth into perdition40 ,these words seem to imply that this 8eighth0 is not a separate and distinct empire1 but is that common principle of worldliness which finds its embodiment in all the seven and yet is distinct and separable from them4 ,it is both immanent in them and transcendental to them4 ,and there is1 perhaps1 here an intended and striking contrast between this evil principle and the divine ,being with whom it assumes to contest supremacy4 ,it was said of the ,lord ,god ,almighty1 in the adoration of the living creatures 7,revelation iv1 #h71 that he 8was1 and is1 and is to come40 ,of this counterfeit principle of evil it must be said1 8,it was1 and is not40 ,god is true1 real1 the same to-day as yesterday and forever4 ,he that hath received ,christ's testimony can set his seal to this assured and blessed certainty4 ,of the evil principle it can only be said that it is always vanity1 falsehood1 a lie4 ,its past is all a bitter remembrance2 its future a shadow1 a deception1 a dream2 and he that trusts it is a fool mocked with illusions that are never realized and cheated with hopes that forever disappoint4 ,it is not likely that any world-kingdom comparable in extent and power with those which in ancient times subjugated mankind will ever be seen again4 ,christianity develops and cultivates a spirit of individualism which is inimical to their recurrence4 ,since the disappearance of the ,roman ,empire no successor to it has arisen4 ,the empires of ,charlemagne and ,napoleon were narrow and petty in comparison with that of the ,csars4 ,some such thought appears to have been in the mind of ,john when he foretold that there shall be 8ten kings1 which have received no kingdom as yet2 but receive power as kings one hour with the beast40 ,but the spirit of evil which finds temporary embodiment in these worldly sovereignties does not disappear with their overthrow4 ,it incarnates itself in other and more dangerous forms4 ,there are subtle and cunning manifestations of this spirit which1 by plausible and enticing imitations of the religion of ,christ1 do far more than any worldly kingdom can to overthrow true ,christianity and substitute in its place the counterfeit kingdom1 the deadly rival which is designated by the emblem of ,babylon4 ,without violating the spirit of charity1 and in fealty to the obligation of truth1 it must be confessed that the history of the ,church of ,rome has too often furnished just occasion for its identification with the ,babylon of the ,apocalypse4 ,its worldliness1 its unscrupulous alliances with kings and princes to carry out its ambitious projects1 its disregard of moral obligations in the pursuit of its policy1 its ignoring of the demands of justice1 honor1 truth and mercy1 its persistent struggle to achieve and maintain temporal supremacy1 its awful claim of present and eternal mastery over the bodies1 minds1 and souls of men1 its luxury and wantonness1 its bloody spirit of persecution on the one hand1 and1 on the other1 the duplicity1 the false asceticism1 the assumption of the appearance of the ,lamb while animated by the spirit of the dragon1 the substitution of its own codes and edicts and ethics for the word of ,god1 which have specially characterized its religious orders and confraternities1 are sufficiently like the adversary of true religion delineated by ,st4 ,john to excite thought and induce self-examination4 ,but it would be unjust to charge to the account of systems imperfections and errors which spring out of the inherent frailty of human nature4 ,and the spirit of evil against which the apostle warns us has had unhappily a range wider than pagan or papal ,rome or any organization yet witnessed on earth4 ,if that ,church has too often carried upon her forehead the title1 8,mother of harlots10 instead of the motto1 8,holiness unto the ,lord10 she has many a sister who must sit beside her as of kindred spirit2 and1 if the one has been 8,aholah10 the other has been 8,aholibah40 ,if1 among her followers1 she has numbered both some of the purest saints who have trodden this earth and some of the vilest sinners1 and these1 too1 in her loftiest places1 she is not alone in the distinction4 ,there have been individuals and ,churches calling themselves ,christians and ,protestants that1 like veritable ,messalinas1 have burned with incessant lust after every form and fashion of worldliness1 and whose lovers1 as ,jeremiah says1 have not had need to weary themselves in seeking for them4 ,there is too much truth in the biting sarcasm of ,heine3 8,christianity was once based on blood2 it now rests on another basismoney4 ,wafers of silver and gold are the only ones that work miracles in modern days40 ,when the solemn services of the holy sacraments lose their attraction and are accounted dull and pale when compared with the brighter light of social festivities2 when prayer meetings are sparsely attended1 while glittering parlors are crowded with guests2 when the shouting of souls newly born into the kingdom is drowned by the 8chant to the sound of the viol20 when grief over 8the affliction of ,joseph0 is far less than the sorrow for the loss of worldly prestige or patronage2 when religion is used simply as an adjunct to the social propensities or a synonym for liberality in promoting financial enterprisesthen there is need that we read again the apocalyptic vision of ,babylon1 that we may avert the doom that is certain otherwise to come4 ,destruction must surely be the end of those 8whose god is their belly1 and whose glory is their shame1 who mind earthly things40 ,the vials of divine anger must sooner or later empty their plagues upon all such4 ,in the selection and introduction of ,tyre as the representative of a worldly ,church the apostle indicates the source from which danger is to be apprehended4 ,tyre was a mart of commerce4 ,upon her ships the merchandise of the world was transported1 and it was sold in her markets4 ,her trade extended to the ends of the earth1 and by her mercantile transactions she was brought into contact with the whole circle of known nations4 ,the close acquaintance and fellowship thereby wrought with all religions1 races1 and customs produced its customary result of lowering the standard of morals and1 under the specious plea of encouraging liberalism of opinion1 led to apathy toward all religion2 while1 at the same time1 the increase of wealth1 art1 and refinement created a love for luxury and worldly good4 ,corrupted herself1 she became in turn a source of corruption to others1 and her intercourse with ,israel had a disastrous effect upon the chosen people4 ,in this lies the peril of contact with the world4 ,it is the scene of conflict2 it may be the field either of defeat or victory4 ,the ,lord ,jesus prayed1 not that his disciples should be taken out of the world1 but that they should be preserved from its evil4 ,we are placed in it that we may transform it4 ,it is possible that all beauty1 art1 wealth1 culture1 and commerce may be sanctified and made to contribute to the redemption of the world4 ,every thought may be brought into captivity to the obedience of ,christ4 ,but it may1 on the contrary1 transform and corrupt us4 ,without the aid of supernatural grace the influence of the world upon the ,christian is demoralizing and destructive4 ,whatever is without ,god is equally without hope4 ,art1 for instance1 separated from its mission as an auxiliary to morals and religion and made independent1 becomes artificial1 and then degenerates into artifice4 ,the world1 instead of being lifted to a higher plane1 drags the ,christian to its own level4 ,it is remarkable that ,paul1 whose facilities of observation were large and powers of perception keen1 when writing to the ,romans1 the people of the eternal city1 whose one dream and ambition in all her history had been power1 commended the ,gospel of ,christ as 8the power of ,god unto salvation20 but1 when writing to ,corinth1 the busy center of commerce and merchandise1 full of wealth1 luxury1 and corruption1 he presented as the only influence which could correct these evils this profound truth3 8,know ye not that ye are not your own8 ,for ye are bought with a price3 therefore glorify ,god40 ,there has not been a period since the days of ,john when the lesson which he wished to enforce in this vision of apostate and fallen ,babylon was more important than now4 ,between the age of the apostles and the times in which we live a stronger resemblance exists than between any epochs in the annals of man4 ,the rapid increase of means of transportation by which the ends of the earth are drawn together is effecting that state of things which the consolidation of the civilized world under the control of the ,roman ,empire produced4 ,the boundaries between nations are being effaced2 and their easy communication with each other makes possible an exceptional intermingling of languages1 usages1 moral codes1 and religion4 ,there is the same tendency toward the denial of all supernaturalism1 on one side1 and1 at the opposite extreme1 toward an eclecticism which concedes some truth to all forms of religion1 while questioning the absolute truth of any1 as that with which the apostolic ,church was confronted4 ,there is an excessive liberalism which1 in its aversion to narrowness and under the plea of enlightened culture1 would abandon all that specifically differentiates ,christianity4 ,but we will have read the records of the ante-,nicene period in vain if we have not learned from them that an imperfect ,christianity1 while it does not gain the world1 does lose its own soul1 and that the regeneration of mankind keeps exact pace with the measure of spirituality and purity which prevails in the ,church of ,christ4 ,babylon1 the counterfeit of the kingdom1 is doomed to inevitable destruction4 ,over the sad end of a ,church dominated by the spirit of the world and which has finally apostatized from ,christ the worldly may say1 in regretful lament1 8,alas1 alas1 that great city20 the 8merchants of the earth0 may 8weep and mourn over her2 for no man buyeth their merchandise any more20 but the heavens rejoice4 ,for where there is permanent alienation from ,god no real life can survive3 8,the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee40 ,there can be no fruitful activity or profitable labor1 for 8the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee40 ,there can be no inward illumination or safe walking1 for 8the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee40 #c4 ,methods of ,success ,reiterated4,after a few words of exultant triumph over the fall of ,babylon1 and the bright hopes for the future of ,christ's kingdom opened up thereby1 in which heaven and earth unite1 the apostle1 before finally leaving the subject1 points us again 7in chapter xix7 to the weapons by which victory must be won4 ,repeating what has been so often said by him that the impression is made on us that herein lies the central thought of the book1 but with a fullness of detail not previously equaled and with a stress of emphasis which guarantees the importance of the truth1 he asserts again that the conquering weapons are 8the blood of the ,lamb0 and 8the word of their testimony0 7,revelation xii1 #aa2 xix1 #ae74 ,the cross and the ,biblethese are the means by which the world is to be overcome1 these are the instruments through which the ,lord ,jesus ,christ and the ,holy ,ghost work1 and with these the ,christian and the ,church are sufficiently armed for any conflict or adversary4 ,john saw 8heaven opened 7verse #aa71 and behold a white horse40 ,thus does the ,christ appear at the close of the conflict1 sitting upon the white horse of victory1 just as he appeared at the beginning when1 armed with the bow1 8he went forth conquering1 and to conquer0 7chapter vi1 #b74 ,he is described by the titles which he had attributed to himself in his letters to the seven churches of ,asia4 ,he is here the 8,faithful and ,true20 so had he written of himself to ,laodicea4 8,in righteousness he doth judge and make war20 to ,philadelphia he had called himself 8he that is holy1 he that is true40 8,his eyes were as a flame of fire20 these very words he had written to ,thyatira4 8,out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword20 to ,pergamos he had spoken of himself as the one having 8the sharp sword40 ,to ,ephesus he had described himself as the one that 8walketh in the midst of the golden candlesticks or churches20 and here he is seen in company with the armies