doubtless in view of these soul-ruining heresies, that
the beloved disciple tendered the caution,--"Little children, keep
yourselves from idols." (1 John v. 21.)

We would expect the tenth chapter to begin with the sounding of the
seventh trumpet; but we find it is not so. Indeed, we shall not find any
direct intimation of the work of the seventh angel till we come to the
fourteenth verse of the eleventh chapter. The sixth trumpet continues to
reverberate throughout Christendom for centuries; and during the
intermediate time, our attention is called to another scene, which the
Lord Jesus deemed necessary as preparatory.

CHAPTER X.

This chapter and the greater part of the next, from the first to the
fourteenth verse inclusive, is of the nature of a parenthesis; for the
fifteenth verse of the 11th chapter evidently connects the narrative or
series of events with the ninth chapter. The ninth chapter closes with
an intimation of impenitence on the part of those who had been punished
by the plagues of the preceding trumpets. Then it follows, as we have
seen, that they are to be still farther visited by the infliction of the
closing judgment symbolized by the seventh trumpet. The immediate
design, therefore, of interrupting the natural order of the narrative is
to place before us the actual condition of society when the seventh
trumpet sounds.

1. And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a
cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face as it were the sun,
and his feet as pillars of fire:

2. And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot
upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,

3. And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had
cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.

Vs. 1-3.--The majestic description of this Angel agrees to no creature.
It is proper to God-man only. It is partly the same display of the
Mediator's glory which we had in ch, i. 15. Especially is this the case
as to his _face_, his _feet_ and his _voice_. The "rainbow" is still the
sign of the everlasting covenant. "In wrath he remembers mercy."

This "book" differs from the _sealed_ book as a part from the whole, or
a codicil from the will to which it is appended. Also, it is
distinguished from the former as being _little_ and _open_. They do
therefore greatly err here, who would make this little book comprehend
all the remaining part of the Apocalypse, wh