The writer calls himself simply "John" (1: 1, 4, 9, and 22: 8) with no further designation save that he is "his" (Jesus Christ's) "servant," and "your brother and companion in tribulation"—the same who was exiled to Patmos (1: 1, 9). He does not say John the Apostle, nor John the brother of James, or one of the sons of Zebedee; does not define himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (as in his gospel, 13: 23, and 19: 26, and 20: 2, and 21: 7, 20). Yet he makes no effort to disguise his person, but obviously assumes that his first readers will recognize him without fail by the indications given. It is therefore safe to conclude that he was well known throughout all those seven churches. This fact of itself leaves no room to doubt that he was the venerable and every-where known Apostle John. The church history of the early ages from the date of this epistle onward witnesses to no other John of such prominence and distinction—a father to the churches, known and beloved by all.

This question of authorship is not absolutely vital to the reception and usefulness of this book, provided it be admitted and satisfactorily shown that the author was one of the inspired men of the apostolic age. Yet if John the beloved disciple was truly the author, it is refreshing to know it. In my view the proof that he was the author is entirely conclusive. Yet I am well aware that some very learned critics of our times deny his authorship, especially on the ground of the great diversity of style between this book and the fourth gospel and the three epistles attributed to John. Consequently the question should be the more carefully examined and the strong points of proof more fully presented.

1. In the first place the voice of the most ancient Christian fathers is strongly and almost unanimously for him as the author.—The testimony of Papias, bishop of Hierapolis (Col. 4: 13) in Phrygia (flourished in the first years of the second century) and who may have seen John personally, shows only that he held the book to be of apostolic origin and worthy of our Christian faith ("axiopiston"). He says nothing adverse to the opinion that John was the author. The presumption is that in his day there was no occasion to affirm this.—The active life of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, spanned the first half of the second century and the later years of the first. He is spoken of as a personal companion and disciple of John; but we reach his views on the point before us only by inference from the well known views of his pupil Ireneus. The latter speaks explicitly of the Apostle John as the author of this book.—Justin Martyr (flourished: A. D. 140-164), the earliest author and scholar after the apostles, writes: "A man from among us" (Justin was of Palestine) "by name John, one of the apostles of Christ, in the revelations made to him; has prophesied that those who believe in our Messiah shall live a thousand years in Jerusalem," etc.—Melito, bishop of Sardis one of those seven churches), who flourished in the third quarter of the second century, "wrote a treatise on the Apocalypse of John." This is the language of Eusebius (Book 4, chap. 26), and can be fairly construed of no other than John the Apostle.—Theophilus, bishop of Antioch (A. D. 169-180), is reported by Eusebius (Book 4, chap. 24) as drawing "testimony from the Apocalypse of John" in a work of his entitled, "Against the heresy of Hermogenis."—Eusebius says the same of Apollonius (Book 5, chap. 18), who was of Asia Minor, latter part of the second century.—Ireneus, trained in Christian life and doctrine under Polycarp of Smyrna till about A. D. 150; then sent as a missionary to the south of France (Gaul), where he was bishop of Lyons (A. D. 177-202), witnesses abundantly that John the disciple of the Lord wrote the Apocalypse. His testimony, found in his great work "Against Heresies," is chiefly in the form of quotations from the Apocalypse, spoken of as "the words of John."—Clement of Alexandria (A. D. 192-220) quotes from this book with the remark, "As John Says in the Apocalypse."—Tertullian of Carthage (A. D, 199-220) in many passages refers to the Apocalypse as being "the work of the Apostle John."—Origen, the greatest biblical scholar among the Christian fathers to his day; in early life of Alexandria (Egypt), but in later life of Palestine; born A. D. 185, died A. D. 254, makes his testimony signally explicit: "John who leaned on the bosom of Jesus has left us one gospel, and he wrote also the Apocalypse." He speaks of this John as "being the son of Zebedee;" also as being "condemned to the Isle of Patmos for bearing his testimony to the word. of truth."

This list of witnesses and recital of their testimony might be very greatly extended. I have selected the earliest witnesses because they are most likely to be original and direct, and therefore have the highest value. I see no reason to doubt that these witnesses give us the prevalent opinions of those who first received this book from the pen of John and of their successors—sons and grandsons, pupils and grand-pupils, of the nearest subsequent years.

2. In respect to historic testimony it should however be distinctly stated that a very few counter voices, are heard; but their doubt or denial of the authorship of John is obviously traceable either (1) to doctrinal prejudice against the book; or (2) to their inference from its peculiarities of style, compared with the fourth gospel.—As to doctrinal prejudice, the facts are in brief that a few Christians in the second century and onward gave this book an extremely literal and even a repulsively gross and sensual interpretation, which so disgusted many of their brethren that they discredited the book itself denying its divine authority, and of course denying that it was written by the Apostle John. It was apparently under the influence of this feeling that the scholarly Dyonisius of Alexandria raised the question whether the John whose name appears in this book was not another man—-a position which he supported by appealing to its diversity of style; compared with the fourth gospel. Such counter testimony considered as properly historic is obviously of no account. It fails to touch the only really historic question, viz., What were the views of those who personally knew the author, and who received the book from his well-known hand? And what voice did they hand down to their children and to their pupils of the next and of succeeding generations? On this simply historic question there seems to be no ground for any difference of opinion.

3. Internal traits go far to prove that the same John who wrote the fourth gospel and the three epistles wrote also the Revelation. Note how he identifies himself by his use of special terms and phrases and by his dominant ideas of gospel truth, and also by his modes of conceiving and representing them.

(1.) Observe that he alone of all the New Testament writers, thinks and speaks of Jesus Christ as "the Word of God." This name stands out prominently in the Revelation (19: 13) : "His name is called the Word of God." It is equally prominent in the very opening of the fourth gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." . . "And the Word was made flesh," etc. (1: 1, 14.) In the epistle also: "The Word of life " (1 : 1), and in the disputed and doubtful passage (5: 7) "The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost." [If we admit that this last passage came into our copies by interpolation, still it must have gained and held its place on the strength of its harmony with John's usage and with the views of the ancient church.]

(2.) By John alone of all the New Testament writers Jesus is thought of and seen as "a Lamb slain for an atoning sacrifice." We have this view in the Revelation. In the midst of the heavenly elders is seen "a Lamb as it had been slain," to whom they sing: "Thou vast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood" (5: 6, 9, 12). "The book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world " (13: 8). The victors on the sea of glass sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb (15: 3). And in the same strain of thought—"To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood " (1 : 5). Now observe how perfectly in harmony with this way of thinking and speaking you find the fourth gospel: "Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world" (1: 29, 36).—Peter approximates toward this (1 Eps. 1: 19), comparing Christ to a lamb, but no other New Testament writer save John fully reaches it.—The reader will bear in mind also that this figure is the more remarkable in the Revelation because the tone and purpose of the book should more naturally present Christ as the Lion than as the Lamb—the Lion who treads down his foes rather than the Lamb who dies a sacrifice for his friends.

(3.) Allusions to the manna of the wilderness appear in the New Testament in this writer only; in Rev. 2: 17,—"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna:" and in the fourth gospel (6: 48, 58), "My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven" [the real manna].

(4.) Only in the imagery of this New Testament writer are the blessings of salvation, "waters of life," given to all the thirsty ones. See in Rev. 21: 6, and 22: 1, 17. "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." "Let him that is athirst come. Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." In his gospel history, see 7: 37: "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

(5.) In his style of thought and speech, preaching the gospel is "witnessing," "testifying," bearing testimony to the truth. We see this throughout the Apocalypse, e. g., in 1: 2, and 2: 13 ["martyr" is the Greek word for witness], and 3: 14, and 6 : 9, and 11: 3, 7, and 12: 11, 17, and 19: 10, and 20: 4, and 22: 16, 18, 20. In the fourth gospel we have the same use of this language, 5: 39, and 15: 26, 27, and 18: 37. "For this cause (said Jesus before Pilate) came I into this world that I should bear witness to the truth." See also the authors description of his work (21: 24): "This is the disciple which testifieth of these things and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true." "Witnessing" appears in the same general sense in the first epistle (1: 2, and 5: 9, 10). These modes of thought and speech appearing prominently and uniformly throughout all his books go very far indeed to identify the author of them all as the same man.

(6.) We carry this argument but one step further when we adduce the fact that this book of Revelation and the fourth gospel are essentially at one in their great cardinal points of Christian faith, as well as in their peculiar forms of expression. No points of revealed truth can be more fundamental than the one already introduced above—Jesus Christ an atoning sacrifice for the sins of men. We have seen that this view is prominent in the gospel, the epistle, and the Revelation. So also is the doctrine that Jesus is King and Lord of all, worthy of equal honor with the Father; and actually receiving it in heaven itself. The gospel gives us the eternal Word who "was in the beginning; was with God; and was God;"—by whom "all things were made" (l : 1; 13); to whom "the Father hath committed all judgment" (5 22), and who himself speaks of "the glory which he had with the Father before the world was" (17: 15). The first epistle indorses this doctrine in most concise but explicit terms "This is the true God and the eternal life" (1 John 5:20). With surpassing fullness and splendor the Apocalypse corroborates this doctrine by its open visions of the homage and worship accorded by all the hierarchies of heaven in equal strains to "Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever." This worship is supreme; none higher is known in heaven. It therefore indorses the true divinity of Jesus Christ, in harmony with both the fourth gospel and the epistles of John, and in a form of testimony than which none can be stronger.—In the same line of argument it might be shown that all these writings concur in presenting Jesus as the life of his people, their Shepherd; their Defender; while the Apocalypse makes specially prominent his relation as the Avenger of their martyred blood.

(7.) Objections considered.

The strong points of objection are,—(a.) The poetry and the symbols of the Apocalypse have a tone of grandeur and sublimity so unlike the plain simplicity and the metaphysical abstractness of the fourth gospel and of the epistles that they can not be supposed to have come from the same author.—To which I reply that the poetry and the prose of the same author are naturally very unlike. Compare the prosaic history given Ex. 14: 19-31; and 15: 19, with the poetic song of Ex. 15: 1-18. What could be more unlike? But the same Moses wrote both. Or compare the first two chapters of Habakkuk with the third; or Isa. 37 with Isa. 60; or Dan. 6 with Dan. 7; or Job, chapters 1 and 2, with any or all of the others; or 2 Sam. 22: 1 with vs. 2-51. Surely it is no strange thing that the same writer, especially if he have genius imagination, and sublimity in him, should make his poetry very diverse from his prose. And whether we are able to give all the reasons for it or not, we have the fact that prophecy does come to us clothed (usually) in the loftiest poetry and often in the grandest symbols. Yet these poetic and sublime prophets in the grandest symbols have given us also some very plain and unpoetic prose. To which it may appropriately be added that the author of the Apocalypse shows by manifold allusions that he has been reading those grand old Hebrew prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah, and that his mind is filled with their sublime conceptions. Is it then any marvel that his own style should catch their strain; or rather, that his soul should enkindle from contact with their seraphic fire?—Let us also bear in mind that the Apocalypse was probably written from ten to twenty years before the fourth gospel and the three epistles, and consequently when the writer had more of the fire and vivacity of his youth than when under the weight of more than fourscore years he penned his gospel and epistles. Men of the noblest powers must pass with the lapse of years from the buoyancy and glow of manhood to the more calm you sedateness of old age. Need it surprise us if their writings evince it?

(b.) It is objected that the tone of tenderness, sympathy, and love which appears in the fourth gospel is far removed from the sternness, the terror, and the vengeance which reign in the Apocalypse.—But are not the zephyrs and the hurricanes from the same God? The dews and the deluges—come they not from the same Author? The whispering calls of mercy and the thunder tones of the judgment trump—are they not from the same Jesus? Is there not one hour for beseeching men to be reconciled to God; and another hour for the vials of his wrath upon those whom no mercy can touch and no forbearance and no warnings can reclaim? And precisely to our present point, may not God employ the same tongue and pen to utter both the one and the other?—Specifically it is claimed that the three epistles of John breathe a tender spirit as from a loving father to his well-belove children; but that the messages to the seven churches have the air of authority, reproof, and threatening.—This difference is rather strongly put, yet no one can deny that a measure of it exists. To account for it I suggest that in the messages to the seven churches the speaker is rather Jesus himself than John the amanuensis; and moreover, that the emergency was such as to call for the most solemn earnestness. The tone in those seven Messages is rather that of tremendous earnestness than of asperity or vengeance. A fearful strain was upon the piety of those churches—a time of stern and portentous trial through which none could pass unscathed unless their souls should be aroused to see their peril. Hence the spirit of those messages.

(c.) It is claimed that the original Greek of the Apocalypse is more tinged with Hebraistic words and grammatical forms than that of the known writings of John—I reply, it is now generally conceded that the Aramean (a dialect of the Hebrew) was the spoken language in Palestine at the time of Christ, and therefore was the mother tongue of his Jewish disciples. When they began to push the gospel into the outlying countries, and to write out its records for the reading of the civilized world, a knowledge of Greek be came a necessity. But being in their minds superinduced upon their vernacular Hebrew, it was inevitable that their newer Greek would be shaded more or less by their older Hebrew. Precisely this appears in every New Testament writer, yet in various degrees. I freely admit the fact put forward in the objection above-named, i. e., that the Apocalypse is more deeply shaded with the Hebrew tint than the fourth gospel or the three epistles of John. But this fact can be accounted for without any serious damage to the evidence that the same John wrote the Apocalypse. For (1.) This Apocalypse was written (it is conceded by the best critics) several years earlier than the gospel and the epistles, when John was but recently arrived in Asia Minor from his Palestine home, and hence was less familiar with classic Greek and more fresh from his Aramean vernacular than in his later years: and (2.) His exile in Patmos, we must assume, was cheered by the deep and ardent study of the old Hebrew prophets. Fresh from their perusal, he turned to the writing of the Apocalypse—of which the book bears most abundant traces.—These important facts in his case suffice to show that his Hebraistic style in the Apocalypse compared with his gospel is altogether what we ought to expect. If the preponderance of Hebrew style were the other way—the more abundant traces in the later writings and not in the earlier, and when farther removed from the immediate influence of the old prophets, then the argument against the common authorship of all these books would be very strong, if not even conclusive.

(d.) A vast amount of labor has been expended to bring out a class of words which occur in the Apocalypse and not in the fourth gospel; and vice versa, another class from the fourth gospel, not found in the Apocalypse. The same thing is also shown to some extent in respect to special grammatical forms.—But this sort of argument seems to me to have little force. It is offset in part by the fact of very considerable and indeed somewhat striking similarities, going to identify the author of both books as the same. And why may not all the real diversities be accounted for by the different dates of the books; the changes due to his greater familiarity with classic Greek after many more years of practical contact with it; and, not least, to the great difference in the subjects treated of—the difference natural between the loftiest poetry and the plainest prose?

II. THE DATE OF THE WRITING.

This question involves some real difficulty, especially on its historic aide. Yet it has very considerable importance in its bearings upon the interpretation of the book, and therefore calls for a careful and candid examination.—On this question of date, critical opinions fall into two classes, one assigning it to the reign of Nero (about A. D. 64-68), and the other to the reign of Domitian (A. D. 95-96). It is well known that violent persecution raged at both these periods, and it is possible that John was banished to Patmos twice—i. e., by both Nero and Domitian, and that this fact occasioned the confused and discordant notices that appear in the early fathers in regard to the time of his banishment and the date of this book.

In respect to date, I will speak,

1. Of the internal evidence—that which appears in the book itself; and

2. Of the external, as found in fragmentary notices by the Christian fathers.

1. Internal. Under this head I adduce

(1.) The fact that the culpable practices which appear in the seven churches (chaps. 2, 3) are those of the early and mid-apostolic ages—precisely those against which the churches of Asia were specially warned by the circular "epistle" of the first Christian council (Ac. 15), and which appear in Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth. Thus in Pergamos the practices indicated as "the doctrine of Balaam" were these two: eating things offered to idols and fornication (Rev. 2: 14). The doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, appearing in both Pergamos and Ephesus, was very similar (2: 15); Precisely the, same practices appear in Thyatira, inculcated by one called "Jezebel" (2: 20). By a remarkable coincidence, the evils against which the first council at Jerusalem specially warned the churches were prominently these two (Acts 15: 20, 29). In Corinth the eating of things offered to idols was one of the live questions then pressing sharply upon the churches (1 Cor. 8). I need not say that fornication was a second special subject for rebuke and warning in that church.—Thus it appears that the great moral questions and immoral practices which pressed sorely upon the churches at the date of the Jerusalem council (A D. 50 or 52) and at the date of Paul's letters to Corinth (A. D. 57-58) were the very things condemned in the seven churches of Asia.—But it will be asked, Were not these evils rife in the age of Domitian? Possibly they were; but the latest N. T. books, viz., the gospel and the epistles of John, give no hint of it. Other historical records of that age are scanty; but so far as I know are silent on these points. It is intrinsically improbable that the questions in regard to eating meats offered to idols would have continued practically unsettled forty years (from A. D. 50 to A D. 90).—This argument amounts in my view only to a strong probability—not to a demonstration.

(2.) The churches of Asia were suffering severely from pernicious teachers claiming to be Jews. In Ephesus were some who said they were apostles but were not (2: 2); in Smyrna the troublers said they were Jews, but were more "the synagogue of Satan" (2: 9)_; in Philadelphia were the same class precisely (3: 9); while the personage called Jezebel (2: 20), claiming to be a prophetess, was probably a Jewess also.—Thus the troublers of the seven churches at the date of this book were remarkably well defined—either actually being Jews, or at least claiming to be.—Now let it be also considered that the first council was called (A D. 50 or 51) to counteract the mischiefs of Judaizing teachers. The letters of Paul to the Galatians (A. D. 56) and to the Colossians (A. D. 62) disclose the presence and mischiefs of the same set of men. These were churches of Asia, adjacent to the seven to whom John wrote. Paul's first letter to Timothy (1: 3, 4, 7), written A. D. 65, alludes to men causing trouble in Ephesus and puts upon them two Jewish marks—"given to endless genealogies;" and "desiring to be teachers of the law." Indeed the early apostolic age was constantly annoyed by this class of men.—Thus we see the most entire coincidence between the case of: the seven churches as it appears in these letters, and the case of other churches of Asia in the years A. D. 50-66.

Here too (as before) the question must be met: Did not this annoyance from Jewish and Judaizing teachers continue down to the age of Domitian?—I answer, All existing historical evidence is strongly against it. The later books of the New Testament give not the least allusion to such teachers. While the earliest heresies that annoyed the Christian churches came from Judaism; the next in order—the second generation of them—sprang from contact with Pagan philosophies and science, "falsely so called"—to which it is generally conceded some of the latest writers of the New Testament allude.—What history thus testifies, the nature of the case strongly sustains. The fall of Jerusalem and the utter destruction of the temple naturally struck Judaism down. More than one million of Jews perished in that fearful fall; the rest were scattered far abroad. The hope of bringing the Gentile converts into Jewish ritualism was forever blasted; the power and prestige of this Judaizing element fell, never to rise. Hence the inference seems irresistible that the seducers in the seven churches when John wrote must have been of the age of Nero and not of the age of Domitian. Of course the book was written in the former age and not in the latter.—It may not be amiss to suggest that we have here another special element in the retributions upon the Jews of which chapters 4-11 speak, since, they are before us not only as the first and most malign persecutors of the infant Christian church, but also as its first, most persistent, most annoying and dangerous seducers.

(3.) The seventh chapter of the Apocalypse presents a scene in which four mighty angels are holding in suspense the fearful elements of retributive vengeance until another angel might place the seal of God upon the foreheads of his faithful servants. The central idea and also in the main its costume seem to be taken from Ezek. 8 and 9: "Go through the midst of the city and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all its abominations:" this done, let the others go through the city and smite, only come not near any man who bears the mark! Here in the scenes of this apocalyptic vision, John first hears the number of the sealed—"one hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel;" and indeed definitely twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes. That these represent the Christian converts gathered from the lineal Jews is made doubly certain by the counterpart of this first sealing, viz., the view of "a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues;" that is, Gentile converts of every land and tribe, seen before the throne already clothed in white, ascribing their salvation to God and the Lamb. So much the gospel had then achieved already. The scathing judgments that were about to smite the Jewish world and in due time the Gentile, would find so many garnered in safety, housed in their eternal home before the storm should burst.—Now the definite point of my argument is that this sealing of Jewish converts, considered as a prophecy, appears to be precisely coincident with that of Jesus Christ in his prediction of the fall of Jerusalem and of the previous gathering of his elect, as given in Mat 24: 31 and Mark 13: 27. The personal preaching of Jesus and the earliest mission labors of his disciples turned first to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mat. 10: 5, 6, 13). Forty years God waited and wrought patiently to gather in those lost ones. Jesus prophetically represents this gathering as to be done within the life-time of that generation (Mat. 24: 34 and Mark 13: 30), i. e., to be finished before Jerusalem should fall. The sealing and rescuing of the elect Jews in Rev. 7 bears every trace of being the same great fact. Hence its location in time shortly preceded the fall of that city, and if the fulfillment precedes that fall, so and much more must the prophecy itself.

(4.) In the same general line of thought and of argument we have a remarkable coincidence between our Lord's prediction (Luke 21: 24), "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles;" and of the temple (Mat 24: 2), "There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down;" and the prediction through the Revelator John (Rev. 11: 2), "The court that is outside the temple leave out, for it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread underfoot forty-two months." Both these predictions concur: (a) that Jerusalem was a doomed city; (b) that it should be trodden down by unhallowed Gentile feet [the Roman armies]; and (c) that even the presence of the holy temple within it should not shield it from this desolation. My argument as to the date of the Apocalypse turns on the strong presumption that this passage (Rev. 11: 2) synchronizes with Christ's prediction of the fall of Jerusalem, and therefore proves that at the date of its writing, the city had not yet fallen.—Very strong to the same point is the statement in the same context (v. 13): "And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell"—which certainly assumes that the whole city had not previously fallen, but was standing. The date of its actual fall is well known, viz., A. D. 70. This prophecy was written, therefore, shortly before this fall.

(5.) The account given of the murder of the "two witnesses," naming the very place where their dead bodies lay exposed and insulted (Rev. 11: 8)—"in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our [their] Lord was crucified," puts the finger of prophecy precisely upon Jerusalem, and obviously conceives of it as standing at the time of this vision, and indeed at the time when the murder of the two witnesses took place. This, taken in connection with the points made from chap. 7 and from chap. 11: 2, would certainly seem to fix the date of these events and of course the date of the book which predicts them, before the destruction of Jerusalem.

(6.) Rev. 17 is professedly an explanation of the more prominent symbols in the seven chapters (13-19), inasmuch as the angel said (v. 7), "I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, who hath the seven heads and ten horns." In this explanation the woman is shown to be "that great city" (Rome) "which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (v. 18), and which "sat on seven hills" [mountains]. Specially to our purpose it is said, "There are seven kings (v. 10) of whom five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come." Here the one that is, placed in a series with certain preceding ones fallen, and another following, "not yet come," must beyond all reasonable question be the king then on the throne of Rome when this book was written. It is safe to affirm that John could not have given the date of his writing more precisely and conclusively than he has done here unless he had given the very name of Nero. But there were obvious reasons why it was not prudent to give his actual name. He meant however to describe him so that his readers need be in no doubt.—Now since the question of date is narrowed down to a choice between the reigns of Nero and of Domitian, it only remains to say that this dynasty of Roman kings [emperors] began unquestionably with Julius Caesar, after whom we count Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, making the five who had fallen, and reach Nero, the sixth, of whom the, angel then said, "One is." Galba followed "to continue but a short space" (v. 10)—according to history, but seven months. The symbol and the angel's count had no occasion to carry the list of kings further. If carried on however and all counted in, Domitian would have been the twelfth. Of course the present tense of the book—the date of the vision—was not under Domitian, but was under Nero. But beyond all question in proof that Nero was the one head of the beast then in power when John wrote is the fact that he is absolutely identified by "the number of his name" (13: 18). See my notes on the passage.

(7.) There are at least two books in the New Testament (the Epistle to the Hebrews and 2 Peter) which are thought to contain allusions to the Apocalypse. If this shall appear, it will follow that the Apocalypse was in existence when these books were written. Let us then examine a single passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews (12: 22, 23).—On the point of motives to a holy life, the writer is contrasting the case of the Hebrews. before Mt. Sinai with the case of the Hebrew Christians of his own day before the corresponding Mt. Zion. He says (v. 18), "Ye are not come unto that merely material, tangible mount [Sinai]...... but ye are come unto [a spiritual] Mt Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem"—[in Rev. 21: 2, "The holy city, New, Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven"]:—"And to an innumerable company of angels," [the reader may see them in Rev. 5: 11, 12, and 7: 11, 12]; "to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven" [see the writing of their names in the book of life, Rev. 21: 27, and 13: 8, and 20: 12] "and to God the Judge of all" [Rev. 20: 11, 12] "and to the spirits of just men made perfect" [who stand before us remarkably throughout: this book of Revelation, e. g., 5: 8-10, and 6: 9-11, and 7: 13-17, and 15: 2-4, and 21 and 22]. It seems to me highly probable, not to say, almost certain, that the writer to the Hebrews had in his eye these salient points of the book of Revelation. These points are in his book for precisely the purpose which the writer to the Hebrews had before him, viz.: as constituting that magnificent and most impressive array of motives which under the gospel were brought to bear upon the Christian life, as compared with the corresponding motives arrayed before the ancient Hebrew people even in those most impressive scenes at Mt. Sinai.—In his 2d Epistle (3: 10, 13) Peter makes two points which the reader will notice: (1) that "the heavens shall pass away" and "the earth be burnt up;" (2) that "we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." John has it (Rev. 20: 11) "The earth and the heavens fled away;" and (21: 1) "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and the first heaven and the first earth were passed, away." The righteous only dwelt there (21: 27; and 22 14). Here then we have both the fact of the passing away of this present earth and heavens, and the promise of the new. With a high degree of probability Peter; had the Revelation of John before him and adopted its descriptive terms. But Peter fell a martyr under Nero's persecution, and therefore wrote this epistle before Nero's death. The date of the Epistle to the Hebrews is not known precisely, but no critics within my knowledge have placed it so late as the reign of Domitian.

