hurt. 20 And the rest of the men, who were not killed by these scourges, returned not from the works of their hands; so as not to worship demons, and idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood, which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 nor did they repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. senger, when he shall sound his trumpet, and the mystery of God hath been finished, as he hath proclaimed the glad tidings to his servants the prophets. 8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake to me again, and said, "Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the messenger who standeth upon the sea and upon the land." 9 And I went to the messenger, desiring him to give to me the little book. Then he said to me, "Take, and eat it; and it will make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it will be sweet as honey." 10 And I took the little book out of the messenger's hand, and ate it: and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; but as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was made bitter. 11 Then he said to me, "Thou must again prophesy concerning many people, and nations, and languages, and kings." CH. X. 1 AND I saw [another] mighty messenger coming down from heaven, arrayed with a cloud and a rainbow was over his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: 2 and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the land; 3 and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and, when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write and I heard a voice CH. XI. 1 And a reed like a from heaven, saying, "Seal up rod was given me by the mesthose things which the seven senger, saying, "Rise, and meathunders uttered, and write them sure the temple of God, and not." 5 And the angel whom the altar, and compute those I saw standing upon the sea, who worship in it. 2 But the and upon the land, lifted up his court which is without the temright hand to heaven, 6 and ple leave out, and measure it sware by him who liveth to the not; for it is given up to the ages of ages, who created hea- gentiles: and they will tread ven and the things which, are the holy city under foot fortytherein, and the earth and the two months. 3 And I will grant things which are therein, and to my two witnesses that they the sea and the things which shall prophesy a thousand two are therein, that the time would hundred and sixty days, clothed not yet be; 7 but in the days in sack-cloth. 4 These are two of the blast of the seventh mes-olive-trees, and two candle sticks, placed before the Lord, they went up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. 13 And in that hour was of the earth. 5 And if any one purpose to hurt them, fire will proceed out of their mouth, and will devour their enemies; and if any one purpose to hurt them, he must be killed in this manner. 6 These will have power to shut heaven, that it rain not during the days of their prophecy: and they will have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every scourge, as often as they will. 7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast which will ascend out of the abyss will make war against them, and overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their carcases will lie in the street of the great city, which is called, spiritually, Sodom, and Egypt, where, indeed, their lord was crucified. 9 And they of the people, and tribes, and languages, and nations, will behold their carcases three days and a half, and will not suffer their carcases to be put into a tomb. 10 And those who dwell upon the earth will rejoice over them, and be glad, and send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented those who dwelt on the earth." 11 And after the three days and a half the breath of life from God, entered into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 And I heard a great voice from heaven, saying to them, "Come up hither." And a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and by the earthquake seven thousand men were killed; and the rest were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe is past; behold, the third woe cometh quickly. 15 AND the seventh messenger sounded his trumpet; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ; who shall reign to the ages of ages." 16 And the twenty-four elders, who sat before God on their thrones, fell on their faces, and worshipped God, 17 saying, "We thank thee, O Lord God Almighty, who art and who wast, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. 18 And the nations were angry, and thine anger is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give a reward to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to those who fear thy name, the small and the great; and shouldst destroy those who destroy the earth." 19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord was seen in his temple: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, [and an earthquake,] and great hail. CH. XII. 1 NOW a great wonder appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 and she was with child, and cried out, being in travail, and in great pain to bring forth. 3 And another wonder appeared in heaven; for, behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, that, when she brought forth, he might devour her child. 5 And she brought forth a male child, who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up to God, and to his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the desert, where she had a place prepared of God, that she might be fed there a thousand two hundred and sixty days. was cast out upon the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.* 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now is come salvation, and might, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, that accused them before our God day and night. 11 But they overcame him through the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives, but exposed them even unto death. 12 Rejoice therefore, ye heavens, and ye who dwell in them. Alas for the earth, and for the sea! because the impostor is come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time." 13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast out upon the earth, he pursued the woman who brought forth the male child. