Ignorance with humilty can serve and please God: know ledge without humility cannot. Thus humble ignorance secures the essentials of wisdom, whilst unhumble knowledge is folly.
Would humble knowledge not be better than humble ignorance? Yes, if granted: no, if denied.
St. Peter after mentioning how prophets of old searched for knowledge and angels desired it, winds up with a practical precept to ourselves unto whom the Gospel has been preached: " Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."
Gracious Lord Jesus, grant us so to read, search, desire, pray, that being sober and hoping to the end we may obey Thy Will and be conformed to Thy Sanctity.
The merchantman who found the pearl of great price was one who sought for goodly pearls: not one who never sought at all.
Darkness and thick darkness cover you. — I know it: but if in addition I keep my eyes shut, light itself springing up would fail to enlighten me. — If the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch. — I know it: but if the blind grope in prayer for himself and for all his fellows, who knows but that some of the afflicted company may be advanced to see?
O Christ, Thou loveliest Light that ever shone, Thou Light of Light, Fount of all lights that be, Grant us clear vision of Thy Light to see;
Into the secret of oblivion, Or gleam in places higher than man's degree. "Who looks on Thee looks full on his desire,
Who looks on Thee looks full on Very Love: Looking, he answers well, ' What lack I yet?'
His wealth is not of earth to lose or get; Earth reels, but he has stored his store above.
13. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Here and there a ray seems to be vouchsafed, a broken light. " God is the Lord Who hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, yea, even unto the horns of the altar." " Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be alway acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer."
Whatever historical coincidences with St. John's prophetic revelation may be cited as having already in part fulfilled it, these and such as these I leave to the authoritative handling of my teachers. " Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain."
Yet meditation is lawful to all of us. Some there must be who shall be blessed according to the promise: " Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. Thine heart shall meditate terror... Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a taberracle that shall not be taken down."
Whether natural or spiritual, eyes that look are the eyes likely to see. Meditation fixes the spiritual eye on matters worthy of insight: it sees something, it may gradually perceive more and more. At first Pharaoh's daughter discerned only an ark of bulrushes; next one of the Hebrews' children; at last Moses. The Brazen Serpent was ordained a channel of healing to those death-stricken Israelites who obediently gazed upon it, although we are not told that even one of them could decipher its Divine symbolism.
In the Jewish tabernacle the Altar of Incense was a golden altar, an altar of acceptance, its horns bearing a distinct part in acts of reconcilement for sins of ignorance. The brazen Altar of Burnt Offering likewise had horns.
The Altar being, so to say, one stronghold of God's Mercy, became so in a minor degree of man's mercy, the lower illus trating the higher: as appeared when Adonijah caught hold on the horns of the Altar, "saying, Let King Solomon swear unto me to-day that he will not slay his servant with the sword. And Solomon said, If he will show himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth."
Thus we apprehend this " Voice from the four horns " of the celestial Golden Altar as a voice of judgment proceeding from a stronghold of mercy. "The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand."
14. Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Amongst the seven Angels of the trumpets the sixth alone is described as executing a double function: he sounds the sixth blast, and he also looses the bonds of four other angels.
That these four angels "were bound in the great river Euphrates " recalls to our mind Jeremiah's prophecy of an anterior judgment: " For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Him of His adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates."
Euphrates had its source in Eden. There it nourished, refreshed, beautified, the fertile Garden; being constituted a minister of pleasure, an agent of preservation and fecundity. Eden is not more unlike the outer world, than Euphrates at its pure fountain head in Paradise appears unlike the same Euphrates earth-bound, earth-spurning, earth-contaminated, rushing downward to the harvestless sea.
Innocence hedged in Eden: sin breaking through that hedge disparadised Paradise, so far as mortal man was concerned.
Guilt hedges in the world: penitence breaking through that hedge recovers and re-enters Paradise, now made the anteroom of Heaven.
Loss it seems is never simply recouped: the precise forfeit is not restored. Loss may remain irretrievable, or it may be more than compensated.
15. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
Once again at the loosing of these four angels it is our comfort that their period of devastation is limited, and that they are not self-ordained but " prepared " for their work. " My times are in Thy hand."
I know not whether so long as we read of the " third part " being destroyed and so by implication the two-thirds remaining, it may systematically be viewed as an indication that the general day of grace is not yet ended, and that probation is prolonged.
If I may so view it, the Judgment in Eden shows forth a sample of such severe compassion: the serpent condemned, Adam and Eve reprieved. " The one shall be taken, and the other left," appears to be a formula of separation beyond appeal.
We read but of one Angel destroying the Egyptian firstborn, Israel numbered under David, Sennacherib's host. What will four do?
O Lord, they will do Thy bidding and no more, Thy will and no more, Thy pleasure and no more. Alleluia. Amen.
16. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
What St. John heard, that he states: he neither accounts for it, nor requires us to realize it. Simply he knew it by revela tion, and through him we in our turn know it.
Which instance exemplifies a general rule as regards revela tion. We are not bound to account for, or always even to realize intellectually, its truths: we are bound to accept them, and we are further bound when called upon unhesitatingly and literally to restate them.
"The army of the horsemen " now first mentioned (at least explicitly) comes upon us with startling abruptness. As when Delilah said, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson," — or as when " the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host."
17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
The wise Preacher warns us: "A dream cometh through the multitude of business... In the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God."
Yet from some dreams otherwise apparently vain may perhaps be derived one illustrative gleam on the passage in hand. Often in such dreams images appear which we identify with certainty as representing cognate objects, which yet they by no means accurately reproduce: so (if the word horse is to be understood literally) " the horses in the vision " were recog nized by St. John as horses despite their unparalleled features.
"Them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of
jacinth, and brimstone." — As it were an embodiment of fire. Jacinth displaying tints of fire and smoke might seem petrified flame.
" The heads of the horses were as the heads of lions ": — behold his neck clothed "with thunder"! — "And out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone ": — " the glory of his nostrils is terrible." Yet betide what may all saints are preserved who fear not, but stand still to see the salvation of the Lord. Moses and the children of Israel had newly ex perienced this when they sang: " I will sing unto the Lord, for lie hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea... And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea."
18. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
19. Tor their power is in their mouth, and in their tails:
for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
Thus we are not told definitely that the terrible riders, as distinguished from their horses, slew any.
This visitation reads like a rehearsal, forestalment, foretaste, of hell itself; fire, smoke,. brimstone, and as it were "that old serpent," working visibly.
I once read of a woman who in her room was converted from irreligion by hearing a hubbub of drunken folk outside in the street. She recoiled from an eternity spent with such, and turned her feet unto the testimonies.
" Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."
The fire, smoke, brimstone, " killed ": the serpent-heads "do hurt." If we may trace a difference between the two effects, killed may remind us of the second death; do hurt may press home upon us that the second death will not be annihi lation but torture.
