ways {Go ye], and pour out the vials [seven bowls) of the wrath of God upon the earth" (ver. 1). From the very shrine of the Almighty, the holy of holies, he deals , ut and regulates every item of the sevenfold plagues. 1. He orders their agent,. E11Ch of the "seven angels" or messengers are sent forth by him. "Go your ways." 'l'he supreme Governor of the universe conducts his affairs through the agencies of others-a vast system of secondary instrumentalities. Thus, through all nature, he gins life, supports life, and takes a.way life. Albeit he sits at the head and is the absolute Author of all. There is not a pa.in that quivers in the nerve of any sentient being that comes not from him. He says, " Go your ways," and nothing moves but by his behests. He kills and he makes all ve. Is not this a soothing and a strength• ening thought under all the dispensations of sorrow? 2. He appoints their seasons. The '' seven angels" do not all come together; each bas its period. Every impulse that moves throughout the creation, whether it be to shake a leaf in the forest or to wheel aystems throughout immensity, g088 forth at. his own time. All times and seasons are OJr. x'V't. 1-21.J THE REVELA"l'ION OF BT. JOHN THB DlVINE. 411
with him. When Shakespeare says," Troubles come not singly, but in battalions," he ia not.right. 'Mercifully they do come 8ingly to individuals and communities, aome in one period of life and some in another. To man,'collectively, they are ages apart-from the groans of Abel to the throes of the last jud~ment, . There is not a drop of sorrow in any cup that comes not from Heaven. 3. He foxes their places. Each cif the seven angels who, under God. are to dispense the plagues, has his place assigned him. Each bad his" vial," or bowl, and each bowl had a place on which it was to be poured. The first came upon•• the earth," the second on "the sea,'' the third upon " the men and fountains," the fourth upon "the sun," the fifth upon "the seat [tb:rone) of the beast," the sixth upon "the great river Euphrates," and the seventh "into the air" (vers. 2-12). Whether there is a reference here to plagues in Egypt, or suffering else- where, I know not; no one does know, nor doeailt matter. They were phantoms that rolled like clouds in the vision of John, and as such they illustrate the grand troth lhat even the 1RJ1'Y scenes and, seasons o,f all our 101Tows come from him who is, and was, and is to be, the Everlasting Father, 4. He determines their character. The suffering8 that came forth from the bowls were not of exactly the satne kind or amount; 80me seemed more terrible and treIUendous than others. · It appeared as a painful "sore" upon the men of the earth; it was as "death" to those on the sea; it appeared as "-blood" upon the fountains and the rivers; it appeared as scorching " fire" in the sun; it appeared as "darkness" and "torture" upon the throne of the beast; it appeared as a tertible "drought," and as the spirits of devils like "frogs," on the rolling Euphrates; and it appeared as terrible convulsions of nature in the air. How different in kind and amount are the sufferings de11.lt out to men I The sufferings of some are distinguished by physical diseases, some by social bereavements, some by secular losses and di88P" puintments, some by mental perplexities, some by moral· anguish, eto. •• Every heart knoweth its own bitternes:i." So much, then, for the fact that all the dispensations of predeBtined sufferings are under the direction of God, II. ALL THE DISPENSATIONS OP TmB BUFFERING HAVE A GREAT M'.OBAL PUBPOIIB. 'l'he suffering of the sevenfold plagues is settled in the government of God for moral ends. These ends are not malignant, bat merciful. They are not to ruin souls, but tc ,ewe them. They are curative elements in the painful cup of life ; they are storms to purify the moml atmosphere of the world. Disrobing these verses of all metaphorical incongruities, they suggest the grand purpose of God in all the dispensations of suffer~ ing. They appear to involve three things. 1. The rightelJUll punishmfflt o,f cruel per• ,,cution. " And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, 0 Lord [Righteous art thou], which art, and wast, and shalt be [thou Holy One], because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy" (vers, 5, 6). To "shed blood" any- how is one ·of the foulest crimes man can commit; it is an impious infraction of a fundamental law of Heaven, "Thou shalt no, kill," Words which apply to man in every conceivable capacity and relation-to the hangman and the warrior as well as to the assassin. They .speak as truly to Wolseley amidst his murdering exploits in the Soudan u to any other man on the face of the earth. Blood-guiltinel!S is the chief of crimes. But to murder "prophets," good men and true teachers, is the chief of murders. For this Heaven would be avenged, and the whole intelligent universe will so recognize this 88 to break into the anthem,•• Even so [yea1 Lord God Almighty, true and righteoua are thy judgments » (ver. 7). •Avenge, 0 Lold, thy 1langhtered B&inta," eto. (Milt.on.) 2. Th, rightema punlshmmit of at£Jlreme worldliness. "And the fifth angel poured out his vial [howl] upon the seat [throne] of the beast_; and his kingdom was full of dark- ness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain" (ver. 10). Worldliness in the ascendant is indeed like this beast portrayed in the Apocalypse. It sits supreme; it has a throne, a crown, a sceptre that extends over all. Supreme worldliness, whether in the individual or the aociety, is a" beast" coarse and hideous; and this beast, with all ita votaries, is to be crushed. The whole government of God moves in that direction. Truly "blessed is he that overoometh the world "-this "beast." 3. The overwhelming ruin qf organized wrong. "And the great city was divided into three parts, and ilia 411 THE REVELATION OF' BT. JOHN THE DIVINB. [m. XVIL 1-.-18.