The Face of the Deep (on Revelation); Poems

that safeguard? " Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? "

Penitence the restorer of purity is the substitute for irretriev ably forfeited innocence. What innocence might have secured in some sense as a right, penitence secures as a grace. Inno cence is strong without weakness. Penitence waxes strong in weakness.

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 bondman, and every free man, hid them selves 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?

This general levelling is accounted for by the final clause: " Who shall be able to stand? " All, each, must either stand or fall: such as cannot stand, fall.

Herein consists a genuine distinction, here the man himself is in question: whereas those other points of difference enu merated in the text are accidental, temporary. To be a king or a captain; to be great, rich, mighty; even to be bond or free; is no more than the individual's appointed form of discipline in his proper vocation. Corruptible crowns perish in the using; sooner or later war will cease to be learned; greatness, riches, might of this world, cannot be expected to outlast the world to which they appertain; nor bonds or freedom of this mortal life, the mortality to which they are appended. These last two form the extreme instance: whoso grasps that even these are respectively a passing vanity or a passing vexation of spirit, abides in impregnable freedom though Pharaoh were his taskmaster.

Not that a slur attaches to any lawful condition or pursuit: what God hath made He is graciously willing to bear. A terrestrial crown may become the nucleus of a crown celestial. And so with the rest, or at most with one exception. Bonds surely will be stripped off at once and for ever from Christ's immortal freeman; unless haply they may reappear as an ornament of grace unto the head, and chains about the neck of one whose feet were hurt in the stocks whilst the iron entered into his soul, until the time came that his cause was known, the word of the Lord trying him.

Perhaps there is no convulsion of nature more rife with terror than an earthquake. What must that extremity of terror be which will call on earthquake for refuge and shelter! — and will be denied.

Sinners will then clamour to be hidden from the Face of God, not realizing how God's Face is about to be hidden from them.

" The wrath of the Lamb." — Words cannot utter it. " Is it not a grief unto death, when a companion and friend is turned to an enemy? "

Lord, before the great day of Thy wrath overtake mankind, teach us, I beseech Thee, to discern between its good and its evil.

Thy wrath is the wrath of Holiness. It is the wrath of Love, for Thou art Love. Love while it hates still is Love. The day of Thy wrath, because it is Thy day, is also the day of Love, of Holiness.

Incorrigible sinners become the mark of Thy wrath; them it tracks out, them it destroys. They appear to be (as it were) so fused into one mass with evil that these are no longer twain but one, inextricable, indistinguishable. They heaped up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of Thy righteous judg ment: their delight was in cursing, and it happens unto them; they loved not blessing, and therefore is it far from them.

Thy righteous wrath lays hold of them, overwhelms them: these who shunned and abhorred righteousness are now forced into contact with it in one tremendous form. Sin mastered and prompted them hitherto, now righteousness dominates and overbears them: better, it may be, to be ruled in prison and darkness by "the rod of God," than at large to obey by choice the serpent of the diabolical enchanter.

Thy righteous wrath coerces, crushes, shivers them into some sort of conformity with Thy Will. It could not be better for them while they were in no sense conformed to it.

Sin was their evil of old; and in the day of wrath not punishment, but sin remains their extreme evil. Sin rampant cannot be better than sin delivered to the tormentors.

Grace withdrawn precludes grace resisted. Opportunity denied precludes opportunity set at nought. Time finished precludes time lost.

Such withdrawal, denial, finis, are amongst the last revealed dealings of God towards self-ruined man: and who shall dare pronounce them in no sense dealings of mercy? [These

O Lamb of God, the spirit fails from before Thee and the souls which Thou hast made. I cannot understand, can only bow down before, the mystery of Thy wrath: preserve me from darkening counsel by words without knowledge. Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. O Lamb of God, Who earnest not to destroy men's lives, but to save them, take away the sins of the world.

1. And after these things I saw four angels standing on the 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 I saw." — Happen what may, the saints survive. The great saints? Yea, and the little saints along with them. Saints are all, every one of them " great fishes " drawn ashore at last in the unbroken net of salvation.

"Four angels... holding." — A period of suspense, pre paration. Suspense is preparation, and should be utilized for preparation. That it should be, attests that it can be. That any one can so use it, certifies that all can. Suspense tempts one to do nothing: it ought contrariwise to stir one up to do everything.

For suspense though it may be prolonged indefinitely must sooner or later terminate; and must be succeeded by we know not what. Had we known what would follow, suspense could not have been suspense.

During suspense we can prepare ourselves for anything, only by preparing ourselves for everything. The prepared man secures "a happy issue" out of suspense whenever and what ever that issue may be. But the unprepared man...?

And since " the preparations of the heart in man " are " from the Lord," let us pray with David whose heart indited of good matters: " Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." For Jesu's sake. Amen.

St. John saw four Angels standing on the four corners of the earth. They would equally have been standing there had he not seen them; and it may be so even now at this present moment.

Angels see us though we see them not, they hear us though we hear them not: let it not be that they love us though we love them not.

Whether we love them or not, and even whether we love God or not, they love us so long as God loves us: because they are lovely, that is, love-like; and we know Who it is Whose Name is Love.

Glory be to Thee, O Lord God, Glory be to Thee for all created glories, for all ministries of mercy and judgment, for what eye hath seen, and what eye hath not seen, for Angels unfallen, for saints raised up to newness of life, for sinners with the possibilities of saints, for equality with angels accessible to man, for glory differing from glory, for glory that shall be revealed. Glory be to Thee for the Excellent Glory, for our knowledge of Thy Glory in the Face of Jesus Christ; Whom we plead, desiring to live and die unto Thy glory. Amen.

Unseen around us, worshipping in rest, May wonder that man's heart so often faints

And his steps lag along the heavenly quest, What while his foolish fancy moulds and paints

A fonder hope than all they prove for best; A lying hope which undermines and taints

His soul, as sin and sloth make manifest. Sloth, and a lie, and sin: shall these suffice

When Christ life-Giver roused them from their sleep To rise and run and rest in Paradise i

This period of suspense is under one aspect a period of calm: the winds being withheld from blowing, earth, sea, and every tree stand still. Wherefore?

While we wait to know, let us practise ourselves in faith. "Be still, and know that I am God."

Wind from the east or west or south or north; Or congelation of a silent sea With stillness of each tremulous aspen tree.

Still let the east and west, the south and north, Curb in their winds, or plough a thundering sea;

Still let the earth abide to set Thee forth, Or vanish like a smoke to set forth Thee.

Earth with four corners, amenable to four winds and four angels, might seem but a small place.

And earth is small compared with space. And space is small compared with infinity.

How escape four avenging winds, and four avenging angels? By entrenching ourselves betimes amid the four cardinal virtues: Prudence which seeks God while He may be found; * Justice whereby (among other functions) man judges self, and so is not judged; Fortitude which even counts it happy to endure; Temperance which strives lawfully, and runs so as to obtain.

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 the sea,

All alike angels, each with his particular office to fulfil, talent to use. Four to chastise, one to protect. The angel of protection exercises authority over those his brethren; salvation must be secured before destruction does its work; mercy delays judgment.

O Christ my God, if I know it not concerning any soul beside mine own, yet concerning mine own soul well know I that mercy delay eth judgment. Well I know it, yet not fully: Thou alone fully knowest the length, breadth, depth, height, of Thy mercy towards me; free mercy, renewed mercy, pursuing mercy, beseeching mercy. O my God, let it be prevailing, conquering, triumphant mercy over me, over all, lest we heap up wrath against the day of wrath by means of the longsuffering of Thy mercy: Thou Who earnest not to condemn the world, but to save the world. Amen.

"Another angel ascending from the east." — As a star risen in the east manifested Christ, so now an angel rises in the east to manifest them that are Christ's. Instinctively I should picture an angel as descending, and not ascending on earthly embassies; but this angel visibly ascended: the east thereupon emitting a double light; an angel in his brightness; and an illuminating inference, that every Divine errand or calling whithersoever and whatsoever it may be exalts a faithful messenger, a dutiful servant.

To descend penitently into the valley of humiliation, to descend obediently and with a good courage into the valley of the shadow of death, is to ascend the hill of the Lord. To excavate the foundation forwards the erection of the Temple.

"Who is there among you of all His people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up."