2. It remains to speak of the external evidence—that of the early Christian fathers. This is far from being uniform, clear and direct. Unfortunately the earliest fathers (Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Papias, Polycarp and Justin Martyr)—the very men whose testimony would have been most valuable—fail us altogether. They either omitted all allusion to this point as being well enough understood without their testimony, or what they wrote has perished. The earliest of the fathers whose testimony has been relied on is Ireneus, who wrote his book "Against Heresies," A. D. 175-180. His youth was spent in Asia Minor, but all his manhood and Christian work lay in Ancient Gaul [France]. From the dim light that reaches us it would seem that his statements as they were understood shaped the opinions of Eusebius and Jerome on this question, and that they naturally controlled the views of subsequent authors. Hence it becomes important to examine carefully what Ireneus said—the more so because it is at least supposable (I think even probable) that his testimony as to the date of the Apocalypse has been misunderstood.—The only passage appealed to as giving his testimony occurs in some remarks upon "the number of the, beast" (Rev. 13: 18), which stand in our received text 666. The original Greek is this.*

* "HmeiV oun ouk apokinouneuomen peri ton onomaioV tou Anticrios apofainomenoi bebaiwtiwV, ei gar edei anafanon tw nun kaiow khouitesqai to onama, di ekeinou an erreqh tou kai thn Apokalujn ewpakotoV. Oude gar pro pollou cronou ewpaqh, alla scedon epi ths hmeteraV geneas, proV tw telei ths Dometianou apchV."

It may be translated thus:—"Therefore we do not imperil [the churches] by announcing the name of the Antichrist plainly, for if it were safe and wise at the present time to proclaim his name, it would have been done by him who saw the visions of the Apocalypse, for it is not a very long time since he was still to be seen, but almost in our own age, near the close of the reign of Domitian." This passage has been generally understood to say that the vision of the Apocalypse was seen in the age of Domitian, and it seems to have been the standard authority for that opinion with the Christian authors of the third and fourth centrries and onward. His testimony turns on the single point whether in the last clause it is he (John) who was still seen among the churches in the age of Domitian, or it (the vision) which was then first seen. The logic of the passage, the course of thought, should be mainly relied on to decide this question.—I understand the logic of Ireneus thus:—Obviously it was not prudent to give Nero's name during his life. But John lived down to the time of Domitian when Nero was thirty years dead. So far forth therefore the circumstances had materially changed. Now, says Ireneus, if the necessity for divulging the real name of Nero is so great and the danger from doing it so small that we ought to have the name brought out now, then the same was true in the time of Domitian, and John would have disclosed the name himself. He did not do it, for though Nero was dead, yet Rome still lived, a persecuting power. The danger from Nero's personal vengeance was long since passed away, but other Neros might arise on the same Roman throne; therefore John remained silent: so let us. Hence the logic of the passage requires that the thing seen in the last clause of this passage should be John yet living in his extreme old age, and not the vision itself. The supposition that it was the vision nullifies the argument of the passage.—Or thus: The argument assumes that it would have been dangerous and therefore unwise to give Nero's name openly during his life; also, that John lived a long time after Nero's death, so that if it were proper to give Nero's name when Ireneus wrote, it was equally so in the last years of John, and he would have given the name to the churches then himself.—Origen seems to take the same view of the case, and perhaps the same view of this passage from Ireneus when he says, "The king of the Romans as tradition teaches condemned John to the Isle of Patmos for his testimony to the word of truth; and John taught many things about his testimony, yet did not say who condemned him in all that he has written in his Apocalypse."*

* See Stuart's Apocalypse, vol. l, p. 271.

—Several fathers of the third century and the fourth speak of John's writing this book in connection with his banishment to Patmos, which they locate in Domitian's reign. Yet some of them are not explicit as between Nero and Domitian. Clement of Alexandria says John was banished by "the tyrant"—a name appropriate enough to either, yet in usage applied less to Domitian and more to Nero.

A very ancient Latin fragment [quoted in Stuart's Apocalypse, 1: 266] comes down to us, probably of the second century, saying, "Paul, following the order of his own predecessor John, wrote in the same way to only seven churches by name." This assumes that John wrote the Apocalypse before Paul wrote the last of his seven letters to as many churches by name. The latest date of Paul's seven was about A. D. 64. He died under Nero's persecution.—Eusebius [bishop of Cesarea, A. D. 314-340] in his history (book 3; chap. 18, and bk. 5: 8) speaks of John as being banished to Patmos and of seeing his visions there in the reign of DOMITIAN, but quotes Ireneus (the very passage above cited) as his specific authority. Did he not misunderstand Ireneus?—He also refers to a current tradition to the same effect, which however may have grown out of mistaking the sense of Ireneus.—Jerome [born A. D. 331; died A. D. 420] held the same opinion, apparently on the authority of Ireneus as above and of Eusebius.—Victorinus of Petavio [died A. D. 303] in a Latin commentary on the Apocalypse, says that "John saw this vision while in Patmos, condemned to the mines by Domitian Caesar."—Many others of a later age might be cited to the same purport, witnessing however only to a current tradition which so far as appears may have come from the language of Ireneus, under a misunderstanding of his meaning.

On the other hand the Syriac translation of the Apocalypse has this superscription: "The Revelation which was made by God to John the Evangelist in the Island of Patmos to which he was banished by Nero the Emperor.'' Most of the Syriac New Testament (known as the "Peshito"), i. e., all the unquestioned books, are supposed to have been translated late in the first century or very early in the second; but the Syriac version of the Apocalypse is not so old. Yet Ephraim the Syrian of Nisibis [died A. D. 378] wrote commentaries on nearly the whole Bible; often appeals to the Apocalypse; but wrote only in Syriac and probably was unacquainted with Greek and therefore must have had this book in the Syrian tongue. This superscription seems to testify, to a current tradition in Syria at least as far back as his day, assuming the date of the book to the age of Nero.—Of later witnesses, Andreas of Cappadocia [flourished about A. D. 500], in a commentary on this book, favors the Neronian date. Arethas also, his successor [about A. D. 540], yet more decisively. He assumes the book to have been written before the destruction of Jerusalem, for he explains chapters 6 and 7 as predictions of that event.—Plainly then the traditions of the early ages and the testimony of the fathers were not all in favor of the Domitian date.—Some incidental circumstances strongly favor the earlier date; e. g., the account given in much detail by Eusebius [Ec. His. 3: 23], who quotes Clement to the effect that John after his return from this banishment in Patmos, mounted his horse and pushed away into the fastnesses of the mountains to reach a robber chief who had apostatized from the Christian faith. But Jerome represents John in the last years of his life (i. e., at the time of Domitian's persecution) as being so weak and infirm that he was carried by other hands with difficulty to his church-meetings to say in tremulous tones: "My little children, love one another."—These traditions of the aged apostle, compared with each other and with the probabilities of the case, seem to forbid us to assign the date of the Apocalypse to the reign of Domitian.

The conclusion to which I am brought after much investigation is that the historic testimony for the Domitian date is largely founded on a misconception of the passage from Ireneus, and as a whole is by no means so harmonious, so ancient, and so decisive, as to overrule and set aside the strong internal evidence for the earlier date. I am compelled to accept the age of Nero as the true date of this writing.

III. Of the TIMES under which the book was written.

Here the important facts naturally fall under three heads. The first should present the personal circumstances of the writer and of his first readers whom he primarily addressed. Of this perhaps enough has been said in the opening pages of this Introduction, the great central fact lying out upon the face of the whole book, indicating the writer to be in banishment and his readers in peril and fierce temptation in the presence of impending persecution.—Then (2.) we should recall to mind the condition of the Jewish people and nation; and (3.) in like manner the state of Rome, both these nations being before us in this book as great persecuting powers, incurring the retributive vengeance of the Almighty and about to feel its fearful visitations.—(2.) As to the Jews many of my readers will scarcely need to be reminded that while a few of the nation had received Jesus of Nazareth, the great majority had, scornfully rejected him; that spiritually, these masses were fearfully apostate from God; that morally, society was rotten to the core; that the high priest's office was bought and sold for money, and sometimes seized and held by an armed force of bandits and assassins; that their bitter hostility to Jesus passed over after his death upon his followers with augmented virulence; that the stoning of Stephen, the murder of James, the incessant persecutions of Paul, the instigation of the Roman civil magistrates in cities where they had no civil power in their own hands, combine to evince their implacable hostility against Christ and all his faithful servants;—in short, that the measure of their iniquity was now full; the day of hope and mercy, though long protracted, was now about to close, and "the hour of her judgment had come." Through the lips of her national Council, as well as by the voice of her populace, she had demanded the crucifixion of the Son of God, and had cried, "His blood be on us and on our children!" The imprecation had been heard, the challenge accepted; and now upon the children of those who shouted, "Crucify him!" his blood was indeed about to come in appalling! That fearful doom of which Moses had forewarned them (Lev. 26: 14-43, and Deut. 28: 15-68); that doom which wrung tears from the greater "Man of Sorrows" as he beheld the city and recalled. the murder of so many generations of prophets and righteous men within her walls (Mat 23: 34-39); that ruin which Jesus so definitely foretold as destined to bury her proud city in ruins and leave not one stone upon another of her glorious temple;—that doom was now waiting only for its last signal to burst forth upon her. The vials of the wrath of God were in readiness for his angels of death, and Prophecy at so late an hour could scarcely think of forewarning the doomed. It seemed to have no other mission save to comfort the people of God and assure them that the Lord was about to smite the hopelessly hardened and guilty Jews "because his mercy endureth forever."—The heavens were black with these storm-clouds of the wrath of God while John lay in Patmos. His prophetic eye was opened and uplifted to the visions thereof as seal after seal was broken, and trump after trump rung out its blast of impending doom.—Such on the Jewish side were the salient features of the times when this book was written.

(3.) To the student of ancient history, if moderately well read, the Rome of Nero's time is familiar. Eight centuries of war and conquest had filled Italy with enslaved captives, Rome with the spoil and plunder of the civilized world and its consequent enervation and vices, and her throne with a succession of emperors whose crimes and misrule beggar description. The reaction and debasement of ages of oppression were upon her, and her turn had come to be herself scourged with War's desolations.—Rome, moreover, was radically and intensely idolatrous. Reverence for her gods had been studiously engrafted into her civil institutions and made one of the main pillars of her political system. To fill up the cup of her abominations, the emperors in the dynasty of the Caesars had exalted themselves to the rank of gods, and demanded of their people divine honors. It was to such a people that Paul set forth with trenchant power the sin of idolatry—its war against the light of nature and the law of conscience, and its natural and inevitable debasement of morals and of all society. The first two chapters of his Epistle to the Romans were meant primarily for the Rome of the age of Nero.—Yet the case of Rome differed in some points from that of Jerusalem; mainly in the fact that she had sinned against less light. To this it was due that the hour of her final ruin was more remote. The forbearance of God had yet more time to run. Her case had its remarkable parallel in ancient Babylon. Alike, each had been the great oppressing power of contemporary nations—as to God's people, each had been first the scourge in God's hand against them, and then was to be herself scourged for her oppressions; but especially were they alike in the manner in which prophecy made the predicted future judgments upon each, minister to the comfort of God's suffering people, and witness to the righteous retribution which he will surely visit upon the nations that array themselves against his Zion. Moreover, God's predicted judgments on Babylon filled out ages of history in their completion; and the same is true of his judgments on the second great Babylon—Pagan Rome.-Coming back now to a nearer and closer view of the Rome of the Apocalypse, we have Nero—another name for tyranny and crime. Gibbon sets him forth in moderate terms as "profligate and cruel," and adds of him and the other emperors of his age, "They are condemned to everlasting infamy." History recites his unnatural murders—of mother, brothers, wives; states that a fearful conflagration of nine days' continuance having destroyed the greater part of Rome, and it being generally believed that the fire was kindled by his order, Nero, to silence this report, charged the act upon the Christians, and thus excited against them a most barbarous, implacable, and universal persecution. Wild beasts, crucifixion, and fire in its most torturing forms, were the common instruments of suffering and death.—There seems to be no reason to doubt that this persecution extended to other portions of the empire. The known will of the sovereign would at least give the license, and human depravity would supply the malice requisite to violence and blood.—Thus the old idolatrous harlot—"mother of abominations"—made herself drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus; and now the time draws on for God to "give her blood to drink without measure." The hour of her judgment is near at hand;—prophetic vision paints for us its glowing and terrible outlines.—Such, then, in respect to the Rome of that age were the times in which the visions of the Apocalypse were shown and recorded.

IV. To whom precisely was this took primarily addressed and therefore specially adapted? and what was its great moral purpose?

This question has vastly important bearings upon the true interpretation of the book. One of the first conditions precedent to the true interpretation of any written document is to ascertain for whom it was written, and what their circumstances and wants were, that so we may master the special aim and purpose of the writer. When we have the people before us for whose special benefit he wrote, and when we have reason to believe that he writer knew their case well, wrote to be understood by them, and therefore adapted himself to their capacities and to their circumstances, we begin to feel ourselves on solid ground as to a fair comprehension of what he wrote and of its just interpretation. Thus, e. g., the interpreter of the Epistle to the Romans finds it exceedingly useful to consider that the people primarily addressed were mostly Jews resident in Rome—the same class with whom (Acts 28: 23) Paul "reasoned out of their own scriptures from morning to evening." So also the epistles to the church at Corinth are set in full sunlight only when you study Corinth itself—its philosophical culture, the national pride therein, and its dissolute morals, coupled also with the special purposes which the letters themselves clearly indicate. So in the book before us, we must know to whom it was primarily addressed and for whom therefore it was specially adapted.—On this point the notion has been somewhat common that although the second and third chapters were addressed specifically to the seven churches of Asia, therein named, yet this was true of those chapters only,—the rest of the book having no specific address—no special adaptation to any body of people well defined either in place or time. It has been loosely supposed to belong rather to the world at large and indefinitely; somewhat to the age now passing, and much of it yet more definitely to the ages yet to come. It is claimed by those who take this view that prophecy was not written to he understood by its first readers. God expected it would be and meant it should be in the main unintelligible to them, and indeed that it should never admit of a just and real interpretation until its fulfillment should bring out its meaning. Some of this class of interpreters of prophecy seem to think it a most sublime idea that God should throw out prophecies of the distant and magnificent future, and then wait in the majesty and dignity of an inscrutable being till remote ages should come up with their revealing light and give mankind their first just ideas of its meaning.—An exhaustive discussion of this theory of prophecy would detain me too long and turn me aside too much from my present special work. I must pass it therefore with suggesting three serious and indeed fatal objections against it.

(1.) In just so far as this theory makes the true sense of prophecy depend upon the fulfilling event and not upon the revealing words, it strikes at the very nature of prophecy—which surely claims to predict future events in language which reveals what the event shall be before the event is. This element being abstracted, written prophecy becomes in itself no prediction of things future, for the things future must needs reveal themselves and so give their first intelligible sense to the so-called prophetic words.—This Theory pushed as far as some would push it brings the predictions of the Bible upon substantially the same basis as the ambiguous sayings of the ancient Delphic oracle to Croesus: "Crossing the great river you destroy a great nation;"—the event alone determining whether the "great nation" would be his own or his enemy's. Whatever tends to degrade the prophecies of the Bible to this low form is to be not only deplored but reprobated.—To prevent a possible misunderstanding of my position, let me say (a.) That a morally right heart, docile and unprejudiced, is naturally prerequisite to the understanding of prophecy, as it is also of any and every word of God: (b.) That usually the points which God makes in prophecy are rather general than particular. Prophecy is intelligible when so put that we can get substantially the truth which God meant to reveal. (c.) Other things being equal, nearer events will be more easily and perfectly understood than more remote, because men more perfectly understand the attendant circumstances.

(2.) This theory in its application to the book before us is fatally confronted by the manifold indications of a definite moral purpose and aim, of such sort as presupposes that the predictions are intelligible and are in fact mainly understood. This is preeminently true in this book of Revelation. There is no book in all the Bible which bears more obvious and certain marks of a definite and strong moral purpose, indicating everywhere that the things said were designed to be understood and to have an immediate and powerful moral influence on their first readers.—Can it be necessary to argue this point? Surely nothing can he more absurd than the theory that God sent to the seven churches of Asia a series of predictions for the solemn purpose of girding their souls to "endure a great fight of afflictions," but yet, with design made these predictions unintelligible— i. e., as to them utterly unmeaning? Will it be assumed that God expected to move the minds of men in that way?

(3.) This theory that prophecy is usually unintelligible until the event reveals its meaning is squarely confronted by the facts of the case. Did not the Jewish scribes learn from prophecy where Christ should be born? (Mat. 2: 4-6). Did not the disciples understand Christ's prophecy of the fall of Jerusalem and the immediate sign of that fall (Luke 21: 20, 21) and so escape from Jerusalem to Pella—the "mountains" across the Jordan? Did they kill the sense of that prophecy by mystifying the word "Jerusalem" as many critics mystify the literal landmarks which appear in the Apocalypse? And is it not the fact that the Messianic prophecies in general were very fairly interpreted by the Jews long before Christ came, as appears in the Septuagint translation and in the Chaldee Targums?

It is therefore both pertinent and important to inquire, Who were those first readers to whom the book was definitely addressed and to whose case it was consequently adapted?— Fortunately we have the best possible evidence on this point—the author's own announcement in the opening of the book—"John to the seven churches of Asia" (1: 4); "I John, your brother and companion in tribulation, was in Patmos . . . and being in the spirit on the Lord's day, I heard behind me a great voice, saying, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia," etc. (1: 9-11).—But the objector will claim that this refers exclusively and solely to chapters second and third, and has no reference to the remaining chapters which are the great body of the book.—To which I answer, That is bald assumption, and what is more, is an assumption squarely in the face of the testimony of the book itself. For surely the author and the inditing spirit ought to be allowed to give the address of the book, i. e., to say to whom it was in fact addressed. The proper place to say this is in the opening of the book, and again perhaps at its close. Precisely in these places do we find his testimony to his point. The opening testimony I have cited. The closing testimony is of the same purport: "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches." "The Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done" (22: 16, 6). Therefore these "churches," these "servants" were then living, i. e., they were the churches of Asia Minor.—But although this testimony alone is amply sufficient, yet more can be adduced. I call the reader's attention to the fact that the special messages to the seven churches as they stand in chapters 2 and 3 are not isolated and disconnected from the rest of the book, but are interlaced in the strongest way, both with chapter 1 which precedes, and with the chapters that come after, especially chapters 19-22. Let us see.—In the face and the fear of persecution unto blood, a time of stern trial came upon all those churches of Asia. They were not in all respects ready to meet this trial and stand up with steady faith and unflinching soul for Jesus. What must be done for them? what considerations must be brought before them to gird them for endurance unto victory?—First, the great Alpha and Omega, their glorified Lord and Savior, appears in surpassing majesty to John (1: 12-20). But let it be distinctly noted: this transcendently glorious manifestation of Christ was not made solely or even mainly for the sake of its impression upon John alone. A more important purpose was to impress the seven churches with the special presence, the searching eye, the limitless power, the ineffable glory and majesty of their own professed Lord and Master. Mark how this is done. Not only does John describe this impressive manifestation in words of unrivaled force, and send the description entire to them all, but he takes up and distributes it in separate parts, applying them to set forth that all-glorious Personage who sends them their respective messages. To Ephesus: "These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks"—as you may see in chap. 1 : 12, 13, 20.—To the church of Smyrna speaketh he "who is the first and the last, who was dead and is alive"—points which appear in 1: 11, 17, 18.—To Pergamos thus saith he who "hath the sharp sword with two edges," as said (1 : 16): "Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword."—To Thyntira speaketh "the Son of God who hath eyes like a flame of fire and feet like fine brass"—those same words of thrilling power which you may read in 1: 14, 15.—So to Sardis he defines himself as "having the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars" (1: 4, 16); to Philadelphia, as "he that is holy and true, he that hath the key of David," etc. (see 1: 5, 18); and to Loadicea, as "the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God" (1: 5).—Thus it is shown impressively that the same glorious Personage at whose feet John fell as one dead was precisely the author of these messages to the seven churches. He would have them know whose voice spake these words; whose eye was searching every heart; whose glorious presence was surely there, walking up and down among those churches.

In a manner precisely analogous to these opening addresses, each several letter closes with a blessing promised to "him that overcometh." In the letter to Ephesus (2: 7) the promise is, "I will give him to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God." But what "tree of life" is this? How came it to be assumed that the brethren at Ephesus would know any thing about this tree of life if no other part of this book were written for them and to them, save the first seven verses of chap. 2? This assumption must be a mistake; the "tree" referred to is the one described in chap. 22: 2, and John intended the last chapter of the book for the reading of the church at Ephesus as really as the first two.—So in the letter to Sardis: "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." Where are they expected to learn of this "second death?" The answer is in 20: 14 and 21: 8, not to speak of many other passages in the last four chapters.—To the victorious ones of Pergamos the promise runs, "I will give, to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it." But these words would quite fail of expressing their full meaning unless the brethren of Pergamos were to read through the whole book, and see especially what is said (19: 12) of the Great Conquering Chief: "On his head were many crowns, and he had a name written which no man knew but he himself;" and also the numerous allusions to the opposite party—the enemies of Jesus—who "bore the mark of the beast in their right hand and in their forehead," as may be seen (13: 16, 17, and 14; 9, and 15: 2, and 16: 2, and 19: 26).—In like manner the victor in Sardis shall be clothed in white and his name not blotted from the book of life, the glory of which promise the brethren in Sardis were expected to see when they read the thrilling account thereof in chaps. 19: 7-9, 14, and 20: 12; and indeed in all these last chapters of the book.—So the promise to the overcoming ones of Philadelphia carries the mind to the New Jerusalem of which they might read in the last two chapters.—In this remarkable manner did the voice of Jesus, dictating to John both these seven letters to as many churches and the remaining contents of this book, tie all the parts together, interlacing them as I have said, as if he foresaw the violence that in future times would be used to tear them asunder! What more could he have done to prove to us that the whole book was intended primarily for those seven churches—every word of it sent to them to be read, pondered, and understood by themselves, that they might receive its full moral impression, both the full force of all its threatened judgments upon their persecutors, and also the full force of all its inspirations of hope and promise to "him that overcometh?"—A careful examination of the whole book will show that all the intermediate chapters (4-18) are naturally adapted to meet the great moral wants of those churches; had a vital bearing toward this end, to gird every wavering heart with strength unto patient endurance, and unflinching fidelity for Christ.—Nothing more seems necessary to complete this argument and bring it up to demonstration save to adduce the reiterated declarations of the book itself that the events which it predicted were then "near at hand." See 1: 1: "Must shortly come to pass;" and 1: 3, "For the time is at hand;" and 22: 6, "To show unto his servants the things that must shortly be done;" and 22:10, "Seal not up the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand." Consequently the first readers of this book would know that they must look for these predicted events (at least the greater part of them) very soon, within their own age. Those fearful judgments on Christ's enemies they could not fail to interpret rightly, for they were already so near as to "cast their shadows before."

In concluding this topic let me again remind the reader of the point of my argument, viz.: that a book addressed to certain specified churches then under the sternest trial, to be read by them for their spiritual good, was certainly made in the main intelligible—must have been adapted to their understanding in both the judgments it threatened and the blessings it promised. The judgments threatened were not to them unmeaning; the enemies threatened were not to them unknown. The blessings promised were, to be measured and appreciated in the light of those judgments. In respect to both the judgments and the blessings we must assume that they had the keenest personal interest, and therefore this entire book must have thrilled their souls with its utmost measure of inspiring power.

V. Let us consider various indications in the book which locate its predicted events in place or in time, and thus become landmarks to determine its interpretation.—I assume that my readers will appreciate the importance of studying this point faithfully and discreetly. The visions proper of this book are almost exclusively a series of symbolic pictures—a grand panorama, painting scenes of prophetic import to the eye in gorgeous colors and majestic outlines. Now we wish to know what these pictures mean. I am to inquire at this point whether this writing gives us any plain unsymbolic hints as to the place and the time of these future events which the visions prophetically portray. Has the revealing Agent anywhere dropped, though but for a moment, his symbolic speech and given us literal unsymbolic words which mean just what they say—which were designed apparently to explain the symbols and locate the events, and which therefore may be relied on for this purpose?—We shall find a few—perhaps enough for our purpose. It is our wisdom to use them to the full extent of their legitimate aid.—One appears in 11: 8, in which, speaking of the place where the two witnesses lay murdered and unburied, the angel says, "Their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified" Beyond all rational doubt, this was designed to give the literal and precise location of that event. This great city in reference to its spiritual character was a second Sodom (see Isa. 1: 9, 10) in the twofold sense of guilt and doom. But dropping all figure, the place may be known through all the ages as that where the Lord was crucified. There never was or could be but one city that answers to this fact of history. The angel appends a literal statement to his figurative description in order to tell us precisely the place.—The better reading of this remarkable clause is not "our" Lord but their Lord—the exact sense being, where their Lord also as well as themselves was murdered.—This landmark shows us therefore where to look for the two witnesses—where their testimony was given, and where their martyred bodies fell. The fact stated in v. 13, that "one tenth part of the city fell," locates these events in time to some point before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, A. D. 70.—The allusions (11: 2) to the court of the temple and to the holy city as "given up to the Gentiles to be trodden under foot by them," become a very decisive landmark when we take into view their connection with v. 8 and v. 13 as above explained, and also the obviously parallel prophecy recorded by Luke (21: 24), "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles." This chapter (Rev. 11) treats therefore of Jerusalem—the persecution which she brought upon Christ's faithful witnesses, and the fearful doom which God brought upon her for her sins. If on a careful examination of chaps. 6-9 it shall appear (as most critics have thought) that chap. 11 gives us the final catastrophe, and those chapters (6-9) the antecedent, foreshadowing and premonitory notes of coming doom, then so much of the predicted events of this book would seem to be definitely located in both place and time, and of course, we may add, in history. These points must be carefully examined when those chapters come under consideration.

