Vera. 7-11.-T/u, triumph of tfVi1 through wtifa,ithfalnus. Satanic power Is encouraged by human unfaithfulness. The utmost power of evil ill let loose, and with· destructive energy works only evil, and the direst evil, amongst the children of men. The evil character of the effects of unfaithfuln8811 is represented by figures which suggest the greatest painfulness, and which a.re repulsive in the extreme. The sun and the air are darkened by " smoke " issuing from the opened "pit of the abyss " - the smoke " as of a great furnace." The power of " locusts" and "scorpions of the earth " reveals the most painful &'Dd repulsive effects, for "their torment was as ·the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man." So great is this that men "seek death," though unavailingly. They are as "horses prepared· for war," crowned with kingly power, having faces as of men, and hair as of women, and teeth "as the teeth of lions," covered are they with "breastplates of iron," and the sound of their wings as " the sound of chariots of many horses rushing to war ; " they have " tails like unto scorpions, and stings," and in these is "their power to hurt men." The whole are leagued together under the leadership of "the angel of the abyss," whose nanie "in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon, i.e. Destroyer." Thus is set forth the evil, repulsive, and deadly power of those forces which are oallM into play by unfaithfu:lnesa and degeneracy. One falls, but he lets loose many forces of evil, which he, once having called into activity, cannot arrest. It is a bitter woe to the earth, such as it has suffered many, many times in the grea.t history. The lesson is ·for all times; for in many times the sad scene has been enacted. This section of the " revelation" declares to us- ' L THAT IN THE DEPARTURE FROM TRUTH AND GOODNESS ERROR AND EVIL llEOOllllll PBEV'ALENT. Every false doctrine is a cloud of darkness upon the path of the human life. II. !N TH£ DlHmuTION 011' TBE HEAVENLY THE HELLISH POWERS PREVAIL. Finally, darkness shall be held back as in chains, But here it is let loose, and in the lO&B of the heavenly power the earthly, rather the hellish, gains ascendancy. ;Ut 0 h'1 A DEPARTURE PBOJC TBB PEACEll'UL OBBDIBNOB 011' RIGHT1!lOUSlhal8 TH.II ~ A.10) PAINJ'UL Bll':noTII 011' SIN ABB PB<>VED. The we.ye of pleasa.ntnes• anlt ~ ,p&tha of· peace forsaken; there are ODly the -hard ways of the trausgrenor to 'IMk'in. . i ' os:.'u. 11---'-'21.] THE REVELATION OP ST. JOHN THE D1V1NE. 171
lV, Tm: BBOKEN ALLNIABOB TO GOD IIIIIU• DJ TBll TBIUIIPB or '1'Blli DBSTBODB. The authority of the PriDceof peace being reject.ed, another king, even Apollyon, murpl his thnme. So men carelesaly exchange good for evil, and sell life for an empty world, -R.G. . Ven.12-21.-fie lMjfici,ency qff ~ to lead al,l to re_pffllance. The TOioe of eufferlng innocence does not pas!! unheeded. The Lord of sabaoth is long-suffering and very merciful, even t.owards the disobedient and towards the enemies of the truth; but the angels of jadgment and punishment,, bound and restrained, must at length be loosed. Though the Lord suffereth long and is kind, yet he will avenge his own elect which cry to him day and night. We lesrn- L THAT THE• BND OP .JUDGMENT IS REPENTANCE, This is the object always kept in view by him who judgeth right. All his judgments are therefore blessings in disguise. " He doth not willingly afflict." The cry from them who euft'er wrongfully is not immediately answered in jadgment upon their oppressors. He can requite hill own in other ways. Yet, though judgment be stayed against an evil work, it is finally "loosed," lest the hearts of men be set in them wholly t.o do evil. ·, · II. THAT THEY WHO PLACE THEJISELVl:8 IN OPPOSITION TO THE SERVANTS OJI' TRUTH EXPOSE THElCSELVJlil TO TSE JUST •AND TERRIBLE JUDGMENTS OF Gon. Even the prayers of the righteous, which are accepted before the throne, cry for vengeance. The evil workers who place themselves in antagonism to the struggling Church are met. not only by the feeble arm of ",the little flock," but by the might of him who, aa a good ijheph«d, defends even with his life them who are his own sheep. III. 'fHAT EVEN THE SEVERITIES OJI' JUDGHENT 'ABE INSUJl'FICIENT TO LBAD ALL• TO 'BEPJllNTANOE. That many1 are saved through the judgment is obvious to all observers. Yet is there e. hardness of heart that seems to increase by the pressure of outward calamity. All do not see the Divine hand in the meted judgment; and many rise in greater rebellion by how much the strokes of that hand are severe. "The rest of mankind. which were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands." IV. We further learn that IT 18 THROUGH DEVOTION TO EVIL THAT KEN ABB PREVENTED moll'. REPENTANOE. Men harden their hearts even in the midst of Heaven's fiery judgments, Many happily learn righteousness, and repent of their evil' ways, bni of some-" the rest "-alas ! always e. remnant--it is to be said, "They repented not." They are devoted to evil. ' They are the willin~ slaves of lust and vice. They are greedy t.o do iniquity. -The fiendish spirit finds its embodiment in them, and men are as though possessed with devils. If these are to be saved, other means mUst be deyised. -R.G. Vers. 1--3.-Moral evil in tli6 unlver,e, "And the fifth angel sounded," eto. We take these verses to illustrate moral evil in tli6 unfuerse, Moral evil is a "pit," A pit is a scene of confi'Mlfl,f,nt and da,·kness; Moral evil, or sin, wherever it exists in the spirit, imprisons the faculties and blinds the vision. Socrates has well said," No man iB a free man who has a vice for his master." All corrupt souls are reserved in chains of darkness. Sin is ~lavery, sin is midnight. In relation t.o moral evil as a "pit," four things are suggested. · L IT IS. EXPOSABLE, "The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit." Moral evil, iu its incipient state, so stupefies the faculties and blinds the oonscionce that the subjeot only becomes aware of it by the advent of a messenger from heaven; an angel from heaven uncovers it, makes it bare to the soul. How do the savages, how do the millions whose souls are buried in sensuality, become conscious of sin'/ Only by .a special message from. heaven. What says Paal ? "I was all ve without the Law once, but when the commandment came, sin •revived, and I died." That is, Paul fancied he wu ' alive-that is, all right-until the Divine message came. Every genuine gosplil minister may be said to be a star· from heaven with the "key of the bottomleea pit;"' that key with which he opena it and exposes it t.o the consciences .of bis hearers. : Pet.er, on the Day of ·Pentecost, waa such an angel ; he uncovered the pit of moral 'flil i wi~ hia hearers, and they exci.imi!d. "M,en ~ urethren, what ah.U we d.o t• · ··,, 272' THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. [on. rx. 1-IL