"The seal of the Living God." — In Holy Baptism we certainly receive such a seal. But Baptism initiates: this seal seems to stamp the end rather than the beginning. Final perseverance, if it be not itself the seal, appears congruous with it.

To be sealed makes the members so far like their Head: for Christ declared concerning Himself, " Him hath God the Father sealed." Which ineffable sealing I have seen explained as referring to a Jewish custom observed towards the Passover Lambs, according to which they were before sacrifice authori tatively inspected and certified as without blemish.

Whence it would seem that our Lord's "sealing" both attested His perfection and assigned Him to sacrifice. I know not whether a parallel on a lower level may be permitted to apply the same thought to His elect.

There is yet another sealing whereby the Bride prays to be indissolubly united to her Heavenly Bridegroom: " Set me as a seal upon Thine heart, as a seal upon Thine arm: for love is strong as death." And to this prayer each devoted soul may unblamed frame a parallel: Set Thyself as Seal upon my heart, as Seal upon mine arm; that my love may wax strong as death.

" The Living God."— "As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will.... As the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." " The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.... And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteous ness."

" To whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea." — Each duty, office, vocation, is God's gift whether to man or to angel. Man indulges ardours and reluctances, choices, recoils and preferences; some gifts he styles trials, some burdens. Angels seem to see and feel no difference between calling and calling, opportunity and opportunity. Angels doubtless estimate the gift by the Giver: men too often the Giver by the gift; not, that is, by the intrinsic value of the gift, but rather by their own taste or distaste for it.

And indeed to flesh and blood it is in truth an appalling thing to be constituted a rod of God's anger. We shrink from reading of David: " He smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive."

We should naturally expect sooner or later to behold the four Angels execute their charge, perhaps by releasing the four winds. But we read not of the event in any such form. Earth and sea are smitten after a time, but not statedly by those. " Be not wise in your own conceits "

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

In like manner Scdom and Gomorrah could not be dealt with until " righteous Lot " had been rescued: " Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither.... The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground."

Thus are saints the salt of the earth; preserving it from dissolution. Thus do the blessed meek inherit the earth.

Thus are they, thus do they. Gracious Lord Jesus, let it not be Thy rare saints only who are and do thus, but all souls with them.

" The servants of our God." — It might have sufficed for practical purposes to say simply, The servants of God: but the other is a loving form, and consequently a tongue of Angels.

" In their foreheads." — " Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world," is St. James's declaration. And St. Paul writes more particularly: " The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His."

God knoweth His own before they are sealed. The holy Angels who minister to such heirs of salvation must also previously know them, or how should they affix the seal? A seal made prominent on the forehead announces to all others whom it may concern the wearer's identity. And so on occasion of the great first Passover, the destroying Angel was admonished by a conspicuous sign, the blood of sacrifice, to pass over the doors of the exempt. And long afterwards in vision Ezekiel beheld a general slaughter, against which the safeguard was a mark set on the forehead: " And He called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; and the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eyes spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary."

Perhaps by the seal we may further understand some distinct spiritual feature or gracious appearance whereby the Com munion of Saints are enabled to recognize each other in love; whereby also the aliens recognizing the household of God will wax the more bitter to hate them without a cause, in accordance with our Lord's word to His disciples: " Ye shall be hated of all nations for My Name's sake."

We talk of the unrighteous hating the righteous: do they hate because they are unrighteous, or are they unrighteous be cause they hate? If at all the latter, I fear there are so-called and self-called righteous people who will scarcely if at all be saved.

"My God, I mean myself," said holy George Heibert. God grant us a like self-knowledge and humility.

Taking one a day, you will require a week and a day for your self-reform. I, alas! foresee requiring much more than a week and a day for mine.

Deliver us from incompatibility. Who didst eat with some that washed not before meat,

Deliver us from fastidiousness. Who didst not promise the right hand or the left,

Deliver us to-day while it is called to-day, Thou Who givest us to-day and promisest us not to-morrow.

Whatever the " seal " may signify, its being impressed on the forehead suggests that it may be some sign definite, obvious, prominent, emphatic, calculated to be "known and read of all men," friends, unfriends, and foes; to catch their eye, even to force itself upon their notice.

Christians of some generation are (please God) to be sealed. But all Christians have once already by His mercy been sealed in Holy Baptism; and we cannot suppose that a crowning grace will contradict instead of harmonizing with an initiatory grace from the self-same Source.

Whence it ensues that if none but fearless, self-evident Christians can worthily undergo the final sealing, every Baptized man, woman, child, each in due proportion, is already pledged by the Baptismal seal to be a fearless, self-evident Christian.

Field-day harness, and parade carrying of bows, will profit a soldier nothing if he turn back in the day of battle. 4. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

Then exulted Abraham, who having gone out not knowing whither he went, beheld as father of the faithful whither he and his seed after him had journeyed. Then Sarah had pleasure. Then Rebekah understood what good her life had done her. Then Rachel was comforted. Then Israel said tenfold more, " It is enough."

Dost thou thyself ask, What good shall my life do me? Resolve that God speeding thee it shall do thee this good, to be numbered among the nations of the saved; and thou too one day shalt say, It is enough.

"Of all the tribes." — Yet is not Dan named in the ensuing catalogue. Still, if we dwell on the literal twelve Patriarchs, Dan may doubtless have been represented through inter marriages among kindred families. Moreover, Samson the Judge sprang from that tribe, and reappears in the goodly fellowship of heroes of faith (see Heb. xi. 32 — 34).

Whatever historical or prophetical meaning may be con veyed by this omission of Dan, it at least serves to remind us how no perversity of man can ultimately thwart God's will or mar His work. Twelve tribes there were at the outset, and twelve tribes there are at the ingathering. In like manner the College of Apostles numbered twelve first and last, despite the apostasy of Judas. Sooner than the covenant with Abraham should fail, children would be raised up to him of stones.

We must not forget, however, that in Ezekiel's vision of the City whose name shall be " The Lord is there," Dan has his portion and his gate.

Dan no less than his peers inherited a prophetic benediction first from Jacob, afterwards from Moses: — "Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord ": " Dan is a lion's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan." Yet the -second clause of the elder prophecy reads at the least equivocally: whatever the temporal character and tactics thus metaphorically conveyed, any obvious spiritual analogy seems to proclaim a curse rather than a blessing: a curse upon work such as the serpent com passed in Eden when he likewise made the lord of this visible world to " fall backward." Read under so ominous a light, even the other clauses seem, if not to ring hollow, at least to give an uncertain sound; and we think fearfully of Dan as haply that wolf in sheep's clothing the Unjust Judge, sitting indeed to judge Christ's people, but " contrary to the law "; sitting " as " one of the tribes of Israel, but in truth no longer one of them, having gone out from them because not of them. Even the kingly prediction: " Dan is a lion's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan," reminds us that while God deigns to define His own Hill " as the hill of Bashan, an high hill as the hill of Bashan," yet for Bashan to vie with Zion would be as when

Eve set herself to become like God: and the lion which leaps from Bashan comes from the country of those " fat bulls " which closed the Messiah in on every side.

What immediately follows of the Sacred Text I once heard read like the roll-call, when victorious hosts muster to their colours. "And His banner over me was love."

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 Nepthalim 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.

Now is being made good every promise to the election. Now is being brought to pass the saying that is written, " Death is swallowed up in victory." Now is the beginning of the end.

Faith and hope look beyond the "little moment, until the indignation be overpast," and contemplate the final consumma tion.

