cities of the nations fell: and grea.t Babylon came in remembrance before God. to give un~ her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath" (ver. 19). Great Be.bylon, what la it ? fie moral ml, of 1M 'WO'l"l<l organiud into ita metnipoli,. Falsehood. sensuality, pride, ambition. impiety, fraud, iyranny, embodied in a mighty city. This ~ the Babylon, and all unredeemed men are citizens in it. The Divine purpose is to destroy it. All his dispensations are against it, and will one day shiver it to pieces. " The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God, and of his Christ ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." Wrong will not stand for. ever before right. '!'hough mountains of lee may stand before the glowing sunbeams of a thousand summers, wrong ia boUDd to fall ultimately before the Jigh.t. Take courage ; be of good cheer I · IIL ALL TH:& Dilll'ENSATIONS 01!' TRII BUl'Jl'BBING HAVB AB' INFLtrDca OOEXTBllllIVB WITH TIii: UNIVBBSE, There was not a drop from the bowl in 111ther of the angels' hands that terminated where it fell The contents of these bowls are not like showers falling on the rocks in summer, which having touched them are then exhaled for ever, No, they continue to operate. The bowl that fell on the earth became an evil and painful sore; that which fell on the sea became blood and death; that which fell upon the sun scorched mankind; that which fell on the beast spread darkness and agony in all directions; that which fell upon the.Euphrates produced a drought, and drew out of the mouth of the dn\_aon wild beasts and strange dragons; the bowl that poured out its contents on the air produced lightnings and thunders and earthquakes, causing Babylon to be riven asunder, and every mountain and valley t-0 flee away (vers. 2-13, 19, 20). Observe : 1. Nothing in the W-Orla of mind tm-minate.a with i~lf. One thought leads to another, one impression produces another elsewhere, and so on. In matter the roll of an infant's marble shakes the massive globes of space. "No man liveth unto him- self." Each step we give will touch chords that will vibrate through all the arches of immensity. 2. Whatever goes /ortll from mind ea;,n-t, an influence on the domain of ma"8r. These angels,. unseen messengers of the Eternal, go forth from tha~ shrine into which no eye has ever pierced-the secret place of him " who dwelleth in the light, whom no man hath seen or can see." Who are they? What eye has ever seen them? what ear has ever beard the rustle of their mystic wings? the "vials" or bowls they bear in their mystic hands, what eye bas seen them, and what hand has touched them P And yet these invisibilities from the invisible world produce an influence upon the material. Not only do sentient creatures from the earth aod the waters and the air writhe and bleed and die, but inanimate matter also. The earth quakes, the moun- tains tremble at their influence. Human science seems to be reaching a point when we shall find that human minds in all directions exert an influence upon the forces and the operations of material nature. Mind is the primordial and presiding force of all forces. Morally, like Jacob on his stony pillow at Bethel, we are all dreaming, unconscious of t;he presence of the great Spirit. Ere long, however, we shall be wakened and exclaim. "SureJ,y GQdi&in this place, and I knew it not." L-D, T.
EXPOSrrioN. three classes of 11ngodly people, and the CHAPTER XVIL three principle& of evil in their abstract Ver. 1.-And there o&me one of the le'Ven form, e.s represented by the world (the ms; angels which had the MVen. 'rialt, &nil talked beasi), the fie&h (ihe second beast), and the with me, uyitqJ anso me; and ,pake untli devil (the dragon). The personal final - , aa1Ji"fl• Omit "unto 1J1e," This and overthrow of the devil is deeari.bed in eh. the following chapters (to xix. 21) consist xx. 10; eh. xvii. and xvii.i. are devoted to of visions which are really included under the deaoription of the judgroenta of the two t1ie aeventh vial, but which, on account of former--Ule world, in its character of the their length and elaboration, may be oon• openly bftst.ile. peneoutm of the Chureh of sidered apart from ilia other jodgments of God: 11ml the other portion of the ungodly ths1: vial. In the preceding ohaptem we who, while still profel!Bi.ng Christumit1, haft bad pJaood before us a oompeotus of find excuses for conforming t.o the worahip ' it will be IINll that each division of this ~ily conta.ius brief illggesti.ve homilie& OB. xTIL 1-18.] TUE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVIN·J!l. 413