the fall of Rome. No! when it sounds Jerusalem will fall. And is this, then, the end of all? Is the mystery of God spoken of by the prophets really satisfied in this ruin? For a moment it appears so. The book is open, the dispensation is closing. But the voices of the seven thunders which were not to be written down may still sound when the trumpets have ceased. There may be glimpses into the dispensation which is coming. The oppressor may not be intended to reign for ever. Only one-half of the seer's task is performed. "And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again unto many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." LECTURE XI. THE TWO WITNESSES. And there was given me a reed like unto a rod; and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and : in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.-REV. xi. : WE enter to-day upon what I venture to call the second part of the Apocalypse. I do not make that division in conformity with any theory of mine. The seer is told that when the seventh angel sounds the mystery of God will be finished, but that he must prophesy again before many kindreds, and tongues, and nations, and kings. I have assumed that the prophet is speaking of Jerusalem. Six blasts have proclaimed that it is about to fall. It has not fallen yet. The vision before us speaks of a period of twelve hundred and sixty days, or forty-two months. We commonly reckon a period of about four years between the commencement of the Jewish rebellion, consequent upon the oppression of Florus, and the termination of the war by Titus. If I take this time, or a portion of it, to be indicated by the twelve hundred and sixty days, I shall at least be nearer to a strict interpretation than if I changed the days into years; less liable to be imposed upon by tricks of my fancy, than if I were obliged to guess which is the starting point and conclusion of those years in the history of Christendom. How that short interval was filled up, with what horrors in the whole empire, with what special and unspeakable horrors in the city of Jerusalem, I need not say. Since the confusion was general, the wild fanatics in the holy city might easily persuade themselves that the other city, the tyrant city, would fall first. The Capitol was burnt before the Temple was burnt. The outrages of Vitellius might draw down the Divine vengeance as much as the outrages of John or Simon. While the holy place stood there might always be some signal interposition to save it and destroy the besiegers, like that which had occurred when Sennacherib was invading it in the days of Hezekiah. I. "And there was given me a reed, like unto a rod, and the angel stood, saying, Rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court that is without the temple, leave out and measure it not, for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." The parallel here is obvious and direct. The prophecy of Ezekiel refers, more than any other, to the Temple. Its desecration by the idolatries of its worshippers; its coming ruin by the Babylonian power; the meaning of its symbols to those who dwelt amongst the idolaters of Chaldæa, doubtless had filled his soul. Then comes the prospect of restoration. In his fortieth chapter we hear how he is transported in spirit to the land of Israel, and how he “ sees a man with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed." With these he measures all the parts of the city, and especially the different courts of the Temple. The prophet learns what that building is to be which he may not behold with his eyes, but in which his countrymen will one days worship the God of their fathers. The command to St. John to come and measure must at once bring the vision of his predecessor before him. Is he, too, a prophet of restoration? Is the Temple to perish, and to rise again after seventy years? Is there to be a New Jerusalem in his day, such as there was after the captivity? The rest of the Apocalypse is an answer, I believe, to these questions. This chapter introduces the period of 1260 days. It explains what is passing in them, and what they signify. It assumes them to be a period of utter darkness and desolation. But it shows that in that darkest time the old witnesses of God were not extinct; that even then they were doing the work which they had always done. The prophet will not scatter a delusion till he has given a substitute for it. All that is contained in city and Temple is doomed. No fire will come down from heaven to destroy the besiegers. The fall is delayed, but it is certain. But those also are not wrong who say that there is an immortality in it, and its altars, and its worshippers. That immortality will be made manifest by the very destruction which is impending. One who purged it of the traffickers that were defiling it, said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again. When those who heard the words saw Him appearing out of the grave of Joseph, they knew that He spake of the temple of His body. That was one fulfilment of them; there could yet be another. The temple of stone was not to have one stone left upon another; but the work for which it existed, the work which it had already to do for the world, might be accomplished. A better resurrection |