The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

vial is poured out. It is, however, only the symptoms of death, increasing more and more,
that is portrayed in the symbolic ulcer's appearance on those who have the mark of the
beast and who are worshipers of the image.
There can be no question, however, that the discovery of the untruthfulness of these false
doctrines of eternal torment, etc., inherited from the mother system, associated with the
belief on the part of the great leaders and supporters of the Protestant sects that these false
doctrines were taught in the Scriptures, leading logically to a practical rejection of the
Scriptures themselves, has caused these leaders and supporters to have more or less
torment of mind. This will be seen as we note the peculiar position in which they have
been placed by their unbelief in the Divine authority of the Scriptures. If they were honest,
they would have to admit that their organizations have no more Divine authority than any
of the fraternal, benevolent societies of the world. This has evidently caused considerable
torment of mind, because of their unwillingness to acknowledge these things, and by thus
doing be compelled to stifle the voice of conscience. The same trouble of mind caused by
stifling the conscience would be felt by those who still persisted in believing in the
fundamentals of Christianity and who yet continued to give these various sects their
support. The most terrible torment of mind is yet to come, and will take place in
connection with the great climax, the death-throes that naturally follow the continued
existence of this deadly disease. This will be in connection with the last phase of the great
time of trouble coming upon these rejected systems.
How true it is that the saints who have, through the knowledge of God's great Plan of the
Ages, "gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark" are
delivered from this first plague, and, as we shall endeavor to show in succeeding chapters,
will be delivered from the entire seven.
Second vial poured on the sea
"And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a
dead man: and every living soul died in the sea."--Rev. 16:3.
The symbols employed in this vision of the second plague--the sea becoming blood, as of
one dead; and every living soul dying in the sea--are not dissimilar to some we have found
used in other visions of the Revelation. In some respects the symbols of this second plague
or vial resemble those of the vision of the second trumpet. In that, as in this, it is the
symbolic sea that is affected. In the trumpet symbol, however, only one-third of the sea,
and one-third of the creatures in the sea were affected; whereas in this all of the sea and all
of the creatures in the sea are affected. This would indicate that the second plague
judgment will be final, in that the sea class and those individual units that comprise the
sea would cease to be, that is, as such. The sea as a symbol as we have seen, usually
represents the masses of mankind; in this instance, seemingly the irreligious masses, those
not under the restraint of religious influences.
The second trumpet symbol--that of the burning mountain cast into the sea--we
interpreted as representing the overthrow of the Western Roman Empire, 476 AD. One-