of his followers4 ,he had promised ,sardis that the faithful should walk with him 8in white20 here the saints with him are 8clothed in fine linen1 white and clean40 ,to ,smyrna he had said1 8,i will give thee a crown of life20 and here upon his head are 8many crowns40 ,he has a name which all can read1 8,king of kings1 and ,lord of lords10 ruling 7shepherding7 the nations with the iron staff of his power4 ,but he has also a name that no man knoweth2 for he had himself said1 8,no man knoweth the ,son1 but the ,father40 ,he is the ,word of ,god1 the embodiment and utterance of the ,godhead's deepest thought and being1 the 8brightness0 of the ,father's glory1 8and the express image of his person40 ,the weapons which he employs are distinctly said to be the 8sharp sword0 that goeth 8out of his mouth10 and the blood by which he atoned for sin4 ,the 8sharp sword0 means1 unquestionably1 8the sword of the ,spirit10 the word inspired by the ,spirit of truth1 the ,scriptures which testify of him 7,john v1 #ci71 the word by which we are sanctified 7,john xvii1 #ag71 the ,bible of revelation4 ,by this word1 8the breath of his lips10 he slays the wicked 7,isaiah xi1 #d74 ,with this1 8the spirit of his mouth10 he consumes the wicked one 7#b ,thessalonians ii1 #h74 ,and the other weapon is his blood4 ,he is 8clothed with a vesture dipped in blood40 8,he treadeth the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of ,almighty ,god40 ,in no way could the cross be more explicitly indicated4 ,lifted up from the earth upon it1 he draws all men unto himself4 ,it is 8,christ crucified0 who is the 8power0 and 8wisdom0 of ,god4 ,no weapons more carnal than these does he employ2 none other do we need4 ,by them the beast and the false prophet are overcome1 and both are 8cast alive into a lake of fire40 ,,part ,,vi ,progressive ,steps by ,which the ,ideal ,kingdom of ,christ is to be ,realized ,,part ,,vi ,progressive ,steps by ,which the ,ideal ,kingdom of ,christ is to be ,realized ,,the twentieth chapter of the ,revelation is one full of the most important matter4 ,it describes the stages through which the kingdom of ,christ must pass in order to attain its ideal state4 ,the key to its solution is to be found in a careful and close study of the prophecy of ,ezekiel1 between which and it so exact a parallelism exists that neither can be understood without a comprehension of the other4 ,a just appreciation of this fact would have precluded many of the ingenious but untenable hypotheses which have based themselves upon this section1 and will now serve to throw light upon what seems obscure and almost undecipherable4 ,the ,book of ,ezekiel consists of two distinct parts1 the dividing line between which is the siege and capture of ,jerusalem4 ,the earlier part of the book is a record of the many and gross idolatries and sins into which ,israel had been tempted and fallen4 ,the sum of these amounted to a spiritual infidelity and adultery which justly deserved the anger of ,jehovah4 ,and it was the sad and painful task of the prophet to repeat the solemn warnings with which he had been intrusted of impending and terrible doom4 ,succeeding this are denunciations by the prophet of severe and crushing judgments upon the surrounding nations1 from whose intercourse ,israel has received deadly harm1 being corrupted by contact with them1 both in peace and war1 and more especially in a lowered spiritual life4 ,this part of the ,book of ,ezekiel comes to an end in chapter xxxiii1 #ba1 where the mournful announcement is made to the prophet that the predicted blow had fallen3 8,one that had escaped out of ,jerusalem came to me1 saying1 ,the city is smitten40 ,it was a conclusive proof of his authority to be considered a true prophet of ,god1 but not less deplorable on that account4 ,the remaining part of the book is taken up with brighter themes4 ,out of the nettle1 danger1 ,god has plucked the flower1 safety4 ,the fall of ,jerusalem1 which seemed to involve its disappearance from history1 is the means of its salvation4 ,the pages of the prophet are bright with his predictions of an ,israel raised to a new and higher ideal1 and restored thereby to the favor of ,god4 ,the steps by which this happy condition is to be brought about are successively unfolded to us and occupy the book to its close4 ,the false shepherds 7chapter xxxiv71 the unworthy and unfaithful rulers who1 like the thieves and hirelings of whom ,jesus spake 7,john x71 fed themselves and cared naught for the flock1 are to be removed2 and ,god offers himself to be a shepherd to ,israel1 searching his sheep1 seeking them out in the cloudy and dark day1 binding up that which was broken1 and bringing again that which was losta beautiful predictive type of the ,messiah1 the good ,shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep4 ,in addition to this1 the false prophets and unsafe guides whom ,israel had followed are to be taken out of the way1 and ,god promises in their stead to put his ,spirit within ,israel1 cleansing them from all their filthiness and their idols and giving them a new heart and a new spirit 7xxxvi1 #bebg74 ,this promise of spiritual regeneration is illustrated by the vision of the valley of dry bones 7xxxvii1 #aad74 ,at the word of the prophet 8the bones0 which lay whitening in the valley 8came together1 bone to his bone10 assuming the form and appearing in the likeness of men4 ,but something more than human preaching was required1 for as yet the forms were without life4 ,then the 8breath0 of the ,holy ,spirit entered into them1 like the wind whose sound was heard on the day of ,pentecost1 8and they lived1 and stood up upon their feet1 an exceeding great army0 of actual and real men4 ,the first and closely following result of the spiritual resurrection thus wrought by the ,holy ,spirit was the reunion of ,judah and ,ephraim 7verses #aebh74 ,these two branches of ,israel1 unhappily disunited1 always suspicious of each other1 often in actual hostility1 had by their division brought reproach upon ,god's cause and had subjected themselves to the disasters1 oppressions1 and captivities which had marked their history4 ,now the schism was to be healed4 ,they were to become one1 so that ,god could say again1 8,they shall be my people1 and ,i will be their ,god40 ,then shall follow a new era of unexampled peace1 prosperity1 and productiveness4 8,david my servant shall be king over them10 8their prince forever40 8,my tabernacle also shall be with them2 yea1 ,i will be their ,god1 and they shall be my people4 ,and the heathen shall know that ,i the ,lord do sanctify ,israel40 ,the fulfillment of part of this prophecy is distinctly declared by the angel of ,god who announced to the ,virgin ,mary concerning ,christ 7,luke i1 #cb71 8,the ,lord ,god shall give unto him the throne of his father ,david3 and he shall reign over the house of ,jacob forever2 and of his kingdom there shall be no end40 ,now it is a remarkable fact1 of which use will hereafter be made to clear up the mystery of one of the obscurest parts of the ,revelation of ,john1 that the reign of ,david and his descendants over the throne of ,jerusalem was exactly one thousand years4 ,in the year #ajfc ,b4 ,c4 ,david was anointed king by ,samuel and won his first triumph in his memorable overthrow of ,goliath2 and in #fc ,b4 ,c4 ,judea became subject to ,rome1 and the royal supremacy of ,david's line came to an end4 ,the 8scepter0 then departed from ,judah1 and the 8lawgiver from between his feet40 ,dr4 ,william ,smith1 ,new ,testament ,history1 p4 #gca4 ,immediately following this remarkable prophecy of ,ezekiel is that concerning 8,gog1 the land of ,magog0 7chapters xxxviii1 xxxix74 ,he is instructed to say to ,gog1 8,after many days thou shalt be visited3 in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword0 7xxxviii1 #h72 8,thou shalt ascend and come like a storm0 7xxxviii1 #i72 8,thou shalt come up against my people of ,israel0 7xxxviii1 #af72 nevertheless1 in the thirty-ninth chapter it is recorded1 8,i am against thee1 ,o ,gog0 7xxxix1 #a72 8,thou shalt fall upon the mountains of ,israel1 thou1 and all thy bands1 and the people that is with thee3 ,i will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort1 and to the beasts of the field to be devoured0 7xxxix1 #d72 8,then shall they that is1 ,israel know that ,i am the ,lord their ,god0 7xxxix1 #bh72 8,neither will ,i hide my face any more from them3 for ,i have poured out my ,spirit upon the house of ,israel1 saith the ,lord ,god0 7xxxix1 #bi74 ,ezekiel closes his prophecies 7chapters xlxlviii7 with his pictures of restored ,israel1 its new ideal temple1 and city1 and land4 ,the lines of thought thus laid down by the prophet of the ,old ,testament are so closely followed by the author of the ,apocalypse that there seems no other conclusion left to us than that the parallelism of subject is intended to be as exact as is that of language and imagery4 ,in the ,apocalypse1 too1 8the faithful city0 7,isaiah i1 #ba7 has forfeited her faith and 8become an harlot40 ,the dire catastrophe which the seer of the old dispensation saw falling upon corrupt and apostate ,jerusalem has also fallen upon ,babylon1 the unfaithful ,church of the new4 ,so1 also1 before the eyes of the apostle1 as well as those of the prophet1 there gleamed a vision of a restored ,church1 pure and clean1 descending from ,god out of heaven1 adorned as a bride for her husband4 ,how this vision is to be made real1 how that splendid city is to be brought into existence of whose glories the eloquent figures of the closing chapters inspire such lofty conceptions1 it remains for him to tell us1 in order that in all ages to come ,christian men may discern the paths along which they must labor and the steps through which they must ascend if their efforts are to be crowned with favor and success4 ,how valuable a help the study of ,ezekiel affords us in the interpretation of the ,apocalypse may be seen in the light which it throws upon the subject of the 8thousand years40 ,the foundation of those theories of a millennium which have taken such hold upon the minds of men as to have perceptibly modified language and to have made the word one of the commonplaces of thought lies in the few verses which make up the first half of the twentieth chapter4 ,there must be something peculiarly attractive about these theories and very much in them accordant with our instinctive hopes1 since the paragraph in the text furnishes but a narrow basis upon which to build a superstructure so large4 ,it is not easy1 moreover1 to understand why1 in a book so allegorical as is the ,apocalypse1 this paragraph should enjoy the exceptional distinction of demanding a literal interpretation1 as would be the case if these theories are admitted4 ,nevertheless1 it is true that1 from very early ages in ,christian history until now1 a belief in and expectation of a personal and visible appearance and reign upon earth of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 inaugurating with his saints a period1 stretching through a thousand years1 of inconceivable peace and prosperity1 has been entertained by many of his purest and most zealous followers1 and has even been made the distinguishing tenet of large bodies of men4 ,whether these opinions are legitimately based upon the text and how far a correct exegesis compels us to accept them we must now inquire1 endeavoring in all fairness and candor to so interpret the inspired words as to make the various details of the paragraph consistent with each other and with the rest of the sacred ,scriptures4 ,referring once more to the prophecy of ,ezekiel1 we find the order of events there described to be1 first1 a resurrection of dry bones and a vivification of them into men1 then a united ,church and people of ,god1 an undefined period of happy prosperity1 a restoration of the kingdom of ,david1 a combined assault upon this kingdom by hostile nations under the name of ,gog and ,magog1 and the complete and final victory of the kingdom over them4 ,in the ,apocalypse the same order is followed1 with variation only in some details of the picture4 ,the only feature which can be called new is that of the binding and loosing of ,satan2 and even this1 by implication1 at least1 is in ,ezekiel4 ,it is certainly a reasonable presumption that the same truths1 whatever they are1 were in the mind both of the prophet and the apostle1 and were intended to be taught by both4 ,now1 if anything in the interpretation of the ,apocalypse may be relied on as valid and beyond question it is that the reign of ,christ is not a future event1 to be expected at some day which has not yet dawned upon earth1 but is a present and existent fact4 ,that kingdom was inaugurated when the ,lord ,jesus1 having risen from the dead and ascended to heaven1 led captivity captive and bestowed upon his followers the gift of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,when ,st4 ,paul in writing to the ,corinthians says1 8,he must reign1 till he hath put all enemies under his feet10 surely the meaning is that he does now reign and shall continue so to do until the result is accomplished4 ,the mediatorial sovereignty of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ is1 indeed1 the one theme of the whole book of ,revelation4 ,the consummation and undisputed supremacy of the kingdom has not been reached4 ,it is in its militant1 not triumphant state4 ,but imperfection within and hostility without no more affect the reality of its being1 although they may militate against its well-being1 than did treason within and war without contravene the fact of the sovereignty of ,david and his house over ,judah4 ,into this kingdom not a select number1 but all the true followers of ,jesus are introduced4 ,they are 8a royal priesthood40 ,they are 8joint heirs with ,christ40 8,we see not yet10 indeed1 8all things put under him20 but we see ,jesus 8crowned with glory and honor20 and 8he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one3 for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren40 ,again1 it may be accepted as almost an axiom of interpretation that the resurrection referred to in the words1 8,they lived and reigned with ,christ10 means a spiritual change1 and not a physical or bodily one4 ,it is synonymous with that epoch in the ,christian's life when he is delivered 8from the power of darkness0 and translated 8into the kingdom of ,god's dear ,son10 that crisis of spiritual existence which is called conversion or regeneration1 when one is 8born from above0 and raised with ,christ into newness of life4 ,the resurrection spoken of is stated to be that of 8the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of ,jesus1 and for the word of ,god1 and which had not worshiped the beast1 neither his image40 ,it is also called 8the first resurrection10 thus differentiating it from another and subsequent resurrection of 8the rest of the dead40 ,this first resurrection1 moreover1 exempts those who partake of it from the power of 8the second death10 which is defined as the being 8cast into the lake of fire40 ,it separates them from 8the rest of the dead0those who are dead 8in trespasses and sins10 as they themselves once werewho live not again until 8the thousand years0 are finished4 ,we are now on sure ground4 ,the meaning of this vision is that the mediatorial kingdom of our ,lord is to be established on the earth1 and that by the proper use of those instrumentalities which have been given into our hands1 namely1 the word of ,god and the blood of the ,lamb1 it shall advance in spite of all opposition and hindrances1 until all worldliness and false prophetism shall be eliminated1 until ,christ 8shall have put down all rule and all authority and power10 until 8the kingdoms of this world0 shall become 8the kingdoms of our ,lord1 and of his ,christ10 and 8he shall have delivered up the kingdom to ,god1 even the ,father10 and the prayer shall be fulfilled which daily ascends to the throne of grace1 8,thy kingdom come40 ,the millennium is now4 ,we are living in it4 ,its light shines but dimly1 it is true1 but it will shine more and more until the perfect day4 ,the period during which the saints shall live and reign with ,christ is stated to be 8a thousand years40 ,conjecture has been rife as to why this number should be selected4 ,manifestly1 here1 at least1 the year-day theory1 that which makes every day mentioned in the book the symbol of a year1 breaks down4 ,otherwise1 the period would be too long2 and none have been found to maintain the opinion that the millennium is to last three hundred and sixty-five thousand years4 ,yet1 to interpret the expression literally1 as if it meant exactly a thousand of our years1 would be to depart entirely from the rule of the ,apocalypse1 in which numbers are taken as symbols of epochs1 not as a measurement of duration4 ,there is no reason given why in this case exception should be made to the constant and unvarying use of days and months and years in this book4 ,here1 again1 reference to the book of ,ezekiel will dissolve the obscurity and present us with an explanation simple1 consistent1 and entirely in accordance with the usage which elsewhere prevails in the ,apocalypse4 ,in the description which ,ezekiel gives of the happy results which were to follow the resurrection of the dry bones and the reunion of ,israel1 one of the particulars which tenderly touched every ,jewish heart was1 8,david my servant shall be king over them2 and they shall all have one shepherd40 ,whether the prophet was himself conscious of the full meaning of these words or not1 it is nevertheless the fact that it was not in any merely earthly descendant of ,david that this prediction was to be realized1 but in the ,messiah1 8great ,david's greater ,son40 ,so1 doubtless1 the apostle of the ,apocalypse accepted it4 ,and1 inasmuch as the sovereignty of ,david's house was1 as has previously been said1 just one thousand years1 what more natural than that ,john should see in this number the signature and symbol of the reign of ,christ8 ,he does not mean that the duration of that reign shall be limited to a thousand years1 but that1 be it longer or shorter1 this number is its symbol and emblem4 ,whatever he mentions as taking place during the thousand years is to be understood by us as occurring during the progress of the mediatorial kingdom of ,christ from its commencement to its culmination4 ,in the sight of the divine ,being the period between the establishment of the kingdom and its complete and final triumph over all its foes1 be it longer or shorter1 is the day of ,christ1 and 8one day is with the ,lord as a thousand years1 and a thousand years as one day40 ,the moments or stages in the growth of the kingdom are now to be specified4 #a4 ,restraints upon the ,power of ,satan4,there is one item in the revelation made to ,john1 and through him to us1 which is peculiar to him4 ,it is1 indeed1 implied in the book of ,ezekiel1 but is not explicitly communicated4 ,this is the restraint which is put upon the power of ,satan4 ,an angel is seen to 8come down from heaven1 having the key of the bottomless pit the same mentioned in chapter ix1 #aaa and a great chain in his hand see #b ,peter ii1 #d2 ,jude #f4 ,and he laid hold on the dragon1 that old serpent1 which is the ,devil1 and ,satan1 and bound him a thousand years40 8,when the thousand years are expired1 ,satan shall be loosed out of his prison1 and shall go out to deceive the nations20 but this loosing of him1 it is said1 will be for only 8a little season0 before his final destruction4 ,as the thousand years are a synonym for the reign of ,christ1 the meaning is that during the existent mediatorial sovereignty of ,christ ,satan is debarred his full liberty4 ,his judgment has not1 indeed1 come1 and he still exists1 but his activity is circumscribed1 and his power to hurt is limited and curbed4 ,it will be remembered that in the twelfth chapter ,satan was described under the emblem of the dragon and his futile hostility toward the woman was depicted4 ,at the close of the chapter we were told that 8the dragon was wroth with the woman1 and went to make war with the remnant of her seed40 ,since that time he has seemed to disappear from mention and is directly alluded to only occasionally4 ,his place in the drama of warfare has been taken by the two wild beasts1 his emissaries1 in whom all enmity against ,christ and his followers has been concentrated4 ,now that these have been judged and consigned to their doom and have in turn passed from the stage1 the apostle reverts to the evil one behind and within them1 whose subordinate agents they were4 ,one of the noteworthy facts of the universe brought to light mainly by this book of ,revelation1 but fully corroborated by other scriptures when attention is directed to its quest1 is the ambition of ,satan to copy and travesty the divine ,being1 both in modes of manifestation and methods of work4 ,his abilities seem to lie1 not in the direction of originality1 but of imitation4 ,he is not a creator or inventor1 but a consummate actor and a master of the art of mimicry4 ,as the ,deity is revealed to us in the triune personality of ,father1 ,son1 and ,spirit1 so also there is a trinity of evilthe dragon1 the beast1 and the false prophet4 ,and1 again1 during the continuance of the mediatorial sovereignty of ,christ established for the elimination of sin from the universe the ,father does not directly interpose1 but has delivered all things into the hands of the ,son1 and through him to the ,holy ,spirit1 whose instruments are the cross and the ,bible1 and whose witnesses and memorials are the two sacraments4 ,in like manner1 there is an attempted imitation of this on the part of ,satan4 ,his personal agency in human affairs is confined within narrow limits1 not of his own will surely1 but by reason of him who hath subjected him4 ,whatever influence his malignity and deep-seated hatred of ,god can exert in order to defeat the plans and purposes of redemption is wielded mainly through his subordinates1 the two wild beasts4 ,he himself is incarcerated in the abyss of darkness at the will of his ,master and ,lord4 ,he seems to have been allowed personally to tempt ,christ2 but his arts were wasted1 he lost the field of battle1 and must pay the penalty of defeat4 ,referring to this1 the ,lord ,jesus said1 8,i beheld ,satan as lightning fall from heaven20 and again1 8,now is the prince of this world cast out20 and again1 8,the prince of this world is judged40 duplicate word 8of0 removed ,while1 therefore1 the opposition which the ,christian encounters1 the temptations which beset him1 the evil against which he must struggle proceed incipiently from the great adversary1 it is only the emissaries and agents of the ruler of this world's darkness whom he is called on personally to encounter4 ,as ,god1 in order to save man1 must become incarnate in human flesh1 so must ,satan1 in order to tempt1 embody himself in some earthly form4 ,the comforting assurance which ,paul administered to the brethren of ,corinth was1 8,there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common that is1 moderated to man40 ,the work of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ extends some of its blessings to all the race of mankind1 to the disobedient as well as to the faithful1 and tempers the vicissitudes of our mortal state to our capacity of enduring them4 ,it exempts us1 though it did not him1 from exposure to ,satan's unshackled power4 ,satan himself is bound and shut up in the pit4 ,god's seal is on him1 for he1 too1 is the property of the divine ,being4 ,and he deceives 8the nations no more0 till the thousand years are fulfilled4 ,then he is to be 8loosed a little season10 as we shall see1 prior to his overwhelming discomfiture and irretrievable defeat4 #b4 ,outpouring of the ,holy ,spirit under the ,emblem of ,resurrection4 ,what has already1 in the interpretation of this part of the ,apocalypse1 been said upon this question will obviate the necessity for any long discussion of it4 ,holding the prophecy of ,ezekiel in mind1 we cannot but conclude that what was meant to be taught by the resurrection of the bones in the valley of vision is likewise indicated by the expression1 8,they lived and reigned with ,christ40 8,this is the first resurrection40 ,as the resurrection spoken of in ,ezekiel was a striking emblem of the power of the ,holy ,spirit to effect spiritual regeneration1 so are the words to be taken here4 ,the usage of describing regeneration by the emblem of a resurrection is so common in the ,scriptures that there is no need to adduce illustrations of it4 ,nor is there any need to dwell upon the analogies between the two or to draw out the important lessons suggested thereby4 ,one truth1 however1 is so vital that it must detain us a moment1 namely1 the absolute necessity for the supernatural agency of the ,holy ,spirit in the inception of spiritual life4 ,no one who believes in an