*

sat above them, i. e. to Christ; and, with out-stretched wings, were ready to receive and to execute His commands. In doing this, their business was,-dependent on the Spirit given,' -to proceed straight forward, and never to turn back. Let the wily Tractarian, and the expediency-mongering Papist, think on this, and fear. When seen elsewhere, we find the same things evidently implied. So all the Ministers of Christ, and all believers are such in one sense or other,+are ever to look up to Him for their instructions; ever to be on the wing, ready to follow out His commands; ever to proceed onward in a direct, not a crooked or tortuous, course :§ never to turn either aside or backwards: and all this, that they may be found faithful Ministers of the New Covenant, given for the salvation of all men.

There can, perhaps, be little doubt that the winged Bull, Lion, &c., of Assyria, the winged figures of Babylon and Egypt, the winged Mercury of Heathenism, &c., were all borrowed from the Cherubim of Revelation, just as sacrifice and many other things were. The Griffins of the northern heraldry had, perhaps, the same origin; and, accordingly, any one such figure taken singly might symbolize empire, as the winged Lion in Daniel.|| So the golden head of Nebuchadnezzar, as noticed above; and perhaps the golden diadem representing even Deity, in the times of the lower Roman emperors. Our winged Angels and Cherubs had, most likely, the same origin. Certainly we read of no twowinged Angels in Scripture, although we do of one flying (Rev. xiv. 6); and he probably was one of our Cherubic Ministers, with four, perhaps, or six wings.

We may now consider a few of the metaphors and symbols applied to Satan and his ministers. In Genesis (chap. iii.) he is termed the serpent, and is said to be the most subtle

* In Ezekiel this was in the wheels; in St. John, in eyes placed within their bodies and it was in each case the Spirit of Christ.

+ See Isaiah xxx. 21, which clearly refers to the times of the New Covevant, and foretels the preaching of its teachers. To turn back is, to follow the example of Lot's wife; or, which is the same thing, to lay the hand to the plough, and to look backwards.

66

1 Peter ii. 5-9, "Ye are... an holy Priesthood," &c.; ye are...

a royal Priesthood, an holy nation," &c.

§ See Deut. xxxii. 5. Psalm cxxv. 5. Prov. ii. 15, &c.

Daniel vii. 4.

D

of all the creatures of the plain. This is adopted by St. John in the Apocalypse, where he is styled "the great red dragon, and that old serpent*, the devil." It should be observed, moreover, that, as we have naturally no spiritual language, if we would speak of spiritual things at all, the language of nature must be used in doing so; and, as a serpent is known to be a deadly-poisonous and destructive animal, its appellation has been very aptly applied to designate the character of this spiritual agent. His going on his belly, and eating the dust of the earth, is evidently a similarly figurative usage, implying, as it should seem, that the utmost he and his should effect should be, to entertain various and vain lusts, which should prove as unsatisfying as feeding on the dust of the earth.

To talk of this narrative as fabulous, or as evincing nothing beyond an Oriental Mythos, as some are fond of doing, is monstrously absurd: it being well known that all nations have, particularly in their earliest times, indulged excessively in figurative language; and, in many cases, in poetry only, which receives its main decorations and attractions from the use of figures and symbols. St. John has, however in his Revelation, sufficiently determined this question; so that, from his excessive use of metaphors and symbols, and the interpretation he has virtually given of them, we are sufficiently enabled both to see their characters and intentions; and thence to ascertain, by the help of other Scriptures, the precise object and end of this very elaborately constructed portion of Holy Writ; e. g.—

In Rev. xii. 3, seq., this fallen spirit is described as being a "great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns; and seven crowns upon his head." By these expressions must be meant, nothing short of universal regal power: and from what occurs below (ver. 9), it is evident that he was that old serpent called the devil, which deceiveth the WHOLE world: he was, therefore, necessarily the deceiver of our first parents. But he is here in a position, and vested with

*This sort of explanation is often given in the Apocalypse, and it must have been intended to shew us the meaning of the place.

† And as far, perhaps, as can be gathered from Holy Writ, it was in doing this that he fell. "He was a murderer," says our Lord, "from the beginning, and abode not in the truth. When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own."

a power, sufficient to persecute, for a certain period, the Church of God in the great wilderness-the world.

We are also informed by Daniel, as shewn below, that, at this very time, power should be given him to make war against the saints of God, in his agent heathen Rome; and this for a period there styled a time, times, and a half, as it also is here (ver. 14): which (ver. 6) is said to be "a thousand two hundred and threescore days." But it is shewn below, as touched upon already, that this comprehends the last (mystical) moiety of Daniel's seventieth week. This 1260 days will, therefore, mark the same period. But Michael and his Angels here (ibid. 7, seq.) cast them out:* i. e. deprived him of his power; and, upon this, the song of victory is sung: (ver. 10), "Now is salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ:" or, as Daniel words it, "The body of the Beast has now been given to the burning flame, and the kingdom under the whole heaven been given (de facto) to the Son of Man, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom," &c. Immediately upon the fall of this agent, therefore, this EVENT was to take place.

