LECTURE X.'

REV. xi. 3, 4.

"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.”

THE portion of Apocalyptic prophecy upon which we are now to enter, forms, as it were, a distinct scene, or episode, in the vision of which it is part, and is introduced by circumstances of peculiar solemnity.

Of the seven angels who, in the vision of the mystic temple, "stood before God," and to whom "were given seven trumpets," six had now sounded; the first four, as has already been observed, being separated from those which followed, by the voice that was heard of the "angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound 2!" Of these three, who also are thus connected together, "the fifth angel sounded," and there followed the plague of the

1 Preached Dec. 1, 1844.

2 Rev. viii. 13.

Vision of the mighty Angel.

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3"

scorpion locusts; and when this had lasted its appointed time, it was declared, "One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter '.' The sixth angel sounded, and there was revealed the plague of the horsemen of the Euphrates; but no such declaration follows concerning the termination of the second woe: a new vision, meanwhile, as it would appear, is introduced in the tenth chapter, by a fresh revelation from heaven; and it is not till the end of the description, which follows in the eleventh chapter, of the prophetic ministry of the two witnesses, that we are told, "The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly."

This distinct portion, then, of the vision, including the angelic appearance which ushers it in, occupies the whole of the tenth chapter, and the first fourteen verses of the eleventh. "I saw," says St. John, "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:"-a description of glory so closely resembling that of the Divine Presence in the book of Ezekiel 5, and of the appearance of the Son of Man in the opening of St. John's vision, that some have thought it could be no created angel that is described here, but the Divine Angel Himself, "the Messenger of the Covenant."-" And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered

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288

Daniel's Vision compared.

[LECT. their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and 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 no longer: but in the days 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 "."

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The reference here cannot be mistaken, nor the parallel overlooked, to a description which we have already had before us, in the book of Daniel. The prophet, standing by the side of the great river Hiddekel, had beheld, on the waters of the river, an angelic form like that which St. John describes, "a man clothed in linen," whose "body was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude"." By the ministry of this mighty angel a prophecy was revealed to Daniel, which, it was made known to him, was yet "for many days';" and he was bidden accordingly to "shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end 2. Then I looked," saith the prophet, "and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the

bank of the river.

And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was

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Chap. x. 1-7.

9 Dan. x. 5, 6.

1 Ver. 14.

2 Dan. xii. 4.

x.]

Similarity between the two Visions.

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upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard," saith the prophet, "the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished 3." The resemblance between the two scenes, the solemn oath, the mention made in St. John's vision of the long looked-for accomplishment of the mystery of God, "declared in ages past "to his servants the prophets,"-connect the two descriptions closely together. And the link will appear yet closer, when we find that the mystic period revealed in the vision which immediately follows in the Revelation of St. John-the forty and two months, or the thousand two hundred and threescore days-is the same with that which had been more obscurely shadowed out to Daniel under the designation of "a time, times, and an half," "a time and times and the dividing of times." The Jewish prophet had been charged to "shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end;" and when, hearing but understanding not the angel's mystic oath, he enquired again, saying, "O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" the angel said, "Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." But to the beloved disciple, the Evangelic prophet, the voices of the seven thunders uttered an intelligible sound; though, indeed, even he might not record the words, but must himself also, in his turn,

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Ezekiel's prophetic commission,

[LECT.

seal them up. To him, nevertheless, the open book in the angel's hand was freely given, that he might spiritually digest that which it contained. "The voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go, and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he 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. 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 bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings 5."

The description here given will recall to mind that which we find in the book of Ezekiel, of the manner in which that prophet was charged with his sacred commission. The voice which came to him, from Him whom he saw amidst "the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord," enveloped in fire, and with brightness round about it, "as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain," bade him take and eat the roll of the book which an hand that was sent unto him spread before him; "and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe." "Then did I eat it," he says, "and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them "."

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5 Rev. x.

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8-11.

Ezek. ii. 9, 10; iii. 1-4.