woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

15. And the seventh angel sounded: and there were great voices in
heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of
our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.

Vs. 14, 15.--"The third wo cometh quickly,"--the time elapsing since the
end of the second, is not to be so long as that intervening between the
first two woes.--The first wo is thought to have begun about the year
612, and continuing by the Saracenic conquests about 150 years, to have
terminated in 762. The second woe-trumpet, it is alleged, sounded about
1281, and continuing for 391 years,--the period of the ravages by the
Euphratean horsemen, ended about 1672. The destructive influence,
however, of these two judgments, may be considered as reaching to the
time of the third woe, the one which is to demolish the whole
antichristian fabric.

Many eminent expositors,[3] in the early part of the present century,
while the first Napoleon was waging successful war with the other powers
of Europe, expressed their belief with much confidence, that the seventh
angel had begun to sound. They were evidently mistaken. Christendom will
not fail to hear the voice of the third woe. It may be so that an
individual may "not be conscious of having an interest inconsistent with
fidelity to the Scriptures," while political "bias" may in fact so
influence "sentiments, as to render conviction less dependent upon
_evidence_ than upon his _wishes_." And we doubt not that
misapprehensions and misinterpretation of "the other scriptures," are to
be attributed to this cause, insensibly influencing the minds and hearts
of learned and godly men, as well as in their expositions of the
Apocalypse. Indeed the misapplying of God's word, precept and prophecy,
to political and ecclesiastical organizations, has been the principal
means of combining and continuing the antichristian apostacy. Thus it is
precisely, that the great adversary has been successful, as "an angel of
light."

"The little book" has been shown to contain such extensive and important
events as to justify the solemnity accompanying its delivery to the
apostle.--He now resumes the subject which had been interrupted at the
close of the ninth chapter.--The "great voices in heaven" represent the
expressions of joy by the saints on hearing the voice of the last of the
trumpets, as assuring them of the happy change in the moral condi