from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God'. Let us also observe that, with regard to Three of these Trumpets—the last Three-it is expressly said by the flying Eagle' in mid-heaven, that they are harbingers of Woe. Woe, Woe, Woe, to the dwellers on the earth-that is, to those who have their affections set on earthly things-from the remaining Voices of the trumpet of the three Angels, who are about to sound 1! 3 The Trumpets, then, are prophetic of Judgments from Heaven on the enemies of God. Thus the Trumpets differ from the Seals, which contain a rapid view of the conflicts and sufferings of the Church. At the same time, we must carefully remember that the Book of Revelation is not a Civil History. And the Trumpets are not to be expected to announce political events, as such. They are the Voice of Angels of God to the Church of God. On the whole, it may be affirmed that the Seven Epistles speak the language of Correction; the Seven Seals, of Consolation; the Seven Trumpets, of Commination; and the Seven Vials, of Condemnation. What, then, do the Trumpets portend? 11 Thess. iv. 16. 1 Cor. xv. 52. 2 ȧeroû is the reading of the best MSS. 3 See Rev. iii. 10; vi. 10; xi. 10; xii. 12; xiii. 8; and above, p. 115, and the note from Lightfoot below in p. 137. 4 Rev. viii. 13. 1. The FIRST TRUMPET announces a judgment upon the Earth; that is, a judgment on those who do not belong to the Kingdom of Heaven. It announces Hail, Fire, and Blood, cast upon the Earth; and the burning of a third part', that is, a great part, of the Trees and all the green grass. It appears to predict the woes which fell, like a storm of hail and fire, on the Roman Empire, and afflicted the princely oaks and tall cedars of that proud Dynasty', and withered up its pomp and glory like green grass scorched by the sun 3, in the second, third, and fourth centuries, when the Empire was a prey to the fire and sword of military violence, and torn by contending factions, and gradually approached its dissolution. Thus the judgments of the First Trumpet appear to be a chastisement on Pagan Rome for the woes she inflicted on the Church in the Second Seal. 2. The SECOND TRUMPET follows naturally from the first. It also concerns the Earth. It announces the up 1 A third part: i. e. a large portion. See Schoettgen, Hor. Hebr. p. 1115. The expression occurs often in the Apocalypse. Cf. viii. 7-12; ix. 15. 18; xii. 4. 3 Isa. xl. 6—8. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the Word of our God shall stand for ever. rooting of a great Mountain, burning with fire; and its projection into the Sea. The removal of a volcanic Mountain, and the casting of it into the cold and flowing Ocean, is emblematic of the convulsion of some great consuming Power, which appeared to be firmly fixed on a solid basis; and the precipitation of it into another different element, one of fluidity and dissolution 2. In the ancient Scriptures the great Empire of Babylon is called a destroying Mountain, and it is threatened with removal by the prophet Jeremiah 3; and Babylon in the Apocalypse is a figure of Rome1; and therefore this Vision appears to represent the subversion and dismemberment of the Roman Empire by the Goths, Vandals, and Huns, and its decomposition or melting away into a confused Sea of various powers, which were long agitated by the winds and waves of tumultuous vicissitudes 5. The consequences of this Mountain's removal into the sea are thus described in the Second Trumpet:The third part of the sea became blood: and the third of the creatures in the sea, they who had life, died and the third part of the ships were destroyed. The dissolution of the Roman Empire was attended by infinite carnage. So far is clear; the remaining words are more mysterious. The sense of them is 1 See Rev. xvi. 20. Matth. xvii. 20. Zech. iv. 7. 2 Psalm xlvi. 2. 4 See below, Lectures IX. and X. 3 Jerem. li. 25. 5 Hence in Rev. xiii. the Beast is said to ascend from the Sea. spiritual. They who had life, is rather to be interpreted, they who clung to life, they who preferred it to Christ', they who made provision for the flesh, they died spiritually. The Goths and Vandals, we must remember, were infected with the Arian heresy, and they promulgated it with the sword, and thus were the cause of spiritual death to thousands. And, it is added, a third part of the ships were destroyed. The word here used in the original for ships is not the common vave, or navis, but is that employed by the Evangelists, describing the Apostolic vessel, Tλotov2, in which Christ taught. And here, and in two other places of the Apocalypse, this word ships, by a natural figure, appears to designate Churches 3, 1 тà exovτa pvxàs, those who, in our Saviour's words, do not lose their life, but find, save, or keep it (Matth. x. 39. Luke xvii. 33. John xii. 25), who have a name to live, and are dead; the word exw is used in this sense of, holding, clinging to tenaciously, in the Apocalypse, vi. 9; xii. 17; that is, the carnally-minded, oi vɣıkoì, as opposed to the spiritually-minded, oi πvevμatikoí. 1 Cor. ii. 14; xv. 44. James iii. 15. Jude 19, ψυχικοὶ πνεῦμα μὴ ἔχοντες. This Judgment, then, is for spiritual indifference and fear of martyrdom. This interpretation is confirmed by the ancient Expositors, e. g. Auct. ap. Aug. "homines habentes animas impios dixit, ut ostenderet in carne vivos sed spiritualiter mortuos." Hence τὰ ἔχοντα ψυχάς, who are neuter animals, i. e. not worthy of the name of men, are contrasted with the male children of the Church (Rev. xii. 5); such as oùк nyáπŋσav τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν ἄχρι θανάτου. Rev. xii. 11. 2 Which is never called vaûs. Indeed, I believe, the word vaûs only occurs once in the New Testament, Acts xxvii. 41. 3 πλοῖα ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ, said of merchandise of spiritual things. guided by Christ over the ocean of this world, and wafted by the Holy Spirit to the peaceful harbour of heaven. And the word here used for they were destroyed, is that commonly employed by the sacred writers to describe heretical corruption'. A third part of the Ships was destroyed, seems therefore to signify that many of the Apostolic Churches would be corrupted by heresy, which we know to have been the consequence of the Gothic and Vandal incursions and persecutions throughout a great part of the Roman Empire 2. This interpretation is confirmed by what follows. 3. The THIRD Angel sounds; a great Star, burning like a torch, falls from heaven, on the third part of the rivers and fountains. His name is Wormwood, and the third part of the water becomes wormwood; and many die, from the waters, because they were made bitter. A Star, in the language of the Apocalypse, is an eminent Teacher in the Church. The Seven Stars are the Angels of the Seven Churches; that is, chief Minis Rev. xviii. 17-19. So "to buy and sell" is to have spiritual commerce or communion. Rev. xiii. 17. 1 The word is dieplápn, which is specially applied to false doctrine, See I Tim. vi. 5, ἄνθρωποι διεφθαρμένοι τὸν νοῦν. See also Rev. xi. 18. 2 Under Genseric, A.D. 477, and Huneric, A.D. 484, and Thrasimund. See the contemporary History of Victor Vitensis in Ruinhart's Historia Persecut. Vandal. 1694, and Vitringa Anacr. p. 100. 3 Rev. i. 20. |