Under our present head chap. 17 is specially important because it is declared to be an explanation of the meaning of certain leading symbols in chaps. 13-19. The writer says (v. 1), "An angel came and talked with me, saying, 'Come hither; I will show thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters;'" and yet more definitely (v. 7), "Why dost thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns." These are the very things that John wanted to know; which he needed to tell his original readers that they might know; and which we may well rejoice to learn, for they give us the clew to all these related chapters (13-19). His explanation (briefly stated) shows that the woman is that "great city" of which two descriptive facts are given: (a.) She "reigneth over the kings of the earth" (v. 18); (b.) She sitteth on seven mountains—i. e., is a city built on seven hills. All students of Roman history will recognize the Rome of that age as this city, and consequently as being in symbol this woman—the great harlot. No other city approaches this description. Every element given fits her perfectly; and what is yet more, they are the great historic and geographic facts which most comprehensively and precisely describe the Rome of that age. She was built on seven hills; she was mistress of the civilized world, reigning over the kings of the earth.—In its place I may notice two other corroborating features of her history:—her bloody persecution of the saints, and her harlotry (idolatry). Apart from these however, the woman is located—her name is virtually revealed. We know who she is. So much then is solid ground—a fixed landmark.—But as yet we lack the historic date—the time when. Will the explaining angel give this?—Note what he says of the succession of her kings (v. 10): "There are seven kings; five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh he must continue a short space." Now if we take this as an explanation of the seven symbolic heads of the beast (as we must), we are shut up to the literal and most obvious sense—a succession of five kings already fallen; a sixth then reigning; a seventh soon to rise, but for only a short reign.—Now having the date of the vision, we know that the king then reigning was Nero. Nero then is a specimen of the seven, and we must go back to the rise of his dynasty and begin our count there—i. e., with Julius Caesar. Beginning with him, Nero is precisely the sixth; the seventh—a short reign according to the prophecy—was Galba, who reigned seven months. Here then we have this series of prophetic events located in place—old Rome; and in time—upon Nero's reign. This is another great landmark. No interpretation of this book can possibly be the true one which disregards these landmarks and fails to adjust itself to their demands. The points that are fixed in chap. 11 and in chap. 17 avail to prove beyond all rational doubt that in this book of Revelation we have two great persecuting powers, depicted, threatened, judged and destroyed, each represented by its great city—Jerusalem, Rome: Jerusalem, involving the Jewish people and Judaism as a persecuting power; Rome, involving that pagan, idolatrous, persecuting power. Whether we have other persecuting powers in this book will be a subject of future inquiry. These two we certainly have; for these literal statements; so obviously made for the very purpose of explaining what would otherwise be dark, uncertain prophetic symbols, must be held to be absolutely decisive. If we can not or will not accept God's own explanations, it is vain for us to expound, dreaming that we have mastered the problems of the book.

VI. The sources of the writer's figurative imagery, and the bearing of these sources upon his use of them in this book. *

* It is only to avoid circumlocution that I speak of John as the writer of this book and also as himself determining its style, figures of speech, etc. while I hold most fully that the Spirit of inspiration spake many of these words to John and showed him, these, symbols, either in vision or by a revealing angel.

See a fuller note on this subject, p. 7.

Upon the first point there would seem to be no room for doubt. These sources were the Old Testament prophets. There John found his symbols and figures; thence he took them. The four living ones of chaps. 4-6 [very improperly translated "beasts"] are from Ezek. 1, with some shadings from Isa. 6. The books of prophetic destiny, both that of chaps. 5 and 6, with its seven, seals and the "little book" of chapter 10, are from Ezek. 2 and 3, even to the special feature of eating it and its sweetness in the mouth. The diverse colored horses of Rev. 6 come from Zech. 1 and 6. The sealing of one hundred and forty-four thousand men in their foreheads is from Ezek. 8 and 9. The great dragon [serpent] of Rev. 12 was first named in the story of the fall (Glen. 3). The "beasts" of chap. 13 and onward have their prototypes in Dan. 7 and 8. The vials of chaps. 15 and 16 come from the "cup of God's indignation" which appears so often in the old Hebrew prophets, especially in Jeremiah. (See Jer. 25: 15-28.). Of course the Babylon of Rev. 18 looks back to that old Babylon whose fall Isaiah and Jeremiah so abundantly predicted. The sketching in chap. 18 comes largely from Ezekiel's picture of the fall of Tyre (chaps. 26-28).—These cases may at least serve as specimens.

On the question whether John used these symbols in the same sense in which he found them used by the old prophets, the presumption is strong that he did. This would unquestionably be the natural course of his mind. Any wide, violent divergence from this rule is exceedingly improbable. In general their sense where John found them should be assumed to be their sense as he used them. Special circumstances may demand a slight modification, but ordinarily nothing more.

VII. It remains to speak of the principles or laws which must control the interpretation of this book.

Need I here solicit the reader's careful attention? I will only premise that if any certainty is ever to be attained in respect to the meaning of this book, it must be reached by first determining its just principles of interpretation.—The following principles and rules I propose to follow myself. I commend them to the good sense of my readers:

1. We must come to this book to learn what it teaches; not to make it teach what we will. That is, we must rule out of the mind all preconceived theories and bring to its study a mind open to the very impressions which the book itself, diligently studied in the light of all its known circumstances, shall legitimately make.

2. We must interpret the predictions in harmony with God's own declarations as to the time of their fulfillment. If God has himself indicated whether this time be near or remote, why should we not accept his indications in their obvious sense, and interpret accordingly? How can we hope to reach the truth if we will not receive God's own teaching and guidance?—Now the fact is that precisely in those parts of the book where we should look for these indications, we find them, viz., at the opening of the book, to give us the right clue at the outset and prevent us from being led on some false track; and again, near its close, to remind us that we must not transcend these heaven-sent limitations in the stage we may take to find the leading events therein predicted.—The words in which God defines the time of these predicted events are these: "The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass" (1: 1): "Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy . . . for the time is at hand" (1: 3). "Write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter" (1: 19)—but this "hereafter" is not the remote, indefinite future, but according to the original ["meta tanta"] the things which follow closely after, in the closest connection with present events. The same language and in the same sense appears (4: 1); "Come up hither" [into his opened heaven] "and I will show thee things that must be hereafter," i. e., in close connection with the present; things which must be very soon. Such are the declarations as to the time of fulfillment, in the very opening of these visions. Are they not perfectly definite and decisive?—Near the close we read (22: 6), "These sayings are faithful and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done." Also (22: 10) "Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand." Daniel was directed (8: 26, and 12: 4, 9) to "shut up the words" and "seal the book" because the events predicted lay somewhat remotely in the future, i. e., they referred to the age of the Maccabees and of a Syrian wars, then three hundred and sixty years distant. With this case John's prophecies are contrasted and he is told not to seal and abut up his prophetic words because the time of their fulfillment was then near at hand.—Such are the indications kindly given by God himself in regard to the time of fulfillment of the great facts revealed in this book. Inasmuch as they speak in general of the things predicted with no limitation to a few of these things or to any defined part of them, we are manifestly bound to apply them to the great body of these predictions. This is the only method of fair dealing with the divine words.—Yet let me anticipate the examination of chapters 19-22 so far as to say that they seem obviously to refer to the final triumph of the gospel in our world; to the scenes of the last judgment; and (probably) of the future heavenly state. The laws of mental association by which these events are linked with the fall of Jerusalem and the judgments of God upon Rome I shall have occasion to consider fully in their place: They constitute a very easy and natural exception to the statements we have been considering, which assume that the main events foretold in the book were then near at hand. Those main events we shall see refer to Jerusalem and to Rome—the great persecuting powers then actively hunting down and murdering the saints. They constitute the staple facts of this book of prophecy and therefore are fitly embraced in the comprehensive statement, "near at hand"—I am well aware that many critics have disposed of this testimony from God himself, as to the speedy fulfillment of these prophecies, in a very short-hand way. One of the reviewers of Prof. Stuart wrote;—"Nor would we contract the mind of God to the narrow dimensions of the generation when John wrote." "Nor does it move us that at the opening of his book, he says;—'The time is at hand.' He was then judging from God's point of vision, with whom a thousand years are as one day; he was judging on the scale of eternity."*

* See Bibliotheca Sacra, April, 1847; p. 302.

—But if God had occasion to say certain things to the churches of Asia of "the generation when John wrote," and undertook to do it, who shall forbid him? Who has any right to insinuate that such messages would dishonorably belittle or contract the mind of God? And when the revealing angel said—"The time is at hand," how does this critic know that "he was judging from God's point of vision with whom one thousand years are as one day?" If he meant so, why did he not say so? If he has not said so, what right has any critic to wrest his words from their natural sense and put upon them a construction altogether his own and in the face of their plain, obvious meaning? If critics may use such liberties with God's own words, making his declarations—"The time is at hand;" "shortly come to pass"—mean the very reverse of what they say, what may they not do? And how can God reveal any thing to us so that we can surely know what he means? If God does not use the language of men as men ordinarily use it, there is an end of all reliable interpretation of his words. If when he says "day" he may mean a thousand years and yet give us no hint of any other sense than we give to the word "day," then there is no such thing as a trustworthy revelation from God to man.—For myself I must take it for granted that when God introduced this book of prophecy to the seven churches of Asia, saying that the time of fulfilling its predicted events was then near at hand, he meant just what he said—meant to have them expect the great body of those events very soon and be looking for them in their own times. For if he had meant precisely this, he could not have said it in any other words more direct and plain than these.

Many critics have said—This book gives a prophetic series of historic events, running on two thousand years or more, and that when God said, "These things must come to pass shortly," he meant only that the series would begin shortly, while the great mass of its events would lie far down in the future centuries. But this seems to me to be, not accepting God's words at their obvious value, but forcing a sense upon them to suit the exigencies of the critic's own theory. If God had really meant what these critics claim, why, did be not say it? Could he possibly suppose that the words he did use would be understood by the seven churches as these critics interpret them? And did he use words which he knew would convey a sense quite different from the truth?

3. We are bound to interpret this book in harmony with God's own interpretation of its symbols.—Such professed explanations are much less numerous and full in this book of prophecy than in Daniel. Let us the more carefully use what we have.—The greater part of chap. 17, is such explanation. It shows us definitely who is meant by "the woman," "the great harlot."—The seven heads of the beast are explained to have a twofold reference; (1.) To "the seven mountains on which the woman sitteth;" (2.) To the seven kings who reigned in succession, the sixth being then on the throne. This is not the place to expound in full the points made in this chapter. Suffice it to say that as humble pupils of prophecy, sitting at the feet of our Great Teacher, we shall surely seize with promptness and ponder with diligence whatever explanations he may be pleased to give us of the meaning of his own symbols. Such explanations should be permitted to throw their influence over all other points, not explained, which are of the same general character. The whole prophecy to which the woman and the seaven-headed beast belong must surely be interpreted in harmony with God's explanation of these leading characters and agents therein.

4. We must interpret in harmony with whatever allusions the book contains to known historic events and localities. We have such allusions in chaps. 11 and 17.—In chap. 11: 1, 2, we have the temple, the altar, the outer court, and the giving of it up to the Gentiles to be trodden under foot of them; and in v. 8 we have another most specific and unquestionable reference to Jerusalem—the very place "where the Lord was crucified," and where his two witnesses fell and lay unburied; and in v. 13 it is said that "in the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city (this same Jerusalem) fell," etc. Now here are various allusions to historic places and objects with which John's readers were somewhat acquainted and with which we are familiar. There can be no doubt how they would understand these words. Of all the men who were ever to read this book, they were best situated to understand it. The sense most obvious to them is doubtless the true one. It would be only a great folly therefore for us to ignore such historic references, and make up an interpretation of this eleventh chapter and of the stupendous events which reach their consummation here, just as if the prophet had given us in these allusions no clew to his meaning. It would be unpardonable to fritter away the meaning of these allusions and rob ourselves of their aid by forcing upon them a fanciful meaning. They are plainly literal expressions thrown into the midst of a delineation which is mostly figurative and symbolic; and therefore we may assume that they were intended to be landmarks to guide the reader through the entire series of symbols which culminate here. They put their prophetic finger on Jerusalem as the doomed city; on its corrupt Judaism, its apostate priests and people, as the sworn and long time maddened enemies of Christ and of his true Zion—now about to be overwhelmed under the bolts of Jehovah's thunder.—In like manner the angel-interpreter appears in chap. 17, avowedly to "show the judgment of the great harlot" (v. 1), and "to tell the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns" (v. 7). This woman and this beast are the prominent personages throughout chaps. 13-18. Here the revealing angel comes to identify the city of old Rome as represented by this woman, and the seven kings that successively filled her throne as the seven heads of the "beast that carried her." When he gives plain explanations of the great prophetic symbols of the book, saying, "The woman whom thou sawest is the great city," etc., and "The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth," and also "the seven kings, of whom five are fallen," etc., why shall we not hail this explanation with joy and thankfulness, accepting it as indeed a light shining in an otherwise dark place, and a landmark to guide our otherwise dubious way? On what ground can we expect to reach the true sense of this book if we thrust away the heaven-sent, teacher who comes "to tell us the mystery" of these symbols?

5. We must interpret in harmony with whatever indications the book itself may give us showing that Christians then living were to be the persecuted men of whom these visions speak and whose martyrdom they assume; and that their own persecutors were the men about to be visited with desolating judgments. Such indications appear in the account given of the opening of the fifth seal (6: 9-11): "When he had opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held; and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" "Dwell on the earth," be it noticed, testifies that those persecutors were then alive—then, at the time of the vision and of this prayer—pursuing their diabolic mission, for the prayer of the fallen martyrs cries, "How long, O Lord, wilt thou not avenge our blood on them," and put an end to their murder of our surviving brethren?—The record proceeds to say, "And white robes were given to every one of them, and it was said to them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they had been, should be fulfilled." The white robes, significant of ultimate victory to their cause, were for their comfort and consolation, yet they must needs be told that more of their brethren were yet to fall martyrs for a season longer; then the vials of God's wrath would be poured out on those guilty murderers. To see this argument in its proper strength, it should be borne in mind that the sense most obvious and natural to the first readers of the book is the true one; that although modern critics may overlook or ignore the explicit declarations with which the book opens—"things that must shortly come to pass;" "the time is at hand;" or (4: 1) "things which must be" [immediately] "hereafter;" it is simply impossible that John's first readers could forget or overlook these statements, for they served to make these prophecies matters of immediate, personal and most vital interest. Consequently those first readers must have made the present tense of this vision ["that dwell on the earth"] their own present time—now dwelling on the earth while we are reading this book—and would apply what is said of the persecutors to the very men who had just been murdering their own brethren—e. g., Antipas of Pergamos, "slain among you" (2: 13). Hence my argument is that, this being the construction which they must needs give to these words, it is the true one and we must adopt it. Therefore to apply these words in their primary and proper sense to the Waldenses and Albigenses of the middle ages seems to me like mere dreaming—or rather like steering one's ship in mid-ocean by defacing the logbook, throwing overboard the compass, and blotting out the stars!

6. If the prophetic symbols indicate fearful judgments on some great persecuting power without naming or particularly describing this power, we are bound to assume that such naming and description are omitted because John's first readers would know without its name what power was meant. This rule rests on the simple principle that every sensible man writes so as to be understood by those whom he addresses. Of course he writes for an object. John wrote for a great moral object; wrote to do good to the churches of Asia. Therefore he wrote in such a way that they could readily understand of whom he spoke. If he omitted to name the wicked men then about to be judged and destroyed for their violence against Christ's people, it was because he saw that his readers would know without his naming them. In this case they could not fail to assume that those persecutors were the men under whom their own brethren were dying; the martyrs alluded to were of themselves.—The reader will notice the remarkable fact that the successive seals (chaps. 6 and 8) and the successive trumpets also (chap. 9) reveal plagues, yet without definitely naming the parties on whom those plagues were to fall. Except the intimations given (6: 9-11) in the cry of the martyred souls seen under the altar, and in the nationality of the sealed ones (chap. 7), we have nothing thus far in the book to define the doomed nation or people. Chap. 11 does give us some definite localities, and also some landmarks as to time. But through several chapters we fail to find such indications. The rule now under consideration requires us to find the persecuting powers here foredoomed, within the immediate knowledge and experience of the churches of Asia—so near that they could not think of any other. This view is abundantly sustained and verified by the prayer of the martyrs and its answer at the opening of the fifth seal; and also in chap. 11 as you approach the final catastrophe.

7. We must interpret in harmony with the obvious moral purpose of the book. What this moral purpose was the book itself abundantly shows. It went to the seven churches of Asia; its mission was to arm them against the temptations incident to deadly persecution; to fire their souls with love to Christ, with zeal for his cause, with the spirit of patient endurance even unto torture and death. To effect such results the writer brings the glories of the risen Savior impressively near; he sets before them the bliss of heaven and the sympathy felt in their case by the myriads around the throne; he testifies to them most tenderly that God sees their tears, notes their agony, will surely render vengeance to their persecutors, joy and peace to their martyred brethren, and everlasting victory to his Zion. All these points came home to their hearts with most thrilling power, because the scenes of agonizing fear and horrible persecution were so very near; because the sufferers were their own fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. "Antipas my faithful martyr was slain among you" (2: 13).—Every thing in this book indicates not only an intense moral purpose, but a most direct one, bearing upon the very churches then immediately addressed. We must therefore interpret accordingly. We should do great violence to the whole book if we were to construe it to refer primarily to events far away in the remote future from those seven churches—events of which they could possibly have no conception, and to which they could not apply these predictions. When the book is interpreted as a history of the European kingdoms, which grew out of the disintegrated Roman Empire, continued down to our own day, and of the Roman Catholic church in the great outlines of its history through all time, I must insist that such interpretation is violently against the obvious moral purpose of the book. Its first readers could not possibly take this view of its meaning; therefore this view of its meaning can not be the true one. For sensible writers, writing for a present object, must be presumed to write so as to be readily understood by the average minds of their readers. They never write for a great moral purpose in the case of their first readers, and yet write so that not a man of them can possibly understand to what they refer. To write in a manner so utterly beyond their comprehension would inevitably defeat their moral object. Prophecy can by no means be exempted from this rule. Certainly and especially it can not, provided it appears that it was written and sent to particular churches for an obvious moral purpose. Such undeniably is the case of this book.

A broader view of the analogy of scripture prophecy on this point will be useful here. In the Old Testament age, Babylon, Edom, Moab, Philistia, etc., were hostile powers, corresponding to apostate Judaism and Roman Paganism in the age of this book. All these powers became subjects of prophecy. Those of the Old Testament age stand before us undeniably fulfilled and easily interpreted; and therefore give us priceless illustrations of the method of such prophecy—the manner of giving it—in other words, the important laws of prophetic interpretation.—The attentive reader of this class of Old Testament prophecies will soon satisfy himself as to these vital points:—(1.) That they were written for a then present moral purpose, viz., to assure the covenant people that Jehovah was on their side, and that, being King of nations, he could and would break down their foes, and visit just retribution upon them;—(2.) Consequently, having a present moral purpose to serve, they were made easily intelligible; were designed, not to hide, but to reveal the coming destiny of those hostile powers, and that they were in fact, so far as we can learn, understood by the prophets and by their first hearers and readers;—(3.) That the events predicted, like those revealed through John to the seven churches, were near at hand and did shortly come to pass. The prophecies of Jeremiah against Babylon (chaps. 50 and 51) had but few years at most to wait for their fulfillment. The moral effect sought was to be realized upon that generation—the very men who first received the prophecy from his lips or pen. And this was the model and type of the Babylon of the Apocalypse. So the Lord's word by Jeremiah against the Philistines (chap. 47) was filfilled by a Pharaoh then living and by Nebuchadnezzar then on his throne, and of course with no considerable delay. Of Moab Isaiah (16: 14) said: "Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned." Also of Ephraim (Isa.7:8) he said: "Within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people."—Thus it appears that this style of ancient prophecy had a then present mission and straightway performed it; was consequently made plain; was in fact understood by all readers and hearers of average intelligence; and fulfilled its mission in the moral benefit of that generation which first received it. So Christ's prediction to his disciples of the destruction of Jerusalem had a present mission for the men of that generation and fulfilled it.—In the nature of the case the prophecies respecting the promised Messiah had a long time to run. But as to the points now under consideration, those prophecies are not analogous and should be left out of the account. All the prophecies of the Bible that are analogous concur to establish these principles beyond dispute, and therefore must legitimately be accepted and applied in our interpretation of the Apocalypse.

8. Symbols borrowed from the Old Testament should be obviously interpreted in the light of their usage there. A general correspondence of the meaning here to the meaning there should be assumed—a proximate at least, though not perhaps in every case a precise similarity. It being certain that the author had in hand the Old Testament scriptures, but not certain that he had any other book; certain, moreover, that he had read those prophets carefully, intensely, with the deepest love of his heart—that he had made himself familiar with their imagery and symbols as well as with their thoughts; it follows that his own symbols when distinctly traceable to those old prophets should be construed in his book mainly as they are in those original sources. This rule applies to the seals, the trumpets, the vials; to the horses seen in vision; to the locusts; to Babylon, and not least, to the usage of the words "abomination," "harlot," etc., in reference to idolatry.

9. While these principles of interpretation suffice to prove that the great body of the book refers to events then near at hand, the well-known usage of prophecy will permit the minds of both prophet and reader to pass over by analogy from these events to others of like general character far in the future—these future events being reached, not through a continuous series of history, filling up the whole interval, but under the law of analogy by which one series of events suggests another of like general character, resting on the same broad principles of God's government. Thus in Christ's prophetic discourse (Mat. 24 and 25) his primary reference is to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (A. D. 70). Yet he also passes over from this event to the analogous one—the final judgment scene. But he does not reach the final judgment by filling up all the interval between the first event and the second with a continuous prophetic history of the events intervening. Some commentators have interpreted Mat. 24 and 25 in this way, but, in my view, without the least reason. The transition from the first event to the second is made by the law of analogy. The same law obtains abundantly in the old prophets, e. g., Isaiah, passing from the fall of Sennacherib's host, compared to the fall of the glory of Lebanon before an archangel's scythe (chap. 10 and 11) to the springing up of the fresh shoot of David from the stump of a cut-down tree.—Accepting this principle of interpretation, we naturally expect the mind of both prophet and reader to be borne onward from the fall of persecuting Judaism and Paganism to the fall of every foe hostile to Christ, and to the final triumph of the Great Conqueror, as we have it in Rev. 11, and also Rev. 19 and 20.—The main argument for spreading out the visions of this book into a compend of universal history has been that because the series lands us at last in the Millennium, therefore it must take us over and through all the intermediate stages of human history. It might for the same reason be demanded that we spread out the prophecy by Christ in Mat. 24 and 25, by violent and fanciful applications thereof till we make it fill up the satire interval between the fall of Jerusalem and the final judgment. Such methods of interpretation ignore the whole genius of Old Testament prophecy.—I am well aware that many assume this one book of the Bible, the last (as they say) of them all, to have been written, not like the rest of the Bible primarily for the generations then living and near, but primarily and with special design for the far distant ages—for ourselves and the generations yet to come. They admit, as all sensible men must, that David wrote his psalms for the present use and adapted them accordingly; that Isaiah had his eye primarily upon his own generation in the adaptation of his prophecies, and so also Jeremiah, Ezekiel and all the rest. The internal evidence of a special mission to their own people and of a special adaptation to their case is completely decisive. So of the gospel history; so of all the epistles.—But this book of Revelation they insist must be made an exception to this otherwise universal law. One book at least among so many the Lord could certainly afford to give to us of these latter days by special address and special adaptation, so that we may claim it as meant for us in the same definite sense in which the Jews of the captivity might claim Ezekiel's messages as theirs.—Now this may be a very pretty fancy; but I must be plain enough to say—it can be nothing more. For, the proofs of special dress, special design, special adaptation to the seven churches of Asia, are fully as strong and decisive in this book as like proofs are in Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Haggai, or Zechariah. Nor have we the least reason to feel that we are deprived of a right or robbed of a treasure when this book is put on the same footing with all other books of the Bible in respect to original address and adaptation; for we may still use it precisely as we use all the rest of the Bible, i. e., first, get its exact meaning as written and adapted to its first readers for its special purposes; and then apply it all to ourselves as so much general truth good for us according to our circumstances. Knowing the case of its first readers we get a far more definite, precise, life-like sense of its meaning, and therefore have so much more actual truth to apply with the utmost precision to our own case. But a book specially addressed and adapted to the indefinite ages could never be soundly and safely interpreted; for who could know the circumstances of the parties addressed? Who could make any use of the landmarks of interpretation which a book of prophecy must needs have, or of necessity remain unintelligible? The endless variety of fanciful interpretations under which this book has suffered above all other books of the Bible is due largely and by necessity to this grand mistake in the very conception of its original design.—Yet again, it will seem to any that the glory of this book is departed if the events which it definitely predicts are narrowed down to the doom of apostate Jerusalem and of Pagan Rome as great persecuting powers, and we fail to find in it the great outlines of the world's history since the first century of the Christian era, and especially if we fail to find here the Pope and the system he represents. There lies before me "A New Interpretation of the Apocalypse," brought out in 1827, by Rev. George Croley, to which I refer as a sample—a work brilliantly written and eminently popular. He says (p. 2, 3), "It will be shown in the course of the Interpretation that this prophecy includes in the most direct manner all those great events which make the framework of history since the first age of Christianity; that it distinctly predicts the establishment of the church under Constantine and his successors" [etc. on through the early, the middle, and the post-middle ages], "the destruction of the Spanish Armada; the civil wars following the overthrow of Protestantism in France in 1685; the wars of Louis XIV.; the French revolution not narrowed down to a few conjectural verses as is usual, but detailed in an entire and unsuspected chapter with its peculiar character of Atheism and anarchy, its subsequent despotism, and its final overthrow by the armies of Europe." Then quite a respectable portion remains for the ages to come, the events being yet future.—Now a prophecy so admirably flexible that ingenious men can find in it all the interesting events of their own times and of times yet fresh in the past—indeed, all the salient points in the world's great history since A. D. 100, must be very attractive to an ingenious commentator, and very amusing, no doubt, to many readers.—Moreover, apart from this exercise of human ingenuity, there is a special religious interest felt by many Protestants in finding here Romanism in the three-fold aspect,—its spiritual abominations, its bloody persecutions, and its destiny of fiery doom. It seems to some of them that this is God's battle-ax made ready to their hand.—Now to all who may be of this mind I wish to say very plainly that I have not the least repugnance to seeing the Pope and Romanism in this prophecy provided only that God has put them here. But I have an invincible repugnance to making prophecy myself—to bringing into this book by forced or fanciful interpretation any thing which God has not put here. It should be remembered that the book closes with some very monitory words against "adding to the things" herein written. It is a solemn undertaking to make a comment on the words of God. With some sense of the inexpressible solemnity of this work I am holden most sacredly to follow the landmarks set up by God's own finger. No attractions toward this resulting sense or that—no desire to find or not to find Papal Rome here—can be allowed to move my pen a hair's breadth.—According to my reading of scriptural prophecy God has certain modes of presenting it—follows certain principles in revealing it—gives certain indications ("landmarks" I have called them) which were manifestly designed to guide us to their true meaning and application. All these, I propose to myself and suggest to my readers, should be canvassed with untiring diligence and applied with our utmost coolness of judgment, with unbiased heart and unclouded eye, and above all, with unceasing prayer to the Great Father of light to guide us into all his blessed truth for the good of his Zion and the glory of his name.

