^ PRINCETON, n: J. • k © ■ Part of tlie Is I <: ADDISON ALEXANDER LIBRARY. ji|jt» |\,-._^ which was presented by ■;::V Messus. R. L. and a. Stitart. I BR 45 .H84 ^^ J: Wordsworth, Christopher, || 1807-1885. .^ _ Lectures on the Apocalypse J n LECTURES THE APOCALYPSE; CRITICAL, EXPOSITOEY, AND PEACTICAL ; DELIVERED BEFORE THE mntbnsitj) of OTamjfrntigf; CHR.'WORDSWORTH, D.D. CANON OF WESTMINSTER; FORMERLY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, UULSEAN LECTUUER AND PUBLIC ORATOR OF THE UNIVERSITY. Cijiitf (Sftfition. LONDON: FEANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTQN, ST. Paul's cnuBcn takd, and waterlog place. 1852. MaKapios 6 avayiyvutaKcou, koi o'l uKovovres tovs Xoyovs riji npo- (prjreias, Kui rrjpovpres ra iv avrrj yeypaynieva. Apocalyp. i. 3. yiaKapios o r-qpav roi/s \6yovs ttJs 7rpo(f)rjTeLas tov /3t^Xiou tovtov. Apocalyp. xxii. 7. Apocalypsis Joannis tot habet sacramenta quot verba. Parum tlixi pro merito voluminis. Laiis omnis inferior est. In verbis singulis niultipiices latent intelligentise. S. HiEiioNYMUs ad Paulin. Ep. l. torn. iv. p. 574. (iii.nERT it RiviNGTON, Printers, St. John's S()nare, London. STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, AKD TO THOSE OE OTHER SCHOOLS AND SEMINARIES OF SOUND AND USEFUL LEARNING, DESIGNED AS AN AID TO THE STUDT OF A BOOK PROTIDED BY THE DIVINE GOODNESS FOR THEIR GUIDANCE, WARNING, AND ENCOURAGEMENT, IN THE TRIALS OF THE LATTER DATS. A 2 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. The two former Editions of this Work commenced with two Lectures "On the Doctrine of a Millen- nium," which are now reprinted separately in the same size as the present Volume. Accordingly, what was the Third Lecture in the two former Editions, is the First Lecture in this Impression ; and so on, in succession. The "Appendix," to which reference is some- times made in the Notes to these Lectures, is sub- joined to a Volume published in 1849, which con- tains the " Greek Text of the Apocalypse with MSS. collations." The " Harmony of the Apocalypse, being a revised English Version with Notes," to which also reference is occasionally made, is likewise contained in that Volume, and was reprinted separately in 4to. in 1851. vi Preface to the Third Edition. Some additions have been introduced in tlie present Edition of these Lectures, particuhirly in Lecture IX., pp. 268—275. October 14, 1852. TABLE OF CONTENTS. LECTURE I. On the Genuineness and Inspiration of the Apocalypse. PAGE Subject proposed ......... 1 — 4 Language of some Modern Critics on this subject . . .1,2 Proofs of Inspiration from the peculiar character of the Apo- calypse .......•••• 3 Spurious " Books of Revelation" 4 Argument from them • . 3, 4 Language of the Apocalypse concerning itself .... 4 — 6 Inference from this 6 The persons addressed in the Apocalypse ; and in what terms . 7, 8 " Angels of the Churches" 7 Arguments from this ........ 8 — 11 How was the Apocalypse received by the Bishops and Churches of Asia, to whom it is addressed ..... 11 — 17 Papias 11 Testimony of Justin Martyr at i^/;/id"SM* ..... 13 Melito 14 St. Irenaeus . . . 15 A mark of heresy, not to receive the Apocalypse ... 17 Reflections on this evidence ib. Date of the Apocalypse 19 Evidence of St. John himself 20—22 Canon of Council of Toledo, on reading the Apocalypse in the Church 23 Eusebius 24 Internal Evidence . . . . . . * . . 24 — 26 Arguments from Style ........ 24 viii Table of Contents, PAGE Argument from the Apostolic Benediction . . . 19, 26 Judgment of tiie Universal Church on the Genuineness and In- spiration of the Apocalypse ....... 20 Practical Reflections 26—30 LECTURE II. On the relation of the Apocalypse to the Canon of Scripture. Introductory Remarks 32 Doctrinal ^«a//(y of the Apocalypse ..... 32 — 35 Argument thence derived against the theories of Rationalistic and Romish Development ...... 32 — 35 Its canonical finality ........ 34 — 36 The Seal of the Bible 36 Illustration and confirmation of this from Apocalyptic Symbols . ib. Cautions respecting the Exposition of the Apocalypse . 