There is "fear, and fear. Wise Abigail's fear sped her, foolish Nabal's fear paralyzed him.
20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk •
21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
These two verses by giving a summary of the Ten Com mandments remind us that God's Will changes not; that even "if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself." As St» John points out to the disciples of his day: " Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning."
Whoever worships devils transgresses glaringly the First Commandment, and less obviously that Fourth Commandment which appropriates or hallows the whole of time either to sanctioned labour or to enjoined rest. Certain heathens formally and of set purpose do, as we are assured, worship devils. This literal gross act is not perhaps likely to tempt nineteenth century Christians; or even others who, without being personally Christian, have been born and bred where in a certain sense the world itself is Christian as well as civilized. Wherefore, not so much looking at my remote neighbour, I consider myself; lest I also be tempted, although by means modified to assail my own particular weak points.
PLEASE GOD. I will have nothing to do with spiritualism, whether it be imposture or a black art; or with mesmerism, lest I clog my free will; or with hypnotism, lest wilful selfsurrender become my road to evil choice, imagination, conduct, voluntary or involuntary. Neither will I subscribe to any theory which would pursue knowledge by cruel or foul methods; or do evil that good may come. Neither will I either in jest or in earnest tamper with fortune telling or any other fashion of prying into the future. Moreover, I will aim at avoiding both in speech and in correspondence such expressions as by good luck, or, there seems a spell against us. In performing my daily duties I must strive against the spirit of a frightened slave (which so far as it goes is the spirit of a devil worshipper), and must aim instead at the conformed will of a loving child: I ought to shrink from sin more sensitively than from punishment. In all my dealings temporal and spiritual I must adhere to a just weight, a just measure, even balances, a superhuman standard. I must set conscience above convenience, and Divine law above worldly conventions. I cannot have two masters. I cannot serve God and Mammon. " I have set the Lord always before me," sings David.
The Second Commandment is obviously broken by worship-
ping idols of any sort, and the mention of their inability to "hear" suggests without stating that kindred breach of the Third Commandment which is involved in misdirected prayer, praise, deprecation, thanksgiving. Studying my own more probable temptations, I pass over idols of brass, stone, wood, to dwell rather upon those of gold and silver. A molten and graven image of gold or of silver is strictly and literally re produced nowadays and for us moderns, although in altered guise, in the current coin of the realm: it depends on myself whether to make it my minister or my idol. Demas is a warning beacon: set up against him for our encouragement and emulation stands St. Peter, who silver and gold had none. Since I cannot avoid continual contact with that which has the material and make of an idol, I must take good heed that it become not to me an idol. The " almighty dollar " seems to me a phrase simply (however unintentionally) blasphemous: in my mouth it would be blasphemy. May such an estimate of money be far from Christian tongues, and farther from Christian hearts.
Of the other sins enumerated (murders, sorceries, fornication, thefts) three more or less flagrantly transgress the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Commandments, all belonging to the Second Table (unless so far as the Fifth is concerned, of which I have seen the jDsition discussed). Sorceries alone, at least at first sight, might appear to fall exclusively under the ban of the First Table. But if sorceries, while insulting the Divine Majesty, be regarded as likewise seducing, hoodwinking, mis leading, entrapping man; then we recognize in it a distinct breach of the Ninth Commandment: it becomes a fatal false witness borne against our neighbour. One Commandment, the Tenth, remains: and this being spiritual, covetousness may be viewed as underlying and prompting the infractions of the preceding Five. For covetousness, preferring as it does self-interest to alien interest, whether or not co-extensive with selfishness, does at any rate so far as it goes cover the same ground; and is directly contrary to love, which, working no ill to its neighbour, is therefore the fulfilling of the law.
Yet the desperate element as regards these sinners against their own souls was not that they had sinned, but that they did not rep:nt. Repentance would have bleached their scarlet to snow, their crimson to wool. It would have made them like unto ancient Israel when " Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart; and turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. For the Lord will not forsake His people for His great Name's sake; because it hath pleased the Lord to make you His people."
All is promised to the penitent, but repentance is not promised to any individual sinner.
Tortures and terrors cannot do the work of love. Nay, more: Love from without cannot accomplish its own work, unless there be some response from love within.
The proportion of men is one taken, two left: and the two repent not. I who write, any who read, are for the present left: God vouchsafe to all, vouchsafe to me, repentance unto amendment of life, for Jesus Christ's sake.
And this thought, that two are as it were "left" even though in such extremity, brings home to all who are not reprobate certain inspired words redolent of hope: " Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up... And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him."
If then I be one of twain I must comport myself accordingly: be it in labour and in hope of reward; in falls, in arisings, in helps; in contest, in alliance, and in victory; I must as much as in me lies impart to him that hath not, and bear my neighbour's burdens.
Lord Jesus, Thou becamest Man thereby to become One of twain, Thyself and Thy Bride the Church. Thou hast laboured for her; and labourest with her, and sharest with her Thy reward. If she fall Thou liftest her up: happy she who is never alone when she falleth. If the battle go sore against her, yet with Thee she discomfiteth a host: happy she whom Thou hast joined unto Thyself.
Because the Church is moulded after Thy likeness, her least and last member is thus moulded. Lord, give me grace ever thankfully to account myself one of twain; humbly receiving help from my superiors, and myself helping any Thou empowercst me to help. Thou Who createdst all things out of nothing, lay help even on me, making my influence tend to good. Turn, I beseech Thee, my sins to repentance, my repentance to amendment, my amendment to a shining light. Even so of Thy Goodness perfect all and perfect me. Amen.
1. And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven,
clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
2. And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
3. And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth:
and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
We seem to behold "storm fulfilling His word." Arrayed majestically in a cloud, crowned with beauty by a rainbow, his face splendid as the sun, his feet no less splendid than fire: if this mighty Angel appear in some sort as the lightning, his own voice was as a lion's roar, and thunders respond to him.
Not thus at His first advent came the Son of Man down from heaven. His might was not of this world. His first garments were swaddling-bands; and His last, except graveclothes, were taken away from Him. His crown was of thorns. He hid not His Face from shame and spitting. His Feet after going about to do good were nailed to the Cross. He came to send fire upon the eaith; but He strove not, nor cried, neither was His voice heaid in the street; and His servants, the thunde'S held their peace.
O Good Lord, Who ait above Thy servant, O Good Master, Who art above Thy disciple, grant us grace to ascend to heaven by that way of humility whereby Thou descendedst. Let communion with Thee be our strength. Clothe o.;r children in the Font with the garment of salvation; and gnidi them and us in robes of righteousness to a holy sepulchre. Grant us patience for a crown, patience for a shield, patience and perseverance in our vocation, patience in suffering. Be
Thy Most Holy Almighty Spirit Fire of Love in our hearts, and His still small Voice more awful to us than thunders.
One notices a storm: another discerns an Angel. One hears thunder: another divines a message. Well it is, in default of better, to skim the surface and learn a little: though better it is, God willing, to walk in the search of the depth and learn much.