Behold Juda praised of his brethren, supreme over his enemies, honoured by his nearest and dearest; replenished and lacking nothing, imperturbable in rest, royally sceptred; a rallying point to gracious men; his journey accomplished, his travail over, his cravings satisfied; gathered to his fathers and his people; coming short of nothing; delivered from all his adversaries. Behold Reuben renewed in strength, retrieved from lapses, excellent in dignity and in power; if once dead, now alive again; if once lost, now found; heretofore a little one, now twelve times a thousand; and from a small one be come a strong nation. Behold Gad, having overcome all by whom ever he was overcome; enlarged, enriched, dominant; noble among the noble, because he executed the justice of the Lord and His judgments. Behold Aser, once hungry and athirst after righteousness, now satisfied; fed as it were with marrow and fatness, and all royal dainties; blessed with children, beloved of his brethren, anointed with oil, freely giving as freely he has received j as were his days, so was his strength, and as the eternal day, so shall his strength be. Behold Nepthalim loosed from all bonds; having a tongue, and therewith uttering praise; satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord; possessing "the west and the south," even the kingdom of heaven glowing and luminous. Be hold Manasses, as the branch of a fruitful bough abundantly watered; mighty and glorious; gone up from blessings of the deep that lieth under, to blessings of the heaven above. Behold Simeon purged from blood-guiltiness; his tongue singing of God's Righteousness; once scattered, now gathered for ever more. Behold Levi, having altogether left off from wrath and let go displeasure; holy, steadfast, approved, unworldly, un earthly; faithful to the word and the covenant, and now proving Him faithful Who promised; teacher of many, turner of many to righteousness, now shining as the stars for ever and ever; blessed in what he had, for the Lord was his inheritance; blessed in his work, for he waited on Him continually; txalted now to be Son of Consolation, peace around, and peace within. Behold Issachar, because sometime in faith he humbled and limited himself to serve, to bear, to render to all their dues, now at large and aloft in the rest that is good, and the land that is pleasant; because of old he dwelt in tents by faith, now ascended into the Hill of the Lord, and bringing many with him into that Temple which is the Presence of God; now where the sea is as of glass and fire, possessing for incorruptible treasure that Wisdom which the earthly sea saith is not with her. Behold Zabulon, brought safe unto the haven where he would be; having gone out from the world that is polluted, and having entered into that pure world whence none go out any more; offering the ever-acceptable sacrifice of righteous ness. Behold Joseph, once strong in the earthly Israel, now tenfold strong in the heavenly; abiding in strength; the arms of his hands made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob; exalted and mighty for ever and ever; for temporal treasures having inherited eternal. Behold Benjamin, a vessel chosen unto honour, a chosen vessel unto God; having of yore coveted earnestly the best gifts, now dividing the spoil; beloved of the Lord, dwelling in safety by Him, covered of Him all the day long, placed at His Right Hand, gathered into His bosom. " Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord."

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;

As their praise was erst not of men but of God, so now their number is known not to men but to God. " So many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable."

Looking forward to this, what terrestrial sight is worth hankering after because of beauty or majesty? It will pass by and be no more seen; no, nor peered after. What terrestrial sight is worth avoiding because of horror or loathliness? It will pass by and be no more shrunk from. I once grieved and grudged because I could not betake myself to a vantage ground whence to watch an eclipse: the grief might have been simply blameless, but the grudge proved that I was in a double sense loving darkness rather than light.

O Lord, grant us in Thy Light to see light; and aught besides, reveal or hide from us according to Thy Will in Jesus Christ, Light of Light. Amen.

One asked, "Lord, are there few that be saved? And He said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.;> Yet now St. John beholds " a great multitude " of the saved. Thank God.

"All nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues." — Never, since Babel, a unison: no longer, since the first Christian Pentecost, an inevitable discord: for ever and ever, a harmony. Babel dissolved the primitive unison into discord: Pentecost reduced the prevalent discord to contingent harmony, but reclaimed it not into unison.

Unison is faultless: harmony is perfect. On earth the possibility of harmony entails the corresponding possibility of discord. Even on earth, however, whoever chooses can him self or herself keep time and tune: which will be an apt prelude for keeping eternity and tune in heaven.

" White robes." — " White as the light ": for stainless and spotless they sustain the Presence of the Very Light. Blessed those sons and daughters for whom the best robe has been brought forth without money and without price.

Neither was it of their own power or holiness that they plucked palms and bore them before the Throne and before the Lamb. Christ of Whom it is mystically written: "I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof," — won all palms for all saints when on Calvary with His own right hand and with His holy arm He got Himself the victory. Christ it is Who triumphs in His triumphant redeemed: from Him they derive their victories, from Him their rewards. His Cross branched out into their crosses: His Cross, the one palm tree of victory, branches out into their palms.

Thy Cross alone life-giving1, glorious: For Love of Thine, souls love their own when small Easy and light, or great and ponderous.

When cross calls Cross racking and emulous: — Remember us, with him who shared Thy gall,

10. And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our

God which sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb.

" I will sing a new song unto Thee, O God: and sing praises unto Thee upon a ten-stringed lute. Thou hast given victory unto kings."

Here we encounter a new word, " Salvation," in the chorus of perfected praise uplifted by new-comers into a new glory. Since time began no unfallen creature from the lowest to the highest could thus bless God. The dead alive again, the lost found, ascribing their salvation to God and to the Lamb, add to celestial language one more word, to celestial joys one more joy.

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 worshipped God,

Heretofore (ch. v. vers. u, 12) when the Angels praised "the Lamb that was slain," we read not that they fell on their faces; but now beholding Him glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe, they fall down in worship.

And in one sense this for which they fall down is a greater marvel than the other. For great and marvellous as are God's works and ways, the marvel resides in the creature's appre hension of a truth newly revealed, and till then inscrutable and unimaginable; not in the fact of any outcome whatsoever of Goodness from Him Who is All Good of Love from Him Who is Love. " He Himself knew what He would do " sets forth not only the good pleasure of Christ, but the eternal, uninterrupted, calm Will and Purpose of God.

But that man, of heart deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, deathstruck and sin-relishing, endued with free will, and so able to resist his Maker, should at length by Divine patience, longsufTering and love unfeigned live once more, and move, and have his being in God, his own free will co-operating with Divine grace so that finally he is raised up in heavenly places as a miracle and glorious, everlasting monument of mercy; that man should do thus, and be thus, transcends experience, baffles foresight, and is indeed a new thing.

thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

The rapturous Angels answer Amen to the triumph shout of the enraptured redeemed. Amen they say first and last, beginning and finishing in sympathy with a joy which primarily befalls others. They exult when those who were beneath being exalted to an equality, enter and stand within where they themselves form the outer circle.

Alike in their former (ch. v. 12) and in their present chorus of praise the Angels ascribe " Wisdom " to the Object of their adoration. The first time it is to "the Lamb that was slain" when He has prevailed to loose the Seven Seals; thereby recalling St. Peter's statement: " Which things the Angels desire to look into." The second time it is to God, when before the Throne stand the saved arrayed in the garments of salvation; thus reminding us of St. Paul's declaration afore time: " To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God."

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

A celestial model of catechetical instruction; the question being propounded for the sake of the learner, not apparently of the asker.

If this be the same elder who before spoke comfortably to St. John, I note his personal gift of love: if it be another, I note the general infusion and effusion of Divine charity. As I am now, I like to think him the same; but as I hope to be hereafter, I doubt not I shall then be well pleased whichever way it turns out to have been. For in the perfected Communion of Saints surely the general glory of all will satisfy, no less than the special glory proper to each will recreate. I could more imagine a perfected saint so immersed in universal love as to be rapt out of the particular, than so absorbed in particular love as to be estranged from the universal.

In heaven all the redeemed are to be made like unto their Redeemer; and I know, and am sure that Christ Who loves us all, loves us each.

O Lord Jesus Who lovest each and all; give us hearts wide and deep to love all, exquisite and responsive to love each: in proportion, or if it please Thee, out of proportion; even as Thou beyond all proportion lovest us.

" What are these which are arrayed in white robes? " — The white robes constitute one claim of these blessed ones on celestial sympathy: not what they were originally, but what has been wrought in them and for them establishes their fellowship with the heavenly host.

How absolute and transcendent must be the spotless per fection of saints in glory, if not even St. John's experience in mortal flesh availed to furnish him with an answer!

"What are these... and whence came they?" — In t! is world and from the children of this world such questions might mean: Are they common folk or gentry? learned or illiterate? vulgar or refined? in or out of society? worth or not worth knowing?

The grave will set us at a different view-point There our shallow earthly question will receive its answer out of all mysteries and all knowledge.

If this be seemly and inevitable to-morrow, why not rectify and elevate our standard (my standard) to-day?