THE REVELATION

OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE.

CHAPTER I.

The book opens with the source and the channels from which this revelation comes (vs. 1, 2); the blessing promised to the readers and the hearers (v. 3); the address proper of the book, coupled with the a apostolic benediction (vs. 4, 5), and ascriptions of glory to Jesus (vs. 5, 6); the announcement of his glorious coming (vs. 7, 8). Then the writer speaks of himself and his circumstances (v. 9); is enjoined to write what he sees and, send it to the seven churches (vs. 10, 11); and then describes at length the majestic appearance of the Son of Man (vs. 12-16), and the further instructions embraced in his prophetic commission (vs. 17-20).

1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

This revelation is here said to have been made by God to Jesus Christ, implying that in their mutual relations to each other in the scheme of redemption, the Father is supreme, the Son subordinate; and reminding us of those extraordinary, words of Jesus as given by Mark (13: 32): "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."—"Things which must shortly come to pass," must be said in general of the contents of this entire book, and not, as some have supposed, of the first three chapters only. "Shortly" can have no other and no less meaning than very soon. This sense of the original Greek words is absolute and decisive. It is only serious trifling with God's words to say that "shortly" may mean a thousand years distant, or two and three thousand, according as the exigencies of some preconceived scheme of interpretation may require. Why should not God be permitted to be his own interpreter and give his own views in regard to the time of the events here foretold? The rule of fair common sense must be, that whatever God may say in explanation of his own prophecies—e. g., as to the time of their fulfillment, must be taken to its plain and most obvious sense. Else how does it explain any thing?—Angels were largely employed in making these revelations to John, and made them chiefly (as the word "signify" indicates) by the use of signs, symbols.

2. Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

The main question here is, whether the thing said of John, that he "bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Christ," is historic, describing him as having long been an apostle and witness for Christ, or whether it should be restricted to his function as a witness to certify faithfully the things revealed to him in Patmos. The latter is most in the line of thought in the context; Jesus revealed these things by his angel to his servant John; and John faithfully reported every thing shown him, for the benefit of the churches.—The last clause should be read without the word "and," which the best authorities rule out of the Greek text—the sense then being, "whatsoever things he saw;" i. e., so far forth as revelations were made to him, he wrote them.

3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

This grouping of "him that readeth" with "those that hear" contemplates the public reading in their Christian assemblies. We should bear in mind that printed Bibles were then unknown; that manuscript copies were few and very costly, and therefore the hearers would far outnumber the readers.—The blessing promised to both classes implies that these words had a great moral purpose; were designed and adapted for the spiritual good of the Christians addressed; and moreover, that John, and the inditing Spirit no less, sought by every proper consideration to press the brethren to a diligent study of this book. Let every reader to-day accept this suggestion and strive for this promised blessing!—"Keep those things written therein" assumes that duty is enjoined here. Blessed are those who open their hearts to the inspiring power of this book, and are prompted thereby to the utmost fidelity in doing the duties which it reveals. These duties were preeminently, patient suffering and unswerving fidelity to Christ amid scenes of fiercest trial and persecution unto blood.—Again the idea is reiterated, for the time is at hand." Read this book without delay; receive into your mind its timely revelations; take home to your souls its inspiring influences—for these fearful scenes of blood and death are close upon you!

4. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come: and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne:

5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

6. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

The address, "John to the seven churches," must certainly include the whole book, and not the contents of chapters second and third only. So v. 11 declares explicitly, "What thou seest"—i. e., all that thou shalt see, send to those churches.—The invocation follows, imploring in their behalf grace and peace—every spiritual blessing. But from whom? This question involves some difficulty.—The tenor of the apostolic benediction—"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost" (2 Cor. 13: 14), naturally leads us to think here of the Trinity, the threefold personal manifestation of the one God. In accordance with this analogy we begin with applying to the Father the phrase, "Him which is, and which was, and which is to come." It is generally held by competent critics that this Greek phrase translates as to its meaning the Hebrew word Jehovah, which signifies The eternally Existent One, the Great Immutable, who is therefore the faithful Promiser (see Ex. 3: 14, and Hos. 12: 5). But we must not overlook the fact that in this context (vs. 8, 11, and elsewhere these descriptive terms are applied precisely to the Son of God, probably with special reference to his pre-existent nature. Must we not therefore say that the main purpose in this chapter is not so much to develop doctrinally the fact and the relations of the Trinity, as to set forth the true divinity as well as the glorious humanity of the Son of God, and thus give the churches of Asia the true view of his exalted character and work?

What precise idea shall we find in the second phrase—"The seven Spirits which are before his throne?"—The parallel and explanatory passages to be considered are onward 3: 1, and 4: 5, and 5: 6. "These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars;" "There were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;" "There stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth."—Then furthermore we must inquire whether we can trace this peculiar description to any source in the Old Testament prophets, and thus obtain light in regard to its meaning. Under this inquiry we must consider Zech. 3: 9 and 4: 10: "Behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts." "They shall see the stone ['plummet'] in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth." Perhaps also Isaiah 11: 2, where the Spirit of the Lord which rested upon the Messiah is thought by some to have a seven-fold designation.—This phrase—"The seven spirits which are before the throne," has been interpreted variously, e. g. 1. To signify the seven archangels, ministering to Jesus and for him in his great work of redemption. 2. To denote the spiritual and providential agencies and powers with which Jesus is invested and which he employs in the realms of providence and grace. This view would include all the agencies of universal providence as well as the spiritual agencies of the Holy Ghost. Strictly speaking it does not involve distinct personality—nothing in this direction beyond poetic personification. 3. The Holy Ghost, the third person of the Trinity, in his distinct personality.—Let us examine these diverse opinions.

1. That these seven spirits are seven archangels is thought by some to find support in the circumstance that they are said to be "before the throne," i. e., in the waiting attitude of servants; also, that they are associated with "the seven stars" as being in like manner in the possession and sacred to the service of the Son of God [3: 1: "Saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars"]; and that they appear again in symbol as seven lamps of fire burning before the throne (4: 5).—The strong and, as I think, fatal objection to this view lies in the exigencies of this invocation of "grace and peace." Can we possibly suppose that the seven archangels are classed with the Father and the Son as being equally or even conjointly with them the source and the authors of grace and peace to the churches? Surely this is new doctrine to our Bible. It ignores the infinite distance between the true God, the Infinite One, and even the most exalted of his created subjects. Grace and peace, first from the Eternal Father; next from his seven archangels; last from the Eternal and Infinite Son! This is the next thing to praying to the seven archangels. It certainly must assume that they are, in substantially an equivalent sense, the source and the fountain of grace and peace to human souls. The Bible and reason both revolt at this!

2. The second theory—viz., that the phrase describes the jointly providential and spiritual agencies wielded by Jesus Christ in the scheme of redemption, but of course not involving any distinct personality, finds its chief support in its supposed and perhaps probable allusion to the passages quoted above (Zech. 3: 9 and 4: 10), its chief objection in the circumstance that here we naturally look for real personality. The passages in Zechariah manifestly treat of God's providential and spiritual agencies in the discipline of his people and in the care of his Zion. I think that probably John had those passages so far in his mind as to take from them the number seven, and the general idea of diverse agencies. Then, thinking also of the New Testament illustrations of the manifold workings of this "one and the same Spirit," his language took, the form we see—"the seven Spirits of God." With the orientals seven is the perfect number—that which indicates completeness; diversity, yet unity and perfection.—As said above, the chief objection to this second theory is that a prayer for grace and peace should be offered to a personal agent and not to an impersonal agency. May the blessings of grace come to you (a) from God the Father; (b) from his various agencies; (c) from his Eternal Son—is incongruous. It is not so unchristian and unscriptural as the theory of seven archangels; but a better theory is at hand.

3. The only view which seems to me to meet the exigencies of this passage remains to be considered, viz., that by the seven Spirits of God is meant the Holy Ghost, as specially revealed in the gospel age. This is entirely in harmony with the tone and the nature of this invocation. Is it also in harmony with the description given in this verse and with the subsequent notices of "the seven Spirits" in this book?—He is one of the three divine persons from whom Paul (2 Cor. 13: 14) invokes spiritual blessings. That he is conceived of as seven fold need not surprise us if we consider the diversity of his spiritual gifts and operations; the probable allusion to the "seven eyes" of Zechariah (as above shown) or the abundant use of the number seven in this book of Revelation. That he should be seen "before the throne" does indeed imply a readiness for service; but benevolent service is no dishonor to his heart, and is in no wise derogatory to his true

Divinity. That Jesus should say of himself (3: 1); "He that hath the seven Spirits of God," etc., means only what is implied in his own first and chief words concerning the "Comforter:'' "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter" (John 14: 16); "whom the Father will send in my name" (John 14: 26): "whom I will send unto you from the Father ......... he shall testify of me" (15: 26); "I will send him unto you" (16: 7); "He shall glorify me" (16: 14). It was obviously most fitting that in these messages to the seven churches Jesus should reveal himself in the exalted dignity of his relations as the Giver of the Holy Ghost.—The seven Spirits of God are also presented in symbolic vision (4: 5) as "seven lamps of fire burning before the throne." Using the figure "lamps of fire" as only a humble stepping stone to help us to reach the sublime idea of light, brilliancy, and glory, we may suppose a special reference here to the function of the Spirit as the great Revealer of God, the Infinite Teacher, sent forth to give light concerning God and to impress all truths respecting him upon created minds.—That the Lamb as seen in vision (5: 6) appears with "seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth," is an effort to present in symbol the infinite power ["horns"], and the infinite spiritual forces of light and truth ["eyes"] which are embodied in the Holy Ghost and sent forth by the Son according to his own words as above quoted) to his disciples.—Thus this interpretation of the seven Spirits of God as in our passage is fully in harmony with the teaching of Christ in the New Testament respecting the work and mission of the Holy Ghost, and also with the scope of these first chapters of our book as designed to set forth the transcendant dignity and glory of Jesus Christ. This interpretation therefore fully meets the exigencies of the case and must for every reason be adopted.

The sacred Three from whom blessing are invoked is completed by naming Jesus Christ.—The three descriptive points of his person should be specially noted: (a) "The faithful Witness," who "before Pontius Pilate witnessed a noble confession," as said by Paul (1 Tim. 6: 14) and as may be seen (John 18: 36); who never faltered before persecution and whose example therefore as a faithful witness [martyr] for God and his truth was eminently in point for the churches of Asia at this time. (b) "The first-born of the dead;" the first to break the bonds of death and rise to immortal life and glory—to be thought of now, therefore, not as one dead but as one living—living in all the majesty and power of a conqueror over Death and the Grave; and (c) As Lord of all lords and King of all the kings of the earth, whose power over the mightiest and proudest of them was to be so signally manifested in these visions, for the comfort of his suffering and down-crushed people.—The course of thought in the words that follow is an outgushing of the heart in grateful love and adoration. Think what Jesus hath suffered and wrought for us! Unto Him that loves [rather than "loved"], who loves us now; has loved us in all the past, and will love us in all the future, forever, and hath once for all [past] washed us from our sins in his own blood; and hath made us a kingdom (according to the corrected text, rather than "kings") and priests unto God even his Father;—to Him be all glory and dominion forever! Who so worthy as He to bear the crown of the Universe—to bear the glories of the heavenly world? Let our loving, grateful hearts adore him now and forever. Amen!—It was well for those who were subjected to fiery trial even unto blood to think of this once suffering Jesus and of all the pains he bore for his people even unto blood and death to "wash them from their sins." So it is well for us in these latter days to think of that great man of sorrows and of his quenchless love for us what time soever temptation may try our heart and Satan would discourage or frighten our weary souls.—"Washed us from our sins in his own blood" bears the strongest testimony to the two-fold significance of the atonement, i. e., remission of past sins through innocent blood shed for the guilty, and moral cleansing from the spirit of sinning forevermore. For if moral cleansing were the only element, blood which is properly defiling could not have been the symbol. But blood m must come in to signify the ground of remission, pardon—as the whole genius of the sacrificial system testifies. Hence we have both ideas, remission and cleansing, in this comprehensive and briefest possible language—"washed us from our sins in his blood."

7. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

To what "coming" does this passage refer?—The reader who shall carefully study the words of our Lord in Mat. 24: 29-31, and 16: 27, 28, and 10: 23, and in kindred passages also, will readily see that John here refers to those declarations, using the same words, and therefore doubtless in the same sense. Here we have "cometh with clouds;" there, "coming in the clouds of heaven:" here, "every eye shall see him;" there, "they ['all the tribes of the earth'] shall see the Son of man coming:" here, "all the kindreds of the earth [or land shall wail because of him;" there, "then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn." "They also who pierced him" looks definitely to the prophecy of Zechariah (12: 10); "They shall look on me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him."—Examining those words of our Lord in the passages above named we shall see that he seems to have before his mind both of his two great comings then future (the first suggesting the second); the first, to set up his gospel kingdom with power by sending down the Holy Ghost and by destroying Jerusalem: the second, for the final judgment of all mankind using some language that might (in itself considered) apply to his more remote coming; but also giving some definite limitations of time which compel us to say that the first coming was certainly in his mind as the primary and main thing intended. These are some of the limitations: "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled" (Mat. 24: 34). "Verily I say unto you. There be some standing here who shall not taste of death till, they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom" (Mat. 16: 28). "Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man be come" (Mat. 10: 23). "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" (John 21: 22). These limitations are entirely decisive. They compel us to admit that Jesus did use the language above quoted of his first coming—the nearer one—to establish his kingdom by the mission of his Spirit and by removing out of the way the first great obstacle to its prosperity—the rotten Judaism of that age and its representative city, Jerusalem.—It may be briefly said here in passing, that according to the genius of prophecy, Jesus might pass readily by analogy from his first coming, then near, to his second. So he manifestly does in Mat. 25, giving us some of the grand events of his second coming which were so powerfully suggested by his first coming.—In the passage now before us the general drift of thought in the former part of this book strongly favors its primary reference to the first great coming of Christ to establish his kingdom on earth by the gift of his Spirit and the overthrow of Judaism and Jerusalem. It may have been literally true that some of those who shouted, "Crucify him!" lived to "wail because of him" in overwhelming anguish over the ruin of their city and the wreck of all their hopes. There is sometimes a terrible significance in God's visible, present retributions!

8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Many of my readers will not need to be told that "Alpha" is the name of the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and "Omega" of the last, so that these words have the sense, The First and the Last; the One who is before all the created things of the universe, the Great Creator of all, and whose power and glory are to be specially manifested in the closing up, the consummation, of all that pertains to this world, including both things material and things moral—the great globe itself and the destinies of all the moral agents who shall ever have lived upon it. This is much more than simply coming into existence before any other being and outliving them all; i. e., the language used of Jesus Christ, involves and implies much more than its terms in themselves necessarily include.—In the original, some of the oldest manuscripts omit—"the beginning and the ending." These words may have been introduced by some copyist to explain the meaning of the Greek words "Alpha" and "Omega" for the benefit of readers not familiar with that language. Omitted or retained, the sense of the passage is the same.—The point most worthy to be specially noted in the verse is that Jesus here assumes for himself the very names—"The Lord, which is, and which was, and is the Coming One,"—which are given to the Father, in v. 4. "All things that the Father hath" (said Jesus, John 16: 15) "are mine." It is strongly the purpose in this chapter and indeed onward through the book, to present Jesus Christ in his exalted character and relations, so that Christians then sorely tempted and tried might not think of him as once in weakness he walked the earth, often barely escaping the malice of his foes, and finally falling into their hands for torture and death; but rather, as living for evermore, the very God, all glorious, almighty to save or to destroy, the arbiter of all human destinies—death to his foes; salvation and infinite glory to his friends. In these views of him there must have been a marvelous power of inspiration toward the stability and endurance of the faithful martyr.

9. I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The writer introduces himself more definitely. It was genial and winning in him to say—"Your brother," one who suffers in common with yourselves under sore tribulation for the sake of the kingdom and the truth of our Lord Jesus.—He was in the isle of Patmos, well known to the brethren of the seven churches, for it lay only a little off the coast from Ephesus; small—being only some eight miles by one—barren, rocky, and rough, looking out upon the great deep sea—fit place for the manifestations of heavenly visions sublimely grand and magnificent, but, as to all human relationships and enjoyments, a desolate place of exile. There John was shut up because he would preach the gospel and bear his testimony for Jesus.

10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

It was on the Lord's day, the Christian Sabhath, when suddenly he passed into that peculiar prophetic state expressed by the words—"in Spirit"—a state in which the prophet is put in special communication with the Holy Ghost as the Revealer of prophetic truth. His ear was opened to hear the very voice of Jesus, and his eye to see (as in the present case) his sublimely glorious form.—It avails little to speculate as to the psychological nature of this prophetic state. Experience only can give it.

11. Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

"What thou seest"—i. e., all that is now to be shown thee in the successive visions which make up this entire book. The word "seest" refers properly to the visions—those of chaps. 4-22, rather than to the verbal messages which appear in chaps. 2 and 3. Yet we may admit these chapters (2 and 3) as included in the command, and attribute the choice of the word "seest" before hearest, to the circumstance that by far the greater part of the book is made up of visions presented to the eye.—Many. commentators have restricted this command to the messages that were simply heard (not seen at all), which occupy chapters second and third, practically if not avowedly denying its reference to the real visions—the things seen. Such construction is utterly against the fair and necessary sense of the words. They are laboring to make out that the real visions of the book were neither written, sent, or adapted to the seven churches of Asia. It is much better to let the book speak for itself and become its own interpreter.—Some geographical and historical notes upon these seven cities, from which these churches take their name will be given where their names come up in detail (chaps. 2 and 3).

12. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

"Turned to see the voice," i. e., the author of the voice, the speaker. The precise sense of the original is, to see whoever it might be whose unrecognized voice I had heard.—This prophetic symbol, "candlestick," to represent a church (see the explanation in v. 20), comes obviously from Zech. 4. The essential idea is given by our Lord (Mat. 5: 14, and John 8: 12): "Ye are the light of the-world;" and by Paul (Phil. 2: 15) more closely because in the concrete form: "Ye shine as lights (luminaries, or light-bearers) in the world." What light is to the eye, that knowledge is to the mind. Hence the teachers of truth are in symbol, light-bearers.

13. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

"In the midst," etc., to indicate the perpetual presence of Christ among his churches, with his people.—"One like a Son of man," rather than the Son. The Greek is without the article, the sense being, not that this personage resembled him whom I saw often in the days of his flesh; but merely that though clad with surpassing effulgence of glory, yet the form was human—the resemblance that of man. The critical reader will note that when Jesus often spake of himself as "the Son of man" (of which cases there are said to be eighty), he always used the article—"the Son of man." The expression in our verse therefore does not class itself with those.—His outer garment fell to the feet, and a golden girdle was passed round at the breasts. This of course was (fitly) the oriental costume of royalty, the dress worn by kings, and associated with the highest ideas of dignity and exaltation.

14. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

In the point of whiteness this symbol is perhaps in imitation of "the Ancient of days" as shown to Daniel (7: 9), "whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool." It may blend the two ideas—whiteness as the symbol of purity, and white hairs as the crown and the glory of patriarchal age. The eyes, always the most expressive and most spiritual among the parts and organs of the human frame, are as a flame of fire. Light, brilliancy, energy, thrilling power—all combined—can be set forth by no more pertinent symbol than this—"a flame of fire." Such were his eyes.

15. And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

"Brass," one of the oriental symbols of strength, is heightened here by a glowing radiance, compared to metal burning in a furnace.—His voice, deep, grand, majestic as the roar of the sea, was imagery wonderfully fresh and expressive to John, sitting often on the barren cliffs of Patmos, listening to the surging billows and breakers at his feet.

16. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

Think of the grandeur of this scene—seven stars held in his right hand; out of his mouth a sharp two-edged sword—strikingly significant of his piercing words—armed with a power of truth which none could gainsay, and with a majesty and terror of threatening before which earth and heaven flee away!—And then to crown this wonderfully impressive manifestation, his countenance was as the sun in his peerless effulgence when his unclouded face pours forth such light and heat as no mortal eye can bear.—The "sword from the mouth" seems violent and unnatural when thought of as seen, yet the significance is clear and the representation full of power. While all the other points in this description are at once surpassingly grand and also in harmony with nature, this seems somewhat out of such harmony. But let its surpassing energy atone for its apparent rudeness.—In view of this unparalleled manifestation of the sublimest elements of grandeur, dignity and power, it were of small avail for us to inquire whether this represents the risen Jesus as he now appears upon his throne in the highest heavens. On this point let us suppress our curiosity and postpone our inquiries till the light of heaven shall burst on our eyes. It is enough here to say that this manifestation to John had a definite moral purpose, jointly for him and for those whom he, or rather Jesus through him, addressed—the seven churches. It was important that both John and his brethren of those churches should think of the risen Jesus as no longer the frail, suffering, feeble man of Nazareth, nor even merely as the risen personage who^-appeared from time to time during forty days after his resurrection; but far other than either of those^- forms and indefinitely more glorious—as now invested with splendor and glory higher than which no forms of matter known to us have ever attained—a voice surpassing all human range and power—an eye piercing and thrilling, far above the merely human—a countenance that gathered into itself the effulgence of dazzling, overwhelming glory. The purposed moral impression of this scene can not be mistaken. Let the churches know that their risen Redeemer is mighty; is crowned with glory and honor and set over the realm of nature and the empire of the world, "King of kings and Lord of lords." Let them have no fear as to the final triumph of his cause. Let them shrink from no endurance of pain even to death for his sake. Let it be settled forever in their souls that such a Savior is strong to sustain his friends or to crush his foes; that his promised rewards are ineffably glorious, but that his wrath burns to the lowest hell, to the unutterable dismay of his proudest, mightiest enemies. Such manifestations of such a Savior were adapted with Divine wisdom to arm them for the conflict through which they were so soon to pass.

17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last

18. I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death:

The view was overpowering. There is a limit to human endurance under such an effulgence of glory. Jesus kindly relieved his mind of the sense of terror, and soothed his agitated emotions with words and tones of comfort.—"The first and the last" only puts in simpler form what was first said (v. 8) in the words, "I am. Alpha and Omega." As to the sense, "I am the first and the last" means, not properly, the first to come into being and the last to cease to be; not, I antedate all other beings and I shall outlast them all; but this—I am the first Cause of all that have existence, the infinite Creator of all; and I am also the Arbiter of their destinies, having infinite control of all last things. This construction gives the only admissible sense of these words taken in themselves, and is also sustained by the immediate context.—"I am he that liveth" is put forcibly by the Greek participle: I am the living One; this is for evermore my distinctive attribute—the living One, in a sense which implies both perpetual existence in himself and the source of existence to all created beings. Passing, by the most sudden transition, from the divine to the human, he says, I was indeed for a short time "dead," but mark, behold! I am now the living One for evermore. Also I have absolute power over Death and Hell. The agencies of Death upon this sinning race, and the worlds where all departed souls abide, are under my supreme control. I open or shut their gates at my will.—Death and Hell (Hades) are here personified as in Rev. 6: 8, and 20: 13, 14.—It would lead us too far aside from the current of thought here to discuss and present at length the precise and correlated meanings of the New Testament words Hades and Gehenna: Hades, the invisible world whither go the spirits of all the dead, some to woe and some to bliss (Luke 16: 19-26); Gehenna, exclusively the place and the doom of the lost (Mat. 5: 29, 30, and 10: 28, and Mark 9: 47, etc.). Suffice it here to say that our passage sets forth this glorious Personage as having the absolute rule over both Death himself and the destinies of all the dead who people that invisible realm of existence which lies immediately beyond this.

19. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

The middle clause, "The things which are," Prof. Stuart and some others construe to mean, what they are, i. e., what they signify. Write out the visions and their significance. This seems to me too remote from the primary and usual sense of the verb to be. I prefer this construction of the whole verse: "Therefore, since the divine Jesus who speaks to thee rules the destinies of both the living and the dead, and has the great future in his eye and in his shaping hand, write what things thou hast seen and shalt see" [the Greek aorist tense covering the recently present and the nearer future], and then, expanding the thought more fully he adds—"both the things which are and the things which shall be closely after these." Some of these visions revealed things present; some, things near in the future: he is commanded to write down both.

20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

He explains the seven stars in his right hand to denote the seven angels to as many churches. They are angels no doubt in the usual sense of messengers. But since their mission lies not between Jesus and John, but between John and the churches, they are not superhuman, but human—so many individual men through whom John was to address those churches. What other functions they held besides that of communicating John's messages, this book does not tell us; no other document informs us; it is therefore of small avail for us to speculate about it. Their relations were not diocesan, i. e., over many churches, for the record here restricts them each to his own, and moreover gives no hint of ecclesisastical power in them beyond what is implied in conveying a written message from John—not to say that if those churches had any diocesan, John himself should have been the man. We must pass this much litigated question with only these brief hints.

CHAPTER II.

