The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 221

. purp011e fulfilled I · The Lord was wont tn take people aside tvhen he ~u1d:b1e1Hhlltt1. It ia 60 nO\V, Anti when f1l8II 'WUUld resist Uie Spirit they shun •tAeire nlenl ··,eaio;i,. 'l'he accusers of the worn au ta.ken in aduliery could not endure- the Lord's silence;'])ls . answering them· not l\ word, arid hence they heap their questions upon ·hilt!, arid den'wid an answer; for any answer would be less terrible than th!it dread silence, Wi:mli:f 'WI! g,·ow in grace, 8UCk 1ilences are, e1111ential. 'l'he habit of retreat, of quiet before God, must be cultivated. .All growth is silent. Who hears the springing of 'the corn, tlie twfolding of the flower, the increase of the body in stature? .And 60 is it with the growth of the soul. Like the noiseless building of Solomon's temple, of which Hebor sings- · "No hnmmor -rell-, no pondcro11S axes rung; . Like some tall palm th.e.mystic fabrio sprang.• And 10 in. the building-up or° spiritli,ill character, in growth in grace, ~ilence,· ,stlllqes1, must· be secured, Spiritual W'lrship 'is silent in its essence, though not iu expressi~. Submiilsion is silent. "1 was· fomb, I opened' not tny mouth; l,ec~use thou· di!ls~.it." (Pa. xxxix.). So was it with Aaron, "the saint of- the Lord;" when Jn 6ne ,;ijyfal judgrucnt-stroke he saw his two ungodly sons smitten dead, it ls told that lie ntf.el'f/(1 not a word. Knowledge of God demands 'silence. I' Mary kept a.II tbe~e tbinga, &lid pondered them in her heart..., We. must be still would we know God tq ~ ~od.', He is not in the earthquake, nor the lire, bu't in the still small voi~. 0 bl~)iileru;e, 0 grace and might of hoty quietness, sweElt 11tillness/ of the son}, in whi<:h)~ foot£:ill ·of God is heard, and his voice speaks joy, and ·the angels of patience ap,d hope viait us, and Faith renews her strength l _ . . . · · , · · · "Silent Spirit, dwell with m@; · .. . . . I my!!6lf ~ould sileJJ.t"be." . . And to MCINlrage a lo seek thllff quid hows, how often dOOB God take us apart· from the noiae and rush, the everlasting din- and bustle,· of our common life I· Season, o f ~ are designed to be such times ·of silent retreat, when we may "commune with:" our ."own heart upon our bed; and be still," and so ha\'e leisure to attend to the life within. Sabbaths, these days of the Lord ln which we should be, as St. John was, "in the Spirit," are they not God's messengers to us, saying; " Rest; be silent· from thy common speech, thy common work; meditate on things eternal ; let there be tJ&hB& in the activities of thy daily IiCe; imitate as·bffl thou canst'the season of 11iletrce of the saints in heaven"? And the unseen world, the place of the departed, that in\ertnediate condition in which till the resurrection the souls of believers rest, this also is inenily another divinely given retreat for.the soul~ going down into silence, aa the )lllallh calla it. White robes are theirs (see eh. v.), which tell of the love of God to them, ifud that they are cleansed in the blood of Christ; and rest, quiet, calm, in the preseuce of the Lord. Sleep for all the bodily powers, but not for the soul.. That-now that the once busy hands and feet are at rest, and the heart Uu-oba no l\lOre, and the tongue ui~ no word, none, though often we here long .. For the t.ouch of a vanished hand, For the sound of a voice that is m:n • -tbRt now lives unto God, where "he .bath hid hia beloved In bis pavilion ftom the 11trife of tongues." There, the Martha-like activity over, we may, like Mary, sit at the Master's feet and share in that "good part," as here on earth was· but rarely possible for us, So great is the value of these silences, of one of whieh our text tells, and to which it has turned our thoughts, and not -qnprolitably, we trust, but so that it. b• been good for uii to muse on the "silence" there was "In heaven for half an hoar." -s.c. Ver. 2.-The ministry qf a11gels. ".And I saw the seven angels." These holy beinga are continually spoken of in Scripture, and in no book of the Bible more frequently or emphatically than in this. From their first mention in connection with the touching story of Hagar and her child, which we read of in Genesis, down to their constan, ministry, now of mercy, now of terror, which we r~ad of in these closing pages of the Bible, we are continually meeting with reforences to them. It, therefore, cannot bul ;tte fflB REVELATION OP ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. :[cm. vnt 1-18.