"I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee." "Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee." "Upon the sun."-At the Fourth Trumpet the light of the sun was abridged (ch. viii. 12). At the Fourth Vial its heat is intensified so as to scorch yet not to consume. Combining in thought the two phases, we see in emblem the outer darkness of hell no way lit up by the unquenchable fire, and that fire ever feeding upon without devouring its prey. But the sun is earth's vivifier, benefactor, guardian, friend. Even so. It will not be otherwise, alas! with any lost soul which at length makes of Mercy an enemy. Without pressing every word, I think these two prophecies may be harmonized as at least a dim allegory touching the mystery of Redemption. The Sun oftentimes symbolizes Christ. Here in a figure we behold Christ by voluntary Self-abasement and Self-sacrifice first taking upon Himself the plagues due to us, before He suffers us to be touched by them. At the Fourth Trumpet the Sun itself is smitten. On the Sun itself the Fourth Vial of Wrath is poured out, or ever the wrath descends to mankind at large yet is it the Sun and none other which at length smites. Of the elect we read elsewhere, but not here. Of the incorrigible we are reading, and their personal rankling raging hatred of God in Christ persists in venting blasphemy and abhorring repentance. Could they, would they repent, they might... yea, so surely as God Almighty is Faithful and True, they must up to and beyond the eleventh hour go home out of the horrible pit to Paradise. Thus did one Malefactor, but not (so far as is recorded) the other. "And blasphemed . . . and they repented not to give Him glory."-Far below Achan, who through the grave and gate of temporal death was (please God!) delivered from death eternal: "Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto Him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done." [But darest thou when reading of impenitence, once and again urge penitence? Yea; because impenitence is set before us to that very end that we should repent.] O Loving Lord Jesus, Who revealest hell that we may flee to heaven, and lest we should loose hold on Thee warnest us that souls may fall away; Thou Who on the Cross didst love saint and sinner, and on Thy Throne of Intercession lovest saints and sinners still; there is nothing but Thy Love or some fruit of Thy Love which we can plead with Thee. Such I plead. Amen. Well spake that soldier who being asked what he would do if he became too weak to cling to Christ, answered, "Then I will pray Him to cling to me." "The seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness."-Prefigured but only faintly by the three days' darkness in Egypt for at that time Moses was within reach, within hearing; Moses, type of Christ, still accessible to Pharaoh. Three days, and then presumably renewal of light. And as we expressly read: "Neither rose any from his place for three days" (in strong contrast with those blinded men of doomed Sodom who wearied themselves to find the door), it suggests that the door of repentance continued open: for considering that three days' darkness by way of a spiritual parable, and connecting it with our Lord's figurative declaration: "If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch," we are invited humbly to hope that the Egyptian darkness was by no means necessarily outer darkness; but rather in the case of impressionable souls that it shut such up awhile in a corner of safety, affording them leisure to consider their ways and become wise; to purge themselves from such blindness as by misleading or misfollowing falls into the ditch; and to watch for the morning with eyes apt and anxious to see, should God of His bounty rekindle light and sight. "They gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed . . because of their pains and their sores."-To harden heart and stiffen neck under any chastisement predisposes towards final virulence of misery and impotence of hatred. The consummated horrible end appears as if a scorpion hedged in by fire stung itself and could not die. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." The power of choice is limited to time: the consequences who shall limit? Bitter it is to long for life and die; more bitter to long for death and it cometh not. Christ in His boundless mercy preserve us through bitterness of life and from bitterness of death. Bitterness that may turn to sweetness is better than sweetness that must turn to bitterness. Nothing which can end is unbearable. The lost must not shift their perdition off their own shoulders on to Satan's: their own load they must bear. Though the wretched persons of our text were subjects and confederates of the beast, yet they themselves gnawed their own tongues and plied their own tongues in blasphemy: themselves, not he. Satan is guilty, and none the less each soul is guilty, of that same soul's death; guilt being like flame, capable of communication not of transference. "And repented not of their deeds."