The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 195

forty~five, or forty, or thirty; or twenty, or even ten righteous found ln,those cities," the Loni would spare them for their sake. And the Lord promised in each case, even were there only tin, that he would. And how often guilty Israel was spared·the vengeance due to their sins for the sake of Moses who interceded. for them I' And the covenant made with their fathers-how often that is given as the fel!SOn why God's ~ious dealing was oon.tinued to them! And once and again we read of forbearance- and good- ness shown to miserably guilty monarchs, such ·as Rehoboam, Manasseh, and others, becsnse of the.favour God bore towards David, their great ~nd godly ancestor. In the prt,phecy of Ezekiel (ix.) there is given the vision of the man with the ink~hom by_ his Bide, who; ere Jerusalem could be given over to vengeance, was commanded to set· a marl on tho.se who sighed and cried for the abominations done 'in her. That mark w~ as the bJood of the_ Paschal Iamb on the lintel and door-post.s of the houses of Israel, which iecured ·that household on whose dwelling it was found; and so, until this niil'rking bad taken place, the guilty Jerusalem could riot be touched. And so here St. John sees an 8llgel, having'' the seal of the living God," who cries with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, sa.ying, "Hurt not the elLrth, neither the sea, nor the trees; till we have sealed the servants of our God ln iheir foreheads." 'l'errible judgments wer(l about to break forth on the earth, btit :not until the "Servants of God were sealed could these judgments oegin. And Malorie fact wonderfully corresponds to inspired vision. Before the actual bloolcade of·Jw~ ll&lem tiy Titus, the Christians at Jermmlem, warned, 8)1 one ancient Father saye, "-by a certain: oracte given to their leaders by revelation," or, as another says, "by an angel," took refuge across the Jordan, in the Perman town of Pella: Thus from the horrors" of that final ·siege, and from· the fearful · slaughter that went on· in Jeruaalem wheii at last the city was taken, these servants of God. were delivered; And so also, we are tbld fo Matt. xxiv., that ere the lastjudgment of the world takes place, the' elect shall be gathere<l together from the four 'winds, from:, one end of heaven to the other. They shall· be .taken to be with their Lord, where the vengeance coining on his foes cannot harm them. But what in all these instances we would chiefly note is, not so much the blessed security of the righteous, themselves when t'be evil day comes ·on sinful men, as the restraining power their presence has on the coming of'that evil da:y; how it delays it, holds it back, sometimes altogether turns it aside, or when it comes shortens it; as our &viour said, "For the elects' sake those days shall be Alrortened." Verily his disciples are "the salt of the earth "-that preserving· force which hinden the world from becoming one mass of corruption. ·Without such· salt human )ife would become putrescent, 11nd must at orioo be buried.out of sight: Everywhere and always' are the tllres allowed to continue' and increase,' _not for their 6wn sake, but for the sak', of the wheat amid which they have been planted by the enemy. Unskilful servants crave permission to go and pull them up forthwith, but are forbidden by. thll. Lotti; "lestt he says, ''in.pulling up the tares ye pull up th!' wheat also." Because ot' t1i'e "few namils in Sai:dis" which had not defiled their garmerits, that' Charon 'ivhii:ih had nothing but the_ name of a living Church'was nevertheless spared; li!l(l she been ait,o.; gether dead, she ·would not hi\ve ~ - It is everywhere tru,e that,. ijke·'as 'it is'with the body, whilst the principle of. life lingers, the process of comiption cannot do any./. thing against it; but when life departs, then soon it' returns "dust to dust, ashes to ashes," and our loveliest and dearest ones have to be buried out~ our sight. . So, too, is it m the moral relations of man to God. Where there ill IOllle good thing· in man towards God, this spiritual life, faint though it be, acts es "' mighty conservative fQl'Ce in the individual and in society· at large. It is this which keeps earth from being lij hell. Sometimes, in some places and in some respects; we almost feel that it is like beli, for life then and there seems so horrible; but more commonly there are scattered amongst· iiociety those persons; principles, and habits which · still· make' life' worth; IM~, !'hich are its ~reserving sal~, which. stay moral !lOrrupti?n; · an4 ·hold ,melt thli Dbme Jud.gments against man's evil, and give hope of tl'i"ere be~g one day ~·ttl&lnrbt 'which "the people shall be all righteous," a new Iieaveri and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. And what is true in the broader aspects·of human life is•true also in indifl<lual and in more· limited senses. Have we not read 'of that beloved queen who interceded _for the doomed citizens· of Calais, and won ·from her stern huaband thli pardop. which. but for the love he bore bet. would never have beeu ali. vu; 1-17.] THE RE.VELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE.' 219