actual resurrectionthat is1 in one that is more than figurative and spiritual1 in a resurrection which extends to man's complete being1 in a resurrection of the body1 and not a mere continuance of the life of the soulconceives that any natural agents in existence1 or1 at least1 within our knowledge1 are competent to produce it4 ,the bodies we have here are 8terrestrial10 brought into and continued in existence by the operation of natural laws4 ,the body of the resurrection1 whatever its connection and continuity with the present one1 is confessedly 8a spiritual body40 ,no forces within the realm of nature are able to create life or to restore it to that which has lost it4 ,the experience and observation of all the centuries fully establish this truth4 ,whether our present bodies or souls come into existence by traduction or direct creation is another question2 but all ,christians are agreed that the resurrection of the body must be effected by the direct action of ,god4 ,so1 likewise1 analogy would teach1 must it be with regeneration of the soul4 ,that change by which we are raised from the death of sin to the life of ,god1 that transformation by which we cease to be merely citizens of earth and become citizens of heaven1 can be effected only by the direct and supernatural agency of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,no material1 earthly1 or human forces are sufficiently mighty to bring it to pass4 ,here ,god must specifically actnot as in other modes of his work1 but by a distinct exercise of power4 ,nor are we allowed to conceive of entrance into the spiritual kingdom of ,god as the resultant of any process of evolution or growth2 whatever preparation is made for it1 the spiritual life of the soul begins in a special operation of the ,holy ,spirit as specific and distinct as that by which ,god 8breathed into his nostrils the breath of life2 and man became a living soul40 ,the closing chapters of the sacred ,scriptures are in unison with the opening ones of ,genesis1 and from the prelude to the final 8amen0 there is one harmonious melody4 ,it must be remembered that ,john was a witness to and a participant in the extraordinary effusion of the ,holy ,spirit on the day of ,pentecost4 ,he speaks1 therefore1 of that which he knew and testifies to that which he had seen4 ,while the results of the transformation wrought in him are apparent to us1 the fact of it was to him a matter of consciousness4 ,it is because he had experienced the power of the ,holy ,spirit that he declares the necessity for its exercise4 ,and the stress laid upon this regenerating agency of the ,spirit in order that we may be made to live and reign with ,christ is no slight evidence that the man who wrote the ,apocalypse and he who recorded the words of ,christ1 8,except a man be born again1 he cannot see the kingdom of ,god10 were one and the same person4 ,there is no warrant in ,scripture for the assumption that the descent of the ,holy ,ghost upon the band of disciples in ,jerusalem was intended to be an anomalous event and incapable of repetition4 ,in the form of manifestation possibly it was1 and in the accompanying signs2 but not in its spirit and power4 ,our ,lord plainly promised to his disciples the abiding presence of the ,comforter to the end of the ages4 ,but that promise was and is conditional4 ,the ,holy ,ghost was not given until ,jesus was glorified1 neither can he be now4 ,the recognition and reception of ,christ as our only hope and ,saviour is the measure according to which the ,spirit now imparts his life4 ,nor can any definition or theory of ,christianity be accepted as correct in which the atonement of ,christ does not hold the place of central principle4 ,and in proportion as the crucified ,christ is believed on and accepted as the only name 8given among men1 whereby we must be saved10 may richer and more abundant outpourings of the ,holy ,spirit in his offices of regeneration and sanctification be expected4 #c4 ,union of ,christian ,believers4,there is one particular and important item relating to the coming of ,messiah's kingdom which is described with greater minuteness and fullness of detail by ,ezekiel than by the writer of the ,apocalypse4 ,this is the unity of the ,church of ,goda point upon which the older prophet lays great stress4 ,this unity is set forth both as a direct result of spiritual resurrection and as an essential element of preparation for the final conflict with evil4 ,by symbol and in word he strongly emphasizes the declaration that1 as the sticks which he took became one stick in his hand1 so should ,judah and ,ephraim be made one in ,god's hand4 8,i will make them one nation4444 ,they shall be no more two nations1 neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all40 ,all the wounds of division shall be closed and the scars of schism healed4 ,it cannot be said that this same truth is so patent in the ,revelation1 but it is there by justifiable inference4 ,the fact that the saints live and reign with ,christ implies that the kingdom is a united one4 ,the union and fellowship of the saints with each other1 without division or alienation1 is assumed4 ,the obviousness of the truth was sufficient reason for less explicitness of statement4 ,at any rate1 if the apostle can be accused of any omission here he made ample amends in the prominence given to the subject in the fourth gospel1 in which he records the prayer of our great ,high ,priest1 8,that they all may be one2 as thou1 ,father1 art in me1 and ,i in thee1 that they also may be one in us3 that the world may believe that thou hast sent me40 ,the subject which thus opens out to us is one of such absorbing interest as to demand ample consideration4 ,if it be true1 as the words of the prophet and1 indirectly1 of the apostle seem to indicate1 that one result of that spiritual quickening by the ,holy ,spirit called conversion or regeneration is to bring about union between all who call themselves disciples of ,christ1 then that regeneration cannot be regarded as complete or normal which does not produce fellowship with all other believers2 neither can any ,church be said to have attained a state in any great degree approaching its ideal which is not in union with the whole ,church of ,christ4 ,and1 in addition1 any instrumentalities we may employ in order to bring about the conversion of the world must be ineffectual1 or1 at least1 greatly shorn of their influence1 until there exists in the ,christian world a unity which finds its example and the source of its power in the divine nature4 ,upon this important question there is entire consentience of opinion among the inspired evangelists and apostles of the ,new ,testament4 ,they record their conviction that ,caiaphas was speaking as a true prophet of ,god1 however faulty his motives in so doing1 when he said that ,jesus should die in order to 8gather together in one the children of ,god that were scattered abroad40 ,appreciating the immense loss of power which had resulted from the schism between ,judah and ,ephraim1 a loss felt even more severely in the moral than in the political world1 they strove with all their might to prevent a like division between the ,jewish and ,gentile converts to ,christ4 ,nor did they cease their efforts1 although laying themselves open to the imputation of inconsistency1 until finally the matter became one of life or death to ,christianity4 ,with a tenacity which appears to us akin to obstinacy1 they clung to the hope that the ,jewish nation would accept ,christ as ,messiah and ,king1 that the old ,church would1 under the transforming power of the ,holy ,spirit1 merge into the new as the dawn melts into the day1 and that thus the continuity of history would be preserved4 ,there can be no question that the rejection of ,jesus as ,saviour by his own people was a serious disaster4 ,it created a division among those who believed in a living ,god1 a personal ,providence1 and broke the unity of their testimony in the court of mankind4 ,it sent ,christianity out to its work heavily handicapped2 and acute opponents1 like ,celsus and ,porphyry1 were not slow to avail themselves of the advantage it gave them4 ,nor has the loss of power therefrom accruing been recovered to this day4 ,the event is sufficient justification for the wise conservatism which marked the actions of the apostles4 ,as little room can there be now for question that the divided1 distracted1 segmentary condition of ,christendom1 with the animosities1 envies1 sectarianism1 undue exaltation of non-essentials1 concentration of efforts upon things of minor importance1 and cultivation of bigotry caused thereby1 operates as a most active factor in shearing the religion of ,christ of its legitimate influence4 ,nor could increase of power within and superiority to the world without be brought about so quickly by any means as by a unity of believerssuch unity as the ,new ,testament inculcates4 ,this statement in no degree conflicts with the uniform declaration of the ,scriptures that the word of ,god and the blood of ,christ are the two all-important and all-sufficient agencies for the furtherance of the kingdom2 it only asserts that the ,bible and the cross will not have accomplished their purpose until such unity shall have followed their acceptance4 ,paul1 the apostle of the ,gentiles1 no less emphatically affirms with all his authority the necessity of this union4 ,a careful study of his epistles will show that he divides the religious history of the world into three distinct periods,judaism1 ,gentilism1 and a final period in which these shall be united4 ,first was ,judaism1 which began with ,abraham1 the pioneer and father of such as believe in a living1 personal ,god4 ,it ran its course1 fulfilled its mission1 and had attained what ,paul calls 8the fullness of times0 when 8,god sent forth his ,son1 made of a woman1 made under the law1 to redeem them that were under the law40 ,the office of ,judaism in the rle of redemption was to bear witness to the supernatural4 ,the ,jew believed thoroughly in ,god as the ,creator1 the ,providence over nature1 the ,ruler and ,judge of mankind2 in ,god as a person distinct from nature and supreme over it4 ,he fully recognized the obligation of the commandment1 8,the ,lord our ,god is one ,lord2 and thou shalt love the ,lord thy ,god with all thine heart1 and with all thy soul1 and with all thy might40 ,but he exalted the supernatural so highly as to put an impassable chasm between ,god and his creatures4 ,the immanent presence of ,god in nature was lost sight of in the conception of his transcendency over it4 ,an incarnation of the ,deity and1 above all1 any such contact of ,god with humanity as to admit of the possibility of his suffering was abhorrent to the mind of the ,jew4 ,and so when ,christ came to his own as the ,word 8made flesh0 his own received him not4 ,and1 with his foot almost upon the throne of the world1 the ,jew stumbled and fell4 ,following this period1 in ,paul's conception1 was that of ,gentilism1 which has also its peculiar mission1 runs its destined course1 and has its times of fullness toward which it tends 7,romans xi1 #be74 ,this was also the conception of ,christ himself2 for he had said1 8,jerusalem shall be trodden down of the ,gentiles1 until the times of the ,gentiles be fulfilled0 7,luke xxi1 #bd74 ,the mission of the heathen ,gentilism lay in the sphere of nature and humanity4 ,with all the beauty1 grace1 order1 motion1 and life of the world the ,gentile was in sympathy4 ,his defect was that he rose no higher4 ,the gods he believed in were simply human and natural forces personified and exalted4 ,his need was to be impressed vividly with the conception of the reality of the supernatural and to recognize the divine ,being above and beyond man and the world4 ,to meet the needs of all classes of humanity ,god has employed those two great instrumentalities to which reference is so constantly made in the ,revelation of ,st4 ,johnon the one hand1 the ,bible1 the written word1 the sword of the ,spirit1 with its intense realization of the presence and power of ,god in nature and history2 on the other1 the cross1 the blood of the ,lamb1 with its rich testimony to the fact that 8,god so loved the world1 that he gave his only begotten ,son1 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish1 but have everlasting life40 ,it was ,paul's confident and inspiring belief that when the fullness of the ,gentiles should have come there would be a union of all