LECTURES

ON TBB

BOOK OF REVELATIONS.

REV.
oTOIL

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M. 'BUTLER, D.D.,

T&l1'1TT

OBUILOB,

WA.IBlll'OTOW,

D.

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NEW YORK:
BOBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 530 BROADWAY.
WASHINGTON: WK. BALLANTYNE.

1 86

o.

year 1880, by
Act of Con ln the
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PREFACE.

--.....,.___

IT is the first wish of the author of these Lectures

to avoid the seeming of presumption, which, he is con
scious, is involved in their publication, by stating his
humble object. They profess to be nothing more than
a pastor's answer to the request of some of his parish
ioners, that he would give them his views of the pro. phetic portions of the Apocalypse.

They are the an

swer of one with whom the study of prophecy has

never been a passion.

Believing that it was the in

tention of the Spirit to reveal things to come, and that

it is a duty and privilege to study the prophetic word,
and that this word is profitable ; and finding his hear
ers interested in this exposition, the author has ven
tured to publish it, with the hope that it may be read
with profit by the class to which it was originally ad
dressed.

It is not the theologian, nor the student of

prophecy, but the humble Christian, to whom the

Revelation has been hitherto a sealed book, that is
contemplated by this exposition.
Inasmuch as Dr. Cuming, of London, has published
a popular series of Lectures on the Apocalypse, which,
like those of the author, follow for the most part the

iv

PREFACE .

great work of Mr. Elliott, the Horce Apocalypticce, it

might be supposed that another work on the same gen
eral plan is superfluous.

But the work of Dr. Cuming

is too protracted, and contains too many references to

English ecclesiastical and political affairs, to be alto
gether suited to the class of readers for which this
smaller and humbler volume is prepared.

Moreover,

the author departs from the scheme of Mr. Elliott

and the millennarians generally, in his exposition of
the order of events, and the character of the millen
nium kingdom, at the coming, and during the reign
of Christ.
It will be observed that the author has taken up
the chapters and verses in their succession, and has
thus furnished a continued exposition of the book as
it is written-and has given a longer or shorter ex
planation of all the prophetic portions of the book.
'This plan was adopted as most satisfactory in the case
of Lectures which were to be heard, and is retained,
from the conviction that it is also best adpted, on
the whole, to leave a clear impression of the order of
events on the mind of the reader.
WASHINGTON, D. C.

CONTENTS.

LECTURE I.
P.&Ga

INTRODUCTORY,

LECTURE II.
18

TBB FmsT FrvB SILWI,

LECTURE III.
TBB SIXTB'. SJUL AND THE FIRST FOUR TRUllPBTS,

LECTURE IV.
Tu F1PrH AND SIXTH TRU},[PBTS,

15'1

"

LECTURE V.
129

Tu MIGHTY .A.NG:IL,

LECTURE VL
1'10

TBB Two WITNB88BS,

LECTURE VII.
Tu WOKAN CLoTRED WITH THE SUN j TU RBD DRAGON .&ND
THE TWO BBAST8,

199

vi

CONTENTS.

LECTURE VIII.
TD LAlm Alll) Hts WOBSHIPBBS, Alll) 'l'llll FOIST Foua
V1.w3,

P.._GB
2ao

LECTURE IX.
264

Tu Fll'TB Vu.i.,

LECTURE X.
TD SIXTH VUL ...ND THE THRU UNCLEAN SPIBITS,

30'1

LECTURE XI.
THB SoUNDING OF THE SEVENTH VIAL; THE WOMAN IN Pcra
PLE AND ScARLET j THE FALL OF BABYLON, AND TB.lil
SONGS IN HEAVEN,

346

LECTURE XII.
TD ANTECEDENTS OF THE MILLBNNIU.IC,

3'111

LECTURE XIII.
410

THE MlLLENNIUK,

LECTURE XIV.
THE NEW JEBUSALEK: 0oNOLU810N,

LECTURE I.
INTRO D UC TO RY.
"Blessed is he th11t readeth, and they that hear the words of this
prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein."-RETII
LATION, i. 3.

No portion of the Word of God has been

more variously interpreted than the Apocalypse
of St. John. The reason is obvious. It is a se
ries of prophecies which reaches to the end of
the present dispensation. Prophecy, while un
fulfilled, is a flickering light thrown into that
"dark place,"* the future, which, while it reveals
the prominent and out-jutting events, leaves many
others in shadow. The prophecies of St. John
are moreover conveyed in highly figurative forms,
which are susceptible of various explanations: In
the explanation of emblems, symbols, types, and
other figures, ingenuity, fancy, and imagination
have full play. In these circumstanc_es w-e find.. - : _

2 Peter, i. 19.
1

INTRODUCTORY.

a ready reason for the various meanings at

tributed to the prophecies of St. John.
So wild and various have been the interpreta
tions of this book, that a feeling has prevailed
among many sober Christians, that its study is
unprofitable. It has been felt that it must be
impossible to obtain from this book salutary truth,
or well-grounded conclusions. It has been re
garded as a series of enigmas which it is useless
to attempt to solve, because God has desi9ned
that they shall be explained only as the events
which give the clue to their solution shall trans
pire. It has seemed to many like the sealed
book* in the hand of the Lamb, which no man
in heaven or on the earth, or under the earth,
was able to open; and which in due time the
Lion of the tribe of Judah, by bringing about the
accomplishment of the prophecies it contains,
will unfold. Where this sentiment has not
prevailed, it has been thought that even if it
could be explained and understood, its truths
are so remote from our daily duty and our
spiritual life, that its study and exposition would
Revelation, v. 1.