of which the saints suffer, as had been predicted by Daniel, (ch. vii.
24,) and of which we had intimation after the judgment of the second woe
or sixth trumpet, (ch. ix. 20, 21.) All the "plagues," which had been
inflicted upon the people of Christendom under this trumpet left them
still impenitent,--"worshipping devils," etc. Surely we may now see
where the object of the third woe is to be found,--namely in the same
Roman empire, now become antichristian more than ever before. To
describe this antichristian combination and present the unholy
confederacy against the Lord and his Anointed, and so to justify the
ways of God; it was necessary to digress from the narrative of the
trumpets. We now proceed with our observations on the eleventh chapter.


1. And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood,
saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them
that worship therein.

2. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it
not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they
tread under foot forty and two months.

Vs. 1, 2.--This chapter, (vs. 1-13,) gives the contents of the "little
book" delivered to the apostle; as in the tenth chapter. It contains a
brief description and prospective history of the true church of Christ
for a period of 1260 years. Her conflicts with Daniel's fourth beast are
here epitomized. As the scene is laid in the temple and ministry all
along in the Apocalypse, so there is probably a special allusion here to
Ezekiel's vision, (ch. xl. 5.) At all times the Christian church is to
be organized, and all her ordinances to be administered by divine rule.
Accordingly we have here presented the actual condition of Christendom