A Christian hero whose ship was about to sink, encouraged his crew by pointing out that heaven is as near the sea as the land. Our assigned level is our nearest point to heaven.
Those feet " as pillars of fire " stood on earth and sea; the left foot on the earth, the right foot on the sea. As the Left Hand is the hand of rejection, the Right of acceptance, so now this posture of the Angel suggests symbolically that sin is that sole thing which God abominates, and that it is for sin's sake alone that He overturns, overturns, overturns. The barren uninhabited sea sustains the right foot, the populous earth the left.
That Angel was celestial trustee of the "little book open," holding it in trust for St. John; who in his turn received it indeed for his own edification, but also and once more as a trust for others.
If Angels and Apostles, those princes and peers of earth and heaven, are stewards, not owners; we Christian commoners need neither dream nor desire to be constituted more. Our gifts, talents, opportunities, are a trust vested in us for the definite purpose of glorifying God, benefiting man, working out our own salvation. Ours are, — then mine are. In the awful day of account, Good -Lord, deliver us.
4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
Both voices instructed St. John in wisdom and knowledge. I too may learn from both if not knowledge still wisdom.
Privileges entail responsibilities: to be denied the privilege is to be spared the responsibility.
More is entrusted to another than to me. Let not mine eye be evil because God is Good, Who doeth what He will with His own.
Seven voices speak, but not to me. One Voice speaks to me: "Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth." Yet do the seven thunders also speak to me without speech; inasmuch as they convince me of ignorance, and further prove that God wills that I should be aware of my own ignorance, and should regulate my conduct with reference to it.
We all might sit down contented and complacent in ignorance, if only ignorant of our ignorance. But our Creator wills other wise. If the Tree of Knowledge had been planted anywhere except in Eden, Eve might contentedly have obeyed through ignorance; but what was demanded of her was to obey of set purpose. What was demanded of her is what still is demanded of us. Now as to these Seven Thunders we must perforce obey, because we cannot ascertain anything: true: but a thorough obedience excludes even the indulgence of idle curiosity, and as to this we have a choice. Long ago I took into my head that these thunders may have uttered the names of the saved: alas! in so far as with the childish thought I have not yet discarded the childish presumption.
"I was about to write... Write them not." — An illustra tion against depending on "any child of man," on highest, holiest, most Christ-like superiors, beyond their function as channels and mouthpieces of Divine teaching.
O Lord Jesus, Who didst vouchsafe to grow in wisdom, stature, favour; grant us in loving memory of Thee to be in love with our present lowliness. Let grace be our sunshine, grace our dew; that we too may patiently grow in loveliness until we behold Thee face to Face. Amen.
5. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea, and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven,
*' His hand," or as in the Revised Version "his right hand ": still a blessing may be hoped for, whatever else may ensue. "God is the Judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another."
And surely (if from words which concern the servant we may reverently ascend to contemplation of the Master) this present day is still that day wherein Christ comes not to condemn the world, but to save the world. " Blessed be the Glory of the Lord from His place." Both sacred Hands are as yet Hands of blessing, even as when " He lifted up His Hands, and blessed " the Eleven. Or as the Psalm declares: " The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand "; thus exhibiting the beloved one as at that period of safeguard placed upon the Left. Or as we behold in type when Jacob laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, and his left hand on Manasseh's, blessing, both. And indeed (if I may dare say so) there seems a special inherent tenderness in that very Left Hand which condemnsat last: it is on the same side as the heart, it belongs to the arm in which mothers enfold and carry their " sucking child." Joy overflowed for the one stray sheep brought back: did Love not overilow for the sheep which refused to return?
One hand uplifted to heaven, one foot on sea and one on earth, the Angel thus places himself in contact with the universe; and delivers his message, not as an alien standingaloof, but rather as a fellow-creature so far akin to all whom his words concern. We know that Angels minister to the heirs of salvation: who can doubt that they love them while caring for them?
If contact may be supposed to express sympathy between natures so diverse, much more should it breed sympathy between individuals of one race. In Angels towards men sympathy seems an extra and gratuitous grace: in men towards one another it is an essential grace. Let us not abandon sympathy to the Angels.
An unsympathetic angel would be a devil. An unsym pathetic man or woman would be?
6. And sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, Who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
"And sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever... that there should be time no longer." — Delay has been pro posed instead of time. As this alternative word would have to do with the interpretation of the sense, not with simple meditation, I leave it to my betters.
Studying the Authorized Version as it actually stands, a contrast is suggested between "for ever and ever" and "time."
He that liveth for ever and ever inhabiteth eternity; His works (enumerated by the angel) are creatures of time. Eternity is duration which neither begins nor ends; time is duration which both begins and ends: the mystery of eternity seems to be its having no beginning; the obscure point of time its having an end.
What is time? It is not subtracted from eternity, which if diminished wrould fall short of being eternal: neither is it substituted awhile for eternity, which thus would assume both end and beginning: neither is it simultaneous with eternity, because it is. in Him Who inhabiteth eternity (not time) that we ourselves day by day live and move and have our being. Perhaps I shall not mislead my own thoughts by defining to myself time as that condition or aspect of eternity which consists with the possibility of probation.
If such indeed be time, then in part I understand how at length there shall be time no longer. The words, " Their time should have endured for ever" (Ps. Ixxxi. 15), suggest that no break will occur between time and eternity.
Time seems not long: If I peer out and see Sphere within sphere, time in eternity,
The Wise Preacher has bequeathed to us a sermon on time, and I think other texts of Holy Scripture may furnish a running commentary on part of it: —
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, — " That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
And a time to die; — "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live."
A time to plant, — "Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase."
And a time to pluck up that which is planted;— " If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you."
A time to kill, — "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man."
And a time to heal;— " Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the Church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shaH raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."
A time to break down,—" Take away her battlements; for they are not the Lord's."
And a time to build up;— " They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and cat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands."
A time to weep, — " Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh."
And a time to laugh;— " Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man,.... till He fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing."
A time to mourn, — " Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted."
And a time to dance;— " Praise ye the Lord... Praise Him with the timbrel and dance... Praise ye the Lord."
A time to cast away stones, — "The priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city.... And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones."
And a time to gather stones together; — "They with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the Lord."
A time to embrace, — " Behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held Him by the Feet, and wor shipped Him."
And a time to refrain from embracing; — "Jesus saith unto her, Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father."
A time to get, — " Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding."
And a time to lose; — "There is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? "
A time to keep, — "The foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you."
And a time to cast away; — " The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away."
A time to rend, — " Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God."
And a time to sew; — " Coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them."
A time to keep silence, — " I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because Thou didst it."
And a time to speak; — " A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."
A time to love, — " A friend loveth at all times."
And a time to hate; — " If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple."
A time of war, — "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."
