"Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth."
BATTLE CREEK, MICH. JUNE 18, 1857.
THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES.
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"AND I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God." Rev. xv, 1.
Whenever we read in the word of God of special denunciations of wrath, it is natural that we should first inquire when and upon whom they are to be executed. Such is the inquiry we now institute in reference to the plagues above mentioned. What are the seven last plagues? when are they to be poured out? and who are to experience them?
The position has been taken by many that at least six of these plagues are already in the past. From this we must dissent, being held to the belief that they are all of them yet future, from the following considerations:
1. They are denominated the seven last plagues; and it is said that in them is filled up the wrath of God. Nothing can be later than the last; and we can look for no further manifestation of judgment, than that which is brought to view under the symbol of a vial filled up and poured upon the earth. These plagues then are to be the last manifestations of God's displeasure against the wicked inhabitants of the earth—the last great rebuke upon sin and sinners, in which an age of abused probation, rebellion and corruption will have its close.
But it may here be said that the expression, seven last plagues, does not necessarily imply that they are yet future. They may be the last plagues and yet have their commencement far in the past, it being only necessary that they reach, in consecutive order, to the end of time, so that there may be no others beyond them. There might be force in this, were it not for the evidence we have that the time in which they are to be fulfilled cannot be thus extenuated. There are points specified for their commencement and termination. There are events marked out between which, as bounds plainly set, we can alone look for the fulfillment of the judgments under consideration. These will appear clearly defined as we proceed.
2. They cannot be poured out till the work of the sealing angel of Rev. vii, is completed; since it is evident from the first three verses of that chapter that in the four winds which are held till the servants of God are sealed, and in order that they may be sealed, are contained the seven last plagues. As therefore the judgments represented by the "four winds of the earth" cannot come till the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads, we may not look for the seven last plagues which follow in the same train, previous to that time.
3. The first part of the warning of the Third Angel [Rev. xiv, 9] to those who worship the beast or his image, whose message we have the fullest assurance is now going forth, brings to view the same scenes when it says that "they shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation." If the expressions, the wine of the wrath of God, poured out without mixture, and vials in which is filled up the wrath of God, do not denote the same judgments, we mistake greatly the meaning of the language. Such is the threatening uttered by the Third Angel; and we may expect that when his message ceases, it will be executed speedily.
4. We find by looking at the fulfillment of these plagues, that the first one is poured out upon those who have the mark of the beast, and who worship his image—the identical work against which the Third Angel now warns us. This is conclusive proof that these judgments are not poured out till after this angel closes his work, and that the very class who hear his warning and reject it, are the ones to receive the first drops from the overflowing vials of God's indignation.
5. These plagues are poured out before, and just prior to the second coming of the Lord; for it is said under the sixth plague, "Behold I come as a thief," &c. Rev. xvi, 15.
6. Another, and more definite testimony as to the commencement and duration of these plagues, is found in chap. xv, 8. "And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled." What is the temple here introduced? Evidently that which is mentioned in chap. xi, 19, where it says, "The temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." In other words, we have before us the heavenly Sanctuary. The testimony is then that when the seven angels with the seven golden vials receive their commission, the temple is filled with smoke from the glory of God, and no man can enter into the temple, or Sanctuary till they have fulfilled their work; there will therefore be no ministration in the heavenly Sanctuary during this time; consequently the close of the ministration of the Tabernacle above, marks the time for the commencement of the outpouring of the seven last plagues. Christ is then no longer a mediator; mercy, which has long stayed the arm of vengeance, pleads no more; the angels with the four winds no longer act under restraint; for the object for which they waited is accomplished—the servants of God are sealed. What then could be expected but that the winds should be loosed, the "storm of vengeance fall," and earth be swept with the besom of destruction?
Having now shown the chronology of these judgments, that they are just before us, in the near future, treasured up against the day of wrath, we proceed to inquire into their nature, and what will result when the solemn and fearful mandate shall go forth from the temple to the seven angels, saying, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. Here we are called to look into the "armoury of the Lord," and behold the "weapons of his indignation." Jer. l, 25. Here are brought forth the treasures of hail, which have been reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war. Job xxxviii, 22, 23.