—At the Fourth Vial, and now again at the Fifth, but not previously, impenitence is clearly alleged as one sin of those sinners. At the Fourth it seems characteristically a revolt of will against faith: "Men . . . blasphemed the Name of God, which hath power over these plagues and they repented not to give Him glory." At the Fifth it seems characteristically a rebellion of flesh (the lower nature) against spirit: "They . . . blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." The result of such obduracy is differently stated in each case: first it refuses glory to God, thereby shutting the door of heaven against man; afterwards it bereaves man of his last vestige of hope, even of the bare wish to amend. "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. . . . Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief: Lord, I repent, help mine impenitence : Hide not Thy Face from me, nor spurn me hence, Nor utterly despise me in my grief; Nor say me nay, who worship with the thief Say "Come," say not 'Depart," tho' Thou art just : I look to Thee while Thou dost look on me, Euphrates flowed out of Eden, and (at least in its fountain head, if not after being parted into one of four) its first recorded use was to water Paradise. Its last recorded use is negative : to be dried up and afford a free passage. Euphrates in Eden was congruous with sinless Adam: one watered, the other tilled, both obeyed. Euphrates in the end of the world is congruous with many sons of Adam: both parched, both done away with. Dost thou deplore the fate of high-born Euphrates? Deplore rather the fate of multitudes of higher born men. Deplore what thou hast made thyself: deprecate what thou mayest yet make thyself. I can alone destroy myself: from myself, Good Lord, deliver me. If the way to destruction lie open before me; from that way, Good Lord, deliver me. Though they that be better than I destroy themselves; from self-destruction, Good Lord, deliver me. From following a multitude to do evil, from apostasy, from depravity; Good Lord, deliver me. From angels executing wrath; Good Lord, deliver me. From Thyself my Judge, to Thyself my Saviour, I appeal. Good Lord, deliver me. Amen. "The kings of the east "-Revised Version : "The kings that come from the sun rising."-With whom, whatever their purpose, the Wise Men from the east will rise up in the Judgment together. "I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. I said in mine heart, God shali judge the righteous and the wicked for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work." "We must prevent the sun to give Thee thanks, and at the dayspring pray unto Thee." ... "Three unclean spirits like frogs are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth." Contemptible as well as formidable: "frogs; yea even in their kings' chambers." Long before, "the magicians . . with their enchantments . . . brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt"-brought them up, but presumably lacked power to suppress them, for Moses it was who by intercession delivered Pharaoh from that plague. The likeness of these unclean spirits to frogs recalls our Lord's mysterious declaration : "The unclean spirit . . . walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none." however, they seek not rest in a dry place, but go forth to stir up war. Now Vile emissaries befit vile potentates. Are all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them to be mustered against God Almighty at the summons of three frogs? "The harvest of the river is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations. Be thou ashamed, O Zidon." "Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bid His guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel. In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit." Because these unclean spirits come "out of the mouth" of dragon, beast, false prophet, it should set me on my guard against all words whereby a pernicious tongue may offend. "Why boastest thou thyself, thou tyrant, that thou canst do mischief; whereas the goodness of God endureth yet daily? Thy tongue imagineth wickedness, and with lies thou cuttest like a sharp razor. Thou hast loved unrighteousness more than goodness, and to talk of lies more than righteousness. Thou hast loved to speak all words that may do hurt, O thou false tongue. Therefore shall God destroy thee for ever: He shall take thee, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling, and root thee out of the land of the living." Lord, grant us grace to make Thy Goodness our trust: shutting our hearts against pride, our mouths against evil words, our ears against foul knowledge; and using Thy gifts to the promotion of Thy Glory and of man's salvation. For His Blessed sake in Whom we have all and are full and abound, Jesus Christ. Amen. "Behold, I come as a thief."-This or a kindred expression our Blessed Master and after Him His Apostles and Evangelists have employed repeatedly in reference to the Second Advent and ensuing Judgment Day. SS. Matthew and Luke record in great measure the same Divine words, although spoken (it seems) on two separate cccasions: "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this; that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief |