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by coals taken * from the great brazen altar of sacrifice, which stood in the outer court of the Temple, was offered on the Golden Altar, which stood in the inner court or Holy Place, before the Veil.

The Vials, then, are sacred Vessels. The incense now contained in them is called the Wrath of God; and it is poured forth by His Angel-Ministers from His heavenly Sanctuary, on the power of the Beast, that is, on the spiritual Kingdom of the great City, in which the Woman, who sitteth on the Beast †, is enthroned.

Such, then, is the Vision: we are now prepared to understand it.

The natural blessings of Egypt became the occasions of suffering; for example, the Nile, the source

pas

38. Cp. Exod. xxv. 6. xxxvii. 29. The following are the sages in the original Apocalypse where páλa are described.Rev. v. 8, φιάλαι χρυσαῖ γέμουσαι θυμιαμάτων, αἴ εἰσιν αἱ προσευχαὶ τῶν ἁγίων.—Rev. viii. 3, ἄγγελος ἐστάθη ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιασ τήριον, ἔχων λιβανωτὸν χρυσοῦν, καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ θυμιάματα πολλά, ἵνα δώσῃ ταῖς προσευχαῖς τῶν ἁγίων πάντων ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον τὸ χρυσοῦν, τὸ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου, καὶ ἀνέβη ὁ καπνὸς τῶν θυμιαμάτων ταῖς προσευχαῖς τῶν ἁγίων ἐκ χειρὸς τοῦ ἀγγέλου ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ εἴληφεν ὁ ἄγγελος τὸν λιβανωτὸν, καὶ ἐγέμισεν αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς (i.e. ex ture incenso) τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, καὶ ἔβαλεν εἰς τὴν γῆν.—Rev. xν. 6, ἐξῆλθον οἱ ἑπτὰ ἄγγελοι ἔχοντες τὰς ἑπτὰ πληγὰς ἐκ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ ἓν ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων ζώων ἔδωκε τοῖς ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλοις ἑπτὰ φιάλας χρυσᾶς γεμούσας τοῦ θυμοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦ ζῶντος ἐς τοὺς αἰῶνας· καὶ ἐγεμίσθη ὁ ναὸς καπνοῦ ἐκ τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ.

...

* See Lightfoot on Rev. viii.

† Rev. xvii. 3. 7. 18.

of her fertility and wealth, became blood, and sent forth frogs*.

So, these Vials represent spiritual benefits converted into banes; means of grace changed into plagues. Precisely as was the case with the Two Witnesses: they were God's messengers to man. But they are despised; and the Word in their mouth bursts into fire, and consumes their foes ‡. Precisely, again, as with the Four Angels §, bound at the great river Euphrates: they were God's Ambassadors to the World. But they were imprisoned. God looses them, and then they lead on an innumerable army, and avenge His cause, and destroy His enemies.

Thus, in the Vision before us of the Seven Vials. Here we see the coals from God's altar, which should, and would, in His Will and desire, have kindled the sweet incense of prayer, and have ascended in a cloud of sweet perfume to heaven, in the ministries of His Church, and have brought down blessings upon earth, are converted by man's sin into means of vengeance, and descend on the heads of the ungodly in a flood of fire.

*Exod. vii. 19-25. viii. 1-7.

Rev. xi. 3. 5.

Haymo ad c. xv. Scripturá vulnerantur corda bonorum ad salutem, corda impiorum ad perniciem.

§ Rev. ix. 13-20.

Haymo ad cap. xvi. Phiala iræ Dei dicuntur quia videlicet unde alii veniam placationis, inde alii sumunt viam ultionis. Per terram autem designantur terrena corda hominum.

This Vision is illustrated by the words of St. Paul, and reflects light upon them.

Thanks be to God, says the Apostle, Which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour (or odour*, rather) of His knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet savour (or perfume †, rather) of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one we are a savour (odour) of death unto death; to the other a savour (odour) of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as the many, who corrupt the Word of Godt.

That is, we, the Apostles of Christ, who dispense the Word and Sacraments in truth and godly sincerity in His name, Who gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour; we are like the Priests of the Temple offering sweet incense to God on the altar of His Sanctuary, which oblation is acceptable to Him in Christ, Who has entered within the Veil**; and this our Ministry is a sweet-smelling savour to Life Eternal for all who gladly receive what we deliver; but to those who reject, mutilate, or adulterate the Word or Sacraments, the aromatic incense of our spiritual censers fills up the Vials of God's Wrath, and the

2 Cor. ii. 14-16.

+ εὐωδία.

|| Eph. v. 2.

* ὀσμήν.
§ ειλικρίνεια. 2 Cor. ii. 16.

** Heb. vi. 19.

blessings of His Word and Sacraments become plagues. They are a savour of death unto death; and instead of ascending to Heaven in fragrant clouds, they descend to earth in fiery streams *.

This Vision becomes clearer still, when we remember, that the Apocalyptic Vials are holy Vessels, and that they are poured out in the heavenly Temple by Angels in Priestly attire, ministering before the Veil; and that they contain holy fire, and are poured upon a spiritual Empire, a corrupt Church. Thus we see that the Ministers of the punishment, and the instruments used, and the place in which they are employed, and the subject of the punishment, are all in harmony with each other.

So much for the general meaning of these Vials. What, now, is the special signification of each? They are poured on the Elements of the Kingdom of the Beast, the Earth, the Sea, the Streams and Wells, the Sun, the Throne, the Euphrates, the Air. This Empire being spiritual, these symbols must all receive a spiritual interpretation.

Auctor ap. S. Augustin. Phialas cum odore (Ovμiáμarı) ferunt Seniores et Animalia quæ sunt Ecclesia, qui et septem Angeli. Et quod sunt odoramenta, Ovμiáμara, hoc, Ira Dei; et hoc, Verbum Dei. Sed et hæc omnia dant bonis Vitam, malis inferunt mortem, ut est illud, Aliis odor Vitæ in Vitam, aliis odor Mortis in Mortem. (2 Cor. ii. 16.) Orationes enim (and, we may add, Prædicationes) sanctorum, qui est Ignis exiens de ore Testium (and, we add, quatuor Angelorum) Ira sunt Mundo et Impiis... Omines istæ Plagæ spiritales sunt et in animá fiunt.

Secondly, the first four Vials correspond in character to the first four Trumpets, and the explanation of the one leads to the exposition of the other; that is, the judgments denounced upon the mystical Babylon, in the Vials, resemble those inflicted, on a corrupt World, in the Trumpets.

Bearing these things in mind, let us observe— The First Plague is a grievous and noisome sore on those who have the mark of the Beast; some great spiritual disease † of a visible kind.

It appears, therefore, to describe a corrupt Profession of Faith. It is very applicable to the Creed ‡, which is imposed by the Church of Rome, as necessary to salvation, on all her Clergy; and which contains Twelve Articles, either unscriptural or antiscriptural so that it may indeed be said of those who receive the mark of the Beast, and worship his image, that they are covered with wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores §.

The Second Vial is poured on the Sea; and it becomes blood.

This is explained by another passage in the Apocalypse. The Woman, enthroned on the Beast, is said to sit upon many waters ||; and the waters which

* See Rev. viii. 7-12, compared with xvi. 1-9.

Bede ad loc. Spiritualiter interibunt.-Haymo ad cap. xvi. Hoc vulnus non est corporis sed mentis.

Haymo ad loc. Character Bestia Fides ejus intelligitur. § Isa. i. 6. Rev. xvii. 1.

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