The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 266

pheta were the torment of the ungodly (ver. 10). Hence the world's hatred. In proportion to its hatred of the message and the messengers will be its gladness when the messengers cau trouble it no n:iore. Ill will run riot. The wickedness of &,Sodom will be renewed. The Holy Ghost has forewru-ned us what to expect. Tares will ripen;· evil men will grow worse and worse. Perilous times will come. "When the Sou of-man cometh, will he find the faith on the earth?" 8. · The triumph of the foe is but for a seaaon. <'7ers. 11, 12.) Just as the Master put to shame all his foes by rising again on the third day, and afterwards ascending to heaven, so, after a like period, will that power, which the enemy thought was at an end, revive again. The world shall yet see th&t those wbom it vilified are those whom God has glorified. 9. The Divine glorifica,li<m, of hu toimesa/JB will be accompanied with a mighty 'lfisitatwn of ;'udgment on the world. (Ver. 13.) They who think to stop the mouths of God's witnesses will have to meet a Power before which they will melt away in et.error, and the very earth on which they were committing these crimes will be ma4ft to reel beneath their feet. Providence will affright those who sneered at the voice of the prophet. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, and the Lord shall have them in derision" (Ps. ii.). "And the rest were aff'righted, and gave glory to the God of heaven." In all these nine points of detail the chapter gives us not only that which is true now and then, but that which is con- tinuously true in one part or other throughout the Ch'ristfa.n age; and instead of the chapter .seeming to be shrouded in unintelligible mystery, it is actually radiant with a light that makes all things clear. For note, in conclusion: (1). It behoveB us to ask the question-Are we in the real Church of God as well as in the nominal one of Christendom? (2) Should we not be ambitious to join the band of holy witnesses for God? ·(3) If we are testifying for God, let us not eJtcpect all ease or comfort, Every part of our message runs counter to the prepossessions of the ungodly. Ifwe do not meet, again and again, with direct opposition, we have reason to suspect that we do not with sufficient clearness and boldness testify against sin. (4) Let us take comfort from the thought that not one of God's witnesses can possibly be swept away until his testimony is finished. (5) Let none be deterred from loyalty to the Lord Jesus because of the repeated onsets which may be wade upon them, nor 011 account of the scorn which will ever and anon be cast upon the witness-bearer& For furious as the wrath of the enemy may be, it is curbed, Vers. 15-18.-The seventh trumpet nnd the song whic~ is to follow. Although we have found manifold reasons why we cannot fix dates in interpreting the Apocalypse, we find equally manifest reasons for doing that which is of far more importance-even for indicating the principles which it discloses. The previous section taught us that the extent and limit of the Church of God are perfectly measured; that God will preserve for himeelf a succession of witnesses during the mysterious and protracted period of tho Church's witness-bearing; that at some time or other there would be such an onrush of evil as if a beast were let loose from the deep abyss; that, for a while, the witnesses would be silenced; but that God would interpose, and cause providence to work where prophecy had failed, until the last obstruction to the final triumph of the Church ehonld be taken out of the wa.y. Then the seventh trumpet shall sound; under that seventh trumpet the end should come ; and following on the end there shall be heard heaven's triumphant song. We therefore regard the words from the fifteenth to the eighteenth verses inclusive as overleaping the rest of the book; as, in fact, retrospective, giving us a hint of the sublime satisfaction which all holy souls will feel, in the review of God's de&linge, when all those events are accomplished which the remaining chapters aroe about to specify. Here we propose to indicate these only in briefest outline, as the several details will be hereafter dealt with one by one. I. HOWEVER GLOOMY AND PROTRACTED THE PERIOD MAY BE THROUGH WHICH GoD'S WITNE88E8 HAY HAVE TO PROPHESY, LIGHT WILL BREAK AT LAST. From eh. vi. 9, 10, and viii. S, 4, we see that a great burden of prayer has been for long, long years lpfflll.d out before God, the cry of which is, "Thy kingdom come. In the verses before us we cat.eh a glimpse of the time when this prayer shall have been fulfilled, and when the fulfiment will call forth a shout of praise (vers. 15-18). And in the words of this song, which is sent up in praise to God on t1CCOunt of the conflict being at an end, we pt an indication of wb11t bad happened ere the strife ceased, a, tJley look upon IA, 198 THE REVELATION OF ST. JOBN':THE mvI.NE. [llll.' :u.: l'"l'-19;