And a time of peace. — " Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you."
Grant, O Lord,
To friends sanctification of intercourse, To lonely persons Thy most holy Presence, To the upright wealth and wisdom, To the wronged unworldliness and a forgiving spirit, To the prudent heavenly-mindedness, To the redeemed mercy in that day, To sinners contrition and amendment, To workers good works, To the rebuked silence, To the instructed speech, To lovers Divine love, To haters Godly hatred, To Thy soldiers and servants victory, And after victory peace, Grant, O Lord. Amen.
7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when, he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets,
" Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people; and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began."
Since a former mystery revealed by prophets is the mystery of man's redemption, let us all the more lovingly lean on God's sustaining grace while He reveals further mysteries.
Faith, hope, love, His gift to us, become in turn our accept able offering to Him. Holy fear likewise; but never such fear as paralyzes those other graces. Manoah's wife knew far less than Christians know when yet she protested: " If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would He have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these."
"Without faith it is impossible to please God." "Hope maketh not ashamed." " Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." "God is Love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."
An impious species of faith (though unworthy of the name) appertains to devils: so likewise does an impious fear. In the nature of things devils seem absolutely cut off from hope, unless from a vile spurious hope of evil doing. Faith of one sort or other underlies both hope and fear, obedience and rebellion. Hope is a solace, obedience a privilege; both ar« proper to the saints. Despairing faith and rebellious fear remain for the reprobate.
"For what man is he that can know the counsel of God? or who can think what the Will of the Lord is? For the thoughts of mortal men are miserable, and our devices are but uncertain. For the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthy tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things. And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth, and with labour do we find the things that are before us: but the things that are in heaven who hath searched out? And Thy counsel who hath known, except Thou give wisdom, and send Thy Holy Spirit from above? "
1 am afraid in foresight of those days when the Mystery of God shall be finished. In my fearful and great strait to whom shall I flee but to Thee, O Unchanging Lord Jesus, Who once for us men and for our salvation saidst, " It is finished "?
Pity us, accomplish Thy Will upon us. Thou Who finishedst the work Thy Father gave Thee to do,
Pity us, finish Thy work by us and in us. Thou Who saidst " It is finished" in the ending of Thine Agony,
Those words, "The Mystery of God should be finished," suggest two events: first, its completion so far as it is a dispensa tion: secondly, its disclosure so far as it is a hidden thing.
Its completion is final, universal, absolute. Every sanctified will cannot but concur in it: yet is it independent of all created wills, equally independent of their concurrence or demur. The trumpet-peal of the blessed Angel shall (so to say) keep time and tune with it; but the trumpet waits on the mystery, not the mystery on the trumpet. The mystery is " of God " and its " times " are in His hand.
Its disclosure likewise may be final, absolute; but (assumably) not universal. Almost in Abraham's words the faithful are constrained to protest trembling: " That the wicked should be as the righteous, that be far from Thee." Narrowing my thoughts to humankind, I consider: Whereby do the elect know all things? By "an Unction from the Holy One." And if it needs This for knowledge now, how shall it not need This for knowledge then?
It were sad for such as I am to remain in darkness of ignorance for ever and ever. If then for me, how sad and piteous were it for the most aspiring, the most profound, the keenest of insight, the most luminously intellectual; for a multitude whom I have not known or known of; for some whom I have known and have loved!
My God, Who hast known us all and loved us all; deliver us, keep us, from outer darkness. For Christ's sake. Amen.
8. And the Voice which I heard from lieaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
St. John as a glorious Apostle and as a goodly Prophet may under either aspect appear too exalted for ordinary imitation. Here, however, we behold him instructed step by step what to do, whereupon step by step he obeys. Here then let me not exclaim, Are all Apostles? are all Prophets? in order to screen myself while doing nothing: let me rather promptly imitate an imitable obedience by myself waiting on my ministry, whatsoever that ministry may be.
And clearly I must not expect to be spared trouble: St. John had to fetch the Book, it was not brought to him. Neither must I shrink from what is formidable: the Angel was superhuman of aspect. Neither must I choose my instructor: not only was the Voice from heaven obeyed, but likewise the angelic injunction. Neither must I bemoan myself as if duties are sure to be irksome: the little book tasted sweet. Neither must I cling to comfort, not even to spiritual comfort: the after flavour thereof was bitter. Lord, help us.
10. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and
ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
To sweet souls obedience itself is sweet, and every word of God acceptable. The ensuing bitterness may have sprung, at least in part, from righteous indignation and human sympathy. Not St. John in his own person, but men of like passions with him were to encounter the perils, trials, judgments, about to be revealed.
" How sweet are Thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way."
The Angel knew of that sweetness and bitterness, but tasted neither: St. John tasted both.
To know without experience is God-like. To know by experience is Christ-like. Christ being our Head, we His members, it beseems us to have the mind of Christ.
Wherefore, Lord Jesus, grant that sweetness may acquaint us with such bitterness as Thou approvest, and that bitterness may be to us safeguard not destroyer of sweetness: until the bitterness of death pass, and the sweetness of life eternal ensue, according to Thy Will. Amen.
11. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
" And he said unto me," — or as in the Revised Version: " And they say unto me." — Herein lies a difference, not a contradiction: let me not ignorantly and obstinately insist on confounding differences with contradictions.
The earthly Communion of Saints tolerates differences but cannot subscribe to contradictions.
The heavenly Communion of Saints knows neither differences nor contradictions.
" I believe in the Communion of Saints."
" Thou must prophesy again." — A sorrowful saying, it may be, even to St. John; who already having entered heaven and rejoined Christ, found that he had still to turn back from that beloved Visible Presence and revert to earth.
Yet thus doing he became the more Christ-like, and if so surely the more blessed. Christ had Himself left heaven, or ever He bade His disciple leave heaven. He put him forth
indeed, but not until He had Himself gone before him. And now the disciple of Love knowing the voice of Love made ready to follow it whithersoever it might send him. " Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His under standing. He giveth power to the faint."
St. John's example of patient obedience speaks to us as with the precept and promise of St. Paul: " Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."
"Brethren, be not weary in well-doing."
Patience wears no crown, but acts as a crown to her fellowvirtues. Will Patience herself never be crowned? Not until she be transfigured; and transfigured, Patience will no longer appear as Patience.
I suppose this charge to prophesy again "before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings," though partially fulfilled by word of mouth during St. John's after life, was further and in ampler measure fulfilled by promulgation of those writings which throughout the remainder of time prophesy to the Church and to the world, to high and low, to rich and poor, to one with another. Thus he being dead yet speaketh: thus he tarrieth till our Lord shall come.
The great things we are forbidden to ask for ourselves bear no proportion to the good things which God layeth up for them that love Him. So lips say: but does conduct say so?
Within the shroud a butterfly: Till taught by such, we see Beyond all creatures Thee, And hearken for Thy tender word And hear it, " Fear not: it is I."