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly, from before the serpent, into the de 7 And there was war in hea-sert, to her place, where she ven Michael and his angels warred against the dragon; and the dragon warred, and his angels, 8 but they prevailed not, nor was their place found any more in heaven. 9 For the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the impostor, and [the] adversary, who deceiveth the whole world; he is to be fed for a time and times and half a time. 15 And the serpent cast out from his mouth, after the woman, water as it were a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the river. 16 But the earth assisted the woman, and the earth opened its mouth, and drank up the river "All this is a visionary scene, presented to the mind of John. See the note on ch. iv. ver. 2. The meaning of the allegory seems to be, that, after a contest in the Roman empire, the cham pions of the Christian cause prevailed; heathenism, or the religion of the empire, was abolished; and the christian emperor Constantine gave a civil establishment to christianity." Newcome. which the dragon cast out from | to him over every tribe, and his mouth. 17 And the dragon people, and language, and nawas angry with the woman, tion. 8 And all who dwelt on and departed to make war with the rest of her offspring, who kept the commandments of God, and maintained the testimony of Jesus. CH. XIII. 1 THEN I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having ten horns, and seven heads; and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were as those of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave to him his own power, and his own throne, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads wounded, as it were, to death; but his deadly stroke was healed: and all the world wondered and followed after the beast. 4 And men worshipped the dragon, because he had given authority to the beast and they worshipped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? and who is able to war against him?" 5 And there was given to the beast a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies; and authority was given to him [to act] forty-two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme against_his_name, and his tabernacle, [and] those who dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given him to make war against the saints, and to overcome them and authority was given the earth, whose name was not written from the foundation of the world, in the book of life of the lamb that was slain, worshipped him. 9 If any one have an ear, let him hear. 10 If any one lead into captivity, into captivity he shall go: If any one shall kill with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. 11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, but he spake as a dragon. 12 And he exercised all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causeth the earth, and those who dwell in it, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 And he doth great miracles; so that he maketh fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the presence of men. 14 And he deceiveth those who dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which it was given him to do in the presence of the beast; saying to those who dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and yet lived.. 15 And he had power to give life to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free-men and slaves, to receive from him a mark on their right hand, or on their foreheads: 17 [and] that no one should be able to buy or sell, but he who had the mark; even the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. the first-fruits to God, and to the lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no falsehood: [for] they are spotless. 6 And I saw [another] messenger flying in mid-heaven, having an aionian gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, and language, and people, 7 saying with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the springs of waters." 8 And another messenger followed, saying, "The great Babylon is fallen, is fallen; [because] she made all nations drink of the wine [of the fury] of her fornication." CH. XIV. 1 AND I looked, and, behold, the lamb stood on Mount Sion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand persons, having his own name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a sound from heaven, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of great 9 And another [third] mesthunder and the sound which senger followed them, saying I heard was as that of harpers with a loud voice, "If any one playing on their harps: 3 and worship the beast and his they sang as it were a new song image, and receive the mark before the throne, and before of the beast on his forehead, or the four living creatures, and on his hand; 10 he shall drink the elders and none could of the wine of the fury of God, learn that song, but the hundred which is prepared, without and forty-four thousand, who mixture, in the cup of his were bought from the earth. 4 anger; and he shall be tormentThese are they who were not ed in fire and brimstone in the defiled with women: for they presence of the [holy] messen. are virgins: these [are] they gers, and in the presence of who follow the lamb whitherso- the lamb: 11 and the smoke ever he goeth: these were of their torment shall ascend bought from among men, as to the ages of ages:* and they It would be very unreasonable to infer the gloomy doctrine of eternal misery from the loose and figurative language of a prophetic vision, in opposition to the plainest dictates of reason and justice, and to the whole tenor of divine revelation. But if any one is disposed to lay undue stress upon this text, it may be sufficient to remark, that it is not here asserted that the tor ment continues, but that the smoke of it ascends to the ages of ages. The smoke of a pile in which a criminal has been consumed may continue to ascend long after the wretched victim has ceased to suffer. And a memorial of the punishment which has been inflicted on vice may re main long after vice itself has been utterly exterminated. After all, as the prophecy relates whony |