The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 227

.waged. They are not extermfaated 'but tortured, as if with the stings' of BCOrpions. They would -fain die, b11t may. not; they live on and llllff'er. The invading armies, like looust. fur 11umber, power, .and,,destructiveness, waste ·and rniil and oppress them day by day. What a picture of war is. here I An,d the sixth,-this. tells of -~. ~ pf human life ·and the detmoration <Jf human ·c11araaer 1Vhich war causes.· One tbinl part of the :human ™'.e perishes, and the test, \nstead 'of repenting ,themselves of their sins, become hanlened. Whatever speoial war it'' was that St. John had in his mind when, with such seeming particularity of place and time '1lmLciroulllStance,. he wrote. concerning this sixth trumpet-blast, it is certain that the .:effects' tolcl of are the rommon accompaniments of war. If the .career of the Turks l!Jld their conquests · be; 81. is asserted, the wars here meant, .and which e.-.tended from A.». 1055 for.nearly four hundred years, and'which, according to the .year,.day theory, is. just the period which the one year and month and day and hour .11poken of would signify, then the .resemblance is doubtless striking, even to the identifi• ~ion of the "brimstone, fire, and smoke" with the gunpowder which was first used itl the siege of Constaritinople•. Butc;there is no need to limit the ·reference of the vision to those ciroumstances, as it will -apply to many similar ones, But all these visions &NI descriptions of war-those •.• wars and rumours of war" whioh our Saviour foretold should be ere the end come; and the .comfort for God's tronbled people is in that which the eeventb tnimpet declares, that through and by1 amid and in spite of them, the kingd.oma of this world fall to Ghrist. '!'hero is comfort in thi6-just that comfort which the Church in $he aJJOBto1ic age and many times since has sorely needed. Were it not for this final declaration, how. wearyingly, how despairingly, should we look on all the turmoil and disasters which have resulted from the ever-recurring wars which men have waged! We could see no reason or end in them, But when the seventh angel sounds his trnmpet the outcome of all is ·seen, and the l'l'Bnlt recom- pel'.1$l18 for all that has gone before; But yet more should we see in these visions the ~tting forth of, 4. <J«rll war tUith the ungodly• . This·is whitt -we most of all should learn from them. (1) And they show how~ in order to subdue ... the unruly wills of 1inful men," God ii wont, when milder means fail, to send judgments of a very awful kind. Every one of these visions sets forth such judgment of God. (2) And when one will not suffice, another is sent. The dread procession of them seems never done ptllllling ~y.. (3) And they become more and more terrible. There is a manifest lll!hlrgement in the scope and severity of these successive judgments. The ominous cry ef the eagle which is heard after the first four trumpets have sounded declares this as e.oeil the consideration of the judgments themmllves. Such is God's way: who can d,eny that it is so? (4) Ent in wrath he remembers mercy. The judgments are not universal, nor exterminating. 'l'he reiterated mention of the "one third po.rt" 'as bein~. the- sufferers, not the whole, shows wherefore and with what hope in regard to iµena repentance they were sent. (5) But, alas! they seem to fail in their purpose, ,Mter.so many and so terrible visitations men did not repent; they seemed only, like Amon, to stn "more and more." But it should seem as if, when God's judgments, as i,n the cnse of the plagues of Egypt, no longer merely fell on whgt was outside their life, no longer merely tormented them, but now smot.e that life itself, as did the jµdgment of the sixth trumpet, the last of these dread visitations, then some kind of repentance· was produced. But we cannot certainly say. (6) VictO!'y, however, is the outcome of all. How could it be otherwise? Can man for ever defy the Almighty? .Ble~ •be God, he cannot, and sooner or later rebel man will have to lay down his weapons and own Christ Lord of all. CoNOLOSI0N. But wherefore will man wage this war at all? God desires it not., but has sent the meBBage and the ministry of reconciliation. We, then, as" an:.bas. sadors fur Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ'• stead, be ye reconciled to God."-8;0. Ver. 13.-Tke body and the bird, "And I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, • • • Woe, woe, woe, for them that dwell on the earth I" The true reading of the text is given in the Revised Version. It was not "an angel flying," but a solitary eagle or vulture, that St. John saw. Hovering high overhead, a mere speck in the sky, aiul its har•h cry sounding .aa if it uttered over. and over again the ominous words, cn.'vni.1-13.J THEI REVELATION OF ST., JOHN THE DIVINl!l. 26:J