IV. SUCH PR.A.YBBS KOVB THB HAND THAT RULES ALL TBINGII. The answer of these prayers comes in the form of command-for we mnst assume such •eommand~to sprinkle the enkindled incense on the earth. Hence the angel takes the golden censer and "fills it with the fire of the altar, and casts it upon the earth." And -then at once a.re heard voices and thunders, and the lightning dash, and earthquakes are eeen-sigDa similar to those with which God came down upon llount Sinai. So now he is about to interpose in response to the prayers which have been pr0118nted to him. And ~e seven angels prepare themselves to SQund, lift their trumpets to their lips, and ~ about to peal forth their terrible blasts. It is all a -vivid picture of the prevalence of the prayers of the people of God. Mighty things are these prayers, weapons of resistless force. fearful for .the ungodly when their answer involves the sinner's doom, ltut. blessed always for those who pray. Why do we not avail ourselves far more than ,re do of this Divi.nil force? This vision bids us pray, pray perseveringly and unitedly, pray in Christ's name; and it shows ua the holy ones in heaven praying with us, and eow our prayen prevail. Who, then. would not pray ?-S. 0. es. wn.1-13.] lfHE· RETij:LA'tlON' o:r s-:e: JOHN 'Tim mVINB. ~
.• VerJ. 1½,,-13; eh. ix..; xi. 14-.-18•..,.-,.!M uar-lrvmpet.. L Am. <J'HDIC·,-~ 'J'iloL 01' :WJ.&. The firsi six are proclamation& of war, and the• symbols thaHGll~w on _tb,eir sounding _set. fort~ varifl!l aiipeota-of·•'lfll,l'•· TJie last proclaima·trar ended ·.nd :y1ctory won. · . · ;, ·:·. , ,: ·, . . .· , -, .: .. , • . It. BU"J: WBA~ 1'All? There can lie llt.Ue doubt that, u in all-piopbetical wm- .ings, facts ..within the immediate or near horizon of the writer forin the baais· of Jue predictions, ~ funµah the groundwOik. of the great moral and spiritual truths, ,and or the futUJl8 historic facts to which, by way· of. resemblance,; they direct OU.£ thought. . Therefore : .1. The ivara <>f the period in :which t.he writer .lived and wrote w~ be lookei!, -~" the things which are and which an about to happe:a '! (eh, i. 19) ;-(or, t,he prilJlll,ry eJtpl1i.nation of• the vivid, myete~ and manifestly apptieft'.ble .11,rmbol11, wl>u:h the viswns conQOO_ted wUh these, MYenntrompets present tb ·w1. Let ,JO$epbuii be consulted, and in- his -pages will be,found ·more than ent>ugh. tu famish JD!',teriiµ for all the awful UJl.ages whioh we find.here. -·The dread drama of the Jewish ""3r was in full 8!)tion. · 'l'lM! maa,,actea. and desol&tion, .tbo poisoniiig of the, very springs of ·µfe, the, -tortwe, ·the inroada of locust-like hordes of· Arab, Iduma,an; an,t pther _ann_.ies_,-all. th_e appall~ horro.rs which St. John speaks of, weree.11 t!i~i his Jroagecy was ready t0 hand, and, as-,an· intense Jew, th& ealamities ·tliat;beleU hill ~ople could. uot but have-roused in him deepest,sympathy, and made.his·-words bum, and his t.h1>ughts glow, as 1hey do in this wonderful book. That he was far removed from t4e immediate scene of these events would make uo difference. And_ besidilll the .Jewish ,war, there were the -civil wars which were disLracting the .Roman iempite: ~bellions 11.11.d revolts ; , ihis general &lld t.he other, determined to mount the imperial .thro,ne, let the cost in bloodshed and the risk be wha.t it might ;-euch were the 1mrroun,dings of St.. John's life, and to them we primarily look for the explanation of wbat he says. But we eannc:,t doubt, either, that: 2.. Tk6 1J1at'B whica led to thB foil <! t;/IA ~pir4 lin\l their. fOAJshadowing here. The historic expoeitors,affirm that these ~loue. a.re what_ St.. Jqhn meant,; and that the sacce88ive invasions under ~ c , Ueull6ric, .t\Uil;i., awi•Odoacer, and, after them, 0£.the. Saracens and Turks, Me wbat·,is l1cre _portrayed. !l'hey ask of th,,se who. dm1bt t.hw illterpretation, "Now, if. it had bee.II int.e.ndod to predict these event.s, could tliey h&ve been more cilllarly and ,accura,tely 1kscribe,d?" Clll"tainly the correspondences are close, and the examination' of them i,s so inter9Sting that more sober ~onolusions are apt to be abandoned. B11\ remember.,. ing the. purpose of this· book, the comforting e.nd strengthening .of the persecuted: Church of his ow.n <lay; and the method of all prophetical writings, to lay hold on pl'e8ellt a,nd near facts;-we cannot think that, however much foreshadowed these 1.hen-distant ~~ might have hEle~, they were in the mind of the apostle when he wrote. :For µ9t t9 these wars only do these symbols apply, but to: 3. All war. If a deterrent frol!l war ~ neiided; ~ it often is, then the study of these vast canvases on which the- Divine artist has paiuwd successive pictures of the horrors of war cannot but be- advautagcous. The fir~ shows the de~lwn tt causes; the· trees and the growing if8813: &nd .corn •destroyed by the wild war-storm which is likened to hail and fir& l,llingled, with blood. The second, t/uJ destru~tion of ,x,minwrr,e. A -great mountain, i;ymQOl of soµie vast earthly power-burning, set on fire with rage and lust of conquest -,-is cast inl.Q tb,e sea; the high.way of commerce. The waves a.re dyed red wilh blood• the fish die, the ships perj:sh. The third, the <>Vf:l'throw <I cities and ci"tJiUzation ge,.erally. Ou the bankli of rivers the ahicl' cities of the world have for·the most parl l!cen placed. '£,lie historic inter~eters point. out how as Genseric, with his Vandals, made the shores of the Mediterranean his chief battle-ground, so, as this third picture repi·escnts, Attila. fell---swittly like a stone, burning like a torch, with fury-upon the tiver-side cities and poplllationa which lay _at the bases of the mountains, the springs 9f the great rivers, and made their life bitter to them. Yes, it was so; and it is what all war does and bas done. Cities and civilization suffer. irreparably, must do so. The fourth, political overthrow. 'l'he sun, moon, and stars-symbols of government, of kings and the chief rulers of men-these cease to rule and fall from their high plnccs when the fortune of wnr goes again~t them. It was so amongst .JeWff and Romans a.like. 'fhe fifth~ mote dreadful picture than any and more compfotely drawn (eh. i;.)-tells of the wtolerabla tortt1,Te11 which war-<:hild of hell and the pit antl ~- devil I.bat it ill:--,-i.nil.icts. upqa thu UlisorAble people.. amid and 1,tpon wJ.om it' is- !252 THE, REVEL.ATIO'N OF ST. 'JOHN THE oiViNE. (CB. vm. 1-13.