37, 38 Symbols in Chap. IV 38—40 The Rainbow 38 Tlie Crystal Sea 40 llie Seven Spirits 41 The Voices and Thunders ib. The Four Living Creatures 39, 41, 42 The Four-and-Twenty Elders 43—46 Application of the Exposition of these Symbols . . 46 — 48 St. John's office in closing the Canon of Scripture ... 48 Symbols in Chap. XI. . ib. The measuring Reed, Kaneh, or Canon . . . 48, 49, 56 The Rod 50 Inferences therefrom 50, 51 The Two Witnesses 51—56 Not two Persons 54, 150, 178 The Two Olive Trees 51—57 The Two Golden Candlesticks — their Channels . . . 51 — 58 Relation of Scripture to the Church 55 — 59 Errors of Romish teaching on this subject .... 57 Treatment of Holy Scripture by Rome and by the World 59, 60 Conclusion .......... 61 LECTURE III. The Coming of Christ. Introduction 62 The Lord's Day in the Apocalypse is the Christian Sunday 63, 64, 82 Table of Contents. ix PAGE Fitness of the ' First Day of the Week' for the manifestation upon it of these Visions, which are grouped in Sevens . . 64 The piercing of our Lord's side ...... %^ Inferences from . 67 " He who came" 68 How Christ came by blood and water .... 68 — 70 How Christ now comes by blood and water . . . 70 — 15 Doctrine of the Sacraments 72 — 78 The piercing of our Lord's side, how made subservient to the proof of our Lord's Resurrection, and of our Justification, and of our future Resurrection 78 — 80 Practical Exhortations 82 — 85 LECTURE IV. Exposition of the Apocalypse ; Plan of the Apocalypse ; the Seven Epistles ; and the Seven Seals. Aids for the Exposition of the Apocalypse .... 86 1. The Apocalypse itself — Remarks on the " Authorized Version" — and on Editions of the Apocalypse . 87 2. The Hebrew Prophets 88, 89 3. Uninspired Expositors — Ancient Interpreters — What is the Value of the Fathers of the Church in Apoca- lyptic Interpretation . . . 89—92, 304—308 4. Recent Commentators 92 Literal Interpreters ib. Plan of the Apocalypse 92—96, 404—406 Similar to that of the Book of the Prophet Daniel, to which the Apocalypse is a Sequel 96 The Twentieth Chapter 94 The Seven Epistles 97 — 103 The number Seven ........ 98 — 100 The Two-edged Sword 97 What is represented by the Seven Churches , 98—101, 197, 198 Order of the Epistles 100, 101 The Hidden Manna 101, 102 The White Stone ib. The Morning Star 103 The Seven Seals 129 The Sealed Book, or Roll ib. Inference from its description . ib. The First Seal * . . 105—107 The colour White in the Apocalypse, and its opposites . . 107 X Table of Contents. PAGE The Second Seal 1U7 The Third Seal 108-114 The Fourth Seal 114 The Fifth Seal 115 The Sixth Seal . .116—122 The Tribes of the Earth— They who dwell on the Earth . 1 1 5—207 J^igzwa^ife character of these Prophecies IIG St. Peter's exposition of Joel ii. 28 . . . . . .116 Inferences from it . . . . . . . . .117 Use of" Catchwords'' in the Apocalypse 1 15, 118, 120—122, 211, 212 " Twelve times Twelve ;" what it signifies . . . 120 — 122 The Seventh Seal 122 How the History of the Church is to be written and read . 125, 126 Practical Reflections on the Seals 123 — 127 LECTURE V. Exposition of the Apocalypse continued. — The Seven Trumpets. Introduction— Temple- Worship— The Two Altars . . .128 How the Trumpets differ from the Seals .... 129—132 Use of Repetition in Prophecy . . . . . . . 1 29 Sacred Trumpets ......... 130 Seven Trumpets ; reference to the Capture of Jericho . 130, 131 The Last three Trumpets are Woe-Trumpets . . . .132 The First Trumpet 133 "A third part" ....... 133, 194, 195 The Second Trumpet 133 "The Mountain" the "Sea;" '"'They who have Life" 134, 1,35, 209, 210 " The Shijn" destroyed 135 The Third Trumpet 136 "Falling Stars" 136—139 '•Wormwood" — " Inhabitants of the Earth" . . . 136 — 138 Early Heresies 139, 140 The Fourth Trumpet 140 The Fifth Trumjjet ib. Wliat " The Bottomless Pit" is ; not the same as " the Lake of Fire" 141, 142 The Locusts ib. The Sixth Trumpet 142—158 Erroneous mode of interpreting it 142 Modern Expositions of ........ ib. If Babylon is to be interpreted sjnritually, Euphrates (the river of Babylon) must nut be understood literally . . . .143 Table of Contents. xi PAGE 'T\\e Yom kwgeh ;" loosed ^ov the hour" .... 142, 145 The number Four 144, 193 How they are bound ; and yet not bound .... 