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into view. And this, in the apprehension of almost all the commentators, had its beginning many centuries before the victories of the Ottoman Turks; probably from those of the Saracene Mahometans. If therefore the sixth Trumpet be understood to begin with this first Mahometan invasion, it will stand in its proper historical place. So beginning, it may be 、 supposed to run through the whole period of 1260 years, and to contain all the successful warfare of the Mahometans on the Christians. It is not to the nation, but to the religion, to which, prophecy seems to advert. And all these invasions seem nearly of the same character.

1 Καὶ εἶδον άλλον ἄγελον ἰσχυρὸν και ταβαίνοντα ἐκ τῆ ἀρανό, περιβεβλη μένον νεφέλην

ἡ ἴρις ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτῷ· καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτῷ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος, καὶ οἱ πόδες αὐτῷ ὡς ξύλοι του 2 μός. Καὶ ἔχων ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὑτῷ βιβλαρίδιον άνεω μένον καὶ ἔθηκε τον πόδα αυτό τὸν δεξιὸν ἐπὶ τῆς

PART III.

SECTION VI.

The little Book.

CHAPTER X.

1 And I saw another
mighty angel coming
down from heaven,
clothed with a cloud,
and a radiance over
his head, and his face
was as the sun, and his
feet as pillars of fire,
2 And having in his hand
a little book opened.
And he set his right
foot upon the sea, and
his left foot upon the
3 land. And he cried

with a loud voice, as
when a lion roareth.

1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the

sun, and his feet as 2 pillars of fire. And

he bad in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, 3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion

θαλάσσης, τὸν δὲ εὐώνυμον ἐπὶ τῆς 3 γῆς. Καὶ ἔκραξε φωνή μεγάλη, ὥστ περ λέων μυκᾶται καὶ ὅτι ἔκραξεν, ἐλά λησαν αἱ ἁπλὰ βροναὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν 4 φωνάς. Καὶ ὅτι

ἐλάλησαν αἱ ἁπλὰ βρονταί, ἔμελλον γράφειν· καὶ ἤκεσα φωνὴν ἐκ τὸ ἐραν λέγεσαν Σφράγι σου ἃ ἐλάλησαν αἱ

ἁπλὰ βρονται, καὶ μὴ γράψης

ταῦτα

5 Καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος, ὃν εἶδον ἑςῶτα ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ῆρε τὴν χεῖρα αὑτῷ τὴν δεξιὼν εἰς τὸν ἐρα 6 νὸν, καὶ ὤμοσεν ἐν τῷ ζῶν εἰς τὰς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, ὃς ἔκλισε τὸν ἐρανὸν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ τὴν θά λασσαν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ, ὅτι χρόνος 7 ἐκ ἔτι ἔςαι. ̓Αλλὰ

ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῆς φωνῆς τὸ ἑβδόμε ἀγέλα, ὅταν μέλλη σαλπίζειν, καὶ ἐτε λέσθη τὸ μυςήριον τὰ Θεῦ, ὡς εὐη γέλισε τῆς ἑαυτ

And when he had cried, the seven thunders uttered their 4 voices. And when the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven, saying, " Seal up those

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things which the se

ven thunders spake, "and write them not."

5 And the angel, whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the land, lifted up his right hand toward heaven, 6 And sware by Him,

who liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven and the things therein, and the land and the things therein, and the sea and the things therein, that time shall be no more, 7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, and the mystery of God was finished, as he hath declared good tidings to his servants the prophets. 8 And the voice, which I had heard from heaven, spake unto me again, and said, "Go, “ take the little book, "which is opened in

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roareth and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their 4 voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and 5 write them not. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea, and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, 6 Aud sware by Him that

liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven and the things that therein are, and the earth and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time 7 no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. 8 And the voice which 1 heard from heaven, spake unto me again, and said, Go, and take

δελες της προφέ 8 τας. Καὶ ἡ φωνή, ἣν έκασα ἐκ τῶ ἐξανε, πάλιν λα λέσα με ἐμᾶς καὶ λέγεσαι Υπαε, λάβε τὸ βιβλαρίδιον