believers in ,god2 8and so all ,israel shall be saved40 ,and this is the truth to which the writer of the ,apocalypse bears witness in his vision of the saints who 8lived and reigned with ,christ0 in one united and concordant kingdom4 ,if1 then1 the attainment of so desirable and blessed a result as that of the consummation of ,christ's kingdom upon earth is contingent upon the unity of believers it surely behooves the disciples of ,christ to labor more earnestly than ever before for this unity4 ,the magnitude of the result is worth the sacrifices needed to gain it4 ,in what this unity shall consist1 in what sense believers are to be one1 is a question upon which lawful difference of opinion may be allowed1 and it is to be settled only by a sympathetic and careful study of the ,scriptures4 ,but as to the mode of its attainment and as to what must precede its realization the ,bible is sufficiently precise and explicit4 ,it will not be secured by a conventional agreement to accept any common and universal symbol1 sacrament1 or organization2 unity means something too vital for that4 ,it will not be founded upon the basis of any past fact1 upon any historical creed or institution or order of ministry2 unity is something akin to life1 and life is progressive1 anticipative1 not retrospective4 ,the ,jewish people were of one common lineage1 having the same fathers1 the same oracles1 the same institutions1 but it was by no chain descending from past times that they were held in unity2 as soon as the hope of a future ,messiah vanished their past associations became a rope of sand4 8explict0 replaced with 8explicit0 ,the ,lord ,jesus ,christ has himself most plainly and authoritatively announced to us the processes by which alone this unity can be attained4 ,in the ever memorable words of his prayer as our great ,high ,priest he said1 8,sanctify them through thy truth3 thy word is truth10 and then almost immediately added1 8,that they all may be one40 ,the unity which he anticipated and now desires is one that must be preceded by sanctification4 ,this is fully in accordance with the prophecy of ,ezekiel1 for the union by which ,judah and ,ephraim were made one was preceded by the resurrection to life which occurred when the dry and withered bones had been breathed upon by the ,spirit4 ,and1 in the paragraph of the ,apocalypse now under consideration1 it was only after the souls of the witnesses and followers of ,jesus had been raised by the first resurrection that they lived and reigned with ,christ4 ,nor can any unity be real which is not preceded by a spiritual resurrection from the death of sin into newness of life through the power of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,what is here said of unity as applied to the body of believers is equally applicable to each individual4 ,the kingdom of ,christ does not reach its designed consummation in the individual until the heart is united to fear the name of the ,lord4 ,the exclusion or omission of any part of our composite nature from the sanctifying influences of the ,holy ,spirit in so far mars the integrity and concord of the kingdom and is below its ideal4 ,entire sanctification is1 as has been said by ,john ,fletcher1 a constellation made up by the union of all the graces in a glorious galaxy4 ,and ,st4 ,paul teaches us that it is only when we shall 8come in the unity of the faith1 and of the knowledge of the ,son of ,god10 that we shall have attained 8unto a perfect man1 unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of ,christ40 #d4 ,final ,triumph over the ,carnal ,mind1 or ,barbarism4 ,emblem of ,gog and ,magog4,with this glorious picture of the outpouring of the ,spirit and the complete union of the ,church of ,christ in his mind1 the apostle passes on to the decisive conflict and crowning victory of the kingdom4 8,when the thousand years are expired10 he says1 8,satan shall be loosed out of his prison1 and shall go out to deceive the nations40 ,it is worthy of note that the word which is used by ,st4 ,john for 8expired0 is the same used in the fourth gospel in several important and significant places1 although differently translated4 ,it is found in the prayer of ,jesus 7,john xvii1 #bc7 in connection with the thought of unity1 as in the section of the ,revelation just considered1 and is there rendered 8may be made perfect40 ,it is found in the same prayer 7,john xvii1 #d71 and is used by our ,lord in speaking of his active work upon earth1 being there translated 8have finished40 ,it is also recorded by ,st4 ,john as being one of our ,lord's exclamations while on the cross 7,john xix1 #cj71 and is there also rendered 8finished40 ,from these uses of the word the inference is very reasonable that it signifies1 not so much the termination of a period of duration1 as the completion of a process4 ,the thousand years may be said to have expired1 not at the close of any number of years of time1 but whenever the ends for which the kingdom of ,christ is established are attained4 ,until those purposes are accomplished the power of ,satan is restrained and he is not allowed to exercise the full measure of his strength4 ,he who makes 8the wrath of man0 to praise him1 while 8the remainder of wrath0 he restrains1 guards his ,church and his servants as 8a garden inclosed40 ,history and experience furnish many an example of the providence that shelters and shields the infancy and immaturity of ,churches and believers until adult strength has acquired power to resist4 ,the storm that bends the reed will not move the sturdy oak2 and one 8rooted and grounded in love0 can withstand blasts that would be disastrous to the growing and tender shoot4 ,all progress in human laws1 in fact1 tends to surround the evil-disposed with increasing restraints1 in order that the weak and helpless and inexperienced may have an equal chance to develop their individuality4 ,but at the expiration of this period1 we are told1 ,satan is allowed to go forth to deceive the nations4 ,the writer of the ,apocalypse describes the final assault of ,satan upon ,christ's kingdom under the emblem1 so often quoted and so much misunderstood1 of ,gog and ,magog4 ,in so doing he draws again upon ,ezekiel2 and if we wish to ascertain the meaning of both the apostle and the prophet we must revert to the circumstances under which the prophecy was originally given1 and must1 in this instance1 have recourse to history4 ,not long prior to the time of ,ezekiel there had occurred a sudden and terrible irruption of barbarians into the civilized parts of the world1 which had caused widespread alarm and terror and shaken to its base the fabric of society which had through preceding centuries been laboriously built up4 ,an immense horde of ,scythians1 in the rudest stage of savagery1 without pity or regard for class1 sex1 age1 or condition1 with intense contempt for and hatred of those arts of refinement which they were incapable of appreciating1 broke loose from their primitive home and1 sweeping down through ,asia1 overwhelming cities and empires1 threatened to destroy every vestige of literature1 order1 and religion and to turn the world back to chaos and anarchy4 ,happily their onward course was arrested before the injury they caused had become irreparable4 ,from this circumstance the name ,gog1 which was that of the horde1 became the symbol of barbarism1 and was used as such both by the prophet of the ,old ,testament and the apostle of the ,revelation4 ,the truth which is intended to be presented is the possibility of an inroad of that barbarism from which no age is free and from which the most imminent peril to ,christianity is to be dreaded4 ,there is in every human being1 however civilized1 a germ of barbarism1 a strain of savagery1 which though repressed by education1 by culture1 or by law1 is not destroyed by them1 and which under favoring conditions may become the ruling principle of life4 ,in every community of men there will be found some who represent the highest stage which the community has reached2 but there will be found some who remain in the most rudimentary condition of barbarism4 ,it is the struggle between these opposing elements which makes the life of the community4 ,gog and ,magog do not represent heathenism1 which is simply a lower form of religion capable of being improved by the increased light of the ,gospel4 ,they represent the spirit of barbarism1 which opposes itself to every form of religion1 lurking as the dark shadow which waits upon all civilization1 ready to manifest itself whenever the power which hinders its manifestation relaxes its vigilance4 ,and unhappily there are1 even in civilized and ,christian countries1 institutions allowed to remain whose only result is to foster the tendency toward barbarism1 whose purpose is to feed the lower sensual appetites and passions that are at war alike with law1 education1 culture1 and religion1 and between which and the kingdom of ,christ must be perpetual antagonism until one or the other shall be exterminated4 ,the study of history will reveal the fact that times occur in the life of nations when the tendency to revert to barbarism asserts itself in unusual strength1 when the normal movement upward and onward is arrested1 and the forces which drag men downward predominate temporarily4 ,it is such times and conditions of which ,satan avails himself to show his most malignant power4 ,with all such tendencies he is in closest alliance1 and in the effort to intensify them finds his most congenial employment4 ,it is a mournful fact that the impulse toward the higher and better is not the only one to be found in man or in any creature2 we must take into the account the opposite fact of the tendency to revert to lower and baser levels4 ,indeed1 it is not uncommon to notice that an unusual movement in one direction seems to originate an almost equal one in the opposite4 ,nor can there be any guarantee that the higher and purer faculties shall assert their legitimate sway except in the promised guidance and help of ,god4 ,in individual experience1 even after long and faithful service and growth1 there will come at times sudden suggestions and temptations which reveal the existence of desires and passions we had supposed extinct1 but which have been kept down only by ,god's grace and our unceasing watchfulness2 such also is the case with the larger aggregations of men into communities and societies4 ,and the price we must pay for liberty is eternal vigilance4 ,the barbarian is1 indeed1 a man2 the essential elements of humanity lie in him as in all men4 ,but there are properties which belong to the lowest states of society which constitute a differential characteristic and which disappear or1 at least1 become dormant when growth and culture take place4 ,the barbarian is an intense realist4 ,he dwells in the region of factssuch facts as are discoverable by his physical nature only4 ,of sentiment1 of ideals1 he knows nothing and cares less4 ,such things as these are spiritually discerned1 and he is a natural man only4 ,of that unseen ether which lies around the bare and bald facts of life1 connecting them with the divine and eternal source of things1 of those loftier visions of the true1 the beautiful1 the good which fill the mind of the cultured with intensest delight1 he has no conception4 ,his delights and employments are sensual and low1 and the end of all of his energies is to gratify them4 ,arcadian simplicity fades away with increased geographical and ethnological knowledge4 ,the only forces which the barbarian appreciates1 therefore1 are the mechanical and physical4 ,with him might is right4 ,of the power of spiritual forces he has the most inadequate notions until he finds how weak his cunning and artifice are in the presence of civilization4 ,of that sacrifice and renunciation of self for the sake of love of which the cross of ,christ is the summit and crowning example and in which is the demonstration of the power and wisdom of ,god he is incapable of appreciation until the ,holy ,spirit breaks the chain with which ,satan has bound him2 and then he ceases to be a barbarian4 ,clovis spake the real feeling of the savage1 even when baptized1 in exclaiming1 8,had ,i been there with my ,franks they should not have nailed ,jesus to the cross40 ,by profession the barbarian is a soldier4 ,he knows somewhat of the power of weapons of war and but little else4 ,the mechanical and industrial pursuits by which society is bound together are objects of scorn to him4 ,he