143, 144 Tiesign oi phi/sical impossibilities \\\ the K^QC&\y\>?,e . . .177 Proofs that the Four Angels are of God ; and that their army is the Army of God — Their number — the colour Jacinth 145 — 147 How the Word of God becomes a Woe . . 147, 148, 175 Parallelism between the Vision of the Two Witnesses, and that of these Four Angels and their Army .... 149 — 151 Both Visions represent the Second Woe . . . 150, 151, 181 Both Visions represent the diffusion and power and majesty and victory of the Word of God, and the Woe it brings, with a retributive recoil, on the Wicked ..... 147 — 153 Fulfilment of the Prophecy ...... 152, 153 How the Four Angels are loosed at the Euphrates . . ib. Illustration of the prediction of this Trumpet from the prophe- cies of the Old Testament — Zechariah ; Habakkuk . 153 — 156 Warning to men and nations that disregard or despise Scripture 157 The Last Trump . . . . . . . . .158 LECTURE VL History o/Holy Scripture. Connexion of the Sixth Trumpet with what now follows 160, 161, 169, 172, 173 The •' Opened Lesser Book" in the hand of Christ . . 160, 163 How to be interpreted 161 — 163 " The roaring of the Lion" 163 " The Seven Thunders" echoing the Voice of Christ . . 164 — 166 Peculiar use of the definite Article in the Apocalypse 160, 175, 192 How "the Voices" of "the Seven Thunders" were sealed by St. John 166, 167 To " seal" a. book 167 How the Book was taken and eaten by him . . . 167, 168 Why bitter 168 Connexion of the Opened Book, and of the Seven Thunders, with the preceding Vision of the Four Angels loosed at the Euphrates 169 Their connexion, also, with the Symbols following . . . ib. The "measuring Reed" 169—171, 173 The number Seven 165,197 Why "like a Rod," and that "a Rod of Iron" . . . 170, 171 Supposed Solecisms in the Apocalypse . ., . . .171 The Grammar of Inspiration ib. The word Jew ib. xii Table of Contents. PAGE The term Genii/e 171, 172 Facility and Beauty of the Transitions in the Apocalypse 17-2 — 174 '■'The Two Witnesses'" 173—175 '' The Two Olive Trees" 174 Why only Two . . . ib. Peculiar use of the definite Article iu the Apocalypse 160, 175, 176, 192, 193 The power and majesty of the Two Testaments . . .175 Warred on by " ^/^e ^ea^^' 175, 177, 179 '&\wn.\x\." the Great City'" 177, 178 The dead body of the Two Witnesses ; meaning of this expression, ib. How '■'■the Great City'''' has warred on the Two Witnesses . 178 — 180 And has not allowed " the'ir dead body" to be put into "Monuments" 179, 180 Remarkable fact as to the treatment of " the Two Witnesses " by the Church of Rome 180 The Second Woe 149, 151, 181 Its attendant circumstances 182, 183 Parallelism between the History of Scripture and the Church . 185 Concluding Remai'ks 185, 186 LECTURE VII. History o/tiie Church. " The Woman clothed iv'ith the Sun " and crowned with " Twelve Stars" 187 Her sufferings, first from heathen, Roman, persecution . .188 The male child, who rules the nations with " a rod of iron" 171, 189, 190, 191 Figure of /raHs/e;-e?ice in the Apocalypse . . . . .190 Her flight into the Wilderness 191 What are "the Two Wings c)f the great Eagle" . . .192, 193 Eagles in Churches 193 The 1260 Days 193 Digression concerning the meaning of Numbers in the Apo- calypse 193—204 The Year-Day system . 193 Signification of Apocalyptic Numbers .... 194, 195 "^ Third part" 133, 194, 195 The Number Four, and Four times Four .... 144, 195 The Number Twelve 121,195—197 The Number Twelve times Twelve Hundred, or 144,000 Sealed 120, 196 Table of Contents. xiii PAGE The Number Six 199 The Number of the Beast, Six Hundred, Sixty, and Six 199, 217, 339 The Number Seven 98—100, 165, 197, 198 The Number Three and a half 198, 199 The 1260 Days, 42 Months, or 3i Years .... 198—202 Inferences from this Enquiry 203, 204 " The Red Dragon'' 188,189,204 The Earth helping the Woman — Constantine .... 205 The rise of the Beast with Seven heads and ten horns from the Sea 206 Its interpretation 206—208,211,323 The phrase " as Kings " 207,317 Kings of the Earth 207 Opposed to Kings of the East 379—384 The Sea 134, 135, 208, 209 The removal of the Mountain, which was cast into the Sea, is followed by the rise of the Beast from the Sea . . 