dispensation. Under the Old Testament, trumpets were constructed by
divine direction and to be used for diverse purposes. Of the manifold
uses of this instrument, that which is here chiefly intended is, to
"sound an alarm." (Joel ii. 1; 1 Cor. xiv. 8). Whilst all is suspense,
and before the silence is broken by the sounding of the first trumpet,
the worship of God is exemplified after the usual manner. An angel, by
his official place and work easily distinguished from those having the
trumpets, holds in his hand a "golden censer" that with "much incense"
he might render acceptable "the prayers of all saints." As the angel who
had the "seal of the living God," is distinguished from those that "held
the winds," (ch. vii. 1;) so is he here, from those that had the
trumpets. Here he appears as the Great High Priest over the house of
God; and as "the whole multitude of the people were praying without, at
the time of incense;" (Luke i. 10;) so the service of God is thus
emblematically represented as conducted according to divine appointment.
This Angel therefore is Christ himself. "No man cometh unto the Father
but by him." He is the only Advocate with the Father; and through him
"we have access by one Spirit unto the Father." (Eph. ii. 18.)

May we not inquire, without presumption, a little into the nature or
purport of the "prayers of all saints" at this time of ominous silence?
And what could so likely be the burden of their petitions as that of the
cry of the souls under the altar, namely, the destruction of the Roman
empire? Surely this has been the prayer of God's persecuted servants in
all ages:--"Pour out thy fury upon the heathen," etc. (Jer. x. 25; Ps.
lxxix. 6). However inconsistent with Christian charity superficial
Christians may deem the law of retaliation; we shall find it often urged
on our attention as exemplified in this book. It is absolutely essential
to the divine government.