1. And there v/as given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
When Philip the Deacon inquired, " Understandest thou what thou reddest?" the Ethiopian replied: "How can I, except some man should guide me? " Yet were that Bible student's meditations acceptable and profitable even before light sprang up. Since I cannot sit at the feet of an inspired interpreter, I may at least essay to mount the chariot of devout meditative ignorance, which went forward in the direction of undiscovered truth. And in virtue of that promise, " Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," I will doubt not, but earnestly believe that the mere words of Holy Writ can by God's grace avail to teach the teachable.
"A reed," — the emblem of weakness, becomes consecrated as the measure of what is holy.
Christ accepts our weakness, not accounting it as weakness, but associating it with His own Holiness and Strength. Once He held a reed in His right Hand, making it the sceptre and visible sign of His invincible patience: if we following Him make of our own weakness the measure of our patience, it will become transmuted into strength. Once in the Almighty Strength of His dying weakness He accepted vinegar on a reed: if in our weakness we give but a cup of cold water for love of Him, He will accept this also, and strengthen and sanctify us.
When we shrink appalled from the holiness of our calling, privileges, vocation, there is comfort for us in the reed. For not the strength of iron, or the indestructibility of gold, was employed for measurement of the holy place and people, but the frailty of a reed. Am I frailer than other reeds, verily a. bruised reed? Yet a bruised reed will He not break.
"We will not boast of things without our measure; but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us."
A reed shaken with the wind dwells trembling in the wilder ness. Lord, I am such. But King Solomon has written: " Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?" Lord, is it I? Lord, is it not I? Amen.
"A reed like unto a rod." — "Hear ye the rod, and Who hath appointed it." Centuries before St. John's day the Prophet Ezekiel records how "in the visions of God... behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed " — who measured the holy house and holy precincts; until we read: " He measured it by the four sides: it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place."
The Temple, not the Lord of the Temple, is measurable; the Altar, not the One Sacrifice upon the Altar. The measured worshippers are themselves temples, and in their degree sacri fices; worshipping in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. " In His Temple doth every one speak of His glory."
The practice of the celestial Temple is the theory of each terrestrial temple, whether of hewn stone and carved work, or of flesh and blood. There is one temple whereof I am cus todian and votaress; of its services, devotions, worship, I alone shall have to render an account: " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."
All creatures being God's servants, any at His behest become His messengers. Yet perhaps we may think that God as God hath eminently angels for His messengers, whilst as Man men; although under the Old Dispensation prophets were sent as well as angels, and at the outset of the New Dispensation angels as well as apostles.
Perhaps the Apostle rather than the Angel was commissioned to measure the worshippers of St. John's present vision, in order to encourage all worshippers, even weepers barely within the sacred precincts, and tremblers in dread of final expulsion, by a feeling of kinship.
Assumably St. John was greater than those worshippers whom he was commanded to measure; and yet to do so he was called upon to "rise." Each act of dutiful service, though for its performance the elect soul abases itself, yet raises that soul to a loftier level and augments its glory. So long as Christ be all in all, to descend "upon the Son of Man" is as elevating as to ascend. Indeed, neither ascent nor descent comes any longer into question, when Christ is felt to be that true and only and living Centre to which all living life gravitates.
Alone Lord God, in Whom our trust and peace, Our love and our desire, glow bright with hope j Lift us above this transitory scope
This moon which wanes, these seasons which decrease: We turn to Thee; as on an eastern slope Wheat feels the dawn beneath night's lingering cope,
By love we dwell with patience and desire, And loving so and so desiring pray: Thy Will be done in earth as heaven to-day;
2. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
A spur to missionary zeal. Fcr of these excluded Gentiles may not some by dint of brotherly love be compelled to come in, pending the " forty and two months " allowed them?
The Gentiles here in question are apparently virulent rebels within reach and sound of the truth. What they tread under foot is the holy city; what they inhabit is an outskirt of the temple. Their case appears more appalling than the case of any who being without a preacher sit still afar off in the region and shadow of death, and may in some sort plead: No man hath hired us. The more appalling, the more urgent.
" Forty and two months " — three years and a half. Whether or not this is to be understood literally, it doubtless forms a goodly period for such persons as by patient continuance in well-doing have habituated themselves to redeem the time. But it may prove a fearfully brief period into which to crowd neglected duties, work behindhand, a worthy course and a good end.
Besides: although the extent of the period be indicated, I know not when it commences. It may be passing away whilst I sit waiting for it to begin.
It is the period of a Woe, or perhaps a pause between two Woes: not any leisure time for worldly gaiety or worldly care. It is the period preceding a Woe. In prospect of which Woe, as I am ignorant when it begins, I shall do wisely at once to rend my heart if not my garments, and turn unto the Lord my God; for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil.
From our Lord's Ascension to the end of time is holy Church's season of Advent. Each Christian's whole life then is one continuous Advent season.
O Lord Almighty, Who by Thy Psalmist hast said that one day in Thy courts is better than a thousand, grant that forty and two months be not spent there altogether in vain; but of Thine inexhaustible Goodness save souls, though it be as brands snatched from the burning. For our Mercy's sake, our Lord Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
3. And I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
It has been conjectured that these twain are Enoch and Elias; who not having hitherto died the common death of all men, will then being sent back to earth taste of death. If so, in accordance with those words of St. Paul: " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
If Christ had not died, it might have appeared almost the chief of human exemptions not to die; but since Christ elected to die, which of us would dare choose not to die? — as though to be less Christ-like could be more excellent.
"And I will give power." — The Speaker, as occurs more than once in this Divine Apocalypse, seems without announce ment to have changed. Mighty as are the two Witnesses, yet could even they have no power at all except it were given them from above. So Joseph answered Pharaoh: " It is not in me: God shall give..."
O God Almighty, Who to them that have no might increasest strength, strengthen us to do and suffer Thy good Will and pleasure. For the honour of Jesus Christ, Thy Blessed Son, in Whom Thou art well pleased. Amen.
" One thousand two hundred and threescore days " amount to very nearly those " forty and two months " mentioned above (ver. 2).
" Clothed in sackcloth." — They are sent to bear witness for God in a world which lieth in wickedness. Such, however, is the daily vocation of each Christian in his or her degree. If then we put not on actual sackcloth of hair outside and visibly to all men, yet let us beware of falling short of that very faulty King of Israel, who wore sackcloth within upon his flesh; he literally, we at the least in spirit.
" Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people. For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision.... And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: and behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die."
4. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
A marginal reference directs me to the fourth chapter of Zechariah: " What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof?... What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?... These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth."
This fourth chapter of Zechariah refers to the building of the Second Temple. If its mysterious revelation of " the two anointed ones" does in truth (although haply in a subordinate sense) correspond with the Apocalyptic " two witnesses," then I fortify hope that besides those worshippers already harboured within the sanctuary (ver. i), some living stones from without may even during the forty-two months be built in with them. For if the final Temple be still in building, " yet there is room."
