there is .another set :which indicates that there will be a fierce outbreak oI evil befom . our Lord shall come. It is 110 small confirmation of the correctness of .an i_nterpre- tation of this passage if thereby apparently condicting stntepients fall in Rlaoe. -l'he binding of Satan, which was and is effected through our Lord'Jesus Ohriat, hu, ~ - - more and more stringent as souls are plucked from hia grasp; and we are to • a 1ijm.e. of peace and calm when he will be even more completely bound ~ h e i»;.now. lJu$ after that there is to be the new onrush of evil, so that before our Lord shall 90Dl8 a fiercer conflict than has ever been known will be fought, ere the great struggle ahalt bu co1npletely at an end, anil then the Lord shall come. So that we can at once ,l,ooc_ forward to the fulfilment oI the seventy-second psalm as the rQ1,ult of the f<lrfflJ •lready ar work; and yet see the h~ony, of that with. words that declare that " ~ . day shall not CQllle, except there be a fa.lliug: away fil'8tc;. , •• and then shall th.at. wicked one be revealed, whom the .Lord shall consume with th.e spirit_ of his mouth, ~ de&troy with the brightness.of his coming." 2 •. We ,11~ that there are two ways in which e.vil is being dealt with. 'l'hat of removal. wbeq souls are being renewed; and that of restraint, when evil beings are kept wi,thin prescribed limits. And both the,ae ways of working are going on now, and will do during this millennial age. If it .__.... not for .these renewals of aouls, no such time of calJD, oouJd ever come in ; and. if, i, w.ere not that there is much evil slumbertng, as jt _werfl; that is only reetra~,: obviously it oould n.ot, rush forth again. ·Howeyer much we may wouder at e:vil breakiug out once,. more; even on· the post-millennial view· of our Lord'• 1:9ming. yl}t;. on- tl)e pre-millennial view it woultl be imp,,ssib)e, since \here would be none. · 4114. so severe is the pressure of this upon. pr11-millennialista, that one. of them ventUl'e!J on: the supposition that .God will create some wicked men tor the purpose out of .the alime and the mire! 3. Be it ours to take heart l!,8 we get a fresh ~limpse of the Divine. plan, viz. that however oft the confiuit with e.vil and the evil one may be renewed, ye, in every case th, iSl!ue irl t~t of t4o defeat of ~yil, and it~ ba,nishmmt to a lower depth of disgrace than before. "Who hath ever harilened him11elf against God all,d pr0&~ed?" "Woe unto him that strlveth with, his Maker!" 4. Finally, what God will ultimately do with evil and the evil one, no one can positively aay. We do 11,ot find the pos!libility of extinction shut out. At the sam.e time, it is by no means llO clear that. such will be the issue that we feel warranted in 8aying it will be so. In , our homily on the afte.r-state of the ungodly, we deal .with this question as concerns man. Here we have to do with it as regard~ Satan. Wtt think that no one can help- seeing thl\t his fate is here iret forth as that of utter,.hopel888, final defeat. But W4 _ demur 1o the phrase, "eternal torment," as ao applied..,.-ye.a, more, we ~schew it, QD, two grounds: (1) 'fhat our English word "eternal," as now underatopd, goes far abj!IM) of -the ex:pre[!llion, "to a,,aes of ages." 'llie English word meana an infinhe duration;, the Scripture ph1'888 poiotll to inµefinite iluration. In the former case an ,m.4ing i, negative<I; in the !at tsr'. ,tJ,O md ia disclosed. (2) The word " torment" has a grollB,. material, carnal signitioance. It is used in the narrative of Dives and Lawu&, and in the 11ym.bolism of this book. It is a material figw;e to indicate ·BIJiritlaj . is11ue~, Where there is rebellion aod final. impenitence, there must be defeat; and where,there is tleleat, there must be ",weeping. wailing, and gn~hing of teeth." 'fhe.\"e will be, nothing contrary to perfect equily in the fate of the evil one., we may be quite lllll'8 of·tha.t. An.d we ,re .such inaa,equate judges of the guilt of any-yea, eveu of .our own-and of· what a righteolll! penalty requires, that it is far . bett.er for us. that we should leave the matter in the hands of God, knowing that he will do only what i1 right. than that we should know beforehand what the precise issull will be. Surely it. ia not without reason that we say-We can rest more completely in uncertainty than iu a certainty, 111/um 1/1/e reat a1Jsoluuly in God, He .rn do what is right.
Ver$. Jl-15 (c1>mpared with ch. l[l[ii. 12).-:-" TM day of 1M Lord." The 10veral enemies of the Church-Satan, the first beast, the second beast, and the h1nlot-- have one by one pi888d away from view. Now ouly men remain to be dealt with, both good ,wd bad. It is necessary for WI to avoid a confused blending of themes, as well as too frequent reiteration, We shall, therefore, pursue the followii,g plan (which, indeed, is that required by the Apoc-alypse itselt): We shall first deal with three tbe1D81l common to all: the~, of the Lo11i; the resurrection; the judgmeut. Then we shall 484 THE REVELATION OJ' ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. [011:. x_x; 1-Ui,