208—210 St. Paul's Prophecy ib. On the term " the Antichrist " 209 Use of Catchivords connecting the Apocalypse with other parts of Scripture, e.g. with the Book of Daniel . . . .211 The Second Beast, or " i^fl&e Propter' .... 212—217 Is a Power professing Christianity 212 — 220 Buying and selling— s\)\r\im\ commerce . 213, 216, 270, 272, 379 " Thei/ ivho have not been defied with Women" . . . .219 Romanism will survive Rome 221 The Six Angels 220—223 Recapitulation of the Two last Discourses, with reference to the present times 223—227 What is the condition of the True Church in this World . 224—227 LECTURE VIII. Introduction to the Prophecies concerninc) Babylon in the Apocalypse. Interpretation of the Prophecies in Chapters XIII. XIV. XVI. XVII.XVIII. and XIX. of the Apocalypse . . .230 Serious and solemn nature of this subject ..... ib. Pleas urged on the ground of Charity .... 231, 2.32 What true Charity is : Appeal to St. John and to the Holy Spirit 235 How it will be best exercised in the present case . . 232 — 234 Earnest Apjjcal to all members of the Church of Rome . . 235 Condition of those who have fallen away to Rome _ . . 235, 236 Duties of Clergy and People, with respect to the Apocalypse, especially in the present times ..... 236, 237 xiv Table of Contents. PAGE Preliminary explanations : — 1. Concerning salvability in the Church of Rome . 238, 239 2. Concerning opposition to the Church of Rome . 239, 240 3. Assertions of the most eminent Divines of the Church of England concerning these Prophecies . . . 240 Subsequent misuse of these Prophecies by other persons 241, 242 Consequent reaction ....... 242 Inferences from these facts ...... 243 4. The Allegation considered : — that, if the Church of Rome is the Babylon of the Apocalypse, they who derive their Holy Orders from Rome are involved in her condem- nation 244, 245 3. Rome may be a Church, and yet Babylon . . 245 — 247 6. Civil connexions with Rome, their influence . 247, 248 Instruction, Admonitions, and Practical Warnings, founded on these Apocalyptic Prophecies : — 1. Vindication of the Church of England from the charge of Schism 248 — 254 Romish Unity— its character 249 Duty of each particular Church, as shown in the Apo- calypse 249, 250 The Apocalypse an inspired Vindication of the Refor- mation and of the Church of England . 251, 254, 255 Why these Prophecies concerning Rome were written 251—253,255 2. The Apocalypse leads us to hope that many members of the Church of Rome may receive the truth ; but it forbids us to look for Union with the Church of Rome 254—256 It makes us fear for her, and for ourselves from her 256, 257 Bishop Butler's warning concerning Rome . . . 256 3. Endowment of Romanism, pleas for, considered . 257 — 260 Reference to England 258 — 260 LECTURE IX. IVhether Babylon in the yipocali/pse is the City o/Rome. Design and uses of the Apocalyptic Prophei'ies concerning Babylon 261 — 265 Claims of the Church of Homo 262 Do these Prophecies concern the Church of Rome? . . . 265 Table of Contents. xv PAGE Consideration of the allegation, that they do not concern her, because all do not agree that they concern her ; and because she denies that they concern her ..... 265 — 2G7 Other allegations and objections, of a similar tendency, stated and considered ........ 268 — 276 What the true question is ...... Divided into Two parts ....... Do they concern the City of Rome ? . . . . Reply in the Affirmative : — 1. From the words ^'the Great City"'' existing in St. John age, and to exist in our own 2. " The City on Seven Hills " . Reference to Roman Poets Reference to Roman Coins Use of Classical Studies 3. " T/ie Woman is that great City which reigneth Reference to Roman Poems and Coins 4. "Babylon'" — "Mystery'''' Physical and historical parallel between Babylon and Especially with reference to the Jews Rome called Babylon by the Jews of St. John's age Their tradition concerning the fall of Rome Its reasonableness ...... Testimony of early Christian Writers on this subject Why they wished well to the Roman Empire . Papias Date (of place) of St. Peter's First Epistle St. Irenaeus 267 276 ib. Rome Tertulliau St. Jerome St. Augustine . Victorinus Other Writers . Recapitulation and Conclusion . 