" The God of the earth,"— or, as in Zechariah, " The Lord of the whole earth." The two phrases correspond, claiming all men by right for God. "Is He the God of the Jews only? is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God."
My God, Who hast revealed to us hope as a most opportune grace; endow us with it as our own anchor of the soul sure and steadfast. Keep us by holy hope from presumption, as it were a waterspout, and from despair as it were a quicksand, that we shipwreck not ourselves by the one or in the other. For Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
5. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
6. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Very similarly it is recorded concerning Elijah in his contest with evil: " Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly, mid Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty." But as now in prophecy, so then in history, that devouring fire touched only aggressors. " And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let ray life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king." And before his invocation of fire, Elijah had by his word shut and reopened the floodgates of heaven.
The turning waters to blood, and smiting with all plagues, recall the joint mission of Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh.
Elijah stood alone: his, at least under one prominent aspect, were deeds of vengeance in a day of vengeance. Moses and
Aaron wrought together: theirs was primarily a work of re demption, though accomplished at all costs; " I gave Egypt for thy ransom."
A few are charged to do judgment: every one without ex ception is charged to show mercy. I may doubt whether I am one of a feiv: I cannot doubt whether I am one of every one. A clue in obscure cases.
" Behold, the Lord will come with fire,... to render... His rebuke with flames of fire." Already by the word of His Scriptures, of His priests, of my own conscience, of my fellowmen, and especially of any good Christians, the Divine word of rebuke comes to me.
O Merciful Lord Jesus, grant that now Thy rebuke may enlighten and enkindle us, lest then it should consume us.
Thou Who once madest Thyself as a man in Whose mouth are no reproofs, rebuke us, but with judgment, not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring us to nothing.
Thou Who becamest a reproof among Thine enemies and Thy neighbours, save us from the reproof of him that would eat us up.
Thou Who knowest our reproof, our shame and our dis honour, deliver us from our adversaries, who are all in Thy sight. Blessed be Thou. Amen.
" The exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." The temper I should cultivate is love, which endureth all things. " Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee." St. Peter loved St. Paul, writing: "Our beloved brother Paul." The influence entrusted to me I cannot choose but exert, by it promoting and countenancing, directly or indirectly, good or else evil. " He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him; but to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them." No extremity stays the flow of influence.
"As often as they will." — Storm, pestilence, earthquake, the sea, lightning, wild beasts, these all have oftentimes destroyed men. It is yet to be seen, more terrific will it be to see, saints wielding all weapons of destruction. Saints who resemble Christ.
O Christ, the Saint of saints, Who callest us to be saints; in the dire day of destruction save us. Christ our Refuge, ex clude us not; our Redeemer, despise us not; our Surety, deny us not; our Saviour, destroy us not; our Brother, abhor us not; our Friend, forsake us not; our All in all, fail us not.
7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the ex cellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us."
An overthrow which redounds to the glory of God is not defeat, but victory. Nor indeed is such an overthrow any genuine overthrow; any more than prostration is a fall, or selfsacrifice destruction. Bear witness, Gethsemane and Calvary!
I being weak and timid would fain serve God without great terrors or tortures; but I comprehend that amongst His most noble and ardent lovers some are so rapt out of themselves in Jesus Christ that terrors appal them not, nor tortures abate their spirit. God is good in their height, and in my lowness, accepting the one and not having rejected the other.
Thy men of renown show forth Thy might in the clutch of deatli: Down they go into silence, yet the Trump of the Jubilee
Swells not Thy praise as swells it the breathless pause of their breath. What is the flame of their fire, if so I may catch the flame;
What the strength of their strength, if also I may wax strong? The flaming fire of their strength is the love of Jesu's Name,
" When they shall have finished their testimony:" — and not till then. "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace."
"The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit." — As said the Angel to Zechariah: "This is wickedness " — knowing which I know enough: " Wickedness shall be broken as a tree."
but happy I arn inasmuch as I cannot, like my mother Eve, gratify my curiosity. For what once I know, I cannot at a wish unknow; and to hanker after knowledge of wickedness seems too often akin to hankering after wickedness.
This my ignorance being Providential, and therefore beyond cavil safe and right, teaches me that to gaze at sin for any purpose except learning to avoid it, has a dangerous side. It was the serpent fascinated Eve when they met face to face, not Eve the serpent. If Elijah complained: "I am not better than my fathers," well may I acknowledge as much, and fear to disport myself in any place where they stumbled.
Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver and preserve us from sinful and sympathetic study of evil. Evil communications corrupt good manners; awaken us to righteousness that we sin no more, but be made of Thee blameless and acceptable in Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen.
8. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Our Master had aforetime declared: "It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem."
Sodom, Egypt, Jerusalem: who but for the Inspired Word had dared class them as, under any aspect, spiritual equiva lents?
The Jerusalem of our day is holy Church, the outward and visible Church Catholic. A net she is full of good and bad, a field green with tares and wheat, a floor laden with grain and chaff. In her the not-good are bad, the not-wheat are tares, the not-grain is chaff: in her they all are, but some not of her; all in her now, but some not always; all borne with to-day, but some not to be borne with to-morrow. Each one of us inevitably is good or else bad; is wheat or else a tare; is grain or else chaff.
According to another similitude we all are either sheep or goats. Now mixed together; but at last to be sorted and severed, and to depart one from another. Yet those millions of souls destitute of help, who have never so much as known their right hand from their left: what of them? God knoweth. We read that even the hallowed Passover Lamb might be taken out either from the sheep or from the goats; the kid, the infant goat, being thus classed with the lamb, the infant sheep, and proved capable of Divine acceptance.
O Lord the Good Shepherd, Whose is the holy flock; the cattle upon a thousand hills are also Thine. Thou art good and gracious, and my trust is in Thy word.
" Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth: think of the Lord with a good (heart), and in simplicity of heart seek Him. For He will be found of them that tempt Him not; and sheweth Himself unto such as do not distrust Him."
"Their dead bodies shall lie." — "But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. For honour able age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age."
" Where also our Lord was crucified." — Following Whom afar off, " Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous ness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
It is " our Lord " Who was crucified: theirs, and equally ours; theirs, no more than ours, no more than mine.
O our Lord, because of Thy gracious word touching the corn of wheat, make us all, make me, of its living abundant fruit. O our Lord, because Thou hast been lifted up from the earth, fulfil Thy gracious word and draw all men, draw me, unto Thee.
9. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
" Why do... the people imagine a vain thing?... The Lord shall have them in derision."
The chief priests and Pharisees, Christ's murderers, remem bered that He had said: "After three days I will rise again.... So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch." Now on the contrary these mis creants suffer not the holy bodies to be hidden out of sight, but keep an eye upon them.
If this be the lesson they learned from that former experi ence, what a lesson from the ways and works of God!