THE VIALS AND THEIR EFFECTS.
"And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image." Rev. xvi, 2. Is there any reason why we should not regard this as strictly literal? We know of none. These plagues are almost identical with those which God inflicted upon the Egyptians as he was about to deliver his people from the yoke of bondage; and the literality of those we have never heard called in question. God is now about to crown his people with their final deliverance and redemption, and his judgments will be manifest in a manner no less literal and terrible. What the sore here threatened is we are not informed; but perhaps it may be best illustrated by a reference to Ex. ix, 8–11: "And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh; and it shall become a small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast throughout all the land of Egypt," &c. Whatever the antitype of this may be, we see no reason why it will not be as literal and as real.
"And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea." Verse 3. "And he third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments."
In illustration of these two vials we refer to Ex. vii, 17–21: "Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river. And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river: and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt."
Such is the description of the terrible judgment of this nature which has been literally experienced by men. Its repetition in these last days will be a terrible retribution for "the blood of saints." And though we can hardly conceive of the horrors of that state of things, when the pools and fountains and rivers of water shall be loathsome and stagnant blood, the justice of God will stand vindicated, and his judgments approved. Even the angels are heard exclaiming, Thou art righteous, O Lord, because thou hast judged thus; for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets. Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
"And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory."
It is worthy of remark that every succeeding plague tends to augment the calamity of the previous ones, and heighten the anguish of the guilty sufferers. We have now a noisome and grievous sore preying upon men, inflaming their blood, and pouring its feverish influence through their veins. In addition to this they have nothing to allay their parching thirst but putrid blood; and as if to crown all, power is given unto the sun, and he pours upon them a flood of liquid fire, and they are scorched with great heat. Here, as the record runs, their woe first finds utterance in horrid blasphemy.
"And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds."
We learn from this testimony that the plagues do not at once destroy their victims; for those who were at first smitten with sores, we find still living under the fifth vial, and gnawing their tongues for pain. An illustration of this vial will be found in Ex. x, 21–23: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings."
Reader, can you conceive of a picture of more hopeless and abject misery than must result from the outpouring of these vials of unmixed wrath consecutively upon the earth! You who do not love to contemplate it in prospect, make haste to escape it in its dread reality.
"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was5dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walked naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."
This vial will more particularly claim our attention, as it contains several points in regard to the application of which all minds have not yet been decided. The view we may take may differ from some; many it may not help; yet we shall endeavor frankly to state our convictions and the evidences that have produced them.
The sixth vial is poured out upon the great river Euphrates, and the waters thereof are dried up. Says J. Litch, "The great river Euphrates will be as literally dried up, to make way for the kings of the eastern world to come up to Jerusalem and Palestine to that battle, as the same river was dried up before Cyrus, when he entered and took the city of Babylon, or as the Red Sea and Jordan were dried up to make a highway for Israel through their bed."
By this it will be seen that Eld. Litch applies this prophecy to the literal river Euphrates. But what is the river Euphrates, and what its political influence? It is an ordinary river of Asia, some 1500 miles in length, was easily turned from its channel by Cyrus, and did not then, and would not now, offer an obstruction, at all serious, to the progress of an advancing army. The river is dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. But there is no literal river on the face of the globe, which in these days would impede for scarcely a moment the march of an army. Take our own Mississippi, for instance, and how long would it check a body of soldiery? But the Mississippi is four times as large as the Euphrates. We say, then, that we cannot see the force of an argument which would make it necessary to pour out a special plague to dry up a river to prepare the way of the kings of the east, when the same river, even at flood tide, would present no impediment to their progress. We cannot see how God would take special means to accomplish certain ends which could not result in any possible advantage.
What then is meant by the river Euphrates? We answer, It must be a symbol. It occurs but twice in the New Testament, the other passage being Rev. ix, 14: "Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates." No one contends that here the literal river is meant, and that four angels were literally bound in the midst of the waters; but it is invariably referred to the Ottoman empire. On this passage, Mr. Litch himself remarks that "the four angels are the four principal sultanies of which the Ottoman empire is composed, located in the country of the Euphrates." We see no reason for making a different application in chap. xvi, 12.
