chapter hints in dark and enigmatical terms that the symbolism of this book was not intended to unfold the realities of the unseen world, but to be descriptive of divine judgments in the present world. I say in enigmatical terms, because if the seer had made use of plain language he would have exposed himself and the Church to the charge of a treasonable conspiracy against the existing order of things, and have kindled anew the fires of persecution, from which the Church had only just emerged. Nothing would have more aroused the wrath of the existing world-powers than an open statement of those hopes and expectations of Christians respecting the future, which are here veiled in poetic symbols. Speaking on the same subject, St. Paul, as we have seen, adopted a similar mode of expressing himself, though one far less complicated.

The

In this explanatory vision a fresh symbol is introduced, viz. that of a harlot woman seated on many waters. seer is then conveyed into a wilderness, where he beholds this woman mounted on a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, and having on her forehead a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots, and of the abominations of the earth. This woman is further represented "as drunken with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs of Jesus." The beast on which she sits is then identified with the beast of the former visions by his having seven heads and ten horns. The seer is informed that the seven heads are symbolical of seven mountains the well-known description of Rome-on which the woman sits; and also they are symbolical of seven kings, of whom five were then fallen, one was existing, and one was not yet come, but who when he came would continue a short time. The beast himself is also symbolical of an eighth king, who would go into perdition. The ten horns are also interpreted to represent ten other kings, who had received no

kingdom when the seer wrote, but who were to receive power for a short time with the eighth king, and would concur with him in waging war with the Lamb. The seer is further informed that the waters on which he had seen the woman sit were symbolical of multitudes, and peoples, and nations, and tongues. Finally, he is informed that the harlot woman is a symbol of that great city which was then reigning over the kings of the earth.

us.

Such is the angel's interpretation of the symbolism before Can there be any doubt that it was intended to be a symbolical representation of that great world-power which was then ruling over the fairest regions of the earth, whose seat was Rome, the rulers of which had been recently drunk with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs of Jesus? What, then, is the object of the visions in which this symbolism is embodied? Evidently to proclaim its utter, final, and irrevocable destruction, and the triumph over it of the Church of Jesus Christ, which it persecuted and attempted to destroy. This then, without attempting to interpret the details, is the general purport of these visions, expressed, as they intentionally are, in dark enigmas. This being so, they were intended to be descriptive, not of the realities of the unseen world, but of the downfall of this great persecuting world-power, and all similar ones which set themselves in opposition to Christ and his gospel, and also of Christ's ultimate triumph over all earthly opposition. Consequently their terrible imagery is intended to be descriptive of occurrences in this world, and not to disclose the realities of the world beyond the grave. It is, therefore, useless to base on the imagery we have been considering any theory as to the nature or the duration of the punishments which will be undergone in the unseen world by those sinners who are finally impenitent. Kingdoms, states, societies, and churches can only be judged on this side the grave.

My general conclusion, therefore, is that the affirmations. of the apostolic writers respecting the condition of sinners in the unseen world are general, and not specific. They affirm in no doubtful language that such will undergo the awful consequences of the wrath of God against sin which is wilfully persisted in. Their final destiny is denoted by the word destruction, or some other of kindred meaning; and in not a few instances the New Testament language implies that their ultimate destruction will be brought about by a course of painful suffering-suffering in exact proportion to their guilt; but gives no hint that the terms employed to denote it are used in a different sense from that which they bear in ordinary conversational Greek. All, therefore, that reason and revelation affirm is that man will survive the stroke of death as long as is necessary in order that the apparent imperfections of God's present moral government may receive a perfect vindication in a world to come; and although the promise of everlasting life is in the New Testament made to the holy, no declaration can be found therein which affirms that evil beings will continue to exist for ever, or that those in whom all good has become extinct are incapable of being destroyed by sin, in a manner analogous to that in which physical diseases in the course of God's ordinary providence destroy the body; nor has reason anything to say to the contrary.

On the following points a uniformity of statement pervades the sacred writings: that God will judge the world in righteousness; that He will judge individual men according to the precise degree of their responsibility; that He will reward and punish them according to their works, and that it will be finally well with the righteous and ill with the wicked; but, as it is a matter of our Lord's express affirmation that the knowledge of the times and the seasons of God's providential government formed no portion of the revelations which were imparted to the Apostles, so their writings lead

us to believe that the nature and the duration of the punishments which await impenitent sinners in the unseen world were not made to them a subject of special revelation. The gospel which they preached was a gospel of good news; and the words which Abraham in the parable is described as addressing to Dives are equally true of those who, with full light and knowledge, reject it, viz. that they will not be persuaded to embrace it, although all the secrets of the unseen world were disclosed to their view. This being so we must be content to know that a time is coming when God will render to the righteous and to sinners according to their works; that He will do this in conformity with that which man's conscience and moral sense will recognise as perfect righteousness; and that a time is coming in the future when everything, whether in heaven, in earth, or in the underworld, will be finally put under the feet of the Son of God, when God will become all in all.

This, however, cannot be accomplished as long as a rebellious will continues to exist in opposition to him.

CHAPTER XIII.

DOES HUMAN PROBATION Terminate at DEATH?

THIS question is of the highest importance in connection with our present subject, because, if human probation is extended beyond the grave, it frees us from that overwhelming mass of difficulties with which the theories we have been considering are encumbered. It will, however, probably be contended that all inquiry into this subject is barred by the silence of the New Testament respecting it; and that it is incredible, if the moral and spiritual condition in which men die can undergo a change for the better in the unseen world, that such a fact should not have been announced in the pages of revelation in terms that are clear and unmistakable. To this I

1. While no passage can be found in Scripture which definitely affirms that man's probation is confined to the present life, there are two passages in the First Epistle of St. Peter which imply-I may almost say assert-that there is a possibility, at least for those who have had no opportunity of accepting the gospel here, of accepting it in Hades.

2. Even if it be admitted that the New Testament is silent on this subject, that silence is no proof that human probation terminates with the present life. The Old Testament Scriptures present us with a case precisely analogous. They contain only two positive affirmations, and those in Scriptures