8: Jer. nxi S5). Thns, then, God can coming woes. De Wette and otben un- tnm even the benign influenllff of the aun necessarily understand "au angel in the a.nd planets into means for the destruction form of an eagle." De Lym in~ta it of man. In the oouutless evils which have as St. John himselt Wordsworth, relying their origin in the exc088 or defect of the chiefly on the force of .rr, believes &ha' power of the sun, we may see an illustration Christ is signified: but it is extremely of the fulfilment of this judgment. We ma.y doubtful whether the force of the numeral point out that the very existence of such can be pressed so far. Others see a refer- Tisitations as a.re here portrayed preclude ence to the Roman legiorui, eto. The figure the possibility of the fulfilment of the may have been auggested by Matt. xll.i.v. 28. trumpet-visions being subsequent in time Flying through the midllt of heaven; JlyifllJ to those of the seals. So as the third part m mjd i'leai,en (Revised Version). Not of them wa.a darkened. a.nd the da.y 1hone "midway between earth -and heaven." but JJ.Ot for a. third pa.rt of it, and the night "in the di.root line of the sun." The word likewise; that the third part oJ them alwvld ts found -0nly here and in eh. xiv. 6 and bll darkened, atul the day should not ah.i'Ml xiL 17. In the former it is rendered u :ID /or the third part of it, and the night in liks this place, in the latter U is transle,ted ":ID manner. Probably, total darkness for a the snn," .The eagle is thus t>l&inly visible third part of the day and night is meant; to all. Saying with a loud vo,.ee. Woe, woe. not a third of the usuo.l amount of light woe, to the·inha.bitera of the earth I "Woo" duriug the whole day and night (a.a Bengel ie followed by " inhabit.en " in the a.oousa.li:ve and others). Renan, as a preterist, BetJll ease, according to N, B; though the dative tho fulfilment in the eclipses of A.D. 68. is read in A, P, and some cursives. " The De Lyra, Wordsworth, and others see in inhabiters of the earth" a.re the ungodly, this judgment a symbol of the iufidelity, the worldly, those on whom God's wrath here,;ies, apostasies, and confusions in the had .been invoked by the saints at rest world in the seventh century and at other (oh. vi. 10), .whose prayer is now answered. times. Vitrin,,oa., adopting the hiotnrical The triple denunciation renders the threat- view, ref..rs !lie fulfilment to particular ened judgmenta more emphatic and terrible. perio,b of the Roman empire. By reason of the other voicee of the tnunpet Ver. 13-And 1 beheld, and heard an of the three angel.a, which a.re yet w 801llld; angel. " An eagle" (Revised Version) is Greek, out of th.6 other 1'0ics, ( denoting from read in t(, A, B, V ulgate, Syriao, Coptic, ete., whence the woe proceeds) 10ho arB •et lo while "augol" is found in P, 1, 16, 84, 47, 801.md. "Trumpet," in the singular, beea.lise ete. One manuscript (18) has l,.yy,Aou &r ta.ken distributively-" of each trumpet." &noii; St. John sees one eagle, tlie symbol The three woes are deaeribed in (1) oli. ix. of what is swift and unerring in swooping 1-11; (2) oh. ix. 12-21; (3) eh. :d. 15- upon its prey. Thns Job ix. 20, "The 19. They perhaps refer to spiritual troubles, engle tha.t hasteth to the prey '' (8')6 also inotead of being concerned (aS in the Mlle Bab. i. 8: 2 Sam. i. 23). This is the mean- of the first four trumpets) with tompoml ing of the appearance of tha eagk, which judgments. announces t.he 11wiftnesa and certainty of the
HOMILETICS. Ver. _L-&'len~ itt heat.'ffl. "Silence in heaven"? and that for II about th$ ~ of. half an hour " ? 1 What can this mean, or how can it furnish an expoaitor with material for instructive teaching? The question is a natural one, and it is capable of being answered. This verse is neither t,o be dismi.ssed as if unintelligible, nor slighted as if unimportant. It is full of most intense significance, and will be found to illustrate the truth that some of the most obscure and unpromising verses of the Word of God do yield t.o the devout and careful student the most stimulating and helpful teaching, It will be remembered that. the sixth chapter closed amid representations of gloom and tribulation; in which the alarm wa.a so gre&t that many would think the great day of God's wrath was come. Yet in this supposition they would be wrong; for the seventb seal had yet to be opened. At the same time, so great was the trouble there depicted as t.o suggest the question-Who shall live when God doeth this? As a relief to the anxious one, the Apostle John bids us see the security of the Cha.. ..h of God- pari being on earth, sea.led in the tribulation, and a part. in heaven, caught up out of'it. 1 On this ha.If-hour, and other Apoea.lyptie meaaurements of time, see Hooper's • Apoo.- qptio Resea.rohe1.' in the Olerg11man'• Magazine, January, 1888. 238 THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. [(lll, vm. 1-13.