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—it will yawn, as it were, into a gulf of misery, an abyss of shame—a Gehenna, or Valley of Hinnom *; and so the Gatherings of Armageddon will be Multitudes, Multitudes, in the Valley of Decision!

We are thus brought to the conclusion, that the Apocalyptic Armageddon is not any spot in Judæa, (as some have thought,) or in Italy, (as others have imagined,) but it is the World at large t, wheresoever men associate themselves in a League of ungodly Polity and corrupt Religion; and that the words they gathered them together to Armageddon are a figurative expression, which means, they gathered them together for final and total destruction .

Here let us pause and look back. What has the Vision revealed?

Babylon falls. But the Beast and False Prophet still remain they form a league with the Dragon; that is, with Infidel powers, and gather themselves together to the great conflict of Armageddon. This confederacy is routed in a marvellous manner. The Beast and False Prophet are cast into the lake of fire §. But still one foe remains-the Dragon, Satan ||, the Arch-Enemy of man.

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+ Mercer well says, (ad Joel iii. 23,) Vallem Josaphat circumstantiæ totum Mundum sic appellari ostendunt, non angulum Judææ.

Igitur (says Michaelis ad loc.) exercitum in montem Megiddo colligere, idem est ac internecione eum delere.

§ Rev. xix. 20.

Rev. xx. 7. 10.

Here we arrive at the close of the Nineteenth Chapter.

What now is done by St. John in the Twentieth?

In the Seals, in the earlier part of the Apocalypse *, he had given a rapid sketch of the History of the Church, from his own age to the day of Armageddon; in a word, he had given a "prophecy to the end of the World +." And now, having displayed all that intervenes between his own age and the close of that great conflict, he ascends, in the Twentieth Chapter, once more to his own time, and gives a short view of the History of the Church, from the Incarnation of Christ to the final overthrow of the Evil One.

We have seen already, on a former occasion ‡, how an erroneous view of the structure of the Apocalypse has led to a misinterpretation of the Seals, and to the imputation of the doctrine of a Millennium to the Twentieth Chapter of the Apocalypse.

The true view of the Twentieth Chapter is this §:St. John, having displayed the sufferings of the Church in the Seals, and God's judgments in the Trumpets, and in the History of the Two Witnesses, and of the Woman in the Wilderness, and of the mystical Babylon, and, finally, of the great conflict of Armageddon; and having thus displayed the melancholy work

* Chaps. vi. vii.

Such is the exposition of the Church of England in the heading of the Sixth Chapter, containing the Seals, in the Authorized Version.

See above, Lecture I. p. 28.

§ See above, Lecture VI. p. 168, 169.

ings of human corruption, under various forms of Paganism, Heresy, Superstition, and Infidelity,—reascends to the first age of Christianity, and shows how Christ, Who had been represented in the first Seal as a Royal Warrior on a White Horse, the Horse of Victory, conquering and to conquer-had come down from Heaven with the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in His hand; how he had bound Satan and triumphed over him even from the beginning, and had delivered men from his grasp, and enabled them to be free; and how-by the Apostolic commission, Go and baptize all nations-He had, in His divine will and desire, made all men members of His own mystical Body-the Church; how He had thus raised them from the death of Sin by a spiritual resurrection; how He had made them Kings and Priests to God in Himself, and had delivered them from the second death; and how He would never cease to exercise His divine office of protection and salvation during the whole period of the World's history, represented by the complete number of a thousand years; and how they who suffer for Him could never taste of death; and, how fierce soever might be the rage of the Dragon, whether working by the sword of Paganism, the wormwood of Heresy, or the plague and famine of Unbelief, or by the sorceries of a corrupt Christianity, yet that CHRIST never had left-and never would leaveHimself without a witness, and that they who are true to Him are more than Conquerors, and may be of good cheer, for He has overcome the World.

Having shown all this, St. John proceeds at once to the end. Satan (he says) will be loosed, and will go forth to deceive the Nations, in the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog, to gather them to battle * ; and they will beleaguer the beloved city; and fire will come down from Heaven to devour them, and Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, where the Beast and False Prophet are †.

IHe then reveals the awful transactions of the UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT‡; and describes the glory and blessedness of the HEAVENLY CITY §; and pronounces his Apostolic benediction on all who do Christ's commandments, and keep the sayings of this Book ||. And he concludes his divine Apocalypse, as he had begun, with declaring its heavenly origin and universal application-I, JESUS, have sent mine Angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches **.

Let us now make some practical reflections.

It would be presumptuous to affirm confidently that the prophecies of the Sixth and Seventh Vials, which we have been considering, are actually at this present time in course of fulfilment.

On the other hand, it would be sinful to neglect

*Lightfoot, Rev. xx. He calls the enemies of the Church Gog and Magog, the title of the Syro-Grecian monarchy of Antiochus Epiphanes. See also Ezekiel xxxviii. xxxix.

+ Rev. xx. 7-10.

§ Rev. xxi. 10-27.

** Rev. xxii. 16. cp. Rev. i. 1.

Chap. xx. 12-15.

|| Chap. xxii. 14. 7.

the evidence of such an accomplishment. Blessed are they that hear the words of this prophecy*: and our Lord asks, Can ye not discern the signs of the times†? Besides, in this Vision of the Vials a special admonition is inserted by Christ, showing the suddenness of the judgment, and the need of watchfulness-Behold, I come as a thief; blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments ‡, lest he walk naked and they see his shame §.

This is the warning from Christ-I counsel thee to buy of Me white raiment-the pure robe of Christian faith and holiness-that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear |

First, then, as to the former part of these prophecies-the drying up of the Euphrates, in order that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared.

They, doubtless, who look for a literal drying up of some natural river, in order that some Oriental Monarchs may march over its bed, will deny that this prediction is in course of fulfilment. But such an anticipation is groundless. No such Eastern Sovereigns will ever appear. The Euphrates flows, and will flow on; and we might wait for ever on its banks *Rev. i. 3. + Matt. xvi. 3.

The allusion is thus explained by Lightfoot, (Harm. N. T. ad loc.) "Behold, I come as a thief; blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments. The Priest that walked round the Temple guards by night, had torches borne before him; and if he found any one asleep upon the guard, he burnt his clothes with the torches. (Middoth, cap. i. hal. 2)."

§ Rev. xvi. 15.

|| Rev. iv. 18.

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