Revelation 8:8,9

THE SECOND TRUMPET.

And the second angel sounded, and as it were. great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. 8:8, 9.

When the second angel sounds, the apostle sees. great burning mountain cast into the sea, and one-third part of the sea becomes blood. There follows. destruction of one third of the ships, and all the inhabitants of the sea.

The trumpet, the blood, and the destruction all point us again to war. The theatre will now be the sea; before, it was fixed on the land. The third part has already been explained, and implies that the scene of these ravages will be in the western Roman Empire, the Latin "third part of the world." The devastation will be mainly upon and around the Roman Seas, the Western half of the Mediterranean. The "burning mountain cast into the sea" will scourge and ruin the seas and sea coasts of the Latin "third part" of the world. The terms employed indicate that the destruction will be very great.

We are to ever bear in mind that this is. vision. The apostle sees. mighty mass of fire like. burning mountain cast into the sea, and then he beholds the sea turning the color of blood. In that bloody sea death reigns, and it appears to him that one third of the ships and of the inhabitants of the sea are destroyed.. part of the symbolism is plain, but what does the burning mountain signify?

We have before said that. mountain signifies. great kingdom or power. It may mean. mighty, conspicuous king or kingdom. The Savior's kingdom is so alluded to in Daniel's vision: "The stone that smote the image became. great mountain." This burning mountain would then indicate. raging volcanic power that should smite from the sea. Is there such. power that had. part in the overthrow of Rome?

About A. D. 422, another mighty horde poured down from the North, whose savage desolation and destructive course have added their name, as. new word, to our language. The principal tribe was called the Vandals, from whence our word vandalism. They rushed over Gaul, swept through Spain, leaped over the narrow straits of Gibraltar, and wrested northern Africa from the Roman dominion. Then, in order that they might assail Rome on the seas and carry their armies to the islands and to Italy, they built fleets and struggled for the mastery of the Mediterranean. For six hundred years no ship hostile to Rome had disputed the mastery of the sea, but now it becomes the theatre of war. Fleets meet in the shock of battle; the sea is reddened with the blood of the slain; the Roman ensign goes down, dyed in blood; the islands of the sea fall into the hands of the fierce barbarian, and at last, near thirty years after the contest began, their fleets land their armies in Italy, and they rush upon Rome. The city is besieged, falls, and for fourteen days. pitiless barbarian soldiery spare neither age nor sex. The spoil gathered for eight hundred years, from. hundred conquered nation, is carried away and loaded upon the Vandal fleets, and the blasted, scourged, and pillaged Capital is abandoned as unworthy to be held as. permanent possession.

The second of the "four winds" held back by the great angel has rushed forth,. second "trumpet" has blown; Rome has been terribly smitten from the sea, but she is not yet destroyed. In. few months Genseric, the Vandal king, was dead, and Rome was again for. little season, free from its invaders. The reader will not fail to note that this great disaster to Rome comes from the sea, that the, seas of the "third part" of the world are conquered, and that their dominion passes out of the hands of the Romans after being held six hundred years.