τὸ ἀνεωμένον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ ἀγέλα το ἐρῶτος ἐπὶ τῆς θα λάσσης καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς Ο γῆς. Καὶ ἀπῆλθον πρὸς τὸν ἄγελον, λόγων αὐτῷ δυναί μου τὸ βιβλαρίδιον. Καὶ λέγει μοσ Λάβε και κατάφασε αὐτό· καὶ πικρανεῖ σε τὴν κοιλίαν, ἀλλ ̓ ἐν τῷ σόματί σε ἔσαι γλυκύ, ὡς μέλι. 10 Καὶ ἔλαβον τὸ βι βλαρίδιον ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς τῇ ἀγέλα, καὶ κατέφαγον αὐτό καὶ ἦν ἐν τῷ σομαλι με, ὡς μέλι, γλυκύ· καὶ ὅτε ἔφαῖον αὐτὸ, ἐπικράνθη ἡ κοιλία

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eat it up; and it "shall imbitter thy "stomach; but in thy "mouth shall be sweet

10" as honey." And I took the little book from the hand of the angel, and ate it up. And it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach 11 imbittered. And he saith unto me, "Thou Η must propheey again "before many people, “ and nations, and lan

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guages, and kings.”

the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea, and 9 upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And be said

unto me, Take it, and eat it up and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 10 And I took the little

book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was 11 bitter. And he said. unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

In the 13th verse of the viiith chapter, three grand woes, three distinct periods of successful attack upon the Church, by the Antichristian powers, are announced.

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nounced. The first of these immediately takes place, and is afterwards described as past*; and the second. follows: but this, though it begins, like the first, with an hostile invasion, does not end in like manner. No period (as, in the first, of 150 years) is assigned for its continuance; and when the description of the invasion seems to be finished, no like notice is given, that the woe is ended; on the contrary, it seems to continue till the seventh Trumpet sounds; then, and not till then, it is declared to be gone †. The prophecy had now begun to appear as drawing to its close; the seventh and last Trumpet was expected. But a new and enlarging scene opens under the sixth Trumpet, and before the end of the second woe. The famous period of forty-two months, or 1260 days, is now presented to view. The usurped dominion of the Mahometans, disclosed in the sixth Trumpet, is continued throughout. But there is another Antichristian usurpation, which belongs to the same period, and which is to be produced, as cotemporary with it.

Ver. 1-3. Another mighty angel; &c.] The sublimity of this passage made an early impression upon the poetical mind of Sir William Jones: and "at a "period of mature judgment," says his biographer, "he considered it as equal in sublimity to any in the "inspired writers, and far superior to any that could "be produced from mere human compositions." This angel, although displaying superior glory and power, is not our Lord Jesus Christ, who appears in this part of the vision, not as an angel, but as the Lamb.

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Lord Teignmouth's Life of Sir William Jones, 4to. p. 14.
See note, ch. i. 14, 16.

(Ch.

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(Ch. xiv. i.) he is described to be another angel. Such another angel had been before seen officiating in the presence of the Lamb. He is an angel of the highest dignity, invested with a most important commission; to convey to Saint John, and to the Church, a large amount of prophetical information. For this purpose, he holds in his hand a little book; not little in respect to its contents, which, are of the highest importance, but with a view to the purpose for which it was designed; to be eaten and digested by the prophet. The book is open, unsealed; by our Lord's merits it had become sot; for, it was probably a part, or transcript, of the larger sealed book; because it comes under the opening of the sixth and seventh Seals, which are part of the contents of that book. It may be the same also with that part of the prophecy of Daniel which was in his time sealed for a very distant period; a period which will be seen to have relation to these times of the apocalyptic visions.

Ver. 2. And he set his right foot upon the sea ; &c.] In the scene before the prophet, the heavens, containing God's throne, and his altar, and surrounding ministers, are above. The earth is beneath, not hanging like an orb or ball §, but extended in a plain, and containing the divisions, before marked, of land, of sea, of rivers. The angel descends from heaven above, and takes his station on the earth, placing one of his gigantic feet on the sea, the other on the land. The Eastern nations, expressed by the division of the land, had been hitherto the principal scene of action under this Trumpet. The angel's

†. See note, ch. v. 9.

* Ch. vii. 2. and again viii. 3.
Dan, xii. 4. 9. § Cicero, Somn. Scip.

See note, ch. viii. 7.

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