has profound contempt for labor as beneath his pride4 ,the aristocracy he admires is built on idleness and bloodshed1 not on toil or skill or honest work4 ,barbarians divide themselves on national lines alone4 ,the broad humanity which overlaps territorial boundaries1 or a patriotism which can embrace all mankind and recognize a universal brotherhood1 the barbarian is not able to comprehend1 or else he despises the notion as silly and puerile4 ,he has no consideration of any ties save those of kinship1 if1 indeed1 fully of these4 ,all within this limit may not be friends2 but certainly all without are enemies1 for whose welfare he need have no regard and whose rights he does not recognize4 ,and because of these things the stage of barbarism is politically that of socialism1 of that form of it in which the individual has no value or right of independent thought or action1 except as the clan or tribe or community may confer them4 ,the discernment of the real worth of man is the gift of the religion of ,jesus4 ,in its teaching that the blood of ,christ has been shed for the redemption of all mankind1 that the manifestation of the ,spirit has been given to everyone1 and that1 therefore1 it is not allowed to call any man common or unclean1 it has laid the only solid foundation upon which true liberty1 independence1 self-respect1 and the highest enjoyments of life can be based4 ,how rife this spirit of barbarism is1 even in societies and ,states called civilized and ,christian1 a moderate degree of observation will prove4 ,it is to be understood1 of course1 that to say a tendency exists in mankind to revert to barbarism is far from saying that such a tendency is likely to predominate4 ,in pointing out the dangers which beset civilization the ,bible does by no means countenance despondency or encourage doubt as to the future of history4 ,it indicates perils for the purpose of inciting us to the use of the means which it suggests for avoiding them4 ,the spirit of the ,bible is one of most cheerful hope as to the outcome of the conflict between good and evil2 and nowhere is the tone of assurance stronger than in the ,revelation4 ,but we shall be very unwise if we shall neglect to guard against those symptoms of danger which are manifesting themselves4 ,the persistent attempts to reduce literature and poetry and art to a barbaric realism1 dragging into light lusts and passions which modesty1 culture1 and religion hide from view2 the disposition1 which seems to increase1 to make the boundaries of ,states and empires coincide with kinship of race1 and thus to limit men's interests and aspirations to their own nationalities2 the multiplication of armies and the conversion of kingdoms into camps1 in which every citizen must be a soldier2 the fearful increase of destructive dynamitism and anarchy2 the employment of the most advanced science and education in the invention and improvement of machines of war2 the growth of that form of socialism which denies all individualism of property1 family1 and laborthese are indications of that proneness to barbarism from which mankind is not yet free1 and from which it will not be free until the world comes into the enjoyment of the liberty of ,christ4 ,the keen eye of the apostle discerned1 even in the apparently secure age in which he lived1 the signs of coming perils and dangers2 and against these1 men and ,churches of all ages have had to struggle4 ,the battle of ,christ with ,magog is part of that conflict with the carnal man that rages in the heart of every ,christian1 as well as in the world at large4 ,happily1 however1 we know from the pen of inspiration the full measure of danger to be apprehended1 and may rest in the assurance that ,satan has no other appliances of mischief in reserve when these are exhausted4 ,it will be noted that the apostle says1 in describing the assault of ,gog and ,magog upon the kingdom of ,christ1 8,they went up on the breadth of the earth1 and compassed the camp of the saints about1 and the beloved city40 ,a distinction is made between the 8city10 which symbolizes the ,church1 and the circumjacent 8camp10 which is interposed as a bulwark between it and the enemy1 and which may be regarded as representing law1 education1 government1 and other conservative forces of the world4 ,there lies in this a thought characteristic of the profound mind of the beloved apostle4 ,in a sense most true and deep1 ,christians are 8the salt of the earth40 ,the interests of humanity are bound up with the welfare of the kingdom4 ,in fighting the battles of ,god the ,church is guarding the welfare of mankind4 ,the bark of ,christianity carries man and all his fortunes4 ,barbarism is the common enemy of government and of religion1 and in striving to injure one strikes at the other4 ,gog and ,magog are antagonistic to the 8city0 and the encircling 8camp0 alike4 ,in resisting the emissaries and allies of ,satan ,christianity is struggling for the benefit of civilization and safeguarding all earthly good1 even as its ,master died not for his own nation only1 but for all men dispersed over the globe4 ,for its own sake1 if not out of regard for religion1 society should jealously prohibit any infringement of divine law4 8,happy is that people1 whose ,god is the ,lord40 ,on the other hand1 it is a matter of profoundest importance to the cause of religion that it shall maintain the order and prosperity of the community4 ,no ,christian can be indifferent to the welfare of the ,state in which he lives4 ,as he dares not allow himself in his own personal experience to watch without concern any indications of the growth of the carnal mind1 neither can he be listless or apathetic when opinions destructive to society are spreading abroad4 ,the attacks upon governments are but the prelude to assaults upon religion4 ,again and again has 8the earth helped the woman10 and resistance to lawlessness and anarchy been preservative of the existence of the ,church4 ,however far any established government may fall below the ideal1 it is yet better than none4 8,the powers that be are ordained of ,god10 although ,nero may wield the scepter4 ,forms of government are subject to change and may be altered in order to conform to higher ideals2 but the existence of government itself is essential to the fulfillment of the purposes of ,god4 ,but1 however formidable the assault1 the apostle does not allow any fears of defeat to eclipse his hope for the future4 ,victory1 however long deferred1 is sure to come at last to the ,christian and to the ,church4 8,be of good cheer10 the ,lord said2 8,i have overcome the world40 ,the weapons he has put into our hands are amply sufficient for our needs1 nor are any agencies necessary beyond those with which he has supplied us4 8,fire came down from ,god out of heaven1 and devoured them40 ,the 8fire0 here is undoubtedly the fire of the ,holy ,ghost1 the baptism from above of which ,john the ,baptist spake when he said1 8,he the ,christ shall baptize you with the ,holy ,ghost and with fire40 ,there came1 it may be1 to the apostle1 when he wrote these words1 memories of an incident of his life 7,luke ix1 #eaef74 ,in his anger at the inhospitable ,samaritans1 with a spirit of vindictiveness at the insult to his ,master1 he had said1 8,lord1 wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven1 and consume them1 even as ,elias did80 ,how quickly followed the sharp rebuke of the ,lord ,jesus1 8,ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of40 ,the weapons ,christ uses are not carnal1 but spiritual4 ,the fire which is to devour ,gog and ,magog is the ,holy ,spirit who descended upon the ,church at ,pentecost4 ,the destruction which awaits them is that of their sins and animosity1 not of their persons4 ,the ,spirit of truth when he comes reproves the world 8of judgment1 because the prince of this world is judged40 ,and both the struggle and the victory are for each individual believer1 as well as for the ,church at large4 8,we know that whosoever is born of ,god sinneth not2 but he that is begotten of ,god keepeth himself1 and that wicked one toucheth him not40 8,ye are of ,god1 little children1 and have overcome them3 because greater is he that is in you1 than he that is in the world40 ,thus the consummation to which the apostolic seer looked forward is reached at last4 ,the ,lamb into whose hands the dominion of all things was committed has prevailed4 ,he has 8put down all rule and all authority and power40 8,he that is1 ,god hath put all things under his feet40 ,principalities and powers are 8subject unto him40 ,he who was lifted up upon the cross is now on the 8great white throne40 ,the ,father1 he himself had said1 gave him 8authority to execute judgment also1 because he is the ,son of man40 ,the time of the fulfillment of this promise has come4 ,death1 8the last enemy10 is destroyed4 ,the gates of ,hades have no longer power to resist the forces of the kingdom of ,christ4 ,nothing that is hostile to him can look upon his face4 ,daniel's prophecy has been brought to pass4 8,the iron1 the clay1 the brass1 the silver1 and the gold0 are 8broken to pieces together10 and become 8like the chaff of the summer threshing floors20 and the wind has 8carried them away10 that no place is 8found for them40 ,the kingdom which the ,god of heaven has set up has consumed all other kingdoms and stands for ever 7,daniel ii1 #ce1 #dd2 vii1 #ac1 #ad74 ,but there is one thought developed in the closing paragraph of chapter xx which deserves a moment's consideration4 ,it is that in the relation which men and things sustain to the ,lord ,jesus ,christ lies the true test of character and the standard of future1 as well as present judgment4 8,set for the fall and rising again of many in ,israel10 through him 8the thoughts of many hearts0 are revealed 7,luke ii1 #cd1 #ce74 ,he is1 as has been aptly said1 the touchstone of human hearts4 ,and it will be by the 8inasmuch as ye did0 or 8did it not0 unto him that the final sentence on men will be determined4 ,this truth is set forth in the expression1 8the book of life40 8,whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire40 ,in the prophecy of ,daniel1 to which there is evidently reference in this paragraph1 mention is made of 8books0 that 8were opened40 ,the writer of the ,apocalypse also alludes to the 8books0 that 8were opened40 ,but he adds to this that 8another book was opened1 which is the book of life20 and in chapter xxi1 #bg1 he calls it 8the ,lamb's book of life40 ,it is apparent that this additional standard of judgment belongs to the ,new ,testament dispensation and is something having relation to the specific work of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,paul has this in mind in saying 7#a ,corinthians xvi1 #bb71 8,if any man love not the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 let him be ,anathema ,maran-atha40 ,the ,saviour had given a foreshadowing of the same truth in telling his disciples1 8,whosoever therefore shall confess me before men1 him will ,i confess also before my ,father which is in heaven40 ,we hear an echo of this in the epistle to ,sardis 7,revelation iii1 #e73 8,he that overcometh1 the same shall be clothed in white raiment2 and ,i will not blot out his name out of the book of life1 but ,i will confess his name before my ,father1 and before his angels40 ,the same truth is indicated by ,john in his first epistle 7#a ,john v1 #ab73 8,he that hath the ,son hath life2 and he that hath not the ,son of ,god hath not life40 ,the character of men is not to be estimated solely by their actions1 and to make destiny depend upon them would hardly be just4 ,every act1 whether of word or deed1 has its own standard of judgment4 ,that which determines its quality as good or bad is its fitness or unfitness to its designed end2 in this consists its conformity with its ideal4 ,a moral agent has1 however1 another standard of judgment4 ,goodness or badness in his case is determined by the conformity of his motives1 purposes1 and intentions with his ideal1 which is the fulfillment of the will of his ,creator4 ,not only what he does1 but why he does it1 enters into the estimate of his moral character4 ,a perfect man would be one in whom faith in the ,son of ,god and experimental knowledge of him are in unison1 one whose conduct springs out of a living faith1 and in whom a correct faith is translated into actual and complete righteousness of conduct4 ,it is a fact that upon the fundamental principles of ethics the great