Bible Readings for the Home Circle Part 78

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

Symbols Of War. "The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged." Rev. 11:18.

1. Following the seven seals, under what symbols was the next series of thrilling events shown the apostle John?

"And I saw the seven angels which stood before G.o.d; and to them were given _seven trumpets_." Rev. 8:2.

2. With what do these trumpets deal?

With the wars, commotions, and political upheavals which result in the breaking up and downfall of the Roman Empire,-the first four with the downfall of Western Rome, the fifth and sixth with the downfall of Eastern Rome, and the seventh with the final downfall of Rome in its broadest sense, or all the kingdoms of the world. See Revelation 8 and 9 and 11:14-19. A trumpet is a symbol of war. Jer. 4:19, 20; Joel 2:1-11.

3. Under what figures is the first trumpet described?

"The first angel sounded, and there followed _hail_ and _fire_ mingled with _blood_, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green gra.s.s was burnt up." Rev. 8:7.

NOTES.-"Twice, at least, before the Roman Empire became divided permanently into the two parts, the Eastern and the Western, there was a tripart.i.te division of the empire. The first occurred 311 A.D., when it was divided between Constantine, Licinius, and Maximin; the other, 337 A.D., on the death of Constantine, when it was divided between his three sons, Constantine, Constans, and Constantius."-_Albert Barnes, on Rev. 12:4._ To Constantius was given Constantinople and the East; to Constans, Italy, Illyric.u.m, and northern Africa; and to Constantine II, Britain, Gaul, and Spain.

This trumpet describes the first great invasion upon Western or ancient Rome, by the Goths, under Alaric, from 395 A.D. to 410 A.D. In 408 he descended upon Italy, the middle "third part,"

pillaging and burning cities, and slaughtering their inhabitants.

Says Gibbon, in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,"

chapter 33, closing sentence, "The union of the Roman Empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the dust; and armies of unknown barbarians, issuing from the frozen regions of the North, had established their victorious reign over the fairest provinces of Europe and Africa."

4. What striking figure is used to describe the destruction wrought under the second trumpet?

"And the second angel sounded, and as it were _a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea_: and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the s.h.i.+ps were destroyed." Verses 8, 9.

NOTE.-This describes the invasions and conquests of the Vandals under the terrible Genseric-first of Africa and later of Italy-from 428 to 476 A.D. His conquests were largely by sea. In a single night, near Carthage, he destroyed, by fire and sword, more than half of the Roman fleet, consisting of 1,113 s.h.i.+ps and over 100,000 men. See Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,"

chapter 36.

5. What was to take place under the third trumpet?

"And the third angel sounded, and _there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp_, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the star is called _Wormwood_: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; _and many men died of the waters_, because they were made bitter." Verses 10, 11.

NOTES.-The hara.s.sing invasions and conquests of Attila, the Hun, are foretold here. His conquests were characterized by fire; sword, and pillage along the Rhine, in Gaul, and northern Italy.

He claimed descent from Nimrod, styled himself the "Scourge of G.o.d" and the "Dread of the World," and boasted that gra.s.s would never grow again where his horse had trod. His greatest battle was at Chalons, in Gaul, 451 A.D., where of his 700,000 men from 100,000 to 300,000 are said to have been left dead on the field.

See Gibbon's Rome, chapter 35, and "Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World," by Sir Edward Creasy, chapter 6.

Says Gibbon (chapter 34), "In the reign of Attila, the Huns again became the terror of the world;" and he proceeds to describe "the character and actions of that formidable barbarian, who," he says, "alternately insulted and invaded the East and the West, and urged the rapid downfall of the Roman Empire."

6. What was to occur under the fourth trumpet?

"And the fourth angel sounded, and _the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars_; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise." Verse 12.

NOTE.-This trumpet brings us to the fall of Western Rome, in 476 A.D., when the Herulian barbarians, under the leaders.h.i.+p of Odoacer, took possession of the city and scepter of Rome; and the great empire which had hitherto been the empress of the world was reduced to a poor dukedom, tributary to the exarch of Ravenna. Its luminaries, or civil rulers, were smitten, and ceased to s.h.i.+ne.

"Italy now became in effect a province of the empire of the East.

The Roman Empire in the West had come to an end, after an existence from the founding of Rome of 1,229 years."-_Myers's __"__General History,__"__ page 348._

7. What was to be the character of the last three trumpets?

"And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, _Woe, woe, woe_, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!" Verse 13.

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

The Seven Trumpets.

8. After the fall of Western Rome, what power in the East arose to hara.s.s and overrun the Roman world, East and West?

Mohammedanism, commonly known as the Turkish or Ottoman power, which arose in Arabia, with Mohammed, in 622 A.D.

9. How is the fifth trumpet, or first woe, introduced?

"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw _a star fall from heaven unto the earth_: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; _and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit_. And there came out of the smoke _locusts_ upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power." Rev. 9:1-3.

NOTES.-Attila is symbolized by the star of the third trumpet (Rev.

8:10, 11); Mohammed, by the star of this trumpet. The bottomless pit doubtless refers to the wastes of the Arabian desert, from which came forth the Mohammedans, or Saracens of Arabia, like swarms of locusts. The darkening caused by the smoke from this pit fitly represents the spread of Mohammedanism and its doctrines over Asia, Africa, and portions of Europe. Their power as scorpions is strikingly seen in their vigorous and speedy attacks upon, and overthrow of, their enemies.

"Over a large part of Spain, over north Africa, Egypt, Syria, Babylonia, Persia, north India, and portions of Central Asia were spread-to the more or less perfect exclusion of native customs, speech, and wors.h.i.+p-the manners, the language, and the religion of the Arabian conquerors."-_Myers's __"__General History,__"__ page 401._

10. What command was given these locusts?

"And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the gra.s.s of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of G.o.d in their foreheads." Verse 4.

NOTES.-When the Arabian tribes were gathered for the conquest of Syria, 633 A.D., the caliph Abu-Bekr, the successor of Mohammed, instructed the chiefs of his army not to allow their victory to be "stained with the blood of women and children;" to "destroy no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of corn;" to "cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any mischief to cattle;" and to spare those religious persons "who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve G.o.d in that way;" but, he said, "you will find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns: be sure you cleave their skulls and give them no quarter till they either turn Mohammedan or pay tribute." In this, Mohammedanism, itself a false religion, is revealed as a scourge to apostate Christianity.

"In a short time they [the Mohammedan Saracens] had taken from the Aryans all the princ.i.p.al old Semitic lands,-Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, a.s.syria, and Babylonia. To these was soon added Egypt."-_Encyclopedia Britannica, article __"__Mohammedanism.__"_

11. What were these locusts said to have over them?

"And they had _a king_ over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon [margin, a destroyer]." Verse 11.

NOTES.-For hundreds of years the Mohammedans and invading Tartar tribes, like the locusts (Prov. 30:27), had no general government or king over them, but were divided into bands, or factions, under separate leaders. But in the twelfth century Temuljin, king of the Mongols, or Moguls, who is described as "the most terrible scourge that ever afflicted the human race," built up an empire "at the cost," it is estimated, says Myers in his "General History," page 461, of "fifty thousand cities and towns and five million lives."

This was followed by the more permanent Tartar empire founded by Othman a century later, commonly known as the Ottoman Empire, and ruled by the sultan.