thrilled with delight at the sight of even "one sinner that repenteth.n The change of governments, the fluctuation of markets, the revolution of empires--.such things as these awaken the deepest ooncem of the ignorant and erring eons of men. But they wu. no ripple on the deep translucent river of oele1tial minds. WhereAB every fraotion of wrong which they 888 falling into ruin from this huge Babylon gins them a new thrill of delight. Why should these peers in the spiritual univ~rse thus exuh at the fall of wrong? L BecaWt! tM /all ia Jmt. Evil has no right to exist; it ia an abnormal thing. The father of lies is a usurper in the universe. All the wrong aystema, theoretical and practical, in every department of human Jife, political, com- mercial, eoolesiastic, he has built up on m.lsehood and dl".oeption; and their destruction is ui. act of eternal justice. God speed the right I This is the instinctive prayer of all consciences. 2. Bet:,a,v,U tht!fall u 'beneficent, The giving way of the wrong thing iD 800iety is as the breaking up of the dense cloud that darken1 the whole heavens of man, the bringing down of fertiliziftg showers on the earth, and brightening the sky iDto sunny azure. It is the uprooting of those thorns and thistles and noxious weeds that have turned the paradise of our being into a howling wil<lerness. What benevolent nature could fail to exult in such sn event as this ? " Rejoice oveJ her, thou heaven, and ye boly apostles and prophets." 3. BecaTIM the/all is complete. ".And a mighty [at.rong] angel took up a stone like ll. [as it were a] great millstone, and cast it into the ~, saying, Thus with violence [ a mighty fall) shall that great city Babylon [Babylon the great city] be thrown (cast] down, and shall be found no more at all,• ete. (vers. 21-23). All this imposing symbolical description s11ggests the enormous cnl'fMIII 111110Ciated with moral Babylonianism, and the strong reason for jubilation at its fund fall. The fall of moral evil, even in part or whole, in the individual soul, in small or large communities,,is not a temporary event. Destroyed once, it is destroyed for ever. "lt ahall be thrown down, and shall be found no more at alL" It is "cast into the -." What dOOB the mighty "millstone" suggest? What was the "little stone" ln Daniel'a vision out out of the rock without hauds, and which became a great mountain? This, I trow-the gospel, which is the "power of God,"-thia ia the only instrument that can hurl Babylon into the depths of the sea.-D. T. Ver. 21.---Moral wil egmboliud. "And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea," eto. In these words we have a aymbolUtdion of moral evil. L A SYMBOLIZATION OJ' lT8 NA.TUBB. Babylon is a symbol. Not unfrequeotly i, moral evil in the aggregate represented by some one object. Sometimes by the "old man," that is, the unrenewed, depraved man; he is the embodiment of all the elements of sin. Sometimes by the "world," that is, the moral evil embodied in the world. "He that loveth the world," etc., that i~, the moral evil embodied in the world. la Nebuchadnezzar's dream it is represented as a colossal image, representing the wealth and power of empire, the pride of the idolatry, the wickedness of all kingdoms. Here in these words it is represented by the great city Babylon. Babylon stands here aa the grand symbol of moral evil. If you want to 888 sin, or moral evil, in all it.a hidl!oUB aspects, in all its infernal operations, in all its damning consequenceti, study ihe great city of Babylon. In this city you will find not only the evils of the Roman Uathulic Church, but of all Churches, of all institutions, of all countries and climes, ay, of all human hearts. The great city Babylon is in every unreserved sonL Here ie-- Il. ~ BYHBOLIZATION OJ' l'l'B OVERTHROW. .. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, 'l'hus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more &t all." 'l'he moral evil of .the world is to_ be destroyed; it is not to exist for ever. 'Ille various figurea used to· symbolize it are set forth as objects for utter destruction. 'l'he world is to be " overcome,» as Christ overcame it. The old man, which is corrupt, is to be " crucified with his afi'ections and lusts." · The great image is to be shivered to pieces by the "stone," the 1ymbol of Divine truth; and here the great city Babylun is represented as being thrown like a great millstone "into the sea." Two Jllmarks are suggested con- cerning its overthrow. 1. It is to be overthrown by 8Uperhuman agency. "A mighty angel," a messenger from heaven. Was not Obrist a mighty Messenger sent from Aea'Mll for this purpose? Yes; he came to "deatroy the worka of t.he devil." 1' ia ,._ nx. 1-tl.] TUB BEVELATI01' OIi' BT. JOHN THE DIVINB. 44'1
,aid tbat good alone can overcome evil. True, but it must be good in a 111pernatural form ; and in this form the gospel bringe us the good. 2. It ia to be overthrown in 1uch a way as ft.ever to appear again. Babylon is thrown like a great millstone into the sea. " And 11ball be found no more at all.'" As P1iaraob aank like lead in tb.e mighty waters, and l'Oll6 no more to lire, ao shall moral. evil like a mighty millstone fall into the fathomleu abysses of etenial ruin. "Shall be found no more at r.11." No less than six times are these words repeated. Some one has said that they toll like a funeral knell. I WO"".Jd rather say tliat they chime like a triumphant peal Thank Goo. mighty and wide as is the dominion of evil in the world, I am prone to believe that it will not endure for ever. All the holy prayers in the universe cry for its ruin. All holy agenciea work for it, and omnipotence ia pledged to it.I overthrow.-D. T.