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

St. John, to our apprehension the most illuminated of the Evangelists, makes himself, in accordance with St. Paul's practice, a pattern of not stretching beyond the assigned measure. Here he humbly answers, " Sir, thou knowest "; and in his Gospel (see xxi. 23) he sets aside, an inference which seemed to exalt him above his fellows

Lord Jesus, shall he who lay on Thy Breast be humble, and will not we be humble? For very shame's sake clothe us with humility, that so we may become more like him and less unlike Thee. Amen.

" These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." — Thus two points concur to produce the beatitude under contemplation: great tribulation, and the cleansing Blood of the Lamb. God hath joined them together; it is not for man to put them asunder. Yet this difference I observe: great tribulation could of its own virtue avail nothing without the Blood of the Lamb; whereas that most Precious Blood Divinely vouchsafed and applied could not but avail, though the redeemed were called out of great joy, and from green pastures, and from beside waters of comfort.

Indeed one striking instance occurs in the Old Testament, suggesting that whoso hath faith and hope enough may haply even in this world secure an approved felicity: — "And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren.... And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested." Whilst in the New Testament the history of the Holy Innocents seems almost a case in point: for small must have been their capacity for suffering who were spared foresight, and whom one blow or one grip sufficed in a moment to speed through the gate of death.

But presumably for most of us tribulation rather than ease constructs the safe road and the firm stepping-stone. Better to be taught with thorns of the wilderness and briars, than on no wise to be taught. Better great tribulation now than un exampled tribulation hereafter.

Scourge, but receive me. For stripes are hard to bear, but worse Thy intolerable curse;

Smite, but retrieve me: For so Thou hold me up to stand And kiss Thy smiting hand,

" Tribulation," that is, sifting: sifting reclaims and releases good from bad, while aught of good remains. " Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteous ness unto them which are exercised thereby."

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.

" Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die.... Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity."

From everlasting to everlasting God is God, the Same yesterday and to-day and for ever. " Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end." " The righteous also shall give thanks unto Thy Name: and the just shall continue in Thy sight": — the just shall, the unjust shall not. It is on pain of being cast out of the Divine Presence that we cling to sin.

The All-Holy desires to sanctify us, the All-Pure to purge us, that in the end He may set us up on high, and satisfy us with long life, and show us His salvation. Love desires the beloved; Christ desires us: shall Love desire us, Christ desire us, in vain? God forbid.

Lord Jesus, All-Pure, purify us that we may behold Thee. All-Holy, sanctify us that \ve may stand before Thee. All- Gracious, mould us that we may please Thee. Very Love, suffer us not to set at nought Thy Love. Suffer not devil, world, flesh, to destroy us. Suffer not ourselves to destroy ourselves; us with whom Thou strivest, whom Thou desirest, whom Thou lovest.

"And serve Him day and night in His Temple." — Alas, Lord, that here on earth I have such tepid love for the habitation of Thy House, and the place where Thine Honour dwelleth! Alas for any who are like me! Grant us, I beseech Thee, if not yet delight at least perseverance in resorting to Thy most amiable tabernacles. Give us grace to do what we can, and of Thy free Grace do Thou for us and in us what we cannot. Give us grace to serve Thee in spite of ourselves here, that so we may serve Thee transfigured from our former selves hereafter. For our long-suffering Saviour's sake. Amen.

" Day and night." — But day umvaning, unending, how then night at all? Perhaps (for one thing) night suggests by association that service in Heaven will comport with and not disturb rest. No vigils there, all festivals: equally, no labour there, all rest.

" And He that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them," — or, as in the Revised Version, "... shall spread His Tabernacle over them." — The first rendering sets before us Christ All-Gracious walking with His own in the House of God as friends. The second recalls a Divine promise which having had its temporal fulfilment amid drawbacks, awaits its eternal accomplishment in simple unalloyed perfection: " Oh how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy Presence from the pride of man; Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord: for He hath shewed me His marvellous kindness in a strong city."

I think too that the Revised rendering seems peculiarly suggestive of the unspeakable unity of Christ the Head with His body the Church: as when Ruth, her whole career a prophetic parable, besought Boaz to spread his skirt over her; or, as when Job protested, "If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied."

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.

" My soul refused to be comforted... I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed," said once the inspired Psalmist.

And now the blessed Elder certifies St. John that the uncomforted faithful shall at last be comforted. They shall be delivered from all they ever endured, relieved from all they ever suffered. Their emptiness shall be fed and filled. " And God shall wipe away all tears [Revised Version: ' every tear '] from their eyes."

Elsewhere we find rapture, here contentment; elsewhere an overflow, here enough.

Perhaps without presumption we may conjecture that at the moment in question St. John himself was peculiarly open to so comfortable a promise. His work-day had to outlast that of any other of the Twelve; his absence from Christ had to be prolonged beyond theirs. "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country."

To the swift and the strong rapture may prove more alluring than relief, triumph than rest. Bat to the slow and the feeble, to such as trudge on however slowly and toil on however feebly, relief and rest appear a mighty boon; in hope of which the hanging hands and feeble knees are again and again lifted up with piteous indomitable perseverance. Literal hunger and thirst are a keen craving, literal heat intensified and untempered is a sore trial; and the literal are no more than types of the spiritual. If it was not good for man to be alone in Eden, how dreary is loneliness in this outer world. Christ, Himself the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, pronounced mourners blessed, but inasmuch as they should be comforted; and when He bade one mourner " Weep not," vouchsafed with the word a foretaste of reunion.

O Lord my God, perfect us in such patience that we may be in no haste to escape from toil or loneliness or suffering; yet ever in haste to serve Thee, to please Thee, and when Thou wilt to go home to Thy Blessed Presence. For our. Lord Jesu's sake. Amen.

This beatified multitude in Heaven will be led by " the Lamb." Very meek must they be whom the Lamb shall lead: very pure, not to shame Him Who is without blemish and without spot: very innocent, to be made one flock with Him.

Lest any of us should so stray as to be finally separatjd from Him Who alone is Love and our own Joy, I pray Him — I pray Thee, O Lord Jesus, to make us also meek, pure, innocent.

O Lamb of God, Who art in the midst of the Throne, show Thy mercy on them that fear Thee; exalt the humble and meek, fill the hungry with good things, help Thy militant Israel; here sanctify us, hereafter glorify us; for Thine own sake, 6 God our Saviour. Amen.

" Living fountains of waters," — or as in the Revised Version: "Fountains of waters of life." — These words seem capable of connection with an utterance of our Lord's own lips recorded by St. John in his Gospel: "Jesus stood and cried, saying,

If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified)."

If it is allowable to assume that the two passages may stand thus connected, we trace here a further harmony with that promise which concerns the " Other Comforter," and discern Him abiding with the elect for ever.

The waters of Baptism, " waters under the firmament," con veyed Him to the called soul; and "waters that be above the firmament " may haply (at least in a figure) do no less for the chosen and faithful. That would indeed be to drink of the river of Divine pleasures.

It has, I believe, been alleged that a multitude of Christians are but slow of heart and dull of sight and of hearing in what regards an adoring perception of God the Holy Ghost.

It may help myself against so perilous an obtuseness, to search out from what quarter the temptation might advance to encroach on and annul my own faith, thereby vitiating if not totally subverting my practice.

The revelation of the Father implies the Son; the revelation of the Son implies the Father: but by signification of neither Divine Name is the Holy Spirit implied to our finite appre hension. Even when Christ said: " No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him," •\\e still see not our tokens.

The very Name " the Holy Spirit " docs rot necessarily announce Him: inasmuch as we are taught concerning the Godhead that " God is a Spirit "; Who moreover hath said to man: " L'e ye holy; for I am holy."

The actual Graciousness and overflowing Goodness of God the Holy Ghost may be so misused by us as to obscure His Personality. His diffusion throughout the Communion of Saints may be misconstrued as His non-existence independent of that Communion: reducing our conception of Him to a grace, a gift; not a distinct, Divine, Almighty Person.

I think too that the devout formula " Jesus Christ our only Mediator and Advocate," may beguile us into positive though inadvertent misstatement, unless we consciously limit " only " to " Mediator "; jealously bearing in mind that God the Holy Ghost vouchsafes to be our oiher Advocate.

O God the Most Holy Trinity, Who seest that Truth itself will not instruct us without Thy preventing, guarding, guiding grace; grant us to live by every word that proceedeth out of Thy mouth, and to walk and rejoice in the light of Thy Truth; and give us grace so to bring forth fruits of the Spirit as to attest that Divine Indwelling to all men, and if it please Thee to our own humble consciousness likewise. I plead Jesus.