religions of the earth do not differ so much from each other as presumption leads us to anticipate4 ,this agreement of the moral codes occasions surprise and even perplexity upon the first appreciation of the fact4 ,but the explanation is simple and easy4 ,these codes are largely the result of observation upon the established and permanent laws of the universe1 deductions from facts with which testimony1 reason1 and consciousness make men acquainted4 ,the data being the same1 the conclusions reached are closely similar4 ,it is the motive power which they bring to bear upon men in order to induce them to actual realization of and conformity to their moral convictions that determines the superiority or inferiority of religions4 ,that which constitutes the distinguishing characteristic of ,christianity and gives it its immense preminence over all other forms of religious belief is that it reveals to us the cross of ,christ as the greatest motive power that can operate in human nature4 ,to depreciate or ignore the atonement is to leave out the differentiating element of the religion of ,jesus4 8,he that believeth on the ,son hath everlasting life3 and he that believeth not the ,son shall not see life2 but the wrath of ,god abideth on him0 7,john iii1 #cf74 8,we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of ,christ2 that each one may receive the things done in the body0 7#b ,corinthians v1 #aj1 ,revised ,version74 ,wherever1 indeed1 the full revelation of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ has not been given to men they are to be judged by 8the law written in their hearts1 their conscience also bearing witness0 7,romans ii1 #ae74 ,but where the revelation has been made it is in likeness to him that the test of character lies4 ,and for the final determination of destiny there must be1 not only the books of words and deeds1 but also the 8,lamb's book of life40 ,,part ,,vii ,the ,ideal of the ,kingdom ,,part ,,vii ,the ,ideal of the ,kingdom ,,by these long steps has the holy apostle brought us1 through this wonderful record of perils1 conflicts1 defeats1 victories1 judgments1 and blessings1 to the conclusion toward which he has from the commencement been tending2 and in the two chapters which close the book he depicts the ideal and perfect kingdom of ,christ as it appeared in his conception of it4 ,as ,ezekiel in his lonely captivity by the ,chebar was comforted with anticipations of a new ,canaan and a new temple1 wherein ,israel1 purified by its sufferings and cleansed from idolatry1 should enjoy renewed and uninterrupted communion with ,jehovah1 so was the exiled apostle of ,patmos gladdened with a prophetic foresight of new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness shall dwell1 not as a wayfarer or one that tarrieth for a night1 but as a permanent and eternal inhabitant4 ,for the instruction of all the generations to follow ,john presents his inspired conception of what the kingdom of ,christ in its purest and final form is1 whether it be conceived as existing in the heart of an individual believer1 or as synonymous with the ,church1 the body of believers4 ,we are certainly not compelled1 and it may seriously be questioned whether we are allowed1 to interpret the concluding chapters of the ,apocalypse as a vision of the future heaven which awaits the just1 of the glorified and celestial state of believers who have passed through the trials of earth and have entered into their final reward4 ,the probabilities are very strong that it is rather the vision of a redeemed and purified earth1 the victory which shall result here from the complete ascendancy of ,christ1 which is presented to our faith and hope4 ,this interpretation of the vision would give consistency and unity to the book4 ,it would account for the discrimination which is certainly made between the 8city0 and the nations which 8walk in the light thereof10 and also for the statement that the leaves of the tree of life are 8for the healing of the nations20 and it is confirmed by the fact that in his first epistle1 which was probably written subsequently to the ,apocalypse1 ,john declared that it had not been revealed or made manifest to him at that time what we shall be when ,christ shall be manifested to us in his heavenly glory 7#a ,john iii1 #b7;a statement hardly to be reconciled with truth if the vision of the ,apocalypse is to be taken as a revelation of the heavenly state4 ,the careful student will not fail to observe that upon all questions relating to the life beyond the grave the ,bible preserves a marked reticence2 nor is there any more impressive evidence of its divinity than this4 ,to gratify a curiosity which might easily become morbid is no part of its object and might defeat its more practical purpose4 ,while1 therefore1 it shows us the rent veil and opens the curtain sufficiently to reveal to us a world lying beyond1 it does not allow us to penetrate further or uncover to us the mysteries hidden therein4 ,it is enough for us to know that a way leads from the holy place to the holy of holies1 and that ,christ is that way1 the life of the world beyond as he is of this1 and the truth and reality of both alike4 ,it is not certain that a revelation to us of the glories of the celestial state would realize to us the satisfaction we anticipated4 ,even were a revelation made to us in terms which we were able to grasp and comprehend1 that which would be blissful to our glorified and transformed faculties might not seem so to our earthly ones1 and the revelation might become rather a stumbling-block than a stimulus4 ,we know that the prophecies concerning the ,messiah in the ,old ,testament were not only obscure1 but even seemed to involve contradictions1 which1 however1 his advent in the flesh explained and reconciled4 ,this may be the case also in regard to the future state of the blessed4 ,and ,god is no less merciful1 doubtless1 in what he withholds than in what he imparts4 ,it is the ideal kingdom of ,christ here in its perfect and completed form1 and not the glorified realm above1 which ,john so exquisitely describes4 ,the imagery he uses to adumbrate it may be glowing1 but it is not beyond what may be gathered1 though in less poetic dress1 from other parts of the ,scriptures4 ,even should it be conceded that the picture is simply an ideal one1 a dream of beauty not meant to be realized1 in fact1 something the attainment of which lies beyond the possibilities of this mortal life1 still the presentation to us of the perfect state can not be without its uses of help and comfort4 ,but it was not the cast of ,john's mind to be pleased with imagined fancies4 ,it has been well said 7in ,guesses at ,truth7 that 8in character1 in affection1 the ideal is the only real40 ,it is not without reason that ,john has so elaborately described the agencies with which ,christ has so amply endowed his ,church and his disciples1 and which are sufficient1 if rightly used1 to reduce to actual experience all that is portrayed as ideal4 ,in one of those graphic sketches which connect the ,apocalypse so closely with the gospels ,john convinces us that it is fact1 and not fancy1 which has been engaging his pen4 ,at the beginning of his ministry upon earth ,christ1 we are told1 was taken to 8an exceeding high mountain10 whence 8all the kingdoms of the world1 and the glory of them10 were shown him2 and ,satan said to him1 8,all these things will ,i give thee1 if thou wilt fall down and worship me40 ,from this temptation the ,master recoiled with indignant rebuke4 ,instead thereof1 he chose deliberately the path of suffering and privation1 the path that led to the garden and the cross1 to ,gethsemane and ,calvary4 ,with full appreciation of all it involved1 he took the cup put into his hands by the ,father4 ,in the closing scenes of the ,apocalypse the battle is supposed to have been fought1 the conflict has ceased1 and now ,john himself stands1 as ,christ had stood1 upon 8a great and high mountain20 and1 behold1 there was shown him 8that great city1 the holy ,jerusalem1 descending out of heaven from ,god40 ,the cross has conquered1 and the kingdoms of the earth have become the possession of our ,lord and of his ,christ4 ,and he who himself overcame the world has given assurance to all his followers1 however humble1 that they1 too1 may be victors4 ,theories of the ,church and kingdom of ,christ1 definitions of their nature and mission1 abound4 ,many have taken on them to specify the notes or characteristic marks by which the true ,church may be identified4 ,it cannot1 therefore1 fail of interest or profit to learn what the holy ,st4 ,john1 the inspired apostle who leaned on the bosom of ,jesus1 has to say of the tests by which we may try the spirits to see whether they are of ,god4 ,under the veil of figure and metaphor1 we have the profound and long-studied conviction of one who was competent to decide1 and to whom the wisest of mankind may look up with reverence for instruction4 ,nor need anyone have difficulty in determining for himself whether the kingdom of ,christ finds its realization in his own soul1 or long hesitate in identifying the true ,church of ,christ1 which is simply the kingdom of ,christ ruling in society4 #a4 ,the ,distinctive ,features of the ,kingdom4,the first mark of the kingdom upon which ,john lays stress is that it is supernatural in its origin4 ,the holy city that he saw descended 8out of heaven from ,god40 ,it came 8down from ,god out of heaven1 prepared as a bride adorned for her husband40 ,it is not the resultant of any process of development or growth from a prior state4 ,whatever preparation may precede and make ready a basis for its reception1 the kingdom itself is inaugurated by the direct and personal agency of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,whatever instrumentalities the ,holy ,ghost may use as his media1 his is the undivided quickening power4 ,in this declaration the writer of the ,apocalypse and the author of the fourth gospel are in agreement4 ,it is he who records the words of the ,lord ,jesus1 8,except a man be born of water and of the ,spirit1 he cannot enter into the kingdom of ,god0 7,john iii1 #e74 ,another feature of this kingdom is that its mission lies specifically in the realm of divine things4 ,it has 8the glory of ,god40 ,the name of the city is1 8,the ,lord is there0 7,ezekiel xlviii1 #ce74 ,its ,god is its glory4 ,it is ,god's witness in nature and to men of a power above and beyond nature and man4 ,there are natural means and agencies endowed by the ,creator to carry forward earthly work2 but he has planted the kingdom in the midst of mankind1 and its one great business is to testify of him4 ,for the doing of this work the ,church is accountable4 ,in whatever other tasks the ,church may engage or whatever methods it may employ in fulfilling its mission1 its one supreme office and distinct characteristic is to bear witness to a divine presence and a divine power in the world4 8,in his temple doth everyone speak of his glory40 ,all art1 ritual1 discipline1 philanthropy1 and economies that do not directly lead to ,god1 and have not for their purpose to emphasize the need1 the presence1 and the inward experience of the supernatural1 are aside from the purpose of the kingdom and below its ideal4 ,a third mark of the kingdom is that it has to do primarily with the religious faculties4 ,as the distinction between nature and the supernatural is permanent and ineffaceable1 so the ,church and the world can never be made to coincide1 however widely the ,church may be extended or however thoroughly the world may be permeated by the spirit of the ,church4 8,the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light0 of the new ,jerusalem1 8the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it20 but the distinction between it and them exists and abides4 ,it will be as true in the last days as when our ,lord first spoke the words1 8,my kingdom is not of this world40 ,however omnipotent and omnipresent ,god may be in nature and the universe1 he can never be made identical with them2 and1 however thoroughly they may be penetrated by his ,spirit and come to perfect accord with him1 they can never be so lifted up as to rival or supersede his supremacy4 ,and1 although common life and work may be sanctified by being done in the spirit of ,christ1 and religious life may flow out from the central source through all the ordinary and natural channels of our being1 the religious and the secular can never