6.  And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true:  and
    the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto
    his servants the things which must shortly be done.

    7.  Behold, I come quickly:  blessed is he that keepeth the
    sayings of the prophecy of this book.

The language of symbols is discontinued.  With the description of the New Jerusalem closes the grand panoramic scene of this book.  Wondrous indeed have been the events of earth prophetically outlined, but we have the assurance that “these things are faithful and true.”  A continuous political and ecclesiastical history of that portion of the earth made the subject of Apocalyptic vision, from the dawn of Christianity until the last day, was here written down in advance.  After the permanent division of the empire, which occurred under Valens and Valentinian[16] in A.D. 364, it was necessary that the political and the ecclesiastical history of the empire should be divided in the prophecy.  This inspiration has done.  The downfall of the Western empire is clearly predicted in the symbols under the first four trumpets; but the eclipse is afterwards lifted, and the same Western empire again appears in Imperial form under the control of the Papacy.  After giving their power and strength unto the beast during the Dark Ages, the horns afterward turn against the Papacy and rob her of all her temporal authority and power, thus pointing us clearly to the history of modern Europe, in which the prophecy has been actually fulfilled.  They themselves end at the judgment of the last day.  Thus, the political history of the Western empire is carried through to the end.  The Eastern division of the empire is also made a subject of prophecy, and its overthrow is described under the sixth trumpet.  This was effected by the second woe, or the rise of the Ottoman power, and that woe is represented as continuing until after the death and the resurrection of the two witnesses and terminating shortly before the end of time.  Therefore the political history of the Eastern empire, which has been under the power of the Turks for centuries, is outlined until the end.  The ecclesiastical history of the Eastern empire is also given, its most prominent feature being the rise and the development of that pest of Mohammedanism, which rests like a dark cloud over that fair country until this day.  In the Western division the rise of the Papacy, its continuation, the rise of Protestantism and its duration, are all clearly outlined, reaching down to these last days.  Then the scene is suddenly enlarged and is carried beyond the limits of the earth—­the Apocalyptic earth—­into “the whole world,” when the powers of wickedness are combined in spirit to antagonize the reformation of holiness and truth which God is using to gather his faithful ones together in preparation for the coming of the Son of God to judgment.  In view of these wonderful events of the last days, how comforting the words of the text before us—­“Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book”!