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

There seems to be a sense in which heaven waits on earth; in which (if I dare say so) God waits on man. Thus heaven mw keeps silence as a prelude to earthly events, portents, vicissitudes.

Yet need not this celestial silence convey to us (I conjecture) any notion of interruption in the day and night harmony of worship before the Throne, any more than time interrupts eternity. For because we dare not think of God Who " inhabiteth eternity " as changing to a habitation of time, we thence perceive that time and eternity co-exist, are simul taneous: if, that is, they be not rather different aspects of one and the same continuity.

If from the songs of heaven we learn to sing and make melody to the Lord with both voice and understanding, equally from the silence of heaven we may learn somewhat.

Whilst heaven kept silence it appears it may have been looking or preparing to look earthwards. And of old David declared: "I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good." Thus from Angels above and from a saint below, I may study that meekness of righteous indig nation, that discretion of holy zeal, which brings not railing accusations nor risks doing harm even by good words.

Silence seems unnatural, incongruous, in heaven. On this occasion and remotely we may surmise it to be a result of the Fall, for when earth first saw the light in panoply of beauty the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy: sinless earth, for sinless it then seems to have been whether or not inhabited, called forth instead of silencing an outburst of celestial music.

I think one may view this " silence " as a figure of suspense. Reversing which proposition, I perceive that a Christian's suspense ought to present a figure of that silence.

And if so, suspense should sustain my heart in heavenly peace even whilst fluttering over some spot of earth; and should become my method of worship, when other modes fail me; and should be adopted by my free will, whenever by God's Will it befalls me; and should not hinder heaven from appearing heaven to me, or divorce me from fellowship with angels, or make me speak.unadvisedly with my lips. Faithful, hopeful, loving suspense would be rich in evidence of things not seen and not heard; and would neither lag nor hurry, but would contentedly maintain silence during its imposed " halfhour." A shorter time? no, on pain of rashness: a longer time? no, on pain of sullenness.

This silence followed and waited upon an act of our Lord: "when He had opened the seventh seal." — " Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that He have mercy upon us."

"About the space of half an hour." — Not finally, not for long. " Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.... He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people.... And the heavens shall declare His righteousness."

To perfect loss or perfect gain. Half bitterness we know, we know half sweetness;

This world is all on wax, on wane: When shall completeness round time's incompleteness

Fulfilling joy, fulfilling pain? — Lo, while we ask, life rolleth on in fleetness

2. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. Recalling the seven trumpets of rams' horns sounded by the seven priests on seven successive days, whereby was announced and achieved the overthrow of Jericho.

Angels one by one; the seven priests thus appearing as it were equivalent to the single angel; in accordance with St. Peter's declaration: "Angels, which are greater in power and might." And as the agency is greater, so apparently the series of events is greater and the result greater; harmonizing with Isaiah's prophecy, when after foretelling " the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall," — he adds: "Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days."

Jericho, the outpost of the Promised Land; the earthly Israel shouting and going up straight before them: a figure of the spiritual Israel going out with joy and led forth with peace into the heavenly Canaan.

The destruction of Jericho and entering in of the chosen race, whether considered from the historical or from the emblematical view-point, encourages us to face hopefully the awful unprecedented blast of the seven angelic trumpets. Then the Ark of the Lord encamped before Jericho among the thousands of Israel: and Christ our true and sole Ark of Safety has promised His Church: " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

His Presence ensures safety and every blessing. Yet it may be — and if such be His Will, Christ grant it may be even so to you, to all, to me — it may be that one day It will ensure these by taking the place to us of any other safety and of every other spiritual blessing. For instance: of old He pronounced, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath," upholding its pious though not its superstitious observance; and again He tenderly bade His disciples, " Pray ye that your flight be not... on the Sabbath-day." The Sabbath ranks amongst venerable and immutable Divine institutions, dating back to unfallen man in the Garden of Eden; yet may it be reft from us as regards its outward national observance, though never from the faithful as regards its inward hallowing. Already in England (not to glance at other countries) the signs of the times are ominous: Sunday is being diverted by some to business, by others to pleasure; Church congregations are often meagre, and so services are chilled. Our solemn feasts languish, and our fasts where are they? Yet each for himself, and God for us all, we can if we choose "remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy"; jealous of its essentials, not wedded to its accidents.

So Joshua and his host when summoned to storm Jericho day after day for seven days, must amongst those days have kept one unexampled Sabbath, if not in the letter yet in the spirit.

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.

The celestial altar may transcend but can never contradict the terrestrial. One throws light upon the other. To meditate on the altar which we know, seems one safe way of meditating on the altar which we know not.

In heaven "an angel," here a priest ministers; and whether priest or angel, he who stands acceptably beiore God on behalf of man cannot but represent Christ; ''for there is One God, and One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."

There the altar is of gold; here well might it be of gold. Virtually it becomes of gold when it is of our costliest, choicest, best; but not so, if man's house is of cedar whilst the Lord's is of curtains.

There out of a golden censer prayers ascend by fire. For prayer offered in Christ's Name is such a human work as can stand fire, a worthy superstructure raised on the One Founda tion (see i Cor. iii. n — 15). And since "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," the censer may remind us of that heart which God claims as His own portion (as if He said, "My son, give Me thine heart,") from "the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold." Or rather let it remind us of the Heart of that Only always-acceptable Beloved Son Who, ever living to make intercession for us, presents before the Throne all our needs out of His own heart.

There much incense goes up as smoke with the saints' prayers. Isaiah in vision beheld the Temple of the Lord "filled with smoke"; and perhaps we may compare such smoke to a cloud; figuratively, even to that Cloud which under the elder covenant indicated the Divine Presence. If so, this sacred smoke may remind us of that Presence of Christ which is plighted to two or three supplicants gathered together in His Name; and of that blessed Advocacy whereby

Christ and the Holy Spirit deign to effectuate our petitions, rendering them in their degree acceptable like that odour of spikenard wherewith one woman's love filled the house where Jesus supped.

Whereupon the incense and smoke of the incense should kindle us to utmost adoration and love, by thus setting before us Christ Who for our sakes made Himself once for all a whole Burnt Offering, an Offering and a sweet-smelling Savour to the Glory of God the Father; and Who in the Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood having left to His Church a perpetual Memorial of His sole sufficient Sacrifice, receives us and our petitions into the " secret place " of that Presence and sets us in heavenly places with His own Self.

No Cherub's heart or hand for us might ache, No Seraph's heart of fire had half sufficed: Thine own were pierced and broken for our sake, O Jesus Christ.

We crave to love Thee not as heretofore, To love Thee much, to love Thee more, and still More and yet more.

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 earth quake.

If I may view this blessed Angel as in any sense representing his and our Lord, then may his casting the fiery censer into the earth recall to my mind a declaration from our Lord's own lips: " I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Sup pose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division."

Then also I may take shelter from terrors of fire, voices, thunderings, lightnings, earthquake, in the sympathy of Jesus: loved He us of old, and doth He not love us now? loveth He us now, and will He not love us then?

As the dove which found no rest For sole of her foot, flew back To the ark her only nest

Jf I may imagine one petition rather than another to have constituted those prayers of saints which mounted acceptably from the golden censer, it may have been " Thy Kingdom come." For it can never have been in denial of such prayers that the censer, emptied of them, was refilled with fire of the Altar, and cast into the earth.

Because " fire," therefore either purifying as gold or else consuming as dross; because " of the Altar," therefore either sanctifying as Jerusalem or else devoting as Jericho.

