A fifth Angel comes from the Sanctuary with a sharp sickle:

A sixth Angel follows, having power over the fire; and he cries to the Angel with the sharp sickle *, Put in thy sickle, and reap; and the Angel does so, and gathers the grapes of the Earth, and casts them into the Winepress of the Wrath of God: and the Winepress is trodden without the city, and blood comes forth from the Winepress up to the bridles of the Horses for a thousand and six hundred furlongs ‡.

What horses are these? it may be inquired.

Let us refer back to the Sixth Trumpet, or Second Woe. There the four Angels are described as accompanied with innumerable § Horsemen.

Thus, one obscure passage explains another: and again we see a mark whereby to ascertain our place in the course of the Prophecy.

Victorinus here notes: De gentibus

He understands this of the end.

*Mitte falcem acutam. perituris in Adventu Domini. See above. Compare Joel ii. 4, sqq. and Joel iii. 12, sqq. in the LXX. where the Horses . . . the Harvest, and the Wine

...

press are described. Sixteen hundred furlongs; Victorinus ad loc. well interprets this: Per omnes mundi quatuor partes: quaternitas enim est conquaternata, sicut in quatuor faciebus et quadriformibus et rotis quadratis. It indicates the completeness and universality of the Victory, as the one hundred and forty-four thousand denote the consummation of the number of the Elect. "Per stadia mille sexcenta omnis summa reproborum exprimitur per orbem quadripartitum," says Haymo ad cap. xiv.

Rev. xiv. 16. 20.

§ Rev. ix. 16, 17. See Lect. VII. p. 213, to end.

This is the spiritual conflict of Armageddon *. Soon after it the Beast and False Prophet are destroyed; but the Dragon still remains †.

What, it may now be asked, is the peculiar character and function of these six Angels, who are thus introduced in succession?

They are Messengers of Warnings: the others are Ministers of Judgments. Hence, it will be observed, that they are described as crying with a loud voice to awaken a slumbering World ‡, with the alarm of impending Visitation.

Here we rest for the present, and review the Visions, which we have been contemplating in the two last Discourses.

First, we have seen the prophetic History of HOLY SCRIPTURE revealed by the Spirit to St. John. We have seen its divine origin-its awful dignity, and its tremendous power like that of an immense and invincible Army. We have seen that it

* Rev. xix. 11.

+ Rev. xix. 20. Observe the 1st Angel (xiv. 6)—eldov ayyeλov TεTwμεVOV, λέγοντα ἐν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ, ΦΟΒΗΘΗΤΕ κ. τ. λ.

2nd Angel (xiv. 8)—ἄγγελος ἠκολούθησε λέγων, ΕΠΕΣΕΝ

κ. τ. λ.

3rd Angel (xiv. 9)—τρίτος ἄγγελος ἠκολούθησεν, λέγων ἐν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ, ΕΙ ΤΙΣ ΤΟ ΘΗΡΙΟΝ προσκυνεῖ κ. τ. λ. καὶ ἤκουσα φωνῆς κ.τ.λ. ΓΡΑΨΟΝ, Μακάριοι οἱ νεκροὶ κ.τ.λ. 4th Angel (xiv. 15)—ἄγγελος ἐξῆλθεν . . . κράζων ἐν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ, ΠΕΜΨΟΝ τὸ δρέπανόν σου κ. τ. λ.

...

6th Angel (xiv. 18)ἐφώνησε κραυγῇ μεγάλῃ, λέγων, ΠΕΜ

ΨΟΝ κ. τ. λ.

is the channel of divine grace; the Rule of faith and practice; the Sceptre of God's Kingdom; the Rod of His Judgment; His Witness to the World.

We have also seen St. John's divine prophecy concerning its reception in this world. And he enables us to foresee its future triumph, and the woes which will overtake all who despise it. Marvellous, indeed, is the fulfilment which this Prophecy has already received, and is now receiving. It might have been expected that the Word of the great Creator and Sovereign Lord of the World would have gained ready attention, and unqualified love, and universal obedience from His creatures and subjects. But no. St. John reveals a different result. And so it has come to pass. The Written Word has been treated in the same manner as the Incarnate Word. The Herods and Pilates of Earth have conspired against it; and it has been set at nought by the Scribes and Pharisees of the Great City.

Let us here adore God's long-suffering, and bewail man's sin. God is justified: man is silenced. And let no one be staggered or astonished if it should be his lot to see other more outrageous insults heaped on the Word of God.

We see its present sufferings; and so one part of the prophecy is shown to be true: and, let us remember, St. John predicts, that as it suffers with Christ, so will it rise again, and ascend, and reign with Him. Therefore, let us not be offended, or

dismayed, by its treatment on earth; but let us raise our eyes, and contemplate its glory in Heaven. Above all, let us take heed to ourselves: let us fear the Word; let us believe the Word; let us obey the Word-or the Word will be our Woe.

Secondly, St. John reveals to us the History of the CHURCH.

Some, you are aware, there are who affirm, that temporal felicity and amplitude of dominion are notes of the true Church *; and they proceed to argue that their own Church is the spouse of Christ, because it has enjoyed worldly prosperity, and has long exercised secular sway.

But how different is the language of St. John! He represents the Apostolic Church, the Spouse of Christ the Spiritual Queen, as a pilgrim and sojourner upon earth. She is the Woman in the Wilderness. On the other hand, the Woman who sits enthroned as a Queen upon many waters, which are peoples, and multitudes, and nations †, is not the Bride, but the Harlot-not Sion, but Babylon.

spouse

We learn from the Apocalypse, that the true of Christ must suffer. She must suffer like Her divine Lord; first, from a heathen power, and next from a corrupt Church.

Who would have believed his report? How incredible was all this when St. John wrote! But this

* Bellarmine de Notis Ecclesiæ, lib. iv. c. 18. Ultima nota est felicitas temporalis.

Rev. xvii. 1. 15.

U

prophecy, also, has been already in part fulfilled, and is now in course of fulfilment. The Church, built on the foundation of Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone*, has been beleaguered by foes from without and from within, ever since the day of her building. She has been assailed by the Arch-Enemy of man-first, with heathen arms, and then with the weapons of Heresy, Superstition, and Infidelity. She has been driven into the Wilderness.

Alas! is not this true? Has not this prophecy been verified? is it not fulfilled in our own eyes? Are not some of the Nations of the World at this hour treating all Religions as equally true? Do not some endow Judaism side by side with Christianity? And in the great work of National Education, are they not setting at defiance Christ's own commission to His Church +-Teach all Nations, Feed My Lambs? Are they not denying, that Christ's Spouse is the Mother of Christ's children? Are they not taking away her children and His from her breasts and from her knees, and depriving them of the pure milk of the Word, and of the spiritual food of the Sacraments, and of the Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept of Christian Creeds and Catechisms? Are they not giving them away to false Mothers? Instead of strengthening Sion, are they

⚫ Eph. ii. 20.

+ Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. John xxi. 15. Isaiah xxviii. 10.