Here are four of the seven special letters addressed respectively to Ephesus (1-7); to Smyrna (8-11); to Pergamos (12-17); and to Thyatira (18-29). Obviously the reason for a distinct message to each lay in what was peculiar in their respective cases; in the tone of their love, their stability, their Christian work, the errors of doctrine and of practice which had crept in to pervert their sentiments and corrupt their Christian life. While the visions that follow and make up the body of the book would be pertinent to them all and therefore are addressed without distinction to them all, the brief messages recorded in chapters 2 and 3 were wisely addressed to these churches severally.

Geographically these cities lay on a curved line somewhat in the shape of a horse-shoe magnet so that they might be taken by a tourist in the very order in which they stand in this book: thus from Ephesus north to Smyrna, 40 miles; thence north to Pergamos, 60 miles; thence east to Thyatira, 30 miles; thence south to Sardis, 40 miles; thence south-east to Philadelphia, 30 miles; thence south-east to Laodicea, 50 miles. Near the last named lay Colosse and Hierapolis. Of the seven cities, the first three were maritime; the others were inland on the returning portion of the curve.

EPHESUS.

1. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write: These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

2. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not hear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars

3. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.

Ephesus was the home of the Apostle John, from which it is generally conceded he was banished, and to which when free to go so be returned to reside, and where tradition locates his sepulcher. It was the great city of Asia Minor, famous for the worship of Diana. The reader will readily recall the labors and history of Paul in this city (Acts 13: 19-21, and 19, and 20: 17-38) as also his letter to them.—The Ephesian brethren are first reminded of the dignity and glory of the great Author of this message, "holding the seven stars in his right hand" in the sense of upholding those faithful messengers by whom these words were sent; also "walking amid the seven golden candlesticks" with perpetual presence and omniscient eye. Therefore, with bated breath and reverent spirit, let them listen to his words.—"I know" is intensely expressive. Ye may have thought (John would say) that Jesus, your professed Lord, is far away and takes no special notice of your heart or life. No mistake could be greater. The heart and the life of every one of you are ever before him.—Jesus is careful to notice with commendation whatever will bear it. So always.

4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

The italic word "somewhat" were better omitted, the sense being, not that I have a small account, a somewhat of perhaps trivial sort, against thee; but I have this against thee, "that thou hast left thy first love." This losing thy first love I have against thee as thy great sin. How couldst thou forget my blood and tears for thee; how could thine heart lose the freshness, life, and power of thy first love to thine own Redeemer, thine own best Friend!—It should be carefully noted that this losing of first love is accounted a great sin, most offensive to Jesus, most grievous to his ever loving and ever constant heart. This assumes that such loss of first love is by no means a necessity of the Christian life; must not be excused as a thing of course—an inevitable result, and therefore a trivial and scarcely censurable offence. This view of it is some times taken;—alas, that it should be! How cruel to the heart of Jesus! Flow strangely unreasonable in itself! How perilous to the constancy and growth of young Christians must such teaching be!—It is pertinent here to say that this decline of the Ephesian brethren from their first love was the very point of heir special danger as well as of their special guilt. We are not told what peculiar temptation had stolen away their heart and broken down their love for Jesus. Perhaps it was the fascinations of a great city, the dominant spirit of worldliness, polluting (socially) the very atmosphere they breathed; but be it what it may, it cut the sinews of their Christian strength as against the fiery temptations that were to come upon them; it begat a spiritual state in which they would surely fall before the first fierce blast of persecution which should summon them to torture or to death for Jesus. Nothing short of the purest, warmest love for Jesus could abide such an ordeal. Hence the solemn and fearfully earnest rebuke and admonition which follow.

5: Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Recall thy first love and mark how deep thou hast fallen. "Repent," in the twofold sense of deploring thy sin and of turning thy heart from it. "Do the former works" of warm and earnest love and fresh devotion to thy Lord—implying what is always true, that the love which Christ requires is not a mere emotion that stirs only the sensibilities, and may flow off in tears or evanesce in raptures, but leave no result in true Christian work for Jesus. Altogether unlike this sentimentalism—this emotion of the novel reader who has tears but nothing else for human suffering or want—the love that Jesus calls for has work in it and evermore coming out of it; for what saith he? "If ye love me, keep my commandments." "He that keepeth my commandments, he it is that loveth me" (John 14: 15, 21 ). Therefore returning to one's first love is synonymous with "doing thy first works."—By what consideration is this urged? "Else I will come unto thee quickly"—but not in blessings—not to give thee fresh tokens of approval and esteem; but to "remove thy candlestick out of a his pace, except thou repent." Christ would own them as his church no longer; would smite down the golden candlestick and doom the church to extinction!—-Of the nearer future of this Ephesian church we have no record in the New Testament. But we do know that for centuries past, that once proud city has been a ruin; from that Christian candlestick no light has gone forth for many ages! That threatening was but too significant of her prophetic future!

6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

On the question who were these "Nicolaitans?" there has been much difference of opinion among critics. The data for an entirely decisive conclusion seem lacking.—(a) The theory that this sect takes its name from Nicolas, "a proselyte of Antioch," one of the seven deacons (Acts 6: 5), is almost baseless.—(b) The theory that the word has etymological affinities with Balaam, both alike having the sense, destroyers of the people, lacks adequate support. In vs. 14, 15, below, these two sects seem to be really though not perhaps very broadly distinguished. The utmost that can be safely said is that this sect in some points—perhaps some leading points—resembled the Balaamites described in v. 14. See notes on that passage.

7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Each message introduces its closing promise to the victorious one by this special and solemn call to attention in the same words essentially which so often fell from the lips of our Lord (e. g., Mat. 11: 15, and 13: 9, 43, etc.) In the form here used they were reminded that the words he sent them were said by the divine Spirit—God's own voice of warning and of promise.—As said in the Introduction, the promise to the conquering one is in this case taken from the closing chapters of the book—the privilege of eating from the tree of life along the banks of the river of heaven. That marvelous wealth of promise which the glorious symbolism of this book has made available is here brought to bear upon the Christian life of the church of Ephesus to tide them over the breakers that lay before them. O, what blessings are these for the conquerors!

SMYRNA.

8. And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;

9. I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison; that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

The descriptive points of the speaker are taken from 1: 8, 17, 18.—Remarkably the tone of this message is commendatory without exception. Jesus seems to say with free and joyous heart—I know all thy fidelity and endurance for my sake; I know thy poverty as to the wealth of this world—but thou art rich in faith and in grace, the best of all riches. I know too the opposition and persecution against thee endured already and yet to be endured—but it shall be short.—It is possible that the Jews spoken of here made no profession of being Christians, but probable that they were the Judaizers who were so prominent in that age. Their claim to be Jews, I take, not in the sense of being lineal descendants of Abraham, but of being true worshipers of God, praisers of his name after the etymology of the word Judah—from which the name "Jew" came—(Gen. 29: 35 and 49: 8). Professing to be the people of God above all others, they were really doing only the work of Satan; bigoted and self-conceited were they, but so far from being praisers of God, they were blasphemers: so far from being a synagogue of his worshipers, they were only a "synagogue of Satan."—These facts go far to prove that the corrupt Judaism of the early and mid-apostolic age was still rife and earnest, and consequently that the crushing blow given it in the destruction of Jerusalem and the consequent dispersion of the Jews and prostration of their influence, had not yet fallen.—Observe that their persecutions are traced to the devil as their cause and author. It was well to show the churches where the root and mainspring of these persecutions lay. They would then understand better the nature of the fight in which they were parties and sufferers, and in which Jesus was to be their Almighty Savior and Deliverer—the grand antagonist of Satan; sure to conquer in the end.—"Be thou faithful unto death," seems to mean, not merely as long as you may live, till your life-power is exhausted and you fall asleep in your quiet bed; but rather, even to a martyr's death quail not, shrink not; face the rack or the flame till your soul is forced from its bodily mansion. Then I will give thee a crown of immortal life.

11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

The conquering one has the promise (taken up from 20: 14, and 21: 8) that he "shall never be hurt by that fearful second death." The first death may come upon him in forms of violence and torture, but of the woes of the second death he shall know nothing. Let this inspire his soul to endure; let this be his consolation!—Of all these seven ancient cities, Smyrna alone remains great, of undiminished population and trade, though the glory of its architecture and the magnificence of its civilization have mostly passed away. Its population is estimated at 100,000. A fine harbor and a fertile inland country secure for it an extensive commerce. It is remarkable that precisely the one city in which the church was then poor in wealth but rich in faith and against which the Savior brings no censure, should be the one alone of all to survive the desolations of ages.

PERGAMOS.

12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

The descriptive point in which in this case designates the speaker is taken from 1: 16—the sword going forth from his mouth, sharp, double-edged—for his words were with power; a symbol fearfully pertinent in this case because there were many things in this church to condemn and but too much occasion for using this fearful sword!

13. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

I can appreciate thy works of true allegiance and firm endurance for my name in the light of all those stern surroundings—thy city the place of Satan's throne where he instigated his minions to murder my faithful Antipas. That when this noble martyr fell, the brethren of Pergamos did not deny the name of Jesus was to their honor. He will not forget it.

14. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

"A few things against thee," must not be omitted. Here were some of those pernicious teachers whose errors were a close imitation of that foul policy of Balaam who taught Balak the shortest way to ruin a people in covenant with God, viz., to seduce them into idolatry and fornication.—This historic allusion to Balaam will be readily understood by comparing Num. 25, with 31: 16, the former passage giving the facts of shameful lewdness between Israel and Moab; and the latter ascribing this lewdness to the counsel given by Balaam to the king of Moab. See also 2 Peter 2: 15, 16.—These temptations, bearing upon converts from life long heathenism, must have been fearfully seductive. The eating of things offered in sacrifice to idols would naturally be the steppingstone back to idol worship, as it was also the crucial test of conformity to the idolatrous spirit of the age. It would lead to mingling socially in the scenes of idol worship, and being connected with shameless fornication would naturally plunge them into the very depths of heathen abominations. No wonder Jesus should "have a few things against them" if they could tolerate in their communion such doctrine and such practice for a single hour.

15. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

The approved reading has in the last clause in like manner [omoiwV] instead of "which things I hate." Thus we have two Greek words in this verse (the first and the last) which indicate the strong similarity in some respect between the Nicolaitans and the Balaamites. "So" [outwV]—a thing involving like guilt—"thou hast also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans in the same manner"—which naturally means, with the same results of shameless licentiousness and practical idolatry. The precise thing said is not that the two doctrines were the same, but that they were held similarly—which seems to mean with like guilt in the church that permits it, and with the same horrible fruits of moral corruption.—This gives us the most reliable clue we have to the real doctrine which bore the name of the Nicolaitans, (see v. 6), Since it was a "doctrine," something studiously taught, yet plunging its followers deep into the pollutions of idolatry, it could not fail to call for the sternest reprobation.

16. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

The judgment threatened against those who will not repent takes its form from the point made in the description of the august Speaker—a sword proceeding from his mouth! words that will surely do execution!

17. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

To the victor in this stern Christian conflict, Jesus will give first "the hidden manna." This should carry our thought to the use made of the manna of the wilderness by Jesus as given by John in his gospel (6: 31-58), and affords incidental proof that the same John wrote both the "Revelation" and the gospel. The sense seems to be, the "bread of life"—the counterpart to the water of life as in Rev. 22: 1—and itself the fruit of the tree of life.—He will also give him "a white stone," significant of acquittal, as black was of condemnation. Also "a new name" upon it, known only to the receiver. This seems to be put in contrast with confessing his name before the angels (Luke 12: 8), and naturally refers to those personal testimonies of his approval which are currently known as "the witness of the Spirit"—which when real are the pledge and earnest of acceptance before Christ at the last day.—Further, the preciousness of this "new name" is set forth vividly by its application to the Great Conqueror himself (19: 12). Compare also 3: 12.—"And they shall be mine, saith the Lord, in the day when I make up my jewels" (Mal. 3: 17).—A somewhat different view of the source whence the symbols of this verse are taken may be suggested. It supposes that looking rather into the Old Testament than the New, John had his eye on the manna that was really hidden in the sacred ark of the covenant in the most holy place, whence his thought passes to the sacred name worn on the breastplate of the high priest when he entered that holy place once a year—a name of which no Jew was supposed to know the significance. But the name of Jesus now takes the place once held by that incommunicable name, and this name becomes the badge and the glory of all his accepted people.—The resulting sense is not essentially modified by these minor questions as to the source and explication of the figures employed—a fortunate circumstance in this case, because these questions are by no means easy to decide—perhaps I should say, seem scarcely capable of very decisive solution.

THYATIRA.

18. And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;

A village of one thousand people marks the site of the ancient Thyatira. The Lydia whom Paul met at Philippi, and whose heart the Lord opened, was from this city.—The descriptive points which designate the Author of this message set forth his searching of the heart—eyes before which no wickedness can stand and no disguises can hide the guilty! "His feet as fine brass" betoken strength and majesty in his going forth.

19. I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

As usual Jesus commends whatever is commendable. The list of good qualities here is long and interesting, especially the fact (last named) of progress—unlike Ephesus, where the brethren had been falling back. Here they had been moving forward—their last works more and better than their first. Clearly this proves two points: (1.) That such progress in the Christian life and in Christian work is practicable; (2.) That Jesus warmly approves it. Let us make practical note of both these points.

20. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

The weight of ancient textual authority and of critical opinion makes the text, not "that woman;" but thy wife. This raises the question, Whose wife? That of the messenger ("angel") of this church, or of the church itself? The latter would be an unnatural figure and therefore improbable. Hence I prefer the former, and assume that she was the wife of the person to whom the letter was addressed and by whom it was sent to the church. I take "Jezebel" to be, not her original proper name, but a name of historic significance. She was a second Jezebel. The reader will recall the scriptural record of this paragon of wickedness and also of resolution, will, policy and seductive power (1 Kings 16: 30-33, and 21, and 2 Kings 9: 30-37). Herself the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, bred an idolater and trained to bear sway, she brought into Israel an enormous power for evil, sweeping both Ahab and his people fearfully away from the ancient worship of Jehovah into the gross idolatry of her native country.—Like her this second Jezebel, pretending to be a prophetess and espousing the doctrines and practices against which the first Christian Council (Acts 15: 20, 29) admonished Gentile converts, she mightily seduced the servants of Christ into fornication and the eating of things sacrificed to idols. These two practices are manifestly associated together. See notes on v. 14.

21. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

On the question whether this "fornication" were literal, or only the spiritual idea of idol worship, I hold the former view for three main reasons: (1.) This is the most obvious sense; (2.) It is everywhere distinguished from eating things sacrificed to idols, which itself was one form of idol worship; (3.) Historically it is well known that idol worship was associated with lewdness in its basest, most shameless forms.—The Lord gave this woman Jezebel some forewarnings of his judgments upon her and admonished her to repent of these great crimes, and also gave her space for such repentance, but in vain.

22. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

Here also the literal and most obvious sense is to be accepted. "I will cast her into a bed" should mean, I will bring upon her some terrible disease—and the store-house of God's retributions has never lacked such agencies of prostration, suffering, loathsome rottenness and a death of horrors. Remarkably the judgment came (as often) so in the line of the sin as perpetually to remind both herself and all who knew her whose hand sent this plague upon her, and why.—Her guilty partners in this crime could not escape great tribulation.

23. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

"Death" in such a connection means pestilence, mortal disease. Her sins go down with their heritage of curses upon her children; not only by a physical law from whose influence few if any escape, but by the righteous, moral retribution of the great moral Governor of the world. Such cases are not strictly retributive vengeance as to the children for their lascivious mother's crimes. As to the mother, they are retribution; as to the children, only calamity and perhaps discipline. In the proper sense of punishment, God will punish such children only for their own sins. See Ezek. 18, and my notes on that chapter.—All the churches shall know that I search the heart and that I will give to every one according to his works. My judgments on Jezebel will forcibly illustrate these great elements of my character and of my righteous, moral government.

24. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.

25. But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come.

There were some in this church as yet uncontaminated. To them these verses pertain.—Remarkably this delusion and abomination appear here as a "doctrine" as well as a practice. On what grounds the doctrine rested, by what fallacies and lies it was supported, it might gratify our curiosity to know. As the case is, we only know that "the father of lies" never lacked sophistry and show of argument to give some plausibility to the most abominably wicked practices, and we must satisfy ourselves with the general fact without the specific illustration which this one case might add to other thousands already extant. "Have not known" by experience "the depths of Satan, as men call them" implying that those abominations of lewdness and idol worship went down to a depth of moral pollution below which Satan himself could not well sink—so deep that they could not be slandered by calling them "the depths of Satan."—"I will put upon you none other burden," i. e., no extra trial or calamity because of the crimes of Jezebel and of her paramours—no other than you have had already. Whatever Christian stability you have, retain it firmly till I come.

26. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations

27. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

28. And I will give him the morning star.

29. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Here the reward to the victor in this conflict is not (like those that precede it) taken directly from the closing chapters of this book,—but from Ps. 2, where its primary reference is to the Messiah.—The appropriate comment on this sublimely magnificent promise is in my view best made in those other words of John: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be" (1 Eps. 3: 2)—What more can we say of this promised "power over the nations;" of this "ruling them with a rod of iron;" of this wielding a power of such sort (in some unknown respect such) as Jesus has received from his Father? If this power be like the providential rule of the Messiah over the nations, I have no wisdom as yet for the answer of these questions: I do not find any revelation that answers them.—"I will give him the morning star" must be put in the same category. In Rev. 22: 16 Jesus pertinently says this of himself: "I am the bright and morning star." We accept this sublime imagery as most pertinent when applied to Him: of its application to his victorious human servants, what can we say? The answer lies among the unrevealed mysteries of infinite grace.

CHAPTER III.

Three letters to as many churches make up this chapter;—to Sardis (1-6); to Philadelphia (7-13); to Laodicea (14-22).

SARDIS.

1. And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

Sardis, renowned in the age of Cyrus and of the fall of Babylon, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, the home of Croesus, but now an utter desolation impresses the modern traveler with a sense of the retributions of divine justice that the church nearest dead spiritually of the seven should be before us today conspicuous only for its sad and silent ruins!—For "the seven Spirits of God," see notes on 1: 4. It was every way pertinent that Jesus should resent himself before this church in his exalted perogative and office of sending forth the Holy Ghost. The subordinate agents also (the "seven stars" being the angels of the seven churches, 1: 20) are his servants.—The fearfully solemn and specially significant declaration—"I know thy works," means here—I know how unsubstantial, deceptive, hypocritical, thy religion is. Thy spiritual life is but a name: in reality, as to most of thy nominal members, thou art only dead. The name they have before the world stands for the external only: the inward vital elements are mostly wanting. At the heart, death reigns.

2. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

Some languishing graces still retained a perceptible vitality. Christ exhorts them to give most watchful attention to the nourishing and invigoration of these lest absolute death supervene and nothing be left but a mass of spiritual corruption.—The form of expression—"I have not found thy works perfect before God," is common in Hebrew in the sense—I have found them fearfully far from being perfect—really the very opposite of perfect before God. The closing thought, "before God," suggests that their standard of judging of their own piety had quite omitted this element—God's view of it—a fatal omission!

3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shall not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

"How thou hast received and heard" the gospel; how it came to thee in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; how in those first experiences, the Holy Ghost wrought with power on some hearts and brought forth some fruits of true holiness. Recall those first experiences; hold fast whatever of them may yet remain, and repent; return to that first life and first love. Else I will come upon thee suddenly, as the thief comes by night with no forewarning. Their case was so bad, so offensive to God, there could be only the shortest delay of judgment—only the forbearance of one brief hour.

4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

"Even in Sardis," conceives of their church and city as being notoriously corrupt. Even there, amid such almost universal wickedness and moral pollution, a few, counted by individuals only, were yet undefiled. Remarkably they had lived in a place so filthy morally and their garments were yet unsoiled. What can not the grace of God do?—The closing promise takes its cast from this description of their character. They shall walk with me in white—those men who have withstood such temptations, who have kept their garments without stain amid such surroundings—verily they are worthy to walk in white with their risen and glorified Redeemer!

5. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

6. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Closing the letter in the usual form, viz., the reward promised to "him that overcometh," the drapery of the promise remains unchanged—"shall be clothed in white raiment" (see 19: 8). "The book of life" may be studied in 20: 12, 15, and 21: 27, and 13: 8. The last words come from the promise of Christ as recorded by Luke (12: 8); "Him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God."

PHILADELPHIA.

7. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shuteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

This, of old the second city of Lydia, is still respectable among the inland cities of Asia Minor, said to have three thousand houses.—The tone of this epistle differs widely from either the one that next precedes or the one that follows it, for here the Lord found much to commend.—Among the descriptive points named by the Lord Jesus in this letter, the words "the holy" refer rather to what is assumed throughout chap. 1 than to any one expression. Every feature given there involves perfect holiness.—"He that is true," reminds us that this writer is the same John who wrote the gospel (14: 6, and 17: 3), and also the Epistle (5: 20); while the "key of David" can be nothing other or less than the regal power of the great Son of David which in Rev. 1: 18 is expressed in the phrase, "I have the keys of Hell and of Death;" meaning, I am the Arbiter of all the future destinies of men, having power to open and to shut the realm of the dead to whom I will, Death being only my servant, and my power being supreme. The corrected text, following the oldest authorities, gives the phrase thus: "I open, and no one will shut: I shut, and no one will open."

8. I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

As to the form of expression, this "open door" follows the preceding verse: "I have the key of David, opening (i. e., the door) and none will shut," etc. But still the question remains, does the language in this verse contemplate an open door for Christian labor in this life, or an open door of entrance upon the better life to come? The language admits of either construction. It may be said that the preceding context favors its reference to the future world—the following context, to the present. I incline to accept the lead of the following context and assume its reference to an open field for Christian labor and usefulness, with however the implied idea that for those who work faithfully for Christ here, entering into the doors he opens and toiling in true fidelity till he calls them away, the other door will be opened for an abundant entrance into his everlasting kingdom. He who has power to open heaven and hell can also control all the present agencies of providence and can open doors for Christian work before all his true servants. Therefore let such servants rejoice in all their toil and labors, for their reward is sure—"Kept my word," I take to include both preserving it in its purity and obeying it in honest sincerity and faithfulness. Error and vice were in those days (as often) sustained as a doctrine; hence the pertinence of the commendation, "kept my word."

9. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Here are the same pernicious teachers whom we saw (2: 9) in Smyrna, making unbounded pretensions to be first and best among the worshipers of God, but being in truth only a "synagogue of Satan."—Their presence in so many of these seven churches testifies that when these letters to the seven churches and this book of Revelation were written, this form of heresy, this antagonism between Judaism and Christianity, was still in its strength, and consequently, beyond all reasonable doubt, that Jerusalem had not yet fallen.—Our passage declares that God would give his faithful servants in this city such tokens of his presence and such demonstrations of his power and love as should bring these proud and false Jews low at their feet, to acknowledge his favor to them. This teaching pledges to all God's faithful servants in every age that he will appear in their behalf to give them signal success and ultimate honor—will "show that he has loved them."

10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

"Kept the word" should have the same meaning here as in v. 8. "The word of my patience" must mean my injunction to stand fast even at the cost of suffering affliction. "Patience" has the old sense of suffering, and refers here to the pre-intimations which Christ had often given that his faithful servants must encounter suffering for his name. "They will cast you out of the synagogue; yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service" (John 16: 2). "Yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3: 12).—"I will keep thee," etc., plays upon the twofold sense of the word "keep." Because they had kept his word in the sense of a sacred treasure to be preserved in its purity and a rule of life to be obeyed with unflinching and unswerving fidelity, therefore Christ will keep them from all the harm which Satan had plotted to bring upon them.—His language implies that a fierce and wide-spread persecution was about to come upon all the churches for their stern and searching trial.

11. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

"I come quickly." But this coming can not be the final one or the last judgment, because that coming was then certainly remote, and Jesus never indicated the time when it should occur (Mark 13: 32). For reasons more fully given in my notes on 1: 7, it may be supposed to refer somewhat definitely to coming to destroy Jerusalem, considered as the first great persecuting anti-Christian power, the general thought being—I am about to make special manifestations of my presence and power in retributive vengeance on the present persecutors of my people, and also for the salvation of my faithful friends.—This coming will be an hour of crisis and of stern conflict: therefore hold fast thy profession; stand firmly for Jesus; a few days of terrible struggle —and then, if faithful, thy crown is made sure; but one hour's apostasy will be at the cost of thy crown!

12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

13. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

"A pillar in the temple of my God" is thoroughly a Jewish conception, beautifully pertinent here however since it involves the several ideas of a permanent fixture; an ornamental and essential part of the structure; and of a tablet upon which shall be scribed the name of God, the name of his heavenly city, and "my new name"—that of Jesus the Conqueror. The reader will notice the abundant allusions to the main features of chap. 21: "The new Jerusalem which came down from God out of heaven," etc.—Of this wealth of honor and glory laid up for the faithful servants of Jesus—those especially who stand firm through the scathing fires of persecution, it is but little that we can say in detail, for "it doth not yet appear what we shall be." That it defies all illustration by models of earthly splendor; that it will surpass all our present conceptions; that it will utterly distance our highest imagination—so much is most abundantly plain. Language and symbol labor to set it forth, yet with an apparent consciousness of inability to do it justice. Let him that hath an ear hear these words of glorious promise, and let his soul be fired, thereby to unlimited endurance of toil or pain or shame for Jesus.

LAODICEA.

14. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

As to these descriptive epithets (taken substantially from 1: 5) "the Amen" is explained in the clause that follows—"the faithful and true Witness," i. e., He who came from heaven to bear witness to the truth of God, to reveal God to man truthfully, with no imperfection, no admixture of error. Inasmuch as one of the most solemn responsibilities of his persecuted people was the bearing of a faithful testimony for God in the face of fire and death, there was special pertinence in placing their own living Christ before them as the ever faithful Witness.—"The beginning of the creation of God" has been explained by some to mean, the Being first created by God, the eldest among all created existences. The fatal objection to this is that it assumes Christ to have been created, while the scriptures represent him as the Untreated One, eternally existent, and really the Creator of all things. (See especially John 1: 1-3.)—Moreover, some take the word "beginning" in the sense of the author of existence, the First Cause of beginning to be, to all who are created. The objection to this lies, not against the doctrine it would teach, but against such a usage of the word, this usage lacking adequate support. Another meaning may be given to the leading word by a well established usage and with a result which is in perfect harmony with the uniform tenor of the scriptures, viz., that of Prince, Supreme Lord. In the passages where this word (arche) has this meaning, our English version translates it by the word "principalities." (See Eph. 1: 21, and 3: 10, and Col. 1: 16, and 2: 10, and Rom. 8: 38.) These cases show conclusively that the word is applied to beings of great power and of high authority—real princes. So is Jesus the supreme Prince of the created universe. It was pertinent to say this to the church of Laodicea in precisely its circumstances at that moment. There can be no room for doubt that this is what Jesus meant to say.

15. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

16. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.

While water, either cold or hot, is agreeable to the taste and not pensive to the stomach, it is a well known fact that lukewarm water is distasteful, offensive, nauseating. Upon this fact, the figure before us rests. The main point of inquiry in this passage is in How far shall we carry this figure: how much shall we make of it? Does heat in water precisely represent fervor of feeling in religion so that we may carry the analogy entirely through and infer from these words (1.) that God loves the most ardent souls, in the highest possible tone of fervid emotion; (2.) that he also hates the other extreme—the cold, frigid souls—even as men who labor in the summers heat love cold ice water; but (3.) that the men of medium temperament, the men not hot and not cold, are loathsome to him? Whoever shall press the figure to this extent will find reason to recoil from some of its points as against both scripture and common sense. It is much better not to press a figure of speech to more service than it was made to perform; and state important moreover to see the precise point of comparison between the material image and the spiritual reality it would ilustrate.—Guided by the nature of the figure and by the context, we reach this result, viz., that the thing condemned is not a mere tone of truly religious emotion, but is a proud self-conceit, a self-sufficiency which is real emptiness and vanity—which supposing itself rich, is miserably poor, etc. This sort of piety Jesus declares to be loathsome and nauseating to him, even as lukewarm water is to the human stomach. This is all. There is no attempt to run an analogy between heat in water and heat in religious emotion; there is no purpose of pushing this analogy through and making it bear at all possible points, or as the phrase is, "go on all fours." Figures of speech are too useful to be so badly abused as they sometimes are shall we not say) especially those found in the Bible—"I would thou wert cold or hot" may be construed to mean, I would that thou were any thing else rather than lukewarm. Nothing else can be so loathsome to me as their vain self-conceit.

17. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.

"Rich," "increased with goods," having "need of nothing" is said not of earthly wealth but of spiritual and heavenly. To suppose these phrases to refer to the merchant's "goods"—to the supply of our physical wants—would carry with it the doctrine that God counsels us to buy of him "gold," the literal article; and "white raiment"—not stainless piety, but spotless cloth—all which is only a glaring absurdity!—The original makes the words for "wretched," "miserable," specially expressive by prefixing the article—Knowest not that thou art the wretched one, the miserable one—above all others, by special preeminence. The sentiment is plain: dismiss this vain and loathsome self-conceit; anoint thine eyes with eye-salve so that thou canst see the things that are—thyself as thou art seen by God's eye. Then having emptied thy heart of this delusive self-conceit, come to Jesus to be fed and filled with his bread of life; come in thy conscious nakedness to be clothed; receive Jesus in all his proffered relations—thy wisdom, thy righteousness, thy sanctification, thy redemption (1 Cor. 1: 30), "all in all;" so shall it be well with thee.

19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

It is because I love thee that I now seek to put thy real case before thine eyes, and shall proceed by discipline and chastisement to every hopeful effort to bring thee to myself. All whom I truly love, I labor thus to save. If I find them puffed with vain conceit, I spare no rebuke and no chastisement, if so I may save them.

20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

If we construe this verse in harmony with the preceding contest, we shall get a doubly forcible and precious sense from it—thus: Behold, I come even to you of Laodicea; conceited, proud though many of you are, yet come with my riches, my white raiment, my eye-salve; and I knock at your door, and there I stand yet a while waiting for admittance. If any man of you shall hear my voice as in the rebuke just now spoken, and shall open his heart's door and make me welcome, coming for such a purpose and with such love for his soul, then I will indeed come in unto that man, and I will sup with him and he shall sup with me. A feast of joy, as when the prodigal returns and once more sits do down with his loving father in the old and now joyous home! So much Christ has said to inspire hope in the darkest bosom—so much to impress himself upon these conceited Laodiceans, that they may receive all riches and all joy from his hand.

21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

22. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

o the overcoming one, blessings of surpassing richness are promised: What more could the Savior promise than this?—a reign jointly shared with himself on his own throne! "Come up here and sit with me in the glory of my kingdom!" How can we lift our thought to measure the glory of such a promise? What shall we think of the love and of the longing to save that prompted it? What of the guilt involved in treating it with cold indifference, or abuse, with stolid rejection and contempt?

Thus close these wonderful letters to the seven churches. Were words ever spoken more full of faithfulness to the souls of men; full of appreciation for all that is praiseworthy; more full of love for all classes; more fraught with watchful and wise solicitation for their stability and endurance in the terrible conflict through which they were so soon to pass?

CHAPTER IV.

It was at once a most sublime and a most practical feature in the prophetic visions vouchsafed to John in Patmos that so large a part of its scenes were laid in heaven rather than on earth. The stand-point of the seer was there, not here. "A door was opened in heaven," i. e., a door opening into heaven; the very door of entrance to the heavenly world; and the first thing he heard was the trumpet-voice previously heard (1: 10), saying, "Come up hither; I will show thee things which are soon to come to pass." Scenes as ineffably sublime to see from this lofty stand-point how the views of earth appear—to see the moving forces that work out a destiny as they emanate from the Great Central Power on the throne of the Universe; to see where the lightnings are forged, and to look into the great magazines of fire and storm and plague and death from which God's messengers bring forth his bolts of vengeance to hurl down upon the strongholds of his proud foes on the earth below. It reminds us of the poetic conceptions of Roman mythology which constructed vast magazines, where the king held the winds imprisoned, but drew the bars and let the gates fly open at his pleasure, that the blasts might rush forth, and the fierce winds howl, and the stricken mariners be at their wit's end; and yet other magazines for the lightning, the hail and the thunder, where the bolts were forged, and the tempests also, that gather blackness and pour abroad their terrible desolations. Somewhat such, only higher and grander far, were the scenes laid before the exile of Patmos when this door into heaven was opened, and he was called up thither to see visions of the great central throne, and of its august surroundings; to see where the ministering angels of divine judgments receive their commission; to witness the worship and to listen to the songs that ascribe immortal honor to the great Creator and Lord of all, and to Him who hath redeemed the saints of earth with his own blood.—These views of scenes in heaven, shown in their relations to things on earth in the nearer future, were not only sublime and grand, and therefore most thrilling, but they were in their nature and bearings intensely practical. We must not forget that John the seer is an exile amid scenes of wild and sad desolation, and that he wrote to his companions in tribulation, then under the pressure or the fear of deadly persecution. Now it is every thing to human hearts throbbing with personal fear and quivering with solicitude for the imperiled cause of their Master, to know that there is a most intense and earnest sympathy felt in their case by all the vast and glorious populations of the heavenly world, reaching to the very throne of the Almighty.—Those heavenly scenes bore witness to John with mighty voice that there were the elements of power—of power before which the mightiest forces of Jewish or Roman persecution seemed infinitely puny and insignificant. It was no small thing for the churches of Asia to see the demonstration of this great fact as these visions brought it home to the heart of John.—But those visions revealed not power only or chiefly, but a wondrous and most tender sympathy. All heaven seemed to gather round the book of human destiny, at first so closely sealed from view, as if the future of beings dear to their heart were written there, yet with unwavering confidence that the Lion of the tribe of Judah was competent to open it and read, and also competent as well to wield the power and the wisdom requisite to bring forth results most of all glorious and blessed for his people. Then as the first four of those seals were successively broken, with what kindness did the four living Ones summon the symbolic horses to the prophet's view with the word of command—"Come!" Moreover it was one of the most thrilling manifestations of Heaven's sympathy with the martyrs, that on the opening of the fifth seal John saw under the altar the souls of the martyred dead, and heard their prayerful cry and also that touching answer thereto: Rest yet for a little season; a few more must fall as ye have fallen; but Zion's King will surely conquer and Zion's foes must fall! So all along, the angels go forth with willing soul and tireless wing on every mission, whether of deliverance to God's people or of judgment on their foes. Every new scene in heaven heightens the assurance that God's suffering people on earth are remembered there with tenderest solicitude and most yearning sympathy.—Then, moreover, those open visions of heaven disclose the blessedness of the righteous dead who have entered into rest. You see their thronging thousands; you hear their enraptured songs; in plainest, simplest words the voice from the upper temple proclaims them "blessed;" and as if to crown all, the very hand of the Infinite Father himself wipes every tear of their eyes away!

Thus with admirable, most pertinent and forcible adaptation do these scenes in the opened heaven minister to the moral wants of the persecuted people of God on earth. It was not to amuse them with splendid pictures, and not to kindle poetic fire in their imagination for the mere warmth and joy thereof that this door into the world above was set open; but to lift their thought above the murderous edicts of tyrants, and their souls above all fear of prison, torture and death; to inspire them with the Christian heroism of faith and love and hope of a blessed immortality.—Now coupling this conception of an open heaven and its wondrous revelations with that sublime manifestation of the human person of Jesus depicted in the first chapter, we can not but admire the adaptation of these prophetic visions to the end they had in view. How impressive upon John and his first readers must these manifestations have been—first that of Jesus in his glory in Patmos; next that of the open heaven! Let us not overlook the wonderfully quickening power of such views upon that faith which makes unseen things real; which becomes "the evidence of things not seen," and which thus gives the victory over the world and all its forces.

The chapter gives us the prophet's first introduction to the scenes and personages of the heavenly world. In succession we have the opened door and the voice calling him up thither (v. 1); the throne and the appearance of him who sat thereon (vs. 2, 3); the twenty-four seats and as many elders sitting (v. 4); the sounds from the throne and the seven lamps of fire (v. 5); the four living ones seen, described, and their song of adoration (6-8); coincident with their song is that of the twenty-four elders (vs. 9-11).

1. After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.

"After this" [Greek, "mete tauta"], soon after, in close connection with what precedes, as in 1: 19 and also in the close of this verse.—"A door opened in heaven" is more precisely a door through which when opened one might look into heaven. He first saw this opened door, and then heard that trumpet voice, designated here as "that first voice," heard before (chap. 1: 10), inviting him to come up and enter. He does not mean the first voice compared with the many afterward heard in heaven, but that one which be heard first of all, as in chapter 1.—In this open heaven he was to witness scenes which would reveal events soon to occur on the earth.

2. And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

3. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

"I was in the Spirit"—as in this book elsewhere (1: 10, and 17: 3, and 21: 10), always without the Greek article and therefore not precisely in the Spirit, but rather in Spirit—which means, not in the disembodied state, nor merely "in the Holy Ghost" in the usual sense of Christian experience (e. g., Rom. 8: 9, and Eph. 6: 18, and Jude 20), but in a state of spiritual ecstacy, in special spiritual relations to the great agent of prophetic vision.—"A throne set in heaven" imitates Dan, 7: 9, where we should not translate "thrones cast down" [overturned], but thrones firmly set, located, as a seat is placed for a friend to occupy.—One sat upon this throne whose brilliancy and glory could be but dimly represented by that of the most precious stones. A rainbow encircled this ineffably glorious throne.—It is not said in definite words that He who sat upon this throne was the infinite God; yet the homage rendered to Him (4: 8-11, and 5: 13), with numerous other circumstances, leave us in no doubt as to the fact.—We may well admire the wisdom that forbore to set forth any form or likeness of Him who sat on this central throne. The genius and scope of this heavenly vision demanded that the divine Father should be visible. It was by an admirable precaution against materialistic and consequently debasing views of God that the representation gives only so much as we find here—color, splendor, but no form which would naturally lead the mind to a material representation of the infinite God.

4. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

Twenty-four "seats," but in Greek, thrones, yet of course lesser and subordinate thrones, compared with the great central one.—Here we are first introduced to the twenty-four elders ("presbuteroi"), clothed in white and wearing crowns of gold—Who are they? What do they represent?—Any thorough investigation of this point must take into account all the cases in which they come before us in this book, viz., in 4: 10, 11, and 5: 5, 6, 8-11, 14, and 7: 11, 13-17, and 11: 16-18, and 14: 3, and 19: 4.

(1.) Plainly they are not impersonal but personal—i. e., they do not represent merely abstract attributes or qualities of some unknown being, but they represent some order of conscious, voluntary beings; for they offer intelligent worship (4: 10, 11, and 5 : 8-10, and 7: 11, 12, etc.). They manifest special interest in the prophet and condescend to explain to him the meaning of what he sees (7: 13-17). These it will be seen are mainly the aspects in which they appear in this book.

(2.) The question being now narrowed down to the choice between human and superhuman beings, I judge that we must accept the former, especially because they say in their song to the Lamb—"Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." (5: 8-11). This could not have been said and sung by any superhuman orders of created beings according to any light in our Bible. Nor is it out of harmony with this view that they appear "having golden vials full of odors which are the prayers of saints" (5: 8). Let us suppose them to be ideal representatives of the glorified saints in heaven, introduced into these visions to show the prophet and his readers what sphere the holy from earth are filling in heaven; what sympathy they still retain with their suffering brethren yet in the flesh; what access they have to the throne above and what influence there; also what their employments are. So will the significance of this representation appear in all points pertinent and instructive. Let us also notice the sympathy manifested by one of them in kindly calling John's attention to the white-robed ones (7: 13), and in his explanation (vs. 14-17)—so admirably adapted to comfort the imperiled martyrs and so appropriate as coming from one who represented the glorified saints already in heaven.

5. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

The "lightnings, thunderings and voices" seem in this case to have been designed to make a general impression rather than to bear any special significance. Naturally they must awaken attention and inspire awe. They do not appear to reveal any thing definite. (See also 8: 5, and 16: 18.)—As to the "seven lamps of fire," see notes on 1: 4-6.—By a law of inexorable necessity, all symbols shown in vision must come down to material objects however much it may seem to degrade the grand and magnificent idea. No forms of matter wrought into symbol can possibly do justice to the qualities and powers of the Infinite God. These seven lamps of fire must not be thought of simply as so many chandeliers in an ancient cathedral. We must rather think of them as illuminating and irradiating the throne of heaven with splendor and glory such as no mortal eye could bear, but set forth here under the same general symbol which represents the church on earth (1: 20) because both are agencies for diffusing the true light of God. The divine Spirit has no function more high or glorious than that of revealing the true God to his creatures.

6. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

7. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

8. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

I judge that the words "sea" and "glass" give not the reality but only the appearance. They are fine images of splendor, beauty and glory.—New persons are introduced here to us, called unfortunately by our translators "beasts." It is simply unaccountable that they should translate this Greek word (zoon) "beast," and then another Greek word (therion, in chap 13:1-4, 11, 12, etc.) by the same English word, beast. The latter is a savage wild beast, fierce, ugly, formidable, and foul—a fit symbol of a great civil persecuting power. But the word now before us means precisely a living one, endowed preeminently with life—the noblest of all created endowments. These four living ones are imitated in part from Ezek. 1, and in part from Isa. 6. From Ezekiel they have their name, "living creatures;" their number, four; their symbolic type, i. e., the animal forms that are grouped and combined to represent the noblest qualities known in the animal world—the lion, the ox or young bullock [better than "calf"], the human face, the flying eagle.—From Isa. 6 they have the six wings and in part the very words of their song, "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of Hosts"—the "Jehovah" of Isaiah being translated here into the phrase—"which was, and is, and is to come." (See Notes on 1: 4.)—It is a point of some interest to reach if possible the true idea of these four living ones. What are they and what do they represent?—The data upon which to base an intelligent, reliable judgment must be found in what is said of them in this book and in the sources (Ezekiel and Isaiah) whence these characters seem to be taken by imitation. The passages in this book, other than in this chapter, are 5: 6, 8, 11, 14, and 6: 1, 3, 5-7, and 7: 11, and 14: 3, and 15: 7, and 19: 4. From these passages we learn that they are very near the central throne; are intimately associated with the twenty-four elders, yet take precedence of them; unite with them in adoration and praise; call the attention of the prophet to the revelations made at the opening of the first four seals; one of them gives to the seven angels the seven vials full of the wrath of God (15: 7). Such are their employments, as in this book.—In Ezek 1, I take the four living creatures to be symbolic representations of the providential government and agencies of God, considered especially as shaping the history and the retributive destiny of nations. Consequently they are not personal but impersonal—mere illustrations, presented in symbol, of the works of the great divine Agent and Lord of all. But in Isaiah they are manifestly personal and not impersonal. They act, they speak, they cry one to another. Consequently we must take them to be created, sinless beings of a high if not the very highest order.—In the case before us our choice must lie between the usage of Ezekiel and the usage of Isaiah. Are they, as in Ezekiel, impersonations of God's providential forces; or, as in Isaiah, veritable persons, of the noblest order of sinless beings?—I accept the latter view, because these are obviously conscious intelligent existences, performing acts and manifesting qualities that must imply distinct personality—It may be thought by some that their uniting (5: 8-10) with the twenty-four elders in the "new song"—"Thou art worthy to take the book and to open its seals, for thou hast redeemed us," etc., must imply that they too as well as the elders are from the redeemed race of men and represent them.—Over against this inference I suggest that when the four living ones lead the song (as in 4: 9-11) its theme is creation, not redemption, and that in this "new song" (5: 9) the twenty-four elders lead and give shape to the sentiment and the language, while the living ones unite from sympathy with their younger brethren (the "elders") and not because they themselves have been redeemed by Jesus' blood. This sympathy between the loftiest of God's archangels and the eldership which stands for the redeemed of earth is wonderfully beautiful, precious, and let us not omit to say, pertinent to the great moral purpose of the book, viz., to set before the persecuted saints of John's age (and of every age) the sympathy felt in their case by all the hierarchies of the heavenly world—a sympathy which manifests itself not only in their unison of heart and voice in the great choral songs of heaven for creation and redemption, but in celebrating the progressive steps of God's righteous retributive agencies as they work out in prospect and in fact the deliverance of his imperiled people, the ruin of their persecutors, and the final triumph of Christ's kingdom over all the nations.—In regard to the designation of these four beings nearest the throne as living ones, I suggest that it may express their tireless energy, "They rest not day and night;" and possibly also the fact that (unlike the saints from our earth) they have never known death. Their life-power never wanes—never has been eclipsed; mortality to them is all unknown.—The Sinaitic manuscript, one of the oldest known, remarkably repeats the word "holy" (v. 8) not merely three times but eight.

9. And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,

10. The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Here we have the mutual sympathy and union of the four living ones and of the twenty-four elders in this first specimen song of heaven.—The improved text makes the verbs, "give" (v. 9) and "fall" (v. 10), both future, the sense being that whenever the living ones shall strike this song, the twenty-four elders will fall prostrate, worship, and cast their crowns at his feet in perfect and most blessed sympathy.—This song, honors and extols the Infinite Lord as Supreme Creator, declaring that out of his good will ["pleasure"], because of his supreme desire to bless with happiness, he has created sentient beings. They exist by virtue of his creative mandate.

CHAPTER V.

The great feature of this chapter is the book of destiny seen in heaven (v. 1); the question, Who can open and read it (vs. 2-4); settled at length by the announcement that the Lion of Judith has conquered and will open and read it (v. 5). He appears in form as a Lamb slain and takes the book (vs. 6, 7); whereupon the joy of heaven breaks forth in glorious song; the living ones and the elders first leading (vs. 8-10), and then the myriads of angels come in with the grand chorus (vs. 11-14).

1. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals.

Unquestionably this "book" is in imitation of Ezek. 2, and is the book of the future destinies of the church and of her fortunes as related to her persecuting enemies. From the fact that this prophecy fills a book [scroll] and consists of seven successive sections each fastend with its own seal, we can infer nothing as to the duration of the periods of time which it covers, or as to the point where its prophetic events shall commence their fulfillment. Light on these points must be sought elsewhere.—The reader will notice that this book is seen in the right hand of the great Being on the central throne. This corresponds with the statement (1: 1), "The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him."

2. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

3. And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

These scenes served to awaken attention and to excite interest to its highest pitch.—"Worthy to open," in the sense of competent, capable, coupled perhaps with the idea of being honored of God to make this revelation. "To look thereon" were better read, therein, to look into it to read its revelations of human destiny.

4. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

5. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

The prophet feels deeply, as one whose heart is keenly alive to the fortunes of Christ's church and kingdom, whose hopes of seeing some foreshadowings of her future have been raised by a sight of the book, but are now suspended and liable to he quenched in darkness if no one can be found to open it and to read. One of the twenty-four elders (heavenly representatives of the earthly church) comes to him in warm apathy, with the welcome tidings that one is found competent to loose those seals and to reveal the contents of the book. It is the risen Messiah, called "the Lion of the tribe of Judah"—the lion being the recognized and well-known symbol of this tribe (see Gen. 49: 9, 10); called also "the Root of David," i. e., the root-shoot, the fresh growth springing up from the root and constituting the new tree—a turn of thought taken from Isa. 11: 1, 10. He "hath prevailed" (Greek, hath conquered) so as to open the book. He has proved himself worthy and has received the honor of making this revelation.—The question has been raised whether in the state of prophetic ecstasy the prophet still retained his personal consciousness and identity, i. e., was still himself. Plainly in this case the seer of Patmos is still the same John, the anxious loving father of his spiritual children, the careful pastor of his flock, the faithful disciple whose heart trembles for the ark of God and watches with deepest interest the revelations of Zion's nearer future.

6. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

And now the vision opens to bring the risen Messiah before him. There, "in the midst of the throne," as near as possible to the great central Being—probably the thought is—jointly sharing with him the honors of that throne [sunthronos], and immediately encircled by the four living ones and the twenty-four elders, stood One in appearance as a Lamb that had been slain just before seen as the Lion of Judah's tribe, but now the Lamb of Sacrifice "who taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1: 29). The genius of illustrative symbolism labors to represent his perfect power and perfect intelligence, and hence the Lamb has seven horns [supreme power], and seven eyes [perfect intelligence, knowledge, truth]. These eyes, somewhat imitating Zechariah (Zech. 3: 9, and 4: 10), are thought of as representing, not knowledge in the abstract, or perhaps we might say, knowledge in repose, but knowledge, the very light of God, sent forth in and by the glorious special Agent of saving light and converting truth—the Holy Ghost. No view of the functions of Jesus is full unless it includes his sending forth the Spirit as the great Revealer of God, acting in a sense subordinate to himself, really taking up his own unfinished work and bearing it onward to glorious completion and triumphant success in the enlightening, conversion and salvation of the world.—We may perhaps account it an imperfection in this symbolism that what appears at first as the seven eyes of the Lamb becomes so many spirits sent forth abroad into all the earth; but we may well bear in mind that when applied to represent the Great God, and especially the ineffable relations of the blessed Trinity, the highest efforts of symbolism must prove imperfect. The marvel in this case is that the symbols are so wonderfully expressive, and that the points they present are so remarkably in harmony with the great central truths of the gospel scheme touching the points in hand.—I need scarcely add that something must be put to the account of the influence of like symbols in the earlier prophets—e. g., Zechariah.

7. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

8. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.

The scene progresses: the Lamb of the heavenly world advances and takes the book of destiny. A thrill of joy pervades the exalted personages of heaven; first, those nearest the throne—the four living ones and the twenty-four elders. Each of them has his harp, in readiness for outbursting song, and also "golden vials full of odors" [incense] which represent the prayers of saints. These vials—prayers—were specially pertinent to the hands of the elders, who appear throughout as the special representatives of the church on earth. At this point in the progress of these scenes the elders seem to lead. The living ones are with them (it would seem) under the law of heavenly sympathy.—But let us not fail to notice that the prayers of the church below have very much to do with the counsels of the great throne above and with the partial revelation now to be made of those counsels. Many a prayer of earnestness amounting to agony has been wrung from trembling, tortured hearts amid the scenes or the fear of bloody violence. The incense of those prayers, treasured in golden vials, now goes up before the throne. In answer thereto, the Lamb has taken the book of destiny to reveal some words of comfort touching God's judgments on his incorrigible foes, and his deliverance for his faithful friends.

9. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

10. And hast made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth.

"A new song"—the old song, celebrating the wisdom, power and love of God in creation having been given above (4: 9-11). The "new song" celebrates not only the fact of the atoning sacrifice—the "Lamb slain"—but the now pending victories of the Lamb over his enemies and the triumphs of his kingdom on the earth.—The logic of this song should be noted. "Thou art worthy to take and open the book because thou wast slain and hast redeemed thy people even by thy blood." That wondrous sacrifice, never to be forgotten in earth or heaven, justifies and demands the awarding to Jesus of the most exalted honors. So Paul has said (Phil. 2: 6-11). Because Jesus "made himself of no reputation; took the form of a servant; became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross—therefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name."—This song celebrates the twofold work wrought by Christ for his people; (1) redemption; (2) exaltation to glory. "Thou hast redeemed us by thy blood;" thou hast also "made us unto our God kings and priests." The first precedes, but the other follows. Neither can be omitted.—As to the more precise reading and sense of the text, it may be noted that in the words—"Hast redeemed us" (v. 9), the Alexandrine manuscript omits "us" altogether. But the other most ancient manuscript (namely the Sinaitic) retains it. The passage seems lame and unfinished without it But in v. 10 there is a general concurrence of the best authorities (headed by the Alexandrine and Sinaitic) in giving "them" instead of "us," the sense being that the song purposely includes not only the already ransomed in heaven but all the then struggling ones of earth and indeed all who should through future ages "believe on Jesus through their word." These authorities favor also the reading, "unto their God." Also many say, a kingdom (instead of "kings"), and some, a priesthood (instead of "priests"). The reading " kingdom" might assume that they are subjects, not kings, constituting Christ's promised glorious kingdom. If we accept the reading "kings," we must still hold Christ supreme, and give to this word as applied to his people only the sense of exalted honor, dignity, reward, analogous to his own. Precisely how much and what is meant by the words "on the earth;" who can tell? I take them to mean this at least that Christ's people shall not be crushed down and savagely ruled over on the earth forever. The long pt prevalent course of things shall yet be reversed; the former oppressors become the crushed ones, and the former oppressed, the exultant conquerors. (See Isa. 14: 2.)

11. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

12. Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.

In the outer circle of the heavenly hosts appear now the angelic throng in numbers almost without number. In their song all forms of honor, power and glory are ascribed to the Lamb that was slain; yet they do not say, slain for us." Still they love the song and pour out their souls in most exultant strains. These are things which another apostle has said "the angels desire to look into," and here they are anticipating the opening glories of Messiah's conflict and victory, rejoicing that One so worthy is to wear so nobly the highest honors of the heavenly world.

13. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.

14. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell clown and worshiped him. that liveth foraver and ever.

If the intelligent beings in the universe have not been all included previously, this comprehensive description must take in all—all the holy ones, all save the rebels in hell. All these holy ones are of one heart to ascribe blessing, honor, glory, power in equal strains, with undiscriminating praise, (1.) to Him that sitteth on the throne, and (2.) to the Lamb forever and ever. No question as to the supreme divinity of Jesus Christ is ever raised around that highest throne of the universe. No discordant note is heard there, making the slightest discrimination between the infinite honor ascribed to God, and the equally infinite honor given to the Lamb that was slain, his own eternal Son.—To all this the four living ones respond, "Amen." And the twenty-four elders again fall prostrate and worship.—The best authorities (Sinaitic, Alexandrine and others) omit "him that liveth forever and ever." This avoids the difficulty which might be felt from the appearance of discriminating between the Father and the Son. Was the clause interpolated in some later manuscripts to make such a distinction? or was it omitted by some to obviate it? The evidence is strong for its omission.

CHAPTER VI.

The first six of the seven seals are opened in their order, and the prophet describes what he saw and records what he heard in each case.

1. And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

2. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

3. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

4. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

5. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

7. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

8. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

The first four of the seven seals have many points in common; I therefore group them together. As the Lamb opened them one after another, the four living ones successively summoned a symbolic horse to "Come." The best authorities omit from the text "and see."—On the opening of each of these four seals, the central figure seen in the picture was a horse, but varying in color: in the first, white; in the second, red; in the third, black; and in the fourth, pale. The rider on the first carried the bow—a war-weapon; a crown was given him, and he went forth to conquer. He is a symbol of victory.—To the second there was given a great sword, and his power was to take peace from the land, and that men should kill one another. His mission is war.—The third rider carries a pair of balances (scales for weighing accurately); and the voice heard in explanation of this symbol said, "A measure of wheat" [proximately, a quart] "for a Penny" [the price of a day's labor]; and a charge "not to hurt the oil and the wine." Scarcity and famine are the meaning of this symbol.—The rider on the pale horse had his very name upon his brow: he is Death, and Hades follows in his train. They go forth to kill—with sword, hunger, pestilence and wild beasts—to the extent of one-fourth part of the people of the land, for in all these cases we are to give the word rendered "earth" its more restricted and yet rather common sense, land; i. e., the country had in view, which in the case of Jewish writers was their own Palestine. This was to them "the land."—It admits of no reasonable doubt that these diverse colored horses are imitated from Zech. 1 and 6. The horses of Zech. 1: 8-11 have riders, coming in symbol from the Persian post-horses, and are explorers, scouts (using this military term in none but an honorable sense), for they traverse the earth to observe the state of it. They report every thing quiet and at rest. They represent the exploring agencies of God's providence—his never-ceasing supervision of the affairs of nations—a prerequisite to the administration of justice and retribution.—The vision of Zech. 6 presents chariot horses who go forth, not to explore, but to avenge, to punish, to visit retribution upon the guilty nations whose oppressions of God's people had incurred his wrath. So v. 8 signifies. See my notes on the passage.—As to the definite significance of the scenes presented on the opening of these first four seals, it would seem that there can be no reason for doubt. Conquest, War, Famine, Death are written on their very face. The things said conspire with the things shown to make this significance so far entirely plain.—But in the special application of these symbols to actual history, locating in place and in time the events predicted, commentators have disagreed almost endlessly. I do not propose to distract (or to amuse) the reader with these discordant and most diverse opinions. Suffice it that the majority of English authors have taken their starting point—the opening of the first seal—far on in time from the date of the writing, two or three centuries, more or less; and then have assumed that each successive seal covered its own section of history to the extent of some two, three, or four centuries, thus spreading the symbols of this chapter (the first six seals) over many hundreds of years—in some of these schemes of interpretation nearly or quite to the end of the world. The edition of the American Bible Society, now lying before me, said to be "without note or comment," gives the contents of this chapter thus: "The opening of the seals in their order and what followed thereupon, containing a prophecy to the end of the world."—It is simply inevitable that commentators who launch off in this way should diverge from each other in their course almost without limit. The landmarks given in this book they chiefly disregard, being careful only to "bring up" at the Millennium and the end of the world either once at the close of the book, or twice, the first being in this case at the end of chap. 11, and then to spread out the prophecy over the intervening ages, touching such events as may best suit their individual preferences, history being explored to find something analogous to these symbols, and each man judging of the importance of historic events, not at all by their relations to John or to his first readers, but by their apparent magnitude as seen from each commentator's own stand-point.—I hardly need say to my readers that I have not the least confidence in such methods of interpreting the book of Revelation, nor indeed any other book ever written. Those who have read attentively my general introduction will understand why. At this point I must briefly give my views of the prophetic application of these symbols and the grounds on which they rest.

1. These four sets of symbols (briefly called these four seals) describe, not four different and distant periods of time, but one period—one cluster of events. They combine to represent one historic period—are parts of one whole. It is not war in one age of the world; famine in another; death and carnage in another; but war, famine, and death in dread combination, all conspiring to afflict and plague the men of some one generation. For, these things naturally go together. You can not have the white horse of victory and conquest through the "bow" without war; you can not have the red horse of war without having also the black horse, famine, and the pale horse, death, in his immediate train. —Then moreover this view corresponds with the significance of these symbols in the original source from which they came. Zechariah's horses with riders (chap. 1) and his horses with chariots (chap. 6) each in their place are a unit in significance. No sensible man (so far as I know) ever thought of spreading out these symbols to designate each its own long age of history—each its own distinct and independent set of events. Why then should such a method be adopted in the case of these same symbols when used by John?—Moreover I am forbidden to spread out these symbols over ten centuries or even one, by the positive and conclusive limitations fixed by Jesus Christ himself—saying, "things which must shortly come to pass;" "for the time is at hand." (1: 1, 3; and 22: 6, 10.)—Still further, the scenes at the opening of the fifth seal must have been understood by John and his first readers as referring to their own martyred brethren and to the bloody men who had taken their lives—scenes therefore of that very age and not of ages a thousand years distant.—And yet further, the scenes of the seventh seal developed in chap. 11 are definitely located near yet shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem and of its temple, and therefore these preceding seals must have their historic place in the series of events that shortly preceded that catastrophe of ruin to Judaism and to its great city and nation.

2. As already said, the one cluster of events to which these four seals point and which they symbolize I find in the period immediately preceding the fall of Jerusalem (A. D. 70). To sustain this view I adduce the limitations of time just referred to in the opening of the book and elsewhere; in the scenes of the fifth seal; and in the landmarks which appear in chap. 11. I have also two other considerations of much force. viz.: (1.) The analogous and indeed strikingly similar prophecies of Christ himself as given in Mat. 24; Mark 13; and Luke 21. In Mat. 24: 6-9 we have these words: "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall he famines and pestilences, and earth quakes in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." As given by Luke with at least equal strength, we have (21: 9-11): "Ye shall hear of wars and commotions; nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and great earthquakes shall be in diverse places and famines and pestilences, and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven."—That all these predicted events come in before the fall of Jerusalem is proved by the fact that they precede the predicted "encompassing" of that city "with armies" (Luke 21: 20, 21), which was to be their signal for flight to the mountains.—If any reader should feel the need of more proof, he can find it in the precise limitations of time within which Jesus locates those predicted events: "Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled" (Luke 21: 32, and Mat. 24: 34). Thus the predictions of Jesus himself as given in the first three gospels and these predictions unfolded before John in the first four seals and indeed in the sixth and seventh also as we shall see, are entirely at one—harmonious and coincident. They predict the same calamities; to occur at the same time; among the same people; upon the same great city.—(2.) The other fact, which naturally closes my argument, is the precise fulfillment in the history of that period, say during the five years (A. D. 65-70) immediately preceding the final fall of Jerusalem. Josephus has written out this history very minutely, and has shown that this prophecy has its perfect counterpart in the events of that precise period. Yet Josephus probably knew nothing about these predictions, either as recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, or as shown to John in these symbols. No suspicion of a purpose to make out a fulfillment of prophecy can possibly attach to him or to his history.—Drawing mainly from the work of Josephus, yet in part from Roman sources, Jahn in his "History of the Hebrew Commonwealth" has given a more succinct account of these scenes of sedition, civil war, and consequent treachery, corruption, war and carnage. Thus—"When Festus became procurator of Judea [A. D. 60] he found it full of robbers who devastated the country with fire and sword." [Jahn, page 447.] From this time until the breaking out of the Jewish war in A. D. 66. civil commotions were constantly occurring; scenes of blood filled the whole country with alarm. In Syria and in Galilee—points sufficiently remote from Jerusalem to account for the precise fact—"ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars," these conflicts of armies were fearful. On one day "almost all the Jews of Cesarea were murdered: their countrymen were highly exasperated; they collected in great numbers, plundered and devastated the villages and cities of the Syrians. Philadelphia, Sebonitis, Gerasa, Pella, and Scythopolis suffered the most severely; Gadara, Hippo, Gaulanitis, Kedosa of the Tyrians, Ptolemais, Gaza, and Cesarea were attacked; Sebaste, Askelon, Anthedon, and Gaza were burnt." "On this account the Syrians fell upon the Jews who dwelt in their cities; and the whole country presented a scene of confusion and blood. In every city there were hostile armies, and there was no safety for any one but in the strength of the party to which he belonged. At Askelon, Ptolemais, Tyre, Hippo and Gadara, the Jews were involved in one general massacre," etc. [Jahn 457, and Josephus' Jewish Wars, Book II, chap. 19.] And when in A. D. 67, Vespasian swept through Galilee and Samaria, and city after city fell before him, "the scenes of horror and carnage were fearful; the merciless sword spared neither age nor sex; cities were left without inhabitant," These scenes correspond with but too sad precision to the prophetic portraying which we have in these symbols.—I must not pass from these symbols without adverting again to the scenes at the opening of the first seal—the white horse and the crowned rider, going forth conquering and to conquer. I suggest that this group of symbols fitly holds the first place in the foreground, comprehensively forshadowing the grand result of all these judgments and plagues upon the wicked to be victory and glory to the Great Conqueror. This book of prophecy opens as it closes, this first seal being significantly correlated to the last prophetic scene before the binding of Satan. "I saw heaven opened (19: 11—16), and behold a while horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness doth he judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns." "The armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." This scene is the grand, triumphal procession: the first (Rev. 6: 2) is the foreshadowing pledge of this final result.

9. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

10. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11. And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Before the revealing Spirit advances further in these descriptive symbols of judgment and terrible retribution, it is vital to his moral purpose to show the prophet and his readers somewhat more definitely on whom they are to fall and why. They needed to know this for their own consolation and for the confirming of their souls in Christian courage and fortitude to endure the fiery persecutions then before them. Hence the scenes revealed in this fifth section.—Here are seen under the altar, i. e., at the foot of it, in imploring attitude, the souls of men already slain for their fidelity to Christ and his gospel. John hears their cry—"How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" It seemed to them (why should it not?) that truth was suffering, that Christ's kingdom was going down, that justice was outraged by the longer permission of such horrible persecutions, and even by the delay of righteous retribution upon their murderers. God heard their cry and answered. First, white robes are given to each one of them, signifying that personally they are conquerors and shall have their reward—that prospectively their cause is certain to conquer, and their Great King to come forth victorious and triumphant.—They are also told that there must be yet a short delay of final judgment on their persecutor's—a few more of their fellow-servants and brethren having yet a martyr's death to suffer and a martyr's crown to win.—This revelation, made in the opening of the fifth seal, had an obvious and admirable moral purpose. It not only made the previous seals intelligible and the subsequent seals (the sixth and the seventh) as well, showing that they predict God's retributions upon the persecutors of his people; but it revealed an open heaven and a blessed reward for the martyred dead, and gave them assurance of final victory to the cause for which they suffered. These were much needed consolations and they were inexpressibly rich.—I have more than once referred to this fifth seal in its bearings upon the time of these predicted events. There being good grounds for assuming that these souls seen under the altar were when John saw this vision but recently slain—that they were the martyred Christians of that very age and perhaps of those very churches (Antipas being a sample, 2: 13), I infer that John and his first readers would feel the full force of such a scene and would find in it, first indeed the fact that they had more persecution yet to suffer; but secondly, that it would be only for a little season, and that reward and triumph were sure to follow.—The grounds for assuming that these martyrs and their persecutors were men of that age are in brief—that this is the obvious construction of the words, "on them that dwell [now] on the earth;" that these scenes must certainly be construed in the light of the limitations of time which open and which close the book, and which appear in chap. 11 and elsewhere; that therefore it is simply certain that John and his first readers must have understood the revelations of the fifth seal as applying to their own already martyred brethren, and that therefore this construction must be the true one.—To suppose that these were the souls of martyrs, not already slain but to be slain one thousand years thereafter, in the days of the Waldenses and Albigenses, is simply to wrest the words from their obvious sense and application, and force upon them a meaning which could never have entered the mind of John or of those whom he addressed. Such methods of interpretation can not be too severely censured. They practically destroy all confidence in prophecy by ignoring the legitimate principles and laws of prophetic interpretation. Good men, most excellent men, have made this mistake let no word of mine impeach their goodness or their worthiness of aim; but for truth's sake and to preserve prophecy from abuse, I must protest against such interpretation.

12: And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon become as blood;

13. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

14. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

Here are premonitory indications of coming judgments: All nature is thrilled with terror and awe, and gives tokens of her agony. The heavens above and the earth beneath seem to forecast the fearful doom of guilty man and the awful coming of his righteous Judge for terrible retribution. Every symbol significant of terror, wrath, plague, is tasked to its utmost capacity to set forth the consummation of judgment and fiery indignation upon the guilty.—"There was a great earthquake." As recorded by Matthew (24: 7) Jesus had said of this very period: "There shall be earthquakes in diverse places." Palestine was somewhat subject to earthquakes. It would be easy to verify this prediction in a literal sense. Yet the genius of prophetic vision by no means requires us to find a precisely literal fulfillment of any one of these descriptive points. John states what he saw when the sixth seal was broken—things which had significance indeed, but which did not mean that precisely these things, literally, should occur. A great earthquake was a pertinent symbol of social and political convulsions—the ruin of cities; the fall of kingdoms; the wreck of society.—The Old Testament prophets had said, "The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood" (Joel 2: 31 and Isa. 13: 10): "the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light" (Isa. 13:.10); "all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine and as a falling fig from the fig-tree" (Isa. 34: 4); "that the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll" (Isa. 34: 4). As to the removing of mountains and islands, Jeremiah had said (4: 24), "I beheld the mountains and lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly;" and Ezekiel (26: 18), "Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall." As recorded by Matthew (24: 29) Jesus had used the same symbols: "The sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars, shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." These symbols therefore were not new to prophecy; they might have been familiar to John through the reading of the Old Testament prophets. Their sense here is essentially the same as there.

15. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond man, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

16. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne; and from the wrath of the Lamb:

17. For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

The moral force of this prophecy is signally heightened by showing not only how the material universe quailed and tremble but how the hearts of the mightiest of men quailed also, and how they fled for shelter to the rocks and to the mountains, but too glad if they might be buried beneath their fall rather than meet the face and the frown of Him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb in the great day of his wrath!—The Greek has the comprehensive expression—"hid themselves into the dens and rocks of the mountain," meaning that they fled into them for a hiding-place.—There was a suggested sense of retribution in this which both the persecuted and their persecutors must feel—that whereas the hunted Christians had often and for a long time been compelled to flee to caverns and rocks in the wild mountains, in some periods to the catacombs of the dead for refuge, now this prophecy reverses the two parties: those who had hunted them down to shed their blood are now the fleeing ones, to hide in the same caverns and fastnesses whither they had driven defenseless Christians and where they had perhaps sought and found their victims. Isa. 14: 2, treating of Jews and Chaldeans, predicts the same reversal of their respective destiny.—Note also the terrible significance and power of those ideas—"hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne"—for who can bear to meet his dreadful eye! Who can endure that look of blended dignity and love and yet of justice and righteousness before which no sinner can stand? And who shall measure the force of that marvelous combination of ideas—"the wrath of the Lamb!" It is He of Calvary, the Lamb slain there, but here thought of as having been maliciously murdered, yet now meeting his murderers face to face in fiery retribution! They had wildly cried, "His blood be on us and on our children"—and now it comes!

Recurring again to the application of this seal to the events shortly preceding the fall of Jerusalem, I am well aware that some of my readers will have the feeling that the prophecy outmeasures the event—is too grand, too vast, too terrible to have had even a primary reference to those events of history—To such I reply (1.) That history has one way of putting its facts: poetic and symbolic prophecy, another. History might tell us that fifteen strong cities of Galilee were carried by storm and the masses of men, women and children butchered; that about three millions of Jews, convened for their great annual Passover, were crowded within the walls of Jerusalem when the Roman legions invested the city and shut them in: and that when the city fell, scarcely so many thousands escaped—famine, pestilence, conflagration, their own sword and the Roman sword, had combined their powers of torture and death to make this scene a climax of horrors! Somewhat of this sort would be the manner of History in her record of such a scene. But Poetry in prophecy might give you a bird's-eye-view of the convulsions and agonies of the heavens above and the earth beneath, and might paint a picture of terror and dread where you would see kings and princes, chieftains and warriors, in fearful consternation, rushing to the mountains and imploring rocks and hills to fall upon them and hide them from the awful face of God!—Now it may not be an easy thing for us to place the two descriptions side by side and say which means the most—which outmeasures the other. Men would probably come to different conclusions upon such a question, governed very much by the susceptibility of their minds to the poetic figures.—But passing this, I remark (2.) That the most rational way of testing our main question—whether this prophecy of the sixth seal can be legitimately applied in its primary sense to the fall of Jerusalem, is, to see what is said in other prophecies of the same event. I refer the reader therefore to the words of Moses (Lev. 26: 14-39, and Deut. 28: 15-68)—prophecies, it is generally conceded, equally applicable to the fall of Jerusalem before the Romans and to its fall before the Chaldeans. Here we read—"The Lord will make thy plagues wonderful," etc.: "He will bring upon thee all the plagues of Egypt which thou wast afraid of, and they shall cleave to thee; and every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee until thou be destroyed."—Moreover, Jesus himself said (Mat. 24: 21), "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."—How can any symbols of prophecy be thought to outmeasure this?

CHAPTER VII.

This entire chapter is interposed between the sixth seal and the seventh, interrupting for the time the regular succession of the scenes disclosed by the opening of the seals. We may call this as many have done, an "episode;" but the name is of small account. The simple fact is that the successive seals disclose in order the judgments to be sent by God on some great persecuting power. This is their theme and this only. But here is a revelation, not of judgments on the guilty but of blessings, first upon those Jewish converts who having accepted Christ by faith are marked for exemption from the judgments coming on their land; and next upon Gentile converts considered as "coming out of great tribulation." They have their sublimely glorious reward around the throne of God and the Lamb.—More than one high moral purpose was to be answered by the revelations of this chapter. (1.) It lifted a great burden of solicitude from hearts trembling for the ark of God lest the almost omnipresent influence of persecution and the almost resistless power lodged in persecuting hands should quench the gospel's light and prevent the conversion of men to Christ. To Christians, suffering and terror-stricken, nothing would be more natural than this feeling of discouragement under which Satan might tempt them to despair of their cause. To all such, this revelation would be at once timely and precious.—(2.) This chapter purposely brings out near its close the ineffable blessedness of those who have "gone before" through fire and lame to a martyr's death and a martyrs reward. We can be at no loss as to the moral purpose of these special revelations of the bliss of heaven which we find interposed repeatedly in this book amid the predictions of judgment on persecutors. They bring down the grand motive power of the heavenly rest to brace the tried and tempted souls of the persecuted to Christian heroism and patient endurance, sinking the agony and terror of a martyr's death out of sight under the glories of that other world so near.

1. And after these things I saw four angels standing on he four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

"After these things" [meta tauta], here as always in the sense, very soon, or perhaps immediately after.—The scene would impress the beholder with a sense of God's supreme control over all the harmful as well as the wholesome agencies of the material world, suggesting also his use of angelic power to any extent at his own wise discretion whenever he might have occasion to deviate little or much from his own established laws of nature. This is no doubt a great fact in the providential government of God over the universe of matter and to some extent of mind also, and pertinently brought out in the disclosures of this book for its bearings upon the resources of God for the protection of his friends and for the destruction of his enemies.

2. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and sea,

3. Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

Another angel now appears, having the great seal of God to place upon his redeemed ones to mark them for protection against the destructive agencies soon to be let loose upon the land. He commands the angels of the four winds to delay their work of devastation till his work among God's people is done.—Why this angel is seen coming from the east is not said, and is therefore a question of pure speculation. We let such things pass.

4. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

5. Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.

6. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.

7. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.

8. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph, were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

It will be seen that these sealed ones are Jews—It is due to the order and method of these visions that the number from each tribe is the same. There is no occasion to press this to a literal precision.—In the names of the tribes it is not strange that Judah stands first, nor that idolatrous Dan is omitted, and Manasseh included along with Joseph to make up the number twelve. The sins of Ephraim during the age of the revolt may have ruled his name out of the list.—As to the historic fact here predicted, there can be no rational doubt that these are the fruits, of the gospel among the Jews prior to the fall of their city and the desolation of their land. We readily recall the abundant proofs of God's purpose to give his own covenant people the offers of gospel Salvation through their own Messiah, and to press them to accept, long, patiently, earnestly, before he should cut short their day of salvation and bring on their night of doom. We remember how John, the precursor, lifted his voice throughout all the thousands of Judah, preaching repentance, preparing the way; of the Lord; enjoining the people to believe on the greater One to come after him. We remember how Jesus preached in all the cities of Galilee, Samaria, and last of all in Judah and Jerusalem; how he sent forth his chosen twelve to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel;" how, on the eve of his ascension, he enjoined them to commence their world-wide gospel mission by "beginning at Jerusalem;" and how the apostles exhorted their Jewish hearers to repent and save themselves from that untoward generation and its near impending doom. The comfort of our passage lies in the assurance it gives that many were thus sealed unto salvation.—(See also Acts 21: 20.) Like the households of Israel marked with the blood of sprinkling on the night of the first passer in Egypt, so these thousands of Israel are marked for the passing over of the fearful plagues of the Almighty when his angels of desolation should let up their restraining hand, and give free range to every agency of storm, tempest, lightning, hail and rain upon that guilty and doomed people.—It might be suggested also that this sealing [marking] in their foreheads has also in view the scene in Ezek. 9, where the man clothed in linen [white] sets a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for the abominations of Jerusalem.

9. After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

10. And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

"After this"—i. e., as usual, immediately after.—Plainly this multitude are not Israelites, for they are of all nations, kindreds, etc. Comprehensive they are Gentiles, and of course are converts to Christ—saved Gentiles, corresponding to the saved Jews already shown in this vision. There was no occasion to represent them as sealed in their foreheads, to be spared when the destroying angels should go forth, for, as here thought of, these angels are destined against the land of Israel only. Hence the things to be shown as to them were their equal participation in the purity and the blissful rewards of heaven, their equally full and joyous ascription of their salvation to the same God on the great central throne and to the Lamb. Precisely this we have here.—The moral purposes of this scene seem to be the joy to Christian hearts that this class of the saved are a countless multitude, and that they are made welcome to the full blessedness of the heavenly world.—It scarcely need be said that the import of their song, "Salvation to our God," etc., is not that God is saved, but that he saves lost men—is not that salvation goes to him, but that it comes from him. The glory of our salvation be unto God and to the Lamb for evermore!

11. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God,

12. Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.

All the angels, forming the outer circle and inclosing the great throne, the four living ones and the twenty-four elders, now manifest their perfect sympathy and their profound interest. The seven-fold ascription, the staple of their song, corresponds remarkably with the similar seven-fold ascription from the same angelic host as it appears in 5: 12, yet differing in the order of arrangement and in the substitution of "thanksgiving" here for "riches" there.—What a song! No wonder Peter should say (1 Eps. L: 12) of the magnificent themes of gospel salvation—"which things the angels desire [bend over from the battlements of the heavenly city] to look into." And now when these matters are unfolded in the prophetic visions shown in heaven itself, and illustrated by the arrival there of saved myriads, both Jew and Gentile, why should not their heart's love and adoration be poured forth in glorious song?

13. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

14. And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

This question by one of the elders was intended to fix the prophet's attention, and thus make a deeper moral impression. He would prepare the prophet's mind for his own answer. They "came out of great tribulation;" they have seen sorrow, trial, torture and blood unto death: but those white robes are not precisely the crown of their martyrdom; that whiteness is due to the blood of the Lamb!—Here we must pause to think of the striking combination of elements in this figure—washing to a snow whiteness in blood. Was not blood, simple blood, in that age as in this, red, and not white? defiling, and not cleansing? Yet there is both fitness and force in this marvelous figure, and both inspired men on earth and their representatives in heaven recognize it promptly. The cleansing is moral, not physical; and in the blood of the Lamb there is untold, not to say infinite, moral power for the cleansing of souls from sin. Only by that blood comes pardon for the guilty; only through the fact and the sense of pardon comes that wondrous moral transformation by which trust, gratitude and love take the place in depraved souls of distrust, fear and rebellion.

15. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

16. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

17. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Such are the heavenly joys of the saved, especially of the holy martyred dead. "Serving him day and night in his temple" is imagery of Jewish cast, the favored and honored men under the Mosaic economy being those whose service lay nearest the holy of holies, evermore around the Shechinah, his manifested presence. "How amiable are thy tabernacles, Lord of Hosts!"—"Shall dwell among them" still has the ancient earthly system for its figurative ground-work—the verb "dwell" meaning precisely, shall spread his tent or tabernacle over them. It is implied that he too abides in the same tent with them. How blissful!—Comprehensively there can be but two main sources of illustration here in our earthly prison life for setting before us the blessedness of the heavenly state. Both are drawn upon largely in this passage: (1.) Negatively; the denial to it of all the forms of suffering so well known on earth: (2.) Positively; the manifested presence, sympathy and love of the Infinite Father, of the Son, and of all the holy in that world of love. The negations appear in vs. 16, 17: "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more." No torrid heats shall light on them; no tears shall ever dim their eyes again!—Of course this list of negations does not attempt to name all the ills of life; these are specimen cases to cover all.—It should be noted that this method of teaching us heaven comes down to our easy and perfect comprehension. It lies quite within the field of our positive knowledge. Some of us have felt the pains of human frailty; we have also seen the sad indications of pain in the dear ones we love. But there be no more of it there!—Nor let, us fail to note how exquisitely tender are the last words of this wonderful passage—"God shall wipe away all tears" [Greek, "every tear"] "from their eyes." Observe it is not precisely that all tears shall be wiped away; is not that they shall wipe away their own tears; is not that they shall wipe away each other's fears; is not that the angels shall wipe away the tears of weeping saints as of their younger brethren; it is not even that Jesus shall wipe away their tears (though this might doubtless have been said); but it is that the Great Father puts down his own tender hand and wipes every tear away! After this, what could he said more!—But we will not disparage the other points so tenderly put in this matchless passage. The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne, appearing still as the Lamb of Calvary for the scenes of that great sacrifice have left their enduring impression on all the life and joy of heaven—Jesus, their once crucified Redeemer, is still as ever their Shepherd, and shall feed them, and he shall lead them unto living fountains of waters. Food for their mental and moral nature—thought, knowledge, truth, such revelations of God and of God's works as will minister to the endless growth of sinless minds around the throne of God shall be supplied to them by their well-known Shepherd. Does he not know every want of their being? Has he not constituted that being, social, intellectual and moral, and has he not nurtured each and all of its growing powers on such scale as the scenes of earth admit, so that with infinite facility he can resume their education and carry it on from one stage of progress to another, all along the march of heaven's eternal ages? Well, all this and more may be included and implied in the simple words—"The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters."

CHAPTER VIII.

Unlike either of the first six seals this seventh when opened discloses not one particular symbol, indicating a single event (or some special phase of an historic period) to be sketched in few words; but it discloses an entire sevenfold set of new symbols; in other words, the seventh seal is itself expanded into the seven trumpets, and each of these trumpets becomes a distinct symbol. The object is manifestly to spread out the symbols of judgment and woe, and make them more impressive by a fuller detail—a more minute and extended description.—According to Mosaic law (Num. 10: 9) and Hebrew usage (2 Chron. 13: 12) the great trumpet was blown as the signal of war, and hence became a natural symbol of calamity, judgment.

In this chapter we have with the opening of the seventh seal, the solemn silence (v. 1); the seven angels receiving each his trumpet (v. 2); the symbol of incense accompanying and representing the prayers of saints (vs. 3, 4); the casting of fire from the altar down to the earth and the results (v. 5); and then the scenes which successively followed the sounding of the first four of these trumpets (vs. 6-13).

1. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

This is the silence of solemn, portentous expectation! Momentous results are foretokened: there is a sense as of something grand, appalling, sublime, yet fearful, about to happen. All heaven is still as if holding breath with strained eye to see what is coming. Yet this waiting period is very short, for judgments hasten to fulfill their mission.

2. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.

It is noticeable that the original Greek like our English version has it, not merely seven angels, but "the seven angels," as if they were made definite by previous mention or by some other circumstances of their case. Hence those who take the, "seven spirits before the throne" (l: 4) to be the seven archangels explain the article here as referring to that previous mention. Others suppose them to be simply the seven pre-eminent or arch-angels, assumed to be somewhat well known as usually or normally "standing before God." This seems to meet best all the conditions of this case: the seven who customarily stand nearest before God and of highest rank.—It is more to our purpose to note that this is the trump of doom; that these angels have the ministry of sounding forth each his message of fearful forewarning.

3. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

4. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

It results from the prescribed arrangements for Jewish temple worship that prayer is associated with incense. The odors exhaled from burning incense ascended before God in the hour of public prayer, indicating that prayer comes up before God with a pleasing and acceptable fragrance. See Luke 1: 10, and Lev. 16: 12, 13.—The angels seem here to perform the functions before the altar in heaven which the High Priest performed before the altar on earth. Whether this scene indicates that the angels offered their prayers along with the prayers of saints on earth, it may not be possible for us to determine with certainty. It is however sufficiently clear that the prayers of saints on earth have an important connection with God's sending forth judgments upon the great persecutors of his Zion, even as was shown on the opening of the fifth seal (6: 9-11). The moral purpose of this exhibition we may assume was to assure those suffering Christians that God did certainly hear their prayer for the triumph of his cause and the deliverance of his people, and for the destruction of opposing powers, in so far as this result was demanded by the ends of justice and victory.

5. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

This scene evinces the close connection between the prayers that go up from the stricken souls of persecuted saints, and the judgments that come down from the Hearer of prayer upon their persecutors.

6. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

The prolonged preparation—the careful, almost slow development of the preliminary steps, foretoken the magnitude and solemnity of the impending scene.

7. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

8. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

9. And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

10. And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;

11. And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

12. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

Remarkably these first four trumpets have several of their most prominent points in common, being alike in all; e, g., (1.) That the plague denoted by each has its own special sphere, the first falling upon the land; the second upon the sea; the third upon rivers and fountains; the fourth upon the heavenly bodies as sources of light: and (2.) That each plague limits its destructive agency to one third part:—one third part of the trees of the earth were burned up; one third part of the sea became blood; one third part of the living creatures in the sea died; one third part of the ships on the great waters were destroyed; the great star from heaven fell on the third part of the rivers and fountains; one third part of the waters became wormwood; one third part of the sun, moon and stars was smitten, and one third of the light of day and night also was cut off. Now it seems obvious that this definite regularity is due to the influence of the idea of order over these symbols, and must not be supposed to measure with just this precision the extent of these several plagues. Nor indeed need we expect to locate these judgments in actual history, the first installment upon the earth; the second upon the sea; the third upon rivers and fountains; and the fourth upon the great lights of heaven. To assume and expect this would be to misconceive the true purpose of such symbolic representations. Much less as it seems to me are we authorized to map out these successive trumpets on the grand chart of human history, giving to the first a section of from two to five hundred years, more or less; to the second another successive section of either fixed or variable length, applying every point of these symbols to some supposed analogous event, etc. Some have done this, with immense labor, but with ever varying results. It is simply impossible that such speculations in searching out some analogies between these symbols and the history of the long ages since the Christian era, can ever be harmonious, or very satisfactory to any but those who have made them. The fatal vice in them all is that their very construction of these symbols makes them a labyrinth of mysteries. Then, having made them such, they try to find a path through and out, with absolutely no thread to guide them. They begin the study of the whole book by ignoring or ruling out the landmarks, or to retain the figure, the guiding thread which marks the pathway through.

But let us return to the symbols of our passage. To some extent they seem to imitate the plagues on Egypt; especially the first, the plague of hail; the second, the waters turned to blood; the third is analogous; the fourth bears a resemblance to the plague of darkness, or rather it follows the general law of poetic imagery, by which, darkness represents calamity.—The "great mountain burning with fire, cast into the sea," suggests volcanic eruptions as its source; the great star burning as a lamp falling from heaven has its prototype at long intervals in those startling manifestations in the heavens which have the appearance of being great world-conflagrations, burning for months with surprising brilliancy, and then becoming extinct forever!—In verse 11 the waters that became wormwood were not only bitter but poisonous.—In verse 12 it becomes a question, in reference to the day and the night, whether the language means that one-third of the usual period of each was made absolutely dark; or that one-third of their ordinary light was withdrawn, leaving but two-thirds of the average amount shining. The latter seems most probable, this being the natural result of obscuring one-third part of those luminous bodies from which day and night obtain their light.—As has been said, all these symbols indicate calamity, judgment. I can not regard it as demanded of the interpreter that he make up a series of historic facts which shall precisely match these symbols one by one and measure accurately to each its amount woe, as inflicted on each city, or each generation, or in each year. Suffice it that Jesus himself in his predictions of the fall of Jerusalem and its premonitory indications (Mat. 24, and its parallel passages) has drawn a picture strikingly similar to this. Let it also suffice that history fills the interval of some ten years, more or less, before the final fall of the city, with scenes of alarm, terror, outrage, calamity, carnage, crime, and woe, to which these symbols correspond with a precision that seems to me to leave nothing more to be desired.

13. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

The best authorities read the text eagle instead of "angel"—the sense being no doubt an angel flying eagle-like through mid-heaven. His mission was to pre-intimate yet more fearful woes upon the sounding of the last three trumpets. Hence these last three are frequently designated "woe-trumpets."

CHAPTER IX.

This chapter gives us the fifth and sixth trumpets, spoken of sometimes as the first and second of the woe-trumpets.

1. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

2. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

This "star" represented a conscious intelligent agent, for he receives the key of the pit of the abyss and proceeds to open it. He is one of God's angels, brilliant and distinguished like a star. For the figure we may compare Num. 24: 17: "There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel and shall smite the corners, of Moab," etc.

3. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

This may not mean that the smoke generated the locusts, nor that the locusts, coming up in a dense cloud, were at first mistaken for smoke, but were ultimately seen to be only locusts; but rather that the issuing smoke was the natural product of a burning pit and that the locusts came up with the smoke and so emerged from it.—Their power was like that of scorpions—to torment rather than to kill. That is, while they were nearly locusts in form and general apperance, they were essentially scorpions in their power and functions. This special feature is brought out yet more definitely by explicit statement (vs. 4 and 5).—Naturally locusts are destructive to grass, green things and trees, subsisting on such food; but these are commissioned to hurt only men, and of men, only those who had not the seal of God in their foreheads—a circumstance which closely connects this seal and its events with the scenes of chap. 7. The sealing there was preparatory to the exemption from the plagues revealed here. This fact forbids us to divorce that marking of good men which lies between the sixth seal and the seventh from this symbol of torment which belongs to the fifth trumpet. It would be a reckless severing of this intimate connection to interpret the four intervening trumpets (chap. 8) as sweeping us on over whole centuries of the history of our world, to find the scenes of the fifth trumpet afar down ages beyond the marking of good men for exemption from its plagues as given in chapter 7.

5. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

6. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Here the significance of the symbol is brought out yet more fully. They are not to kill but to hurt—not to take life but to take from it all its joys and leave men longing for a death that will not come to their relief!—We can not be far from the truth when we apply this fearful symbol of woe to those demoniac passions that burned in human hearts and fired them to madness and agony in the early months of that awful siege of the city of Jerusalem. It was hell uncapped and its ministries of torment sent up in clouds to smite their maddening stings into the guilty souls of men. Whoever will read the account of those conflicts and feuds, or rather, of that infuriate madness which set brother against brother, father against son, and son against father, and turned the myriad swords and daggers of her warriors one against another, making the salvation of the city impossible, and its unutterable ruin inevitable; and then will consider for a moment how this must have stricken down all hope in every Jewish bosom, and palsied every arm, and made life intolerable, will see a striking harmony between the prophetic portraying and the historic facts.—Other prophecy had touched these prominent features of this awful scene. Moses had written (Dent. 28: 66, 67): "And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have none assurance of thy life: in the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were evening! And at evening, Would God it were morning!"—Jesus also, as recorded by Luke (21: 23—26): "There shall be great distress upon the land and wrath upon the people: upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken."

7. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

8. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

9. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

10. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months.

These descriptive features combine to make up a most appalling picture.—Five months was the normal life-period of the locust. This limit of time is therefore probably due to this fact, rather than to the precise duration of the historic events to which the symbol looks. Some critics stretch this period of five months to one hundred and fifty years, on the baseless assumption that a day in prophecy is a year in history and in fact. Such theorists are respectfully requested to study Dissertation I, at the close of this volume.

11. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

12. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

These ministers of torment, coming up from the great pit of the abyss, are marshaled and led on by a king whose name signifies The Destroyer. This entire symbol of the fifth trumpet, and more particularly this one feature of if their king Apollyon—seem to show that God employs the spirits of darkness as his ministers of vengeance and judgment upon the incorrigibly guilty in this world even—perhaps as foreshadowing their similar service of torturing the wicked in the great prison—house of woe in the world to come. Let no one think of the devil as too good to torment his victims—too good to lead on the agents and ministers of torture to madden and desolate human souls, either in earth or hell, in this world or the next!

13. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

14. Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

The sixth trumpet corresponds closely in general significance with the fifth, differing chiefly in the respect of a manifest advance; for while that was only torture, this is actual death.—That this voice comes from the golden altar indicates again how close the connection is between the prayers of saints suffering under persecution and these judgments of God upon their persecutors. Compare 6: 9-11, and 8: 3-6.—That the four angels of destruction are loosed from the great river Euphrates is obviously an historical allusion, either to Nebuchadnezzar or to Cyrus, and most naturally to the former, since God raised him up as his servant to scourge his ancient people in that age of their deep and desperate apostasy. The analogies between that age and this were in many points most obvious: hence the pertinence of this symbol which brings up God's agents of desolation from the same quarter. The Roman arms were only a second edition of the fierce and terrible Chaldeans, sent of God to scourge a like guilty and hopeless apostasy from the God of their fathers.

15. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

16. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

The time is limited, the period short; so were the scenes of the siege and fall of Jerusalem. The symbols thus far seem to contemplate only its earlier stages, not its final catastrophe.—The numbers of horsemen are astonishingly great—so great that no human eye could estimate them; but the prophet says that he heard the number stated. We are left to imagine how thrilling this scene must have been.

17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

18. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

19. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

It is remarkable that although the number of this army of cavalry is so enormous, yet little is apparently made of the martial force of the riders—the horsemen; none of their features being given save their breastplates; while the description of the horses is very minute, and their destructive force is terrible. These circumstances may be in part ascribed to the fact that the Jews never had cavalry of their own for war, but had some bitter and well-remembered experience of the terror of this arm of military strength. Hence such a representation as this would be fearfully impressive.—In the fulfilling history, the shock of the Roman arms was terrible. It brought down upon the Jewish state and society a power which they could by no means resist.

20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood; which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

The men not killed by these plagues refused to repent. With one heart they persisted to the last in their rebellion against God and in their mad infatuation. Hence there could be no reversal of their doom, nor any long suspension in this series of desolating plagues.—The description of their sins names the worship of devils and of senseless idols, because, of all sins known to the Hebrew prophets, these had been most abominable and offensive to God. It can not be certainly inferred that the crimes of the Jews which filled their cup of national guilt to its brim in the age here referred to were precisely of this form. The terms of the description are historic in their origin, taking their shape from the ancient prophets. Their actual sins indicated a strength of moral hardihood in rebellion against God, a depth of depravity, a desperation in their stand against Jesus of Nazareth, altogether surpassing the worst idolatries of the old prophetic ages. The fact that under the most fearful scourging they would not repent, sufficed to seal their doom; and now its consummation hastens on apace.

CHAPTER X.

This short chapter, unsurpassed in the magnificence of its scenes, is remarkable for its introduction of new imagery. The old symbolism which in its general outline has been constantly before us through chapters 5-9 is now, not perhaps entirely dropped, but greatly modified by the appearance of new elements. Consequently we have new questions of interpretation to grapple with.—But let it be suggested that in so far as these questions pertain rather to the drapery of the vision than to its contents and subject-matter, their importance is only secondary, and is not vital. Yet it must be a matter of some interest to look into these questions of drapery and symbol.—Thus we have here the questions (1.) Who is this mighty angel? the Son of God himself, or some archangel? (2.) What is this little book? what are its contents? what its relations to the first book (chap. 5), and what (if any) to the second part of this book of Revelation (chaps. 12-19)? (3.) What was said by "the seven thunders?" and if their sayings are not to be even conjectured, why did they speak at all, and why is any thing said of their speaking? (4.) What is meant by the twofold result of eating this book, the sweetness and the bitterness?—To these questions we will give some attention in their place. More vitally important than any mere question of costume is the fact that this chapter comes in here to apprise us that the grand catastrophe is near—that the long delayed and final blow is about to fall. The blast of the seventh trumpet, closing out the contents of the seventh seal, will cut short and complete the fearful work of retribution on the first grand enemy of Christianity. The event is of such importance as to justify these solemn premonitions by means of this new and magnificent imagery.—Hence in this chapter we have a mighty angel coming down from heaven, and his appearance (v. 1); his little book and his attitude (v. 2); the speaking of the seven thunders which was not to be recorded (vs. 3, 4); the solemn oath of this mighty angel and its import (vs. 5-7) the taking and eating of the book and its effect (vs. 8-10); with an intimation to the prophet of his further work (v. 11).

1. And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

The reader will notice that the standpoint of the seer is somewhat changed. From chapter 4 onward, his point of view is mainly in heaven, save that his sweep sometimes seems to embrace earth as well; but here he sees an "angel come down from heaven "—i. e., to the earth upon which the seer is supposed to stand.-One "mighty angel' has been seen before (5: 2) where our English version has "strong," but the Greek has the same word as here.—"The rainbow," it should be read, perhaps in the sense, the rainbow par excellence, in its highest splendor and glory. " His face as the sun " corresponds to the description of "the Son of man" (1: 16), and not essentially unlike are his feet; here, "as pillars of fire;" there, "like unto fine brass as if they burned in a furnace."—Was this "other might angel" truly the Son of man, or some lofty archangel? I incline strongly to the former opinion, induced by the majesty of his appearance, by the close analogy between this description and that given of Jesus Christ in 1: 13-16; by the fact that Jesus appropriately has the custody of the book of destiny; as in 5: 7, and 6: 1, etc., so here also; and further, that when Jesus become's a messenger, bringing down the book of destiny from heaven to earth, he may very fitly be termed an angel. This corresponds with Old Testament usage. (See Ex. 23: 20-23, and elsewhere.)

2. And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,

Questions of secondary interest cluster about this "little book," claiming only a brief attention. Of these the main one is—What were its contents? Did it comprise the second great division of this book of Revelation, i. e., chaps. 12-19? Or was it only a codicil or supplement to the first book with its seven seals, or possibly, what remained of that first book itself, but brought forward prominently here only to reveal the great fact of this chapter the immediate approach of the grand catastrophe-the fact of no more delay, but the terrible execution of the long impending vengeance?—I am drawn to the latter view by the following considerations: (1.) No "book" of destiny appears in the imagery throughout chaps. 12-19. (2.) If this "little book" comprised those chapters, it would not be little relatively to the first, but great. (3.) This book appears at first as "open," indicating that its contents are fairly out; not shut up; a circumstance appropriate if its contents were the things brought out in this chapter, but inappropriate if they were the events of chaps. 12=18. (4.) It will seem incongruous and unaccountable that a little book, pregnant with the prophecies of Rome (chaps. 12-18), should be brought to view here, on the very eve of the great catastrophe of Judaism, where we naturally look for concentration of thought upon this near impending and most appalling event. This latter consideration has chief influence on my mind to restrain me from finding Rome in this "little book."

The point made above (No. 3) somewhat favors the opinion that this book is essentially the same as the first, now appearing small because the greater part of its contents have been disposed of. It is significantly said to be "open," or rather as the participle strictly means opened, laid open—all its seven seals broken, and all its contents now disclosed: It is no longer a book sealed with seven seals but, a book with' all its seals broken. It is in the same hand as when seen before in heaven. He brings it down now for the special. purpose of making the solemn proclamation by the sacred oath that the time of vengeance—the time to fulfill the last terrible judgment included in this book-has come.

The grandeur of his attitude-his right foot on the sea and his left on the land—revealed him as the mighty Lord of all, Maker and Sovereign of worlds.

3. And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion. roareth and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.

4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

V "He cried as a lion roareth;"—the word "when" given in our English version is omitted by all the best authorities.—The word rendered "uttered" is commonly used of speaking articulate words and not of making inarticulate sounds. These thunders (always in the best manuscripts " the seven thunders," v. 3) speak audible, intelligible words, and therefore John at first supposed they were t to be written down. The command to "seal them" seems to have meant only—forbear to write them; seal them in thine heart; put no word they have spoken on paper. Why was this? If it were wrong for us to conjecture, why did they speak at all and why was so much recorded about their speaking?—I have no conjecture to offer save this—that they spake, as none but the seven thunders could speak, of the final fall of Jerusalem, and that the suppression of their words harmonizes essentially with the manner in which the sounding of the seventh angel is given (11: 15), i. e., by implication rather than by explicit assertion; by giving only the thrill of joy it sent through heaven, and not the dark, sad aspect of woful desolation as viewed on the side of human suffering, or the wreck of the once sacred city and temple.

5. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,

6. And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be fin. ished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

"Lifted up his hand" in the improved text becomes his right hand. Lifting the hand toward heaven was the from of the solemn oath, said of Abraham (Gen. 14: 22), and repeatedly of God himself (Ex. 6: 8, and Num. 16: 30, and Dent. 32: 40). The last named passage is emphatic: "Fox I lift up my hand to heaven and say, I live forever! If I whet my glittering sword and mine hand take hold on judgment," etc. The coincidence of thought as well as language suggests that this awful passage may have been in the min of the august speaker in the verse before us.! That there shall be time no longer" does not mean, no more time as compared with eternity, i. e., no longer probation for the race on this earth; but it means precisely, no longer delay in the execution of the doom threatened upon the great enemy of Christ's kingdom. The delay has already been long: it can be protracted no longer!—In verse 7, the translation, "When he shall begin to sound," is not accurate. 'flu; original neither makes nor implies any distinction between the beginning of his sounding and the later or closing periods of it. The precise sense is, who shall sound very soon, or more fully, when he shall sound, which will be very soon. This Greek future io made by a special verb [mello] for which we have no precise equivalent, hut which is used with another verb in the infinitive to qualify it as we use an adverb, and which indicates a future event close at hand. Examples are abundant, e. g., "ready to die" (Luke 7: 2); "at the point of death" (John 4: 47), the same Greek words as the preceding; "were almost ended" (Acts 21: 27); "the things that remain which are ready to die" (Rev. 3: 2). So here, "Who is ready to sound," on the very point of sounding, and when he shall do so, then "shall the mystery of God be finished."—This word "mystery" is used by the New Testament writers of things revealed by the Old Testament prophets which were otherwise inscrutable to human vision. Here the word refers to the judgments long before predicted against the Jewish city and nation for their persistent and most guilty rejection of their Messiah, as in the last two chapters of Isaiah. [See my notes on those chapters.] The language here does not naturally imply (as some have supposed) tb t all the prophecies given by the old prophets were then to be fulfilled, but only this special judgment which had been foreshown by the prophets respecting the retributive judgment of God on that people, once his own by covenant, but then fearfully, utterly, hopelessly apostate.

8. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.

9. And I went unto the angel, and said unto .him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

10. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

To eat a book is to take its contents into the mind and consider them diligently or to keep up the figure, "inwardly digest" them. This symbol is imitated from Ezek. 2.—On the question, What precisely is meant by its being sweet in the mouth but bitter and painful after being swallowed, we must choose between these alternatives: (1.) Pleasant in its first impressions and in the first view taken of it, but painful in the subsequent reflection upon it. Or (2.) That some of its revelations were joyous and some were sad; or which amounts nearly to the same thing—that this great event would be joyful in some of its aspects and relations but sad and afflictive in other aspects of it—I incline to the latter view which certainly applies forcibly to the great truth which was the chief if not the only burden of this little book—viz., the ruin of the city, temple, and civil state of the Jews. This event, seen in its relations to the progress and triumphs of Christianity—seen as a sublime manifestation of God's righteous retribution upon a most guilty people—was glorious to God and fraught with success and victory to Christ's kingdom: but seen on the side of the human sufferings involved in it—seen in the light of the hallowed associations of every Jew with the sacred temple, the holy city, the homes and the sepulchers of the honored fathers, it was bitter to the soul.

11. And be said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

Though the scenes of the first book of destiny, and of its "little" supplement, were about to close, yet John is reminded that there are yet other events to be predicted. "Thou must prophesy again;" not before [in the presence of], but concerning people, nations, etc.—i. e., Gentile powers as distinguished from Jews. The language implies that thus far he has prophesied concerning Jews, but that the latter part of his book will treat of Gentile powers.

CHAPTER XI.

In this remarkable chapter, the interest of the first great series of symbols and prophetic events culminates. We reach the crisis and culmination.—Vs. 1, 2 treat of the temple, the altar and the worshipers; then follows the case of the two witnesses, their functions and powers; their martyrdom and its locality; the exultation over their unburied bodies; their resurrection and ascension to heaven; the consternation of their enemies and the convulsions that ensued (vs. 3-13); the sounding of the seventh angel's trumpet the song of heaven, and the closing scene in the upper temple (vs. 14-19).

1. And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

2. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

When Jeremiah and the old prophets contemplated and predicted the capture of Jerusalem, the fate of the temple could not be overlooked; indeed it was the first and central thought. No one prediction from Jeremiah made so much impression upon the people as that which declared (Jer. 7: 1-15, and 26: 6)—"I will make this house like Shiloh." So in the present case the temple must needs come to mind before the doom of the city is consummated.—The "reed like a rod" and the measuring of the temple are in imitation of Ezek. 40.—Remarkably the best manuscripts omit the clause, "and the angel stood," the passage reading literally—"There was given me a reed like a rod, saying," etc., i. e., one, some one not defined, saying.—As to the significance of this transaction, no other view seems to me admissible save this—that it puts in other symbol what we had in chap. 7: 1-8, viz., the sifting out for salvation of all the precious elements from among the ancient covenant people before the last crushing blow should fall. The Simeons and the Annas, the devout and honest worshipers of the true God, must be carefully measured off and removed away, and possibly the symbol may include the idea that all which is worth preservin