Fire of the Altar seems clearly a type of God the Holy Ghost, in conformity with the text: " Christ, Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." And if here in St. John's vision we may with reverence so regard it, its descent to earth with the awful phenomena ensuing, sets once more before us how every condescension of God to man must either save or destroy, cannot leave man as he was before the visitation, cannot suffer that the righteous should be finally as the wicked, or the wicked as the righteous. So it befell when "God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt," in the days of Noah; so, when " the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded," and scattered abroad the future nations; so, when He spake con cerning Sodom and Gomorrah, " I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me "; yet remembered Lot: so, when Christ ministered amongst men; " Many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life ": and even so at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Church with audible and visible signs, Israel was split asunder into the camp of believers and the hostile camp of unbelievers.

those awful words;' Thy kingdom come "; grant her such grace that holy love may overcome in her holy fear, and that like as the hart desireth the water-brooks, so her soul may long after thee, O God. For Jesus Christ's sake, her Spouse. Amen. Voices, though uninterpreted, yet exhorting me to prepare to meet my God. Thunders, though inarticulate, yet summon ing me to make "ready against the Great Day. Lightnings, though evanescent, yet warning me as once the Writing, Belshazzar. Earthquake, though not hitherto beneath my feet, yet bidding me lay up betimes in heaven treasures indestructible.

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

Zephaniah the Prophet foretells a crisis oMike sweeping calamity: " The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy: for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land."

The same prophet propounds to us moreover our duty and privilege on the brink of such destruction: " Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteous ness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger."

Let us not make ourselves like to the horse that hath no under standing, of whom we read, " neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha."

Thy trumpet, Lord JCSUL, giveth no uncertain sound: prepare Thou us to the battle. O Lord God of hosts, blessed is the man that putteth his trust in Thee.

sound not without self-preparation: shall man whose all is at stake not prepare himself?

O Lord Jesus, Who hast called the Church Thy sister, love, dove, spouse: Abide close to us, our Brother, our Friend, and prepare us;

A series of historical events has been compiled as corre sponding with the seven trumpet blasts. But as those blasts cease not to peal in the Church's ears, I trust we may lawfully in some degree and on occasion forget concerning them those things that are behind, and rather reach forward to those things which are still before: for oftentimes one fulfilment illustrates, but seems by no means to exhaust prophecy.

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.

The Revised Version precedes the other similar clauses of this verse by the words: " And the third part of the earth was burnt up."

In the Answer out of the Whirlwind we read: " Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? " — which weapon was brought forth from the Divine armoury when the Lord fought for Israel against the Egyptians: " The Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous.... And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field." And ngain, when the five infatuated Kings of the

Amorites and their hosts having joined battle with Joshua were discomfited, " it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel... that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them,... and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword."

But in this Apocalyptic vision of hail, fire, and blood, St. John beheld [earth,] trees, grass, " burnt up ": neither shattered nor crushed that we read, but devoured. Height exempted not the trees, nor lowness the gjass.

This hail and fire being "mingled with blood" suggests at once that no mere elemental storm destructive of inanimate nature may here be depicted. " The Voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass... surely the people is grass." And that trees may stand for men is plain from Jotham's fable: " Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king..."

Between the trees and the grass a distinction is made: only the third part of trees was burnt up, but all green grass. Had ail trees been burnt, then they all must have perished; for a charred stump can send up no second sapful trunk: therefore some we see taken, some left. With grass and with green herbs in general the case may, I suppose, be different: the bracken, for instance, renews itself in exquisite verdure after the faded autumn overgrowth has been ignited and consumed.

Which train of thought seems not discordant with a Divine promise: " Fear thou not, O Jacob My servant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee.... I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished."

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.

Truth confronts us veiled, not in order to baffle us, but rather that our zeal may be redoubled to discern her.

"God is cur refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." Thus, by aid of God's grace, sang the Psalmist. And if so he, so at the least ought we: for he looked forward to what would be wrought for his salvation, while we look backward to what has actually been achieved for ours. • Jesus, the Name above every name, is the "desired haven" of our souls: "The Name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into It, and is safe."

0 Lord Jesus, the Tmth, the Wisdom, the Word of God; of Thine exceeding Goodness make us, I beseech Thee, so one with Thyself, that cleaving unto Thee we may accept all truth though we cannot express it, and be replenished with wisdom however scant our knowledge, and speak gracious words or keep gracious silence in our daily walk with Thee and with one another. Amen.

At the first trumpet-blast, fire from heaven did its appointed work of destruction; now, at the second, this "great mountain burning with fire" seems rather to be of the earth earthy. Both are equally the rod of God's anger; the latter agent corresponding in some of its effects with that literal Rod of God whereby -Aaron, inflicting the first plague upon Egypt, turned the Nile into blood, so that all the fish died and the river stank.

Then all the fish perished: now one-third part of the living creatures and of the ships.

Those, although mere fish, were set up as false gods; the Nile itself being for practical purposes also a false god.

We are not informed what offence or what multitude of offences may call for this Apocalyptic destruction of a third part; but presumably the warning primarily concerns us men and our salvation, rather than any lower creatures involved by Adam's fall in man's punishment. To quote St. Paul's words in a different context: " Saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written."

The Prophet Isaiah once for good and once for evil employs the sea as a similitude of mankind. For good: " The abund ance of the sea shall be converted unto thee,"— but before that for evil: "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt."

Considering the parallel with the first Egyptian plague, idolatry suggests itself as a possible provocation here also; and this the less'hazardously, because though we might- hesitate to define idolatry as the only sin, yet has every sin at the least an idolatrous side; be the sin what it may, its commission demonstrates that something is preferred before God.

Isaiah exposes the arrant folly of idolatry in its grossly literal form of image worship: " They have not known nor under stood: for He hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor under standing to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, ' Is there not a lie in my right hand? ' "

We are not likely to worship images. Perhaps not. But our Lord commands all to take heed, and beware of covetousness: and St. Paul warns his Colossian converts that covetousness is idolatry. Stubbornness, too, is as idolatry; as King Saul found to his cost.

Whatever may be thought about the living sea-creatures, the mention cf ships directs our attention to men. And ships by association suggest commerce; and commerce, alas! too often covetousness. Or if we turn to war- ships, stubbornness seems only too probable in connection with them.

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.

This third fire, for at each trumpet-peal hitherto fire has appeared, differs from the former two at least as widely as they from each other.

The first visitation resembles a storm, although in details and in effect more terrific than storms of this world. To the first angel summons clouds respond with abundance of water; lightnings answer and say, Here we are.

The second visitation appears as if a volcano were cast down headlong. Once Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke; and if then Moses, now much more may \ve exceedingly fear and quake to witness in a figure the!La\v avenge itself on transgressors.

The third blast evokes neither an evanescent nor a terrene fire, but " a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp ": thus liable to recall to the mind even involuntarily by verbal association the sacred verses: " For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.... Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

This star then is from heaven, and is a luminary, yet is its name Wormwood, and its effect fatal bitterness. Still, although it embitters both the third part of rivers and even of springs; yet we read not that all men died of those waters, but many; perhaps intimating that amongst those even who drank, some survived. " Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed Thy commandments.... My soul fainteth for Thy salvation: but I hope in Thy word."

If such an inference is allowable, then I venture to view as not incongruous with this passage the dangers which beset secular knowledge; a consideration exhibiting an urgently practical side in this our day of widespread and wider-spreading culture.

For in the text we behold light introducing men to the dark ness of death; an emblem of unsanctified knowledge and its tendency. The star is a genuine illuminator: so may the knowledge be genuine knowledge; yet not being mixed with faith in them that hold it, it becomes to them perilous or even deadly.

Whether any given knowledge will prove profitable or un profitable is a question by itself, independent of any debate as to its authenticity. However beguiled, Eve learned the differ ence between good and evil: so in his turn did Adam, of whom it is expressly stated that he was not deceived. What they learned was so far genuine: all the same it proved fatal. Knowledge and wisdom are quite distinct, though not neces sarily sundered.

Again: in the same sense that some see and yet see not, hear and yet hear not, so some may be said to know without knowing. As for instance the antediluvians, who were fore warned of the impending catastrophe, and who yet "knew not until the flood came, and took them all away." Unassimilated truth avails nothing.

Some there are who, familiarized with both, set the evidence of their senses above Divine promises: as when Dathan and Abiram murmured against Moses, *' Thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey... wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? " or as when a certain courtier ueighed probability against an inspired utterance of Eiisha, saying: '* Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? " The blind who say they see are brought in guilty.

St. Paul's charge to his " dearly beloved son " seems written afresh for ourselves in this nineteenth century: " O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing, have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen."

Amongst all channels of instruction, speech is the readiest and is universal. A noble gift entailing a vast responsibility. St. James sets forth its awful many-sidedness: " If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and is able also to bridle the whole body.... The tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.... The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? "

And what is true of the tongue is in ample proportion true of the pen: this likewise may bless, edify, diffuse sweetness; or may become a fire, a world of iniquity, may propagate de filement, and kindle impious fire, being itself set on fire of hell.