be made one4 8,out of ,zion shall go forth the law1 and the word of the ,lord from ,jerusalem20 but the discharge of earthly duties and the reformation of earthly conditions can never exhaust the obligations of man4 ,there will still remain those relations to the supernatural of whose existence and sovereignty it is the preminent mission of the ,church to testify4 ,the kingdom of ,god is 8righteousness1 and peace1 and joy in the ,holy ,ghost40 #b4 ,the ,central ,principle of the ,kingdom4,the central figure in this kingdom is ,christ crucified4 ,it is the ,lamb around whom all the imagery of the apostle's description gathers4 ,the lightluminary1 ratherof the kingdom was 8like unto a stone most precious1 even like a jasper stone1 clear as crystal40 ,that this refers to ,christ seems probable from ,revelation iv1 #c1 where it is said that he that sat upon the throne 8was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone10 and is further confirmed by ,revelation xxi1 #bc1 where the ,lamb is said to be 8the light0 of the city4 ,moreover1 it is said1 8,the first foundation was jasper10 which is but confirmatory of what ,peter had said in the presence of ,john to the 8rulers1 and elders1 and scribes30 8,this is the stone which was set at nought of you builders1 which is become the head of the corner4 ,neither is there salvation in any other40 7,acts iv1 #aa1 #ab47 ,still further1 8,the building of the wall of it was of jasper40 ,christ crucified is the defense and the bulwark of the kingdom4 ,the atonement of ,christ is the most powerful argument the ,church can use and constitutes its strongest claim upon the reason and heart of men4 ,it is 8the power of ,god1 and the wisdom of ,god40 ,it is ,christ crucified that makes the separation between the kingdom and the circumjacent world4 ,it is not in its ethics that the distinguishing peculiarity of ,christianity lies1 but in the preaching of the cross4 ,in the opinion of ,john any other definition of ,christianity throws down ,christianity's only wall of safety and separation4 ,yet there is no exclusiveness about the kingdom4 ,the city has three gates on each of its four sides1 facing the four quarters of the globe1 that all men may find ready access4 8,every several gate is of one pearl0that pearl of great price which ,christ said a man should be willing to sell all that he has to buy1 becoming eternally rich by the exchange4 ,nor is there any narrowness4 ,its length and breadth and height exceed even those large measurements which ,ezekiel thought to be ample enough for the ideal temple he saw4 8,whatsoever things are true1 whatsoever things are honest1 whatsoever things are just1 whatsoever things are pure1 whatsoever things are lovely1 whatsoever things are of good report2 if there be any virtue1 and if there be any praise0all these things belong legitimately to the kingdom4 ,the kings of the earth may 8bring their glory and honor into it20 only that which 8defileth0 or 8worketh abomination0 or 8maketh a lie0 is excluded4 ,when once a man in the center of his being is rightly adjusted to the ,lamb of ,god1 the center of all being1 he may unfold all his powers and give exercise to every faculty of his renewed nature safely1 wisely1 completely1 without fear of infringement upon any other being or of going astray from his ,creator4 #c4 ,negative ,characteristics4,not less remarkable is the negative side of the kingdom1 the absence from it of many things with which we are familiar4 ,when an ideal has been attained much that was necessary in the process of attainment falls away as obsolete2 the scaffolding which is used in the erection of a building is removed when the building is completed4 ,there is a noticeable avoidance in the closing chapters of the ,apocalypse of any reference to the sacraments1 to ritual1 or to such like means of grace4 ,john saw 8no temple therein2 for the ,lord ,god ,almighty and the ,lamb are the temple of it40 8,when that which is perfect is come1 then that which is in part shall be done away40 ,when the consummation of the kingdom has been reached the relation of the soul to its ,creator shall not be through intermediate agencies1 but direct and intuitive4 ,there is no mention made of any special priestly class1 for the promise shall have its complete fulfillment to all1 8,ye are a chosen generation1 a royal priesthood20 and all life shall be a priestly work and service4 ,nor is there any allusion to the prophetic office as a separate function4 8,they need no candle1 neither light of the sun2 for the ,lord ,god giveth them light40 8,the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you1 and ye need not that any man teach you0 7#a ,john ii1 #bg74 ,the prediction of ,jeremiah 7,jeremiah xxxi1 #cd7 has reached its time of fulfillment3 8,they shall teach no more every man his neighbor1 and every man his brother1 saying1 ,know the ,lord3 for they shall all know me1 from the least of them unto the greatest of them1 saith the ,lord40 ,yet upon this point1 more almost than upon any other1 it is of the utmost importance that we shall 8distinguish the times40 ,we must not assume1 because these aids and appliances are not needful in the perfected state of the kingdom1 that they are not essential in the formative period1 and thus1 at great risk and with imminent peril1 neglect or depreciate those means of grace which the ,creator has deemed necessary for our present condition4 #d4 ,the ,fruits and ,results of the ,kingdom4,they in whom the kingdom rules shall have access to the tree of life1 that heavenly wisdom of which ,solomon says1 8,she is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her3 and happy is everyone that retaineth her0 7,proverbs iii1 #ah74 8,this is life eternal10 ,one greater than ,solomon says1 8that they might know thee the only true ,god1 and ,jesus ,christ1 whom thou hast sent0 7,john xvii1 #c74 ,their lives shall abound in fruitfulness4 ,their ministry shall be1 like the ,lord's1 8for the healing of the nations10 a remedy for all the spiritual and earthly maladies of mankind4 ,the curse of sin shall be destroyed1 8and there shall be no more curse40 8,christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law1 being made a curse for us0 7,galatians iii1 #ac74 8,the blood of ,jesus ,christ his ,son cleanseth us from all sin0 7#a ,john i1 #g74 ,and walking 8in the light1 as he is in the light10 and being 8pure in heart10 his followers shall 8see ,god40 8,they shall see his face2 and his name shall be in their foreheads40 99 99 99 99 99 ,thus with this sublime vision closes this marvelous book4 ,there is no truth revealed elsewhere in the sacred ,scriptures that may not be found in its pages4 ,so complete is it1 indeed1 that 8if any man shall add unto these things1 ,god shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book40 ,nor is there any truth revealed in this book which may not be found elsewhere in the ,scriptures1 so perfectly does it harmonize with all divinely inspired truth4 ,therefore1 8if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy1 ,god shall take away his part out of the book of life1 and out of the holy city1 and from the things which are written in this book40 ,the ,apocalypse of ,st4 ,john fitly closes the sacred canon2 for1 drawing so much1 as it does1 from all the rest of ,god's wonderful book1 it holds the truths derived therefrom in a coherent union never to be dissolved or broken4 ,index ,albigenses1 #acg4 ,apocalypse4 ,see ,revelation4 ,apostolic and present age1 resemblance between1 #aih4 ,asceticism and worldliness contrasted1 #adhaej4 ,asceticism1 prevalence and danger of1 #ach1 #aci4 ,atonement1 all-sufficiency of1 #afd1 #afe4 ,babylon1 destruction of1 #aii2 relation of ,church and ,state in1 #agiaha4 ,balaam1 #adg1 #adh4 ,barbarism1 characteristics of1 #bddbdg2 possibility of reversion to1 #gd1 #ge1 #bdc4 ,beast1 scarlet colored1 #ahfahh4 ,bible1 reticence of1 #bfc4 ,christ crucified1 the central figure of ,revelation1 #bgj1 #bga4 8#aga0 replaced with 8#bga0 ,christian liberty1 #bgb4 ,christianity1 antithesis between true and false1 #ahd1 #ahe4 ,church and ,state1 interdependence of1 #aaj1 #bdi1 #bej4 ,church1 conquering weapons of the1 #aaj1 #aee1 #bjb2 the ideal1 #bff1 ff42 notes of the true1 #bff1 ff42 separable from world1 #bfi1 #bgj2 supernatural origin of the1 #bfg2 a witness to ,god1 #bfh4 ,church unity1 #bbh1 ff42 an apostolic hope1 #bcj1 #bca2 how attained1 #bcf1 #bcg2 importance of1 #bcb4 ,daniel1 prophecy of four beasts in1 #aae4 ,david1 duration of dynasty of1 #bji4 ,dragon1 the2 divine protection from1 #ajh2 hostility of1 to the church1 #ajg4 ,dry bones4 ,see ,ezekiel1 vision of dry bones4 ,emblem1 of seal1 #cida2 of trumpet1 #ef1 #eg4 ,epistles to seven churches of ,asia1 their lesson to us1 #cd4 ,euphrates1 reference to1 in sixth trumpet1 #gb1 #gc4 ,ezekiel1 prophecy of1 #afc1 #afd1 #bje1 ff42 vision of dry bones1 #bjg1 #bjh4 ,false prophet1 marks of1 #acc4 ,false prophetism1 second wild beast a symbol of1 #abf4 ,fifth trumpet4 ,see ,trumpet fifth4 ,first trumpet4 ,see ,trumpet first4 ,forty-two1 symbolism of1 #ai4 ,fourth trumpet4 ,see ,trumpet fourth4 ,gentilism1 mission of1 #bcd4 ,gnosticism perilous to ,christianity1 #acf4 ,god1 knowledge of2 how obtained1 #eifa4 ,gog and ,magog1 #bji1 #bdjbdc1 #beb1 #bec4 ,harvest scene1 meaning of1 #aegaei4 ,holy ,spirit1 his work preceded by that of ,christ1 #ada1 #adb4 ,individuality an outgrowth of ,christianity1 #acd1 #ace4 ,inspiration and human genius1 #hd4 ,interpretation1 principles of1 #aj2 reference to ,old ,testament necessary in1 #acaf2 structure of book a guide to1 #aaac4 ,jewish ritual a key to emblems and symbols1 #af4 ,joel1 prophecy of1 #aeeaeg4 ,judaism1 its office in the plan of redemption1 #bcc4 ,knowledge of ,god through his works and word1 #eifa4 ,lamb's book of life1 #bed1 ff4 ,lukewarmness1 evils of1 #fi1 #gj4 ,man and the earth1 close connection between1 #fc1 #fd4 ,manichism1 #acg4 ,mediatorial sovereignty1 #de1 #df1 #bad4 ,michael the archangel1 #aji4 ,millennium1 #baa1 #bab1 #bag1 #bah4 ,mohammedanism illustrative of fifth trumpet1 #gj1 #ga4 ,nicolaitans1 #acf4 8,nicolaitanes0 replaced with 8,nicolaitans0 ,nineveh1 special characteristics of1 #agh1 #agi4 ,numbers1 importance of1 #ag4 ,old ,testament1 its relation to the ,new1 #icie2 reference to it necessary in interpretation1 #acaf4 ,palestine1 geographical seclusion of1 #ajh1 #aji4 ,paulicianism1 #acg4 ,peculiarities distinguishing the ,revelation1 #i4 ,plagues1 the1 #agj4 ,prophetical books1 importance of study of1 #ad4 ,purpose of the ,revelation1 #i4 ,resurrection1 spiritual1 #bbd1 #bbe4 ,revelation1 general purpose of the1 #i2 limitations of the1 #ha1 #hb2 theme of the1 #bc2 unity of the1 #bb4 ,roman ,empire1 policy of administration1 #aag1 #aah4 ,rome1 ,church of1 #aib1 #aic4 ,sacraments1 absence of allusion to1 #bgc4 ,satan1 his power restrained1 #bai2 loosing of1 #bch4 ,sea1 emblem of secular world1 #aac4 ,seal1 emblematic meaning of1 #cida2 loosing of1 #dd4 ,sealed book1 meaning of1 #da1 #db4 ,sealed elect1 #ejeb4 ,second trumpet4 ,see ,trumpet second4 ,second wild beast1 number of1 #adbadh4 ,seven churches of ,asia1 spiritual condition of1 #cj4 ,seven seals1 opening of1 #df4 ,seven1 symbolism of1 #ah4 ,seventh trumpet4 ,see ,trumpet seventh4 ,simon ,magus1 #acf4 ,six1 symbolism of1 #ai4 ,sixth trumpet4 ,see ,trumpet sixth4 ,theme of the ,revelation1 #bc4 ,third trumpet4 ,see ,trumpet third4 ,three and a half1 symbolism of1 #aibb4 ,tree of life1 #bgd1 #bge4 ,true prophet1 marks of1 #abiaca4 ,trumpet1 emblematic meaning of1 #ef1 #eg2 fifth1 explanation of1 #fgga2 first1 explanation of1 #fe2 fourth1 explanation of1 #ff2 second1 explanation of1 #fe2 seventh1 explanation of1 #ig2 sixth1 explanation of1 #gbgf2 third1 explanation of1 #ff4 ,twelve1 symbolism of1 #ah4 ,twelve hundred and sixty1 symbolism of1 #ai1 #hh1 #aji4 ,two witnesses1 interpretation of1 #gi4 ,tyre1 deleterious influence upon religion1 #ahb1 #ahc2 emblem of commerce1 #aha1 #ahb1 #aie1 #aif4 ,unity of the church4 ,see ,church unity4 ,vials1 vision of1 #afi4 ,victory1 anticipation of1 #aej4 ,vintage scene1 meaning of1 #aeiafe4 ,witnesses1 the two2 fulfilled in ,law and ,prophets1 #hgib4 ,woes1 the three1 #gf4 ,world empires1 #ahi2 recurrence of1 impossible1 #aia4 ,world religions1 agreement of moral codes1 #bef1 #beg4 ,worldliness and asceticism contrasted1 #adhaej4 ,worldliness1 blasphemy of1 #abc1 #abd2 definition of1 #abj2 first wild beast1 a symbol of1 #aab2 recuperative power of1 #abb4