3. Smiting with a sword, and ruling the nations with a rod of iron,* implies the great influence which Christ will acquire by the successful preaching of the gospel. That it will be very great, cannot, for a moment, be doubted. II. But the rider on the white horse bears a two-fold character. That which is implied by the sharp sword proceeding out of his mouth, is his prerogative in the preached gospel. But "he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God." This indicates something more than a spiritual warfare. Again, the angel standing in the sun and calling to the fowls of heaven to gather themselves together to the supper of the great God, is an undeniable symbol of carnal warfare on a tremendous and sanguinary scale. There can be no doubt of the meaning of the symbol. The nineteenth verse is a declaration of the same thing. The beast and the kings of the earth and their armies are gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. I have no doubt but this is the beast on which the woman sat, as represented in the 17th chapter, which I have called the symbol of Political Despotism. The woman, or the Papacy, was destroyed in the war of Armageddon. But "the beast which was and is not and yet is," still lives, and is now rallying the kings of the earth and their armies against the Church. How this may be, of course, we cannot speak positively, as this symbolism undoubtedly points to still future events. But we may suppose that the Church of Christ will have multiplied so extensively, in all heathen countries, as to threaten, not only the hitherto prevailing religions, but even the despotic prerogative of the kings of those countries. Paganism will feel its throne crumbling, as of old in the Roman Empire, before the advance of truth and righteousness, and will be aroused to a final conflict for existence. Under the symbol of the beast it will call the kings§ of the earth to a combined effort to crush the Church. This may be by a simultaneous attack upon it throughout their realms,-by the torch of the incendiary, the dagger of the assassin, and by the sword of *Note 7, Canto III, stanza 51. Ibid, stanza 19. + See Poem, Canto III, stanza 7. Note 8, Canto III, stanza 74. persecution, now let loose again and flaming over the world. The Church will prove too strong to be crushed in this manner, for it will rally armies to defend its hearthstones and altars. It will have millions of friends throughout the now Christian world who would not stand idle and see the horrors of Pagan Rome re-enacted on a more tremendous scale than even under that Empire. The facilities for communication will soon send vast armies to threatened points, and the same agencies may draw the kings and their armies together into one or a few vast camps of Mars. We may well imagine that in the populous districts of Asia,—China, Hindustan and Burmah,-millions, and it may be tens of millions, would be gathered into those camps. Perhaps Europe and America may also send their millions of volunteers to help the cause of right; and such a war may be waged as has never before shook the world, as the Last great conflict before the Dawn.* The imagery of this passage justifies such an expectation. The mighty angel whose brightness eclipsed the sun, his call to the fowls of heaven; the supper of the great God, or that which he will give to the fowls of heaven; the armies of heaven on white horses, and the fate of the beast and false prophet and of their armies, all lead us to expect the most tremendous and sanguinary struggle that has ever occurred on the globe.† But the result of the battle will be a glorious triumph for the Church. It prepares the way for the binding of Satan for the thousand years, and for the reign of Christ on earth. We may remark on this: I. This view shows the mistake of those who are looking for the speedy coming of Christ and the beginning of the Millennium. It is, to my own mind, folly to be looking for the immediate personal reign of Jesus, with the heathen world in its present state, unless we are to expect that all heathen nations are to be swept off by the besom of one fearful destruction. My mind revolts at any such thought as this. I look for the evangelization of the heathen by the ordinary appliances of the gospel, extraordinarily blessed. And if this be so, this expecting the immediate coming of *Note 9, Canto III, stanza 86. † Note 10, Canto III, stanza 89. Christ may be pernicious by tempting the Church to relax her efforts for the evangelization of the world. This work must require time in the ordinary methods of God's Providence. Even though the great events of the world march on with the accelerated velocity of steam and electricity, still it must require time, and it may be centuries. 2. If our scripture chronology is correct, the morning of the blessed Millennium may be when the great dial of time indicates that the world is six thousand years old, which will be some over a hundred years hence. It may be much longer; it may be shorter. Children may now have been born who will see that propitious day, in the flesh. But it is hardly worth while to speculate on the subject. 3. One thing is certain: we know the day is coming. These signs of its coming cannot lie, and we are almost as sure that, compared with the long pilgrimage of the Church thus far through the wilderness, the event is in the near coming future. Then let us lift up our heads and take courage, and battle valiantly for the Lord,* "forasmuch as we see the day approaching." *See Poem, Canto 3. 6 |