armies join in battle in heavenly places--the hosts of the living God radiant with glory and might meet rank with rank and phalanx with phalanx against the powers of hell and darkness. "Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven." "Headlong themselves they threw Down from the verge of heaven; eternal wrath Burn'd after them to the bottomless pit."-MILTON. The dragon is cast out of the heaven of the Church of Christ into the earth-Judæa, and his angels are cast out with him. Then arose the mournful plaint anticipatory of the coming distress. "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and the sea, for the devil is come down unto them having great wrath, for he knoweth that he hath but a short time," and that the God of peace will bruise him under the feet of his Church " shortly." 1 Woe to the land of Judæa, because of the abounding iniquity, and the cup which they must fill to the measure of their fathers. From this persecution the Lord delivers them that are his. The Church flies into the wilderness beyond the Jordan to a place, Pella-prepared of God, — made known unto her "by divine revelation before the war." There she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time from the face of the serpent.' There she is fed "a thousand two hundred and threescore days." The serpent casts out of his mouth a waterflood to destroy her, but the gates of hell cannot prevail against her, and the destruction is averted by Him who miraculously interposes for the deliverance of his Church. I commend this interpretation as more suited to the day and age of the Apocalypse than that of Dr. Cumming. It will be seen that it thoroughly eschews the notion of Arians or Trinitarians, of Vandals, Visigoths, or Huns, having ever entered into the writer's mind. It will be seen, that it is content to prefer the scriptural definition of the great red dragon, given in the Apocalypse, to a definition which has no deeper foundation than the coinage of the imagination. It will be seen, that it Rom. vi. 20. supposes all allusion to the Emperor Maximin to be fast verging on the fabulous, and the period of the woman's gestation of 280 years to savour strongly of the ridiculous and the apocryphal. And let me observe once again that I do not offer these remarks in any uncharitable spirit, or with any intention of speaking irreverently of holy things. If I cannot resist a smile now and then, it is not because I forget I am dealing with a sacred subject, but because I am anxious to show that truth never suffers in comparison with error. It is not because my house is built of stone and Dr. Cumming's of glass that I can afford to fling stones at him; it is only because I think and it is but my opinion after all—that my house will resist harder knocks than his, that I presume to call attention to the points of difference between us. May the end and upshot be increased and ever increasing knowledge, light, and truth! THE 325 LECTURE XIV. BEAST RISING FROM THE SEA, AND THE BEAST COMING UP OUT OF THE EARTH. REV. xiii. 1. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to REV. xvii. 1. And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5. And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 9. If any man hath an ear, let him hear. 10. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. 11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16. And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 7. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10. And there are seven kings: five are fallen and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh he must continue a short space. 11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17. For God hath put into their 18. Here is wisdom, Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. It will be borne in mind that we are still pursuing the subject of the Seventh Trumpet and the Seventh Vial. Now, although in the previous Lecture an identity was to be traced between the Trumpet and Vial, inasmuch as the Vial is poured into "the air," and the Trumpet describes an accuser cast out, whose abode is said to be "the air," it was not of a complete and perfect kind; and yet it was of that kind which is very common in the Apocalypse, where an event barely mentioned under the one is explained at greater length under the other. If you compare the description of the kings of the East and their armies, which are only just alluded to in the Sixth Vial, and detailed at great length under the Sixth Trumpet, the Resurrection, only faintly sketched under the symbol of watching and keeping the garments, lest they walk naked" in the Vial, and carried out into finished proportions in the Trumpet under the figure of the Open Book and the Two Witnesses, the "earthquake," only mentioned under the Seventh Trumpet and fully described under the Seventh Vial, — the "great hail," as it were incidentally introduced under the same Trumpet, and the full particulars of its destructiveness given under the Vial,- you will readily perceive similar instances. In the present case the identity is complete under both; and, in order to ascertain this identity, we must, as usual, compare the Trumpet with the Vial. 66 Trumpet. "I saw a Beast rise up out of the sea." Vial. "The Beast that thou sawest . . . shall ascend out of the bottomless pit--aẞvoσos." T. "Having seven heads and ten horns." . 1 In the Septuagint, the sea is called ἄβυσσος; “ ἀβύσσου πηναὶ κάτ τωθεν.”. Deut. xxxiii. 13. |