Then, says one, notwithstanding you contend for the literality of the plagues, you would nevertheless make one of them a symbol. We answer, No. A power is introduced, it is true, under the sixth vial in its symbolic form, just as it is under the fifth, where we read of the seat of the beast, which is a well known symbol; or as we read again in the first plague of the mark of the beast, his image and its worship which are also symbols. It is no objection to the literal interpretation of any of these plagues, to find well known symbols occasionally introduced.
If we are to understand by the river the Turkish empire, the drying up of its waters would be the cessation of its nationality and power, accompanied perhaps with more or less destruction of its people. The effect of the sixth vial will be the literal accomplishment of this. But the drying up of a river is not the work of an instant. It denotes an operation continual and gradual. If therefore we look forward under the sixth vial for the full accomplishment of this work, it would not be strange if we find the process already commenced. We turn to the pages of history and find it so. A few extracts to the point we will give, as we find them introduced by Dr. Cumming in his work entitled, "The End." After speaking of the various causes which since the year 1820 have been making their inroads into the power and greatness of the Mussulmans, he quotes from a writer who says:
"Altogether, decay seems to have written herself in characters so legible upon Turks and Turkey, upon natures and institutions, as to suggest the conclusion that such a people cannot be expected long to maintain a national existence; and perhaps to force upon the mind the question whether it be for the interests of humanity and civilization that they should be allowed to retain possessions which are clearly misplaced in their hands."
Again: "A retrospect of these successive struggles in which the Porte has been engaged, and a sense of the inconvenience, if not danger, to which all Europe is exposed by their perpetuation, press upon all thoughtful men the question—What is to become of Turkey? All feel that her position is so insecure, her power of resistance so doubtful, and a right adjustment of her difficulties so necessary to continental tranquillity, that some time or other the consideration of her future will have to be entertained with a view to some permanent settlement of her prospects. In the East and elsewhere men are speculating on the chances of a partition of the empire among the leading powers." "Providence is writing in the page of the modern newspaper the fulfillment of ancient Apocalyptic predictions. All that is distinctive of Mahometanism and Turkey in Europe is rapidly disappearing. . . . The rapid consumption of the Moslem population; the gathering of all nations as if to celebrate its funeral obsequies; the cry of the Muezzin becoming fainter and almost spent as it is tremblingly uttered from the distant minaret; the waning of the crescent till the mere rim or edge of it is visible in the Turkish firmament; all are proofs that a great epoch in prophecy is fulfilled: they seem to echo what God predicted, 'It is done; thy words are truth.'" The End, pp. 126, 127, 134.
With this view of the subject it may be asked, how the way of the kings of the east is to be prepared by the drying up of this power. The answer is obvious. Turkey holds possession of the land of Palestine and the sacred sepulchres. Here is the bone of contention. On these the nations have fixed their covetous and jealous eyes. It was in disputes in regard to these that the late war in the Crimea had its origin. But though Turkey now possesses them, and others want them, it is nevertheless thought necessary to the "continental tranquility" that Turkey should be maintained in her position, in order to preserve, as it is called, the "balance of power." Her office therefore at present seems to be merely like that of a great and distended shell, which so long as it can be kept from collapsing, keeps at distance belligerent and hostile powers. It was to preserve the integrity of Turkey, that England and France took up arms in the late contest. But what has been the effect on Turkey? We quote again from Dr. Cumming. "Our endeavors to help Turkey have only precipitated more speedily its decay, not by our fault, but on laws and principles higher than statesmen naturally can be expected to recognize or act upon. For what are the results and consequences of this war? At this moment the property of the mosques has been confiscated; the Sheikul-Islam, or, as we should call him, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has been deposed; and Mahometanism at this moment, whether Russia were to triumph or Russia to fail, is form are started and great changes are threatened. What is all this? It is poor man laboring under a equally un effete, exhausted and thing gone." * "Great systems of administrative re-
piricism to arrest the current, to resist the sure word of prophecy, or to prevent what must in the fullness of the times be completely fulfilled."
Thus we see that even efforts to strengthen have only weakened this withering power, and her inevitable doom is branded upon her forehead. What particular agencies will be employed, or in what way employed, to finish the work when the proper time arrives we need not inquire.