The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 381

are lO di'iected u io serie God's purpoaes and not man•s (vers. 16, 17). "The king's htat1i la in the hand of the Lord, and he tumeth it wbithersoever he will;". "The lot itl cut into the lap, but the wllole. disposal thereof is of the Lord.;• "A man's heart cleriseth his way, but the Lord directeth -his steps." . (iod says to Cyrus," I girded ibae, though-thou hut not known me." So of another we read, "Howbeit hB meaneth 11ol: ao; it is in his heart to destroy nations not a few." "God bath put it into their heart.a to fulfil his will, till the words of God shall be fulfilled." The right. or the wrong of the willing is man's own. The issues thereof are overruled by God for hit end& Scripture abounds in illustrations of this. Joseph is cast into the pit. Man meant one thing; God accomplished another. God meant it for good, to save much pople alive. Faul is thrown into prison; his bonds turn out rather unto the further• nee of the goapeL Luther is imprisoned, and his castle becomes a Bethel. Bunyan iii throwu into prison, i.nd it becomes a second Patmos. Every diligent studen,t of God'a ]Jl'OVidenoe must have observed the like again and again. Even so, that which is toad& Ufl8 of by man to prop up a system may be employed by God to. overthrow it. Thus it is to be with Babylon the great. In spite of all that man can say and do, ii.oweY81' imposing the names and pretensions of this harlot, howenr widely spread aod ·deeply rooted may be the ramifications of the evil, however much the worldly interests of men may be bound up therein. there is a sure prooeBB of undermining going on at every hour-that undermining being none the less speedy at the IDOID4:Qt men ate taking the pains to prop it up. It was so with slavery in America. It. is so with papery at Rome. The plans of men for upholding both. the. one :and the other have issued, and will issue, in results the very opposite of those which ma.n intended. 'l'he world is not in man'a haws, after. all, but in God's. · He ,puts it in men's hea,rta to 'fulfil his wilL II. THll VERY l'OWEBS ON WBIOH BABYLON RELIED WILL TURN ROUND AGAINST~ "JIO BATB AND BABlll RR&. (Ver 16, "The ten horns . . • shall hate the harlot," .ete;) How trnly is thia being fulfilled i Not one of the European power, th11,t has not in some period or other been relied upon by Rome. And now there is not one of the 'main kingdoma of the world that is not "bating" her. They are working in their own defence against papal intrigue.1 Historical incidents of the last twenty years are a startling fulfilment of the Apocalyptic word. ThUB "the Word of prophecy ill made more sure" (2 Pet. i. 11), Revised Version). . III. TJraRB WILL llB .roDGMENTS AND PLAGUES THAT WILL 001'SUllMATB HER BUIN. {Oh, xviii. 8, 10; xvi. 18-21.) Regularity and continuity combine with catastrophe to advance the worltl, There is a Jong period of orderly, even, and regular sequ~nts. :Then there. comes an upheaving, a1,d etfectsin one hour that for which ages have been preparing the way. In the blasting of rocks we see the slow boring and undermining, then the laying of the train of powder. So far all is done deliberately. Then a match ,fa applied; a spark is fired; there is s moment of BUBpense.; then a small curling wreath .of smoke, followed. in an instant by a mighty blast, and lo I the rock is reut.,and reels and •falls. So there are wondrous works going on unobserved in the• bowels of the ll&rth- .'that atorehouse of molten flame. For years th,e crust is undisturbed; then .comes one •mighty heaving, and lo I in one awful moment cities and palaces, temples and towel'II, ,are overthrown. So shall it be at last with Babylon the great. The i11Sue alone can eiplain the detaiL But some six or seven.words are sufficiently significant-" A great earthquake" (eh. xvi 18); "a great hail" (eh. xvi. 21); "death, and mourning, and ,famine," "Jllagues" (eh. xviiL ~ ) ; "burned with fire" (eh. :r.viii. 8); and at the !last her jW1gment shall come "in one hour"(ch. xviii.10). IV. Tn ATTBNDANTS OJ!' HER RUIN WILL DB RETRIBUTION AND DESOLATION. Betri- ,hffon; for ah&;is to be rewarded as she rewarded others. She trifled with anp, even iirampled on the temporal powers in time past, and now.of her temporal power she Jierself is shorn. D~olation: the descripti~n of this is taken from the corresponding ·i>alisages In Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning Babylon of old (Isa. xiii. 19-22; Jer. li. 87), Those words have, come to be literally fulfilled.1 Like words are on record con- ',cemin'g papal Rome. They too will be fulfilled. The time will conie when no priests ,· 1 See Mr. Gladstone'■ striking pamphlets on the Vatican; alto Bishop Wordsworth'-,. utiiled, • Is not. the Church of Rome Babylon the Great?' 9th edit., p; 97, et liif• • See Keil.h's 'Evidence of Prophec7.'  CB. xvu..1-18.] THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINll' Ol