277 . 278 279, 280 . 281 , ib. 282, 283 283, 284 . 284 284—286 . 287 . 288 . ib. 288, 289 290—292 . 290 . 291 . ib. 291,292 . 293 . ib. . 294 . 295 295—297 298—300 LECTURE X. Whether Babylon in the Apocalypse is the Church o/Rome. Quotations from eminent Romish Divines, e. g. Cardinals Bellar- niine and Baronius, and Bishop Bossuet, identifying the Apo- calyptic Babylon with the City of Rome . . . 302, 303 Distinction drawn by them . . . ... . . 303 Assertion o^ other Romish Divines . .... . ib. xvi Table of Contents. PAGE General agreement, that Babylon is the City of Rome : Is she also the Church of Rome? ...... ib. Argument of Bossuet — his appeal to the Fathers . . . 304 Reply 89, 92, 304, 307, 308 Novelty of Bossuet's interpretation ...... 308 On the supposition that his interpretation were true, what would be the consequence ? ....... 308,312 The other alternative 311,314 Appeal to some who allege that the main conflict of our own times is not between one form of Christianity and another, but between Christianity and Unbelief .... 314 — 316 Reference to Hooker and Bishop Bull .... 315, 31G Aim and uses of Christian Prophecy . . . . 311, 314, 315 Other objections to the prevalent Romish hypothesis concerning these Prophecies 316, 320 The other alternative true 317,318 The common Romish hypothesis further disproved . . 319 — 323 That hypothesis disavowed, as untenable, by some Romanists 303, 322, 323 TV^ew- theory refuted by reference to St. John . . 211,322,323 Romish Divines profess Unity, and affirm that they have a living Infallible Guide at Rome for the interpretation of Scripture, and yet are widely at variance from each other in interpreting these prophecies of Scripture, which they allow concern Rome itself ! .... 324 Proofs that the Babylon in the Apocalj'pse is the Church of Rome 325—329 Babylon, " the great City" of the Apocalypse, is called the Harlot, and is therefore some faithless Church ..... 325 Bossuet's objections stated and answered .... 326 — 328 She is also called a " Jerusalem " ...... 329 She is also contrasted with " the Bride" or faithful Church 329—332 Contrasts, in the Apocalypse ; " The Lamb" and " the Beast" 329—331 Proofs that this Harlot or faithless Church is the Church of Rome 332 Reference to the Arguments in the last Lecture which identify the Harlot City with the City of Rome ib. Further proofs that the Harlot in the Apocalypse is the Church of Rome ib. Her claims to implicit faith 333 Her persecuting spirit and practices . . . 333, 334 Her spiritual Fornication 334, 335 Her relations to Princes and Civil Governments 334 — 336 Hooker 333 Case of Great Britain and Ireland .... 336 Table of Contents. xvii PAGE Her names of Blasphemy 336 — 338 Her claim to a Double Supremacy .... 338 — 341 " Name and Number of the Beast" . . 199, 217, 339 Other Proofs : — External appearance : Scarlet, pearls, gold, &c. 341, 348 Reference to the " Cerevioniale Romanum " on this subject 348 " Adoration," by prostration and kissing . . 342, 350 "Who is like unto the Beast?" explanation of these words 342, 343 Inthronization and Adoration of the Pope on the Altar of God, " in the Temple of God" 348—351 How predicted and typified in Scripture ; Prophecies of Isaiah, Daniel, Our Blessed Lord, and St. Paul . . . 343—348 First public appearance of the Pope in the eyes of the Church and the World 348—351 Observations on this evidence 351, 352 Prophecy of Zechariah concerning the Epha . . . 353 — 355 Words serving to connect these Prophecies together . 211,354 Observations on the Prophecy of Zechariah . . . 354, 355 Recapitulation and Conclusion ..... 356 — 362 LECTURE XI. The Seven Vials. Reference to Egypt and the Exodus .... 365, 366 The Vials are poured out on the Spiritual Empire of the Beast, and resemble the Plagues of Egypt ..... 367 Why these Plagues are inflicted by Viah. Meaning of tiie word Vials 366—369 General Exposition of the character of these Spiritual Plagues 369 — 372 Reference to St. Paul 370 The First Vial 372 The Second Vial 373 The Third Vial ib. The Fourth Vial 374—377 The Fifth Vial 377 The Sixth Vial 378—404 Who are " Kings of the East ?" . . 