O LongsurTering Lord Jesus, curse not our blessings which we have slighted, but renew them to us. Retrieve for us Thy gifts which we have perverted, and make us blessed and a blessing. Grant us grace by Thy Most Holy Spirit, to devote ourselves and all our powers to Thee, even as Thou by the same Spirit deignest to give Thyself to us. Amen. Is anything too hard for God? Nay.

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 nig-ht likewise.

should be smitten, than that the sun and moon should be so: for Genesis reveals how sun and moon were created with re ference to earth; whilst in the same passage (as I have read in explanation) the stars are mentioned parenthetically, not as simultaneously, but as already created; and are so mentioned not in direct connection with earth's economy, but lest other wise they might come to be regarded not at all as creatures of the One Universal Creator, their date of existence being as sumed as manifestly anterior to the fourth day of creation.

Again the " third part " smitten, and not the whole: bidding us both "count it all longsuffering," and redeem the time because the days are evil. For surely if this revelation of judgment so bids the men and women of that generation endure and do, whichever generation may be in question: it equally adjures us to-day while it is called to-day: for upon us all alike must finally descend the total night when none can work.

A curtailed day is still a day with daylight opportunities. An ended day is a day done with for good or for evil.

At a first glance it might seem as if no specially appropriate discipline was organized to train us for this diminution of light: by help of grace ordinary bereavement may become that discipline. Bereavement is often a taking away the desire of our eyes with a stroke: if we practise bearing this patiently, thankfully, lovingly, we may entertain a good hope of so bearing the other should our appointed days include that day of dark ness and gloominess. " Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation."

Lord Jesus, how shall I attain to bear patiently the loss of my beloved? — -By loving Me more.

How shall I endure when sun, moon, and stars are smitten? — By following Me as thy light Who am alone thy salvation.

One-third taken, two-thirds left: I have long dwelt on the threat; I have too long overlooked the promise. Better to lose a third and be thankful, than to retain the whole and be thankless. It is sadly amiss never to perceive how much sunshine gilds our mortal day until that brightness is dimin ished.

A transient morning that is scarcely morn, A lingering night in double dimness veiled, — Our hands are slackened and our strength has failed:

No ripening more for olive, grape, or corn: Faith faints, hope faints, even love himself has paled. Nay! — love lifts up a face like any rose

Flushing and sweet above a thorny stem, Softly protesting that the way he knows;

Safe to the gate of New Jerusalem Where light shines full and where the palm tree blows.

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!

If every day eagles cannot convey to me any instruction, I dare not flatter myself that actual angels would teach me to much purpose. According to that weighty answer of Father Abraham: " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead ": — the fault in all such cases being chargeable to the listener.

So while waiting for Angels let us utilize eagles. By looking steadfastly toward heaven we are certain to discern something there: whereas by not looking at all in that direction we must inevitably miss both heaven and its population.

The Apostolick Eagle " beheld " and recognized a celestial fellow Eagle: not even he, I suppose, could have beheld without looking.

St. John whilst still a sojourner in this world heard the message, "Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth."

On the point of ascending to heaven Christ had answered His Apostles: " It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power."

It is therefore open to conjecture that whilst St. John was satisfied of the advancing Woes he foresaw not the exact moment of their arrival. He may thus have shared the suspense which is our own habitual lot.

Perhaps it may comfort some to think that St. John had a share in the common trial: much more would it comfort us all to undergo it in his spirit. And wherefore not? The disciple whom Jesus loved was not loved to our exclusion.

Our Lord declared: " The things concerning Me have an end." And Christ-like souls can by grace even give thanks because the things concerning themselves likewise have an end, so keenly do they desire to depart and be with Him Whom their soul loveth.

But I woful sinner fear the end which endeth not. In my fear to whom shall I go, save to Him Who hath the words of eternal life? " Hath God forgotten to be gracious?... And I said, It is mine own infirmity."

Lord Jesus, Who waitest to be gracious, be gracious to us who tremble, to us who mourn, to us all who many ways offend, to us who are ready to perish. Thou canst not be otherwise than gracious: render us susceptible of Thy grace.

How weighty must be the three comirg woes, since the four preceding seem by comparison not to be called woes. An Angel, himself insusceptible of woe, celebrates those three. Apparently the first four catastrophes are wrought by agencies of inanimate nature. The three woes connect themselves with active wickedness; therefore are they essentially and pre eminently Woes. " Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end."

Terror of punishment should not swallow up horror of sin. God's act is good; mine evil: shall I recoil from the good rather than from the evil? This were in its degree to choose the evil and refuse the good.

O Lord God Who hast created all things in order and pro portion, and requirest us likewise to have a perfect and just weight and measure; grant us grace to judge righteous judgment, and evermore to place our whole trust in Thee. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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.

THE Revised Version has: " I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth," — not seeming necessarily to imply that St. John witnessed its downfall; but perhaps that he discerned the star, that (so to say) it only then came to light, being already fallen.

If such a suggestion may be entertained, then the office assigned to this fallen star may possibly brand it as being one of the rulers of the darkness of this world; once superhuman, but now of its own free choice a subhuman wandering star to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. " How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! "

Whatever the star be, one thing is evident: its function is assigned to it; it is not an independent agent, still less an independent potentate. If it be a malevolent power rejoicing in iniquity, yet has it no power at all except under constraint or by sufferance; any more than the sea can overpass its decreed place, or behemoth evade the sword of Him that made him.

A fallen star, not otherwise an outcast star; a self-made outcast. Whoso turns his back on heaven may propose to stop short at earth: but next below yawns the pit. The outcasts of the final day who depart into outer darkness will all be self-made outcasts.

A glory hurlled from its car, Self-blasted from the holy height: Oh fallen star!

Fallen beyond earth's utmost bar, Beyond return, beyond far sight Of outmost glimmering nebular:

Now death, whose life once glowed afar; Oh son of dawn that loved the night, Oh fallen star!

Self-conceit blinds, self-will destroys; self-oblation con secrates, self-sacrifice saves: for once our Master taught His disciples: " If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it."

The bottomless pit preaches a sermon. It has a lid: which keep shut, and the pit's bottomlessne^s remains neutral. But lift the lid, and none can calculate the volume of deathly out come from a fathomless abyss, or the depth of a fall into it.

If God permits the lid of evil to be lifted as a test or as a punishment, the key remains in His hand to secure that lid again when He will. But if I lift any lid of evil, I have no power to shut off the dire escape from myself or from others: death and defilement I may let loose, but I cannot recapture. Solomon gives us a sample of such deeds and their conse quences: "The beginning of strife is as \\hen one letteth out water ": followed by a precept: *' therefore leave off con tention, before it be meddled with," — the precept in spirit though not in the letter being applicable to all " touching of pitch."

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.

By the voice of His prophet Isaiah God Almighty declares concerning one class of offenders: "These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burneth all the day ": — thus constituting smoke a figure of provocation. And touching two formidable wicked persons He graciously enjoins: " Fear not, neither be faint-hearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands."

Whence as regards the Woe summoned by the fifth trumpetblast and ushered in by smoke, I yet venture to surmise a possibility of rescue for sinners of every grade, except, alas, for the obstinately impenitent.

And this, seeing that the very elect are during their mortal life sinners: " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."

" My soul fainteth for Thy salvation: but I hope in Thy word. Mine eyes fail for Thy word, saying, When wilt Thou comfort me? For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget Thy statutes. How many are the days of Thy servant? when wilt Thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?" Smoke even from the pit will not slay that soul which because it is parched gasps as a thirsty land unto God; and which in fhe smoke endures as God's own bottle storing penitential tears. Shrivelled and unsightly it may become to man's eye, "but the Lord looketh on the heart." That smoke offends God Himself, which offends him who is as the apple of the eye.

Yet does the infernal smoke go up as a beacon ominous to the impenitent. Such a smoke of sweeping destruction Abraham descried when " he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace." Such a smoke Isaiah employs figuratively: " For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire."

Holy Writ saith: " Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." And by God's grace he can, while life lasts, in whatever smoke fly upward.