Under either precaution the result is the same. Thus of old it was equally possible for Samson mured up in Gaza to arise at midnight and break forth; or for the same Samson openly and under all men's eyes in Dagon's temple to over throw both idol and idolaters.
10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
" The heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity."
All such impious sending of gifts is in its degree as when Pilate " sent " our Lord to Herod, and Herod again " sent " Him back to Pilate, whereupon the two were made friends. " Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be un punished."
They that dwelt upon the earth rejoiced over twain who doubtless were well content no longer to dwell upon such an earth. Short-sighted, those sinners rejoiced because of a cessation of torment, a lull before a storm.
To slay the two prophets produced at the utmost a pause of torment. Yet might those tormented sinners have clean escaped if they would, as out of the snare of the fowler. Whereby? By ceasing to "dwell upon the earth," and trans ferring conversation, treasure, heart, to heaven.
As then, so now, so always while the day of grace endures. Would any not be afraid of the power? Whoso doeth that which is good shall have praise of the same; for he is the minister of God to such for good.
Sighing from the earthbound soul: Life is sighing, life is dying: Toll, bell, toll.
Gropes in its own grave the mole Wedding darkness, undescrying, Tending to no different goal.
Self-slain, who should make thee whole? Vain the clamour of thy crying: Toll, bell, toll,
Living branches are borne by the root, and through the root only have commerce with the earth. What cannot be com passed or indulged in as by Christ's member, is unfit to be compassed or indulged in at all.
The saints are strangers and pilgrims, dwellers in tents, sojourners as all our fathers were. They resemble air plants rather than earth plants, yet are by no means tossed about with every wind. They may be likened to birds of paradise, having feet as well as pinions, yet pinions more conspicuous and more characteristic than feet.
11. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
"Three days and an half" apparently of total failure. " Thou hast made us *as the oftscouring and refuse in the midst of the people." "We are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day." Unto^ but not beyond. " If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee."
I may or may not be numbered amongst those who with eyes of flesh and blood shall behold when the Spirit of God entering into the two Witnesses they shall stand upon their feet. But the general resurrection all must see.
The rejoicers in iniquity must gaze horror-struck. The rejoicers in the truth may indeed gaze with " great fear "; yet, please God, with greater hope; with at least some trembling joy amid the general lamentation and mourning and woe.
That so (God grant it!), that so it may assuredly be with us in that day, it must in this day be so with us in spirit, will, strenuous endeavour: by our siding with God against Satan, with righteousness against sin, with truth against falsehood, with law against revolt; by our siding with those against these in our secret aim, heart; in our open conduct; in our circle by example, influence; in the Church by loyalty, consistency; in the world by courage, zeal, endurance.
A saint or a sinner: one or other each must come to light in the resurrection. No neutrals then: therefore no neutrals now.
It is an alarming symptom when sympathy leans to the wrong side, or when taste and curiosity lie beyond the pale. " Remember Lot's wife."
O Lord Jesus Christ, Who being Infinite didst for our sake deign to encompass Thyself with limitations; curb our eyes, hearts, wills, imaginations, desires: that law and instruction may be our ornament of grace and chains of dignity, and that Thy service may be our perfect freedom.
12. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
If these two witnesses be Enoch and Elias, then is their career pre-eminently Christ-like. In a subordinate sense, they like their Master first came down from heaven to earth in order to die \ and having died and risen again, they afterwards re-ascended to heaven in a cloud, as we read that our Lord Himself ascended.
" Come up hither." — And they went up.
To us day by day the word is "Come." "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." " Come; for all things are now ready." " Come unto the marriage." Alas! for any with whom the Truth is pleading: " Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life "; — to whom He will never say: " Come up hither."
" See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven."
Lord, this blessed day while Thou commandest, invitest, beseechest us to come, grant us grace obediently to come: lest another day Thou say to us, Go, depart; and disobedient even in our obedience we must then depart. From which utter destruction preserve us, Good Lord Jesus. Amen.
Lord, grant us grace to mount by steps of grace From grace to grace nearer, my God, to Thee: Not tarrying for to-morrow Lest we lie down in sorrow, And never see Unveiled Thy Face.
Life is a vapour vanishing in haste;
Life is a day whose sun grows pale to set; Life is a stint and sorrow, One day and not the morrow; Precious, while yet It runs to waste.
Lord, strengthen us; lest fainting by the way We come not to Thee, we who come from far: Lord, bring us to that morrow Which makes an end of sorrow, Where all saints are On holy day.
Where all the saints rest who have heard Thy call, Have risen and striven and now rejoice in rest: Call us too home from sorrow To rest in Thee to-morrow; In Thee our Best, In Thee our All.
"And their enemies beheld them." — Not (please God) that there were not also friends left on earth to see them; for besides those dead in Christ who will rise first, St. Paul particularizes some who being alive at His coming will be caught up to meet Him in the air.
Hidden saints: Mephibosheths of the Better David. Yet as *' Open rebuke is better than secret love," we must by a sort of parallel be on our guard lest any " hidden " aspect of own depend, on our not being saints at all, and therefore and for that reason only not shining to the glory of our Heavenly Father. Lest in lieu of dark lanterns lighted, we be simply lightless lanterns.
"A people scattered and peeled... a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under footr>: — to less than this, even at her very least, the Church Militant can never dwindle.
13. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake
were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
" Ye are the salt of the earth," said our Blessed Master to
His disciples: by which statement we recognize Christians as the preservative element of this world. So Noah barricaded the old world against the Deluge, until he was shut into the
Ark. So Lot screened the cities of the plain from fire, until he entered into Zoar. So now the earthquake forbore, until the two Witnesses had ascended. So to the very end earth cannot perish, until the last saint has been caught up.
Salt pleases not every palate, nor preaching every ear, nor warning every temper. If it be possible, as much as lieth in him, each Christian is charged to live peaceably with all men. Beyond what lieth in him he is not answerable: up to what lieth in him he is.
One who aspires to teach must first become teachable. And if no time should remain afterwards for teaching? Then like a Deacon such an one will have purchased to himself a good degree; good, although another may be better and higher.
If we may connect the overthrown tenth of the city as bearing a traceable arithmetical proportion to the seven thousand slain; then the full number of inhabitants was seventy thousand, of whom sixty-three thousand being affrighted glorified God. So far this dire destruction resembles the amputation of one limb to relieve a whole body; as one says, to afford one last chance for life.
The sixty-three thousand presumably included, if they did not altogether consist of, a remnant of those outrageous rebels of whom we have just been reading as revelling and rejoicing over the slain Witnesses. They were impressed, aroused, at the least momentarily as it would seem brought to a better nrnd, by the death of seven thousand in a great earthquake.
I myself have lived in a period though not in a region of earthquakes. Inhabited places have fallen, an unknown number of my fellow-creatures have perished. I have been affrighted and I have been spared.
