Thy Word. Thou didst walk through the sea with Thine Horses, through the heap of great waters.

The interpretation, now proposed, of the Sixth Trumpet, or Second Woe, is also remarkably confirmed by other passages in the Apocalypse.

In the first Seal, as we have seen, Christ goes forth as a Royal Warrior on a White Horse, conquering and to conquer *. And, just before the final consummation, One like the Son of Man is displayed, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sicklet. Another Angel also appears with a sickle; and the Earth is reaped; and the Vintage begins. And then we read,-The Winepress was trodden without the city; and blood came out of the Winepress, even unto the bridles of the Horses .

This mention of Horses, in connexion with the Winepress, seems at first very strange, and appears very obscure; but when we remember the Angels' Horses of the Second Woe, it becomes clear.

And this passage of the Apocalypse is illustrated, also, by a sublime description of the Prophet Zechariah, whom St. John imitates very closely in the Revelation; or, to speak more truly, both were filled with the same Divine Spirit.

The Prophet, speaking of the same great conflict as St. John, when the power of Christ shall be revealed as that of a mighty Conqueror, compares Him to a Warrior at the head of a great army; and speaks, as St. John does, of the bridles of the Horses. + Rev. xiv. 14.

* Rev. vi. 2.

Rev. xiv. 20.

In that day shall there be upon the bridles* of the Horses HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

Again: there is another passage still later in the Apocalypse, which confirms the exposition we have given of the Sixth Trumpet. I saw heaven opened, says St. John, after the pouring out of the sixth Vial, at the great conflict of Armageddon, and, behold, a White Horse, and He Who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and He judges and wars in righteousness; and His eyes are as a flame of fire, and on His head many crowns; and He has a name written which no one knows but Himself; and He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called THE WORD of GOD. And the armies in heaven followed Him on White Horses; and they were clothed with linen, white and pure. And from His mouth goeth forth a sharp sword, that with it He may smite the Nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron. And He treads the Winepress of God's wrath +.

Then follows the destruction of the Beast and False Prophet, and of the Powers of the Earth who had been gathered together against Christ .

All these descriptions refer, I believe, to the same period, that of the Sixth Trumpet, or the Second Woe.

Zech. xiv. 20, ἐπὶ τὸν χάλινον τοῦ ἵππου ̔́Αγιον τῷ Kupių, where the Hebrew has by bells.

Rev. xix. 11-15. cp. Rev. xvi. 12—16.
Rev. xix. 19, 20.

Thus we see Christ is represented as a Mighty Warrior riding to Victory, and His Army with Him, mounted on horses, an innumerable host; and Christ, so leading them to the conflict, is called THe Word of GOD.

Therefore, in the Vision of the Victorious Army of Horsemen revealed at the Sixth Trumpet, we recognize the triumph of Christ and of His Word.

All these testimonies of God Himself in Scripture serve to inculcate a momentous truth: the power and majesty of His Word; and the great sin and peril of despising it.

Therefore, well might the Sixth Angel take up the trumpet, and sound, Woe to the World, Woe to the World, because of offences! Woe to the World, for its neglect of the Gospel! O! that men would hear the heavenly blast now sounding in their ears! Nations have rejected the Gospel. Senates have trodden it under foot. Philosophers have denied its inspiration. Even Churches have bound the Angels, and killed the Witnesses. And yet the Gospel is the Voice of God. The Word of God all who despise it.

is the Army of God. Alas! for Eternal death is their doom. Listen then to the Angelic trumpet, the trump of Woe; for the Gospel will judge the world. When the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, with the Voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God *, then the Word which He has spoken in the Gospel, the same will judge us in that day+.

* 1 Thess. iv. 16.

John xii. 48.

LECTURE VIII.

REV. x. 1, 2.

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 pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book open.

THE divine writer of the Apocalypse, having arrived at the verge of the final consummation, pauses for a time after the Sixth Trumpet; and another Vision is presented to him, which places him again at an earlier period of his prophecy.

He has described, under the Sixth Trumpet *, the loosing of the Four Angels which were bound at the great river Euphrates; and he has displayed the glorious triumph of their innumerable army.

This Vision, as was stated in our last discourse, represents the free progress, tremendous power, and glorious victory of the WORD of GOD in the last times; and the great sin and peril of despising it. We now proceed to observe that the Vision of the Four Angels, so interpreted, introduces, in a

*Rev. ix. 15.

† ἐπί.

most apt and beautiful manner, the next portion of the Apocalypse, which may be entitled a prophetic History of the WORD of GOD. This will now engage our attention.

St. John sees a mighty Angel*, clothed_with_the cloud of Divine glory, and crowned with the Rainbow †, the emblem of Divine mercy and justice ‡. His countenance is like the sun, and His feet as columns of fire, for strength. He holds in His hand a small Roll opened §; and He places His right foot on the sea, and his left on the land, and cries with a loud voice, like the roaring of a Lion. At His cry, THEe SEVEN THUNDERS utter their voices. They are called the Seven Thunders |, as if they were well known. St. John was about to write what they had said; but he hears a Voice from heaven, crying, SEAL the things which the Seven Thunders spake, and write them not**

The mighty Angel then lifts His right hand to heaven, and swears, by the Eternal Creator, that there

* Rev. x. 1.

Ipus, as in many MSS. the article is intended to identify the Angel with Him on the Throne. Rev. iv. 3.

See above, p. 114.

§ βιβλαρίδιον ἀνεῳγμένον, Rev. x. 2.

'AI ETrà Bроvraí. The reason of the article (omitted in the Authorized Version) will appear from what will be now said concerning them.

** Rev. x. 1-4. Μετὰ ταῦτα γράψεις, is the reading of some MSS. approved by Venema, De Meth. Proph. 273.