When " the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit " earth seems once more subjected to a plague of darkness which may be felt. Who shall say but that the faithful once again had light in their dwellings?

The darkness hideth not from Him, but glows Clear as the morning or the evening rose

To antedate to-morrow's good or ill; Yet watching meekly, watching with good will,

If not to-day, why then another day Will light each dove upon the homeward way Safe to her nest.

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.

A defined and limited scourge, a scourge under control and as appears further on for a limited period. Once more, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

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.

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.

Locusts venomous as scorpions, and devastating not vege tation but humankind; and amongst men discriminating between the holy and the unholy. Tormenting moreover without slaying, and this no longer than during a prefixed term. " For the creature that serveth Thee, Who art the Maker, increaseth his strength against the unrighteous for their punishment, and abateth his strength for the benefit of such as put their trust in Thee."

Yet even this extremity of wrathful displeasure seems by possibility to leave open a loophole of hope: it seems haply to fall within the bounds of that Divine Longsuffering which invites and urges to repentance. For the unsealed are, as it appears, not yet expelled from among the sealed: the wheat and the tares are still growing together until the harvest. While there is life there is hope, according to the timehonoured proverb.

God hath spoken: " Behold, all souls are mine.... The soul that sinneth, it shall die... The wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he had committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him; in his righteousness that 1 e hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? "

6. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it, and shall desire to die, and death shall fie 3 from them.

Shall one seek death and not find it, and not rather seek Christ our life Who hath said: "Seek, and ye shall find"? Shall one desire to die, death fleeing from him; and not rather desire life, and obtain a long life even for ever and ever?

"Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord."

To seek death is sinful: yet to desire it may be saintly. St. Paul mentions his " desire to depart, and to be with Christ: which is far better " than even the most spiritual life on earth; thus reminding us of his words on another subject: " For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious."

Mortal life then, even at its utmost perfection, is as the fading face of Moses; and hath comparatively no glory, by reason of the glory that excelleth. Amen. Alleluia.

There is another longing for death, far below St. Paul's, yet on occasion natural to man and not incompatible with eminent holiness. Such longing was Job's when he poured forth the bitterness of his soul: " Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?... My soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life. I loathe it; I would not live alvvay.... My soul is weary of my life.... O that Thou wouldest hide me in the grave! "

St. Paul then desired death not as death but as the passage to Christ. And Job desired death not as death but as release from life well-nigh intolerable. To desire death as death is to love darkness rather than light.

7. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses pre pared 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

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.

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.

The wording of this passage repeatedly suggests that we are being instructed not plainly but by figure, similitude, shadow; feature after feature being described as "like unto" or "as it were " or " as." Dark is the glass through which we are summoned to see, yet is it a glass.

The mysterious horrible smoke whence the locusts issue teaches us something by analogy. To pass unscathed through literal suffocating smoke, our way is to crouch low to the ground: and through that other more deadly smoke surely our way of safety is not dissimilar; to bow down, to " walk humbly." WhosD learns humility learns wisdom if not know ledge: and wisdom being better than knowledge, "the word" even in this occult instance will thus become by no means unfruitful.

That these locusts " had a king over them " illustrates their allegorical character. For of the natural locusts we read: " The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands ": which " prophecy " of Agur may be blessed to us as a helpful Queen Esther prepared " for such a time as this."

Very terrible are these preternatural locusts. Because one day such a trial may have to be faced by ourselves, and as yet we know not clearly what thus we may be called upon to face; point by point let us endeavour to confront them with that "Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."

" Like unto horses prepared unto battle." — But if " an horse is a vain thing for safety," so equally is he in himself a vain thing for destruction. " The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord." "Thus saith the Lord,... Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow." " I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord. O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle."

read: " Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are." " Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." " Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings."

" As the faces of men." — But it is written: " He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."

" As the hair of women." — Surely if man is not to be feared, still less aught that can be likened to woman! Concerning a dangerous wicked woman the wise Preacher proclaims: "I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom... And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her." " In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death."

" As the teeth of lions."— Yet saith Eliphaz the Temanite: " Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?... The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad."

"As it were breastplates of iron." — The Prophet Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's first dream, spake of the Stone which was cut out without hands and brake in pieces iron and every such substance; till they became together like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors and the wind carried them away: which figure foreshadowed the destruction of earthly kingdoms by a Heavenly Kingdom. And ages afterwards Christ Himself being questioned declared: " The kingdom of God is within you." Thus the elect have within them what suffices to bring to nought the " iron " of their adversaries. The " breastplate of righteousness" makes each saint in his degree like his Divine Master Who " put on righteousness as a breastplate ": behold! an invulnerable breastplate set against a vulnerable: even as Ezekiel's indomitable face was set against the faces of his opponents.

" As the sound of chariots."—" Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap... Before their face thd people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness."

Yet still good Christians will be safe. It will be with them as in the days of old when Elisha reassured his terrified servant: " Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them... And behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." Or according to a yet more excellent confidence: " Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God."

" Be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." Up to this point their terror only is fallen upon us; but now we read of their actual ability to hurt: " There were stings in their tails." A base sting, a degrading punishment; a punishment suited to the offence, for sin is a base thing. What: has sin never a lofty, heroic side? Never the sin, though sometimes the sinner. The sinner may awhile exhibit majestic traces of that lofty heroism which nature richly bestows and grace can transfigure to sanctity: but such birthright nobility when divorced from God can no more endure, than can a severed vine-branch maintain its luxuriance.

I must learn this lesson: must learn to recognize the degrad ation as well as the sinfulness of Saul's final revolt against humiliation, and of Jezebel's defiant pride.

"And they had a king over them.... Whose name... is Abaddon,... Apollyon." — Whether named King Abaddon or King Apollyon, his English equivalent is King Destroyer. Whatever we call him he remains the same: were we to call him King Preserver it would modify neither his nature nor his office. Being a destroyer, our safety lies in recogni/ingj acknowledging, fleeing him as such. And further: so far as we are constituted our brother's keeper, our brother's safety similarly lies in our plainly calling him a destroyer; and never toning him down as a negation of good, or even unloathingly as an archangel ruined; which last suggestion I cull from my sister's Shadow of Dante, where she contrasts Milton's Satan with Dante's Lucifer.

Sins for like reason should be spoken of simply as what they are, never palliatingly or jocosely. Lies and drunkenness should bear their own odious appellations, not any conventional substi tute. But some sins "it is a shame to speak of": true: so let us not speak of them except under necessity; and under necessity even of them truthfully. " Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! "

" The angel of the bottomless pit." — Once an angel of heaven, now an angel of hell: a self-destroyed destroyer. Such destruction is not annihilation. Happily angel still means mes senger ^ come from where he may; and a messenger is restrained within the bounds of his commission. Even the Destroyer may thus be overruled to preserve instead of to destroy: as Satan tested Job, sifted Apostles, and by his buffeting messenger pro moted St. Paul's well-being. Angels whether fallen or unfallen still envoys, but not plenipotentiaries.

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

" One woe is past " shows that none need hesitate to call woe woe, even when short of the final woe: for man is not framed without nerves but with nerves, and many times an horrible dread overwhelmeth him. Creatures of cast-iron or of stone might have different duties from creatures of flesh and blood whereof we are made.

Thus much is ended and made fast: Two woes may overhang us still; One woe is past.

As flowers when winter puffs its last Wake in the vale, trail up the hill, Nor wait for skies to overcast:

Of pain and fear and poisonous blast, To lift their heads: Come good, come ill, One woe is past.

The exceeding mystery of Divine judgments which prophets alone can declare, turns ignorant thought for safety into the channel of supplication. " Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the^ voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of Mine hand: ye shall lie down in sorrow."

Towards Whom we press through darkness, guide and enlighten us. Whom we trust, confirm us. On Whom we stay our weakness, support us.

In the Name of Jesus Christ; in Whom the elect are safe, acceptable, wise, strong, indomitable. Amen.

Study of the Apocalypse should promote holy fear, unflinch ing obedience, patient progress and patient waiting, unhesitating trust, conformity to the Perfect Will. Time devoted to the cultivation of these cannot be wasted time. Moreover, SD long as these are aimed at, to sit down ignorant and even to rise up equally ignorant may along with these virtues help forward humility.