Now, Lord God of Heaven, grant me grace to give Thee glory; lest it had been better for me to be cut oft" short, not living out half my days. Multiply upon us Thy mercy; pleading Jesus Christ I multiply my prayer for every soul within the possibility of Thine infinite mercy. Amen.
14. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
That third woe, that most awful woe inasmuch as we read not that it passes!
It is in great measure with the contrary source of grief that we are for the present familiar. Half earth's sadness takes its rise from her transitory habit. Spring or summer might satisfy a light heart, if only they could abide. Autumn is a very parable of passing away and sorrowfulness. Only winter is cheered by our foresight of its coming to an end; winter the death of each year.
That winter which will be the death of Time has no promise of termination. Winter that returns not to spring, night that returns not to day, death that returns not to life, woe that returns not to bliss, — who can bear it?
Thou Who didst endure for us the cold night of Thy Passion; deliver us from the winter, the night, the woe, of eternal death. Thou Who didst die and revive for us; deliver us from the fruitless woeful eternity of death.
15. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.
At the opening of the seventh seal there was silence in heaven: now at the sounding of the seventh trumpet there are " great voices in heaven." In divers manners God speaketh to us.
A Woe was predicted: and behold! joy as the joy of harvest, and as when men rejoice who divide the spoil. But the Woe is bound up in the joy; overthrow introduces the triumph.
The Woe is mentioned first, reminding us to bear each other's burdens while we may. As yet, God prospering our poor endeavour, we may by influence, example, sympathy, a helping hand, intercession, lighten our brethren's load: even as the saints by holy influence, pious example, warm hands stretched out to help, Christ-like sympathy and intercession, spend themselves to lighten ours.
"The kingdoms of this world" are those which are to become "the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ." But the Revised Version in each clause gives the singular instead of the plural, kingdom instead of kingdojns.
Since I know not which translation to prefer, it seems lawful to learn from both.
Strength attaches to union, resource to multiplicity. The kingdom of death (notwithstanding that death is dissolution) retains strength while it coheres; for our Lord Himself de clared that were Satan divided against himself his kingdom could not stand. How much more would the kingdom of life, which is the Church Catholic, wax invincibly strong if all Christendom were to become as at the first of one heart and one mind! Alas! for the offences of former days and of this day, for our fathers' offences and our own, which have torn to shreds Christ's seamless vesture.
Nevertheless inasmuch as multiplicity is allied to resource, let us, until better may be, make capital even of our guilty disadvantage. Let us be provoked to good works by those with whom we cannot altogether agree, yet who many ways set us a pattern. Why exclusively peer after defects while virtues stare us in the face? Cannot we — I at least can learn much from the devotion of Catholic Rome, the immutability of Catholic Greece, the philanthropic piety of Quakerism, the zeal of many a " protestant." And when the Anglican Church has acquired and reduced to practice each virtue from every such source, holding fast meanwhile her own goodly heritage of gifts and graces, then may those others likewise learn much from her: until to every Church, congregation, soul, God be All in all.
This present dying life has to end in final death or final life. Time must be superseded by eternity.
Then the kingdom will pass away utterly from whatsoever is not " of our Lord, and of His Christ."
Death will abide in evil unity, the lost in evil multiplicity: unity of impotence not of strength, multiplicity of antagonism not of alliance.
Life, created but immortal, will be bound up as one in that "bundle of life," the love of God; and at the same time will be what " no man could number " in its offering of love to God. One in joy, innumerable in pleasures; one in sanctification, innumerable in graces.
"And He shall reign for ever and ever." Amen.
Marvel of marvels, if I myself shall behold
With mine own eyes my King in His city of gold;
\Vhere the least of lambs is spotless white in the fold,
Where the least and last of saints in spotless white is stoled,
Where the dimmest head beyond a moon is aureoled.
O saints my beloved, now mouldering to mould in the mould,
Shall I see you lift your heads, see your cerements unrolled,
See with these very eyes? who now in darkness and cold
Tremble for the midnight cry, the rapture, the tale untold,
" The Bridegroom cometh, cometh, His Bride to enfold."
Cold it is, my beloved, since your funeral bell was tolled, Cold it is, O my King, how cold alone on the wold.
16. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
17. Saying, We give Thee thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned.
Judgment, mercy, salvation, destruction, all elicit worship from the citizens of heaven; amongst whom we here behold the four and twenty elders prostrate themselves in adoration, thereby enhancing not abating their proper dignity. Through out this Apocalypse the chorus of rapturous praise occurs and recurs; like the burden of that i36th Psalm of which each verse, whatever it recounts, culminates in the words: " For His mercy endureth for ever." God's Goodness, His supremacy, His marvellous acts, His Wisdom in creation, His Providence, His destruction of the Egyptian firstborn, His rescue of enslaved Israel, His wonders at the Red Sea, His longsuffering in the wilderness, His overthrow of hostile kings, His bestowal of the promised land, His faithful remembrance, His everready help, His bounty, — all called forth the Psalmist's impartial praise. Which chant of praise from his day to our own has echoed in the Church generation after generation, and echoes still and still will echo while faith remains in the earth.
"Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy Throne; mercy and truth shall go before Thy face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance."
Lord; make us, I beseech Thee, like-minded with all saints whether on earth or in heaven; that we may worship Thee as they worship, trust Thee as they trust, rejoice in Thee as they rejoice, love Thee as they love. Even for the sake of our Saviour Jesus Christ the Saint of saints. Amen.
" O Lord God Almighty, Which Art, and Wast, and Art to come." — The Revised Version omits " and Art to come ": thus setting before us (by suggestion) that perpetual now of eternity which ensues from the unchanging Perfection of the Divine Being. For since He Whose Name is Holy " inhabited! eternity," therefore eternity is so to say moulded upon Him; and to Him in his own Nature there exists neither past nor future, nothing ended, nothing beginning. " Which Wast " expresses the creature's experience throughout time, and the creature's mode of apprehending that eternity which (in a sense) preceded time; while, as the passage under consider ation commemorates the transference of the creature out of time into eternity, the text stopping short (if in truth it does so stop short) at the words " and Wast," indicates how time has at length passed away even for the creatures of time, who thenceforward for good or for evil are conformed to the law of eternity.
" Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned " — as it were responding to the prayer and prophecy: " Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away."
" Thy Throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre."
18. And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy Name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
St. Paul writes: " Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil."
Here at the sunset of time the nations are angry; and God suffering His whole displeasure at length to arise destroys them which destroy the earth. " Thou sattest in the Throne judging right. Thou hast rebuked the heathen, Thou hast de stroyed the wicked, Thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end."
" It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." After life, death: after death, judgment: after judgment, life everlasting or death everlasting. " My come liness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength."
So brief a life, and then an endless life
Or endless death: So brief a life, then endless peace or strife.
Whoso considereth How man but like a flower
Or shoot of grass Blooms an hour,