207,379—381,383,384 Opposed to " Kings of the Earth "...... 207 What is "the Way" which is to be prepared for them? . 379, 380 , What is " the great river Euphrates" and how is it to " be dried up" that the Kings of the East may pass over? . . 378 — 381 a xviii Table of Contents. PAGE What is meant by "Me J5a5^?" 381 " The Unclean Sphits like Frogs " 384—390 Strange Confederacies of the Latter Days . . 387, 389, 402 How foretold by St. Paul 389 Their aim 390, 392 The Fall of the Apocalyptic Babylon 390 Preparations of the strange alliance for the conflict of Ar-ma- geddo7i 390—403 The Beast and the False Prophet survive Babylon . . .391 What is meant by " Ar-mageddon "..... 392 — 403 Issue of Ar-mageddon ; Triumph of Christ . . . 402 — 404 Design of the Twentieth Chapter of the Apocalypse . . 404 — 406 Last efforts of Satan 406,412,414 His final overthrow and punishment ...... 406 The ImsI Judg77ietit ; The Lake of Fire ; The Heavenlt/ Citt/ . ib. Practical Warnings and Admonitions dictated by these Pro- phecies, in reference to the present times . . . 407 — 417 Specially to the Young 416 LECTURE XII. Concluding Discourse. The Apocalypse, an inspired Manual of Christian Faith and Practice . 419 Internal evidence of its Inspiration 420 Its special uses in the present times 420, 421 Its testimony on the great Articles of the Christian Faith 421, 422 The First Resurrection . 422 Peculiar uses of the Apocalypse 423 It displays the Unity of Holy Scripture . . , 423 — 425 It displays the Unity of Design in the means employed by Divine Providence for assuring mankind of the Inspiration and Integrity of Scripture . . 425 — 429 It exhibits the divinity, power, majesty, and judicial autho- rity of Scripture 429—431 It teaches that Scripture ought to be the rule of all Civil Government 432, 433 It inculcates the duty of affirming the Supremacy of the Divine Law in Civil Government . . . 482 It reveals the ultimate and complete triumph of that Law 433 It shows the full and final character of primitive Chris- tianity, against all Developments, Romish or Ra- tionalistic 433, 434 Table of Contents. xix PAGE It exhibits the sufficiency of Scripture alone (rightly in- terpreted) as the Rule of Faith .... 434 It teaches the true relation of the Church to Scripture, and of Scripture to the Church . . . 435—441 Errors now prevalent on this point . • . 435 — 438 How guarded against by the Apocalypse . . 438 — 441 It teaches the true character of the Christian Church 441—443 Errors now prevalent on this point ... ib. It conveys Divine instruction concerning Church Govern- ment 443 It gives Divine instruction concerning the erroneous notion of the existence of one Visible Head in the Church ; and concerning the alleged necessity of Union with one Visible Head .... 443 — 449 Its exhortations to the members of the Church of England 444—448 Its Divine Warnings against the Church of Rome 446 — 450 The Apocalypse teaches the necessity of holding the true faith, and of holiness of life, as well as of avoiding errors in faith and practice 451 It teaches the probable nearness and certainty of the General Resukrection, and of the Universal Judgment ; and of Eternal Rewards and Punish- ments 452—454 Conclusion ......... ib. a 2 *^* The following paragraphs refer to the Benefactions of the Rev. John Hulse, to whom, as Founder of the Hulsean Lectureship, and to whose Trustees, as Electors, the Author was indebted for the opportunity of delivering the following Lectures before the University of Cambridge. SUMMARY of certain CLAUSES abridged from the WILL of the Rev. JOHN HULSE, late of Elworth, in the county of Chester, clerk, deceased, dated July 21, 1777. " From and after the end of the said term of ninety-nine years, determinable as aforesaid, I give the same premises to the University of Cambridge for ever, for the purposes herein after expressed, that is to say, I direct that the clear rents, issues, and profits of the same premises in Mewton and Middlewich shall be divided into six equal parts ; ... of which one part shall be paid every year to the person appointed to the Lectureship herein after founded." IL " And I direct that the said