The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 408

a procel!II in which God is going to do exceeding abundantly for ue above all we can ask or think. Let us, then, watch for the sequel. And meanwhile let us, in the light of the paragraph before us, ask and answer three inqniries- 1 WHO ABE 'l'BE BEJOICING ONES? "A heavenly hallelujah celebrate.q the first aet of the final sentence upon the antichristian powers which served as Satan's in■tni• ments. At each .crisis in the Apocalypse we find a similar hymn of praise (eh. iv. 8; v. 9; vii. 10; xi.15; xv. 3; xvi. 5)." 1 An unknown voice-possibly from "him that sitteth upon the throne;" this would seem to be tLe more approJ?ria.te conclusion, as the word ill in the form of a mandate. The song itself comes: (1) From the four living creatures-representatives of the higher orders of creation. (2) From the four and twenty elders-the representatives of the Old and New Testaments. (3) From the great multitude in heaven, whose voices rise up as the voice of many waters. From the point of view at which the blessed in heaven study the works of God, they see ground for adoring praise and for rapturous sonj?. It is only here among ourselves, who dwell in clouds below, that the song is checked by our misapprehension and partial sight. IL WHAT 18 IT THAT FURNISHES MATEB.IAL POB BONG? 1. "He hath avenged the blood qf his servants," etc. (Ver. 2.) 'l'his oTJe expression, 11 the blood of his servants," carries with it a tale of fearful import. It would include: (1) The blood of the millions slaughtered under the sanction of papal Rome. (2) The blood of those put to death under paganism. (3) The blood of those who have periHhed under the iniquities of the slave-trade. (4) The blood of those whose consciences and souls have been trampled, on by mammou'H grPed. There are two sor1s of feelings which may be cherished und~r these cry in!; ills-that of angry revenge; that of a burning indignation at a moral outrage. The first is wrong, and has no place in this song; the second is right-yea, and not only right, bnt one w1>ich it would be wicked not to have. And when God arises in his strength to av.. nge the cause of the hclples~, he would be unworthy the name of a man who would uut rejoice over this.. 2. · •• He hath judged the great harlot." This great harlot, B:.bylon, corrupted the earth. Whether the iniquity thus specified assumed the commercial dr the ecclesiastical form, in either case it was a huge system of iniquity, of apostasy, whereby either "the priest" or "ruammon" sat in the seat of God. The seventeenth chapter points t-0 the former; the eighteenth chapter, to the Jatter. Aud surely when apostasy from God is exposed in all its ugliness, and branded with everlasting shame, that is enough oo cause a mighty shout of joy to peal forth from the mighty host above. What has so often made pleasure a forbidden thing? Apostasy I What has befouled commerce? Apostasy I What has dragged the banner of science in the mud and the mire? Apostasy l What has made even religious form■ a stumbling-block and a shame? Apostasy I And surely it will be a festive day alike for earth and heaven when this gilded and bedizened demon shall be stripped, exposed, and Blain, 3. The downfall qf se much evil i& the prelude lo the salvation. (Ver. 1, "'l'he salvation ••• unto the Lord our God.") By this is meant not so much that a.•pect of salvation which belongs to the forgiveness of sins-that had been long ago eujoyed; hut that which pertains to delivernuce from the burden of evil in many and every form. After long and weary conflicts with iniquity, aiter seeming to be almost smothered with the weight of outside ungodlineas, afier the voice of the righteous was all but drowned in the confusion and roar of Babylon-then comes the deliV6rance I Their great foe is for ever dead. ".Alleluia I" 4. The Lora God hath taken the kingdcfm. (Ver. 6.) Rath showed himself to be King indeed, as he was before King by right of his enthronen.ent in heaven; i.e. the Lord Jesus Christ, who now is exalted "a Prince and Saviour," ,hall then he acknowledged as King. And certainly the universal aoknowledgment of Jesus as Lord may well call forth a shout of praise from all the blest in heaven I 5. 'l'he Ohwrch ia prepa,Mi,for her Lord,. (Vers. 7, 8.) The Lord God will not only crush sin in the world, but will also purge it out of the Church; and all unclean raga ol. Babylon the great, some of which may be found in the purest Church on earth, shall be burnt up. "In flue linen, clean and white," the bride of Christ shall shine. In the seventh verse this is looked at from one point of view, aild in the next verse from another. Jn the former, as an act of personal preparation for the appearing of the Bridegroom ; and in the latter, as a grant from the grace of God. These are the two aspoots of 1 • Speaker's Commentary,' ill loo os. :nx.1-21.) THE BEVBLATION OF BT. JOHN THE DIVINE. 453