In Revelation ix. we have an account of the Ministers of this Power, given in figures the most complex and various; and this, as it should seem, to enable us to trace out, and apply, some of the most obscure predictions of the Old Testament, on this very important question.

We are told then, that an Angel opened the bottomless pit (literally, well, or dungeon, of the abyss†), and that there arose out of it a smoke, as the smoke of a great furnace. It is next said, that there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and that unto them was given power (i. e. as before), as scorpions of the earth have power: i. e. to injure and destroy : but it was commanded them, that they should hurt only those men, which had not the seal of God in their foreheads; or, as

Which murdering and lying appear to refer to the fall of our first parents: his ceasing to abide in the truth, seems also to belong to the same period. Again, in 1 John iii. 8, "The devil sinneth from the beginning," which also seems to date his fall, as belonging to the same time.

* Whence it must appear, that this has nothing to do with a war in the heaven of disembodied spirits, &c., as has been very generally imagined, and beautifully verified by Milton, but the war against the Saints and Church of God, as foretold by Daniel.

† Which will perhaps throw some light on 2 Pet. ii. 4, and Jude, ver. 6.

it is elsewhere worded, whose names were not written in the Lamb's book of life. The time given to these agents here, is five months but, above, the period assigned to Satan is 1260 days, otherwise three days and a half; i. e. the latter half of Daniel's last mystical week. These five months, therefore, one month short of the half of a prophetical mystical year, must commence some time after the fall of Jerusalem; for this was to happen in the midst of Daniel's seventieth week, or in the midst of Isaiah's year for the recompence of Zion.*

Let us now see, whether we cannot ascertain by the help of the figures used, and parallels had in view, what all this must mean; for surely it was given us for some purpose: and I feel strongly assured that it was for this. And first, as to the sealing of God's servants in their forehead.

In Ezekiel, chap. ix. 4, seq., then, we evidently have the prototype of this sealing. It is said, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said,... Go ye after him through the city, and smite: ... slay utterly old and young... but come not near any man upon whom is the mark." It is added, "and begin at my sanctuary."

This command, be it observed, is given from between the Cherubims. The slayers here are those spiritual agents perhaps, who had then the charge over the city, as in the destroying angel (2 Sam. xxiv. 16, &c.): these are here said to have been six men, each with his destroying weapon in his hand. In general, all are God's ministers, i. e. in one sense or other; and, should these be more particularly the servants of Satan, this will in no way affect our question. The command is obeyed, the sinners are slain, and of course, those having the seal upon their foreheads, the holy Remnant, Residue here (ver. 8),—are spared. The commencement of this slaying is, therefore, before, or at, Jerusalem's fall, but was to be continued to the time of the end, according to other Scrip

tures.

St. Peter, too, has made allusion sufficiently strong to this

† In Isai. xxxiv. 8, &c. the whole period of Daniel's seventieth week is made both a day, and a year: i. e. the year for giving the victory to God's Zion. But more on this presently.

place to enable us to fix its time. His words are: "THE TIME is come that judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it begin at us, what shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel?" St. Peter, too, admonishes the Believers, that a fiery trial was soon to try them (ver. 12): which must be that foretold by Daniel, as shewn below, and to take place soon after Jerusalem's fall: and this is here alluded to in the sending forth, as in St. John, of the scorpion-like plagues of Satan which, however, should inflict no spiritual injury on the Saints, because they had received a sealing from God himself, ensuring immunity to them. But St. Peter must have had in view the commencement, and also the continuance, of those plagues, as cited above.

Ezekiel further tells us, that the Lord should, at this time, have "forsaken the earth" (read, the land, i. e. the land of Judea), which must designate both the time, and the fiery trials immediately to follow Jerusalem's fall, as shewn fully below, viz. the persecution of the Saints of the Most High.

We have, moreover, this very sealing of God's servants brought before us in Rev. vii. 3, and ix. 4. 16, as just quoted; and again, indirectly, in chap. xiv. 1, xxii. 4, and xx. 4. In the first case, the number sealed is said (mystically) to have been 144,000 and of these, a certain mystical number also, out of every tribe of Israel: i. e. of the holy prophetical Remnant of every tribe:* to these again is added an innumerable company out of all nations. These, too, it is said (ver. 14), were they who had come out of great tribulations (fiery trials), had washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

They represented therefore the Church of the Redeemer, for they now served Him day and night, and He that sat on the throne dwelt among them. This is, therefore, necessarily at the end of the period, during which they had been given into the hand of the Little Horn, Satan's agent, to try and to refine them. These considerations, moreover, necessarily fix the

* And it is evident, from Acts xxvi. 7, and James i. 1, that many of all the twelve tribes did then exist, and that very many of them, also termed the dispersed or scattered (1 Pet. i. 1), did at that time receive the Gospel. To talk of the loss of ten tribes is, therefore, a mere Jewish figment, as untrue as it is puerile and vain; and yet it is as popular as it could be, were it the truth of holy Writ!

† Comp. Rev. xxi. 3, below.