ing at the establishment of His millennial kingdom. That 'He will shepherd the nations with a rod of iron' is repeated from the Epistle to the church in Thyatira (78), and from the vision of the great red dragon, where its meaning has been given (236). The fulness of expression in His 'treading the winepress of the wine of the anger of the wrath of God Almighty' is terribly emphatic; in which there are references to the punishment of great Babylon (323), and to the vintage of the earth, where these awful symbols have been already explained (303).

16 And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

This great name or title expresses in words the precise idea that is so picturesquely symbolized by the many diadems upon His head (354). It is written both upon His vesture and upon His thigh, the former of which, as we have just seen (356), represents His humanity, and the latter frequently occurs as a symbol of the inmost source and strength of human life, as where it is said: "The souls belonging unto Jacob that came into Egypt, which came out of his thigh (Gen. xlvi. 26). And he [Samson] smote them [the Philistines] hip and thigh with a great slaughter" (Judges xv. 8). Hence we may understand that this name, as written upon the Lord's vesture and thigh, denotes that His authority over the nations and their governments belongs inseparably to His human nature, by the offering of which in sacrifice to God He acquired the right and power to rule them, and to be acknowledged in all governmental acts as their Lord paramount. This idea, moreover, is beautifully set forth by St. Paul as follows: "Jesus Christ . . . being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross: wherefore, God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus

Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. ii. 5-11).

Thus we are given to see, with the eyes of our faith, the Lord coming from heaven, as the true and faithful One, as the Son and the Word of God, as the King of kings and Lord of lords, with the tokens of His crucified humanity, and the insignia of His royal paramount authority, followed by His celestial armies, to subdue the world unto Himself, and to execute summary punishment upon His incorrigible enemies. But whether this is to be a visible manifestation or not, is much disputed by the commentators (17). I shall not undertake positively to decide this controversy. Yet it seems to me that they who maintain that it must necessarily be visible do labor under the greater difficulties. For, as we have seen, there are reasons for believing that the vision is intended to cover the whole, or a great part, of the dispensation; besides which the literalism of such a visible appearance seems hardly consistent with the laws of symbolic interpretation; and what reason can be given for it which does not equally require that the Lord should literally ride forth from heaven on a white horse, with a sword coming out of His mouth, and followed by His saints and angels also riding upon white horses? Therefore, it seems better to understand that what is here symbolized includes all the manifestations of Himself by which He establishes His kingdom in the world, yet with special reference to those of the last times. For thus we shall derive the greatest help from it in our struggles and conflicts with the evil that is in the world, seeing here that our all-conquering Lord, with all the armies of heaven, is present with us, and that, while we trust in His truth and faithfulness, our victory and triumph over all our spiritual enemies are assured.

XLII

FINAL JUDGMENT UPON THE BEAST AND THE FALSE PROPHET UPON THE ANTICHRISTIAN POLITICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL POWERS XIX 17-21

This vision is to be comprehended as a further unfolding of what is summarily contained in the preceding destruction of the great antichristian world-power under the symbol of Babylon (337). For the beast and the false prophet, representing antichristianity as embodied in political and ecclesiastical forms, are particulars included in that power, and go down with it, in order to the establishment of the Lord's millennial kingdom. Here they are represented as in union with each other, and gathering all their forces to make head against Him, as He comes forth from heaven with His celestial armies. But He overcomes them, and they are cast into the lake of fire, whilst their deluded followers are slain with the sword that comes forth out of His mouth. It is quite evident that every particular of the vision is loaded with significance.

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun: and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in midheaven, Come hither, be gathered together unto the great supper of God; 18 that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains of thousands, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit upon them, and the flesh of all, free as well as bond, both small and great.

Various reasons, all more or less unsatisfactory, have been assigned for this angel's station in the sun; as that the catastrophe which he announces starts from the centre of the cosmical system; that his glory may correspond to the great

ness of his mission; that his voice may be heard by all the birds flying in midheaven: to which I venture to add another, which may not be much better, namely, that, as his proclamation is one of judgment and slaughter, he stands in the sun viewed as the source of destructive forces (318). He calls all the birds of prey to come together to 'the great supper of God,' i. e. to the feast which God is about to provide for them in the execution of His justice upon the armies of the beast and false prophet. Similar representations are frequent in the prophets:

And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord God:
Speak unto the birds of every sort,
And to every beast of the field:
Assemble yourselves and come :

Gather yourselves on every side

Unto my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you,

Even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel,

That ye may eat flesh and drink blood.

Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty,

And drink the blood of the princes of the earth,

Of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks,

All of them fatlings of Bashan.

And ye shall eat fat till ye be full,

And drink blood till ye be drunken..

And ye shall be filled at my table with horses and with chariots,

With mighty men, and with all men of war,

Saith the Lord God.

And I will set my glory among the nations,

And all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed,
And my hand that I have laid upon them (Fz. xxxix. 17-21).

Our Lord also employs the same image of these judgments: "As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be: where the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together" (Mat. xxiv. 27). In these prophecies, as in the text, the birds of prey may be taken in their function as scavengers, to represent the purification of the earth from the moral corruptions of 'the flesh' of mankind; and the destruction of horses and chariots may be understood as representing that of all the means and instruments wherewith the earth destroyers have wrought their works of violence

and bloodshed. But what is most worthy of attention is the appalling picture here set before us of this 'great sacrifice' in these judgments upon all sorts and conditions of men under the beast and false prophet. As to the vexed question, whether a literal slaughter or a spiritual judgment is here intended, this ought to be determined by the symbolical character of the whole book, and of this vision in particular. For it seems plain enough that we have no more reason to understand that what is here signified will be a literal slaughter than that an angel will actually stand in the sun, and call the birds to a feast, or that, when they come, they will eat 'chariots.' Beyond all reasonable doubt, what is here represented is mainly a spiritual judgment upon the evil that is in the world, by which it will be overthrown and destroyed, although this may involve a great destruction of human life.

19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make the war against Him that sat upon the horse and His army.

This beast is the one that represents antichristian secular power (244), upon which also the harlot rides (327), and these kings with their armies are the individual political governments with their subjects or citizens, which give their power to the beast, and war with him against the Lamb (331). The distinction between the beast and the kings seems to be, that the former symbolizes the idea, or spiritual power, and the latter the concrete realization of it. Their forces are now gathered together unto 'the war,' i. e. the final conflict preceding the millennium, which has been spoken of before (331). The Lord's 'army' is one, in contrast with their 'armies,' or tumultuous hosts. There is no description of the battle, perhaps to signify that it will be very short, with no doubtful issue; only the result is given as follows:

20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, that wrought the signs before him, wherewith he deceived them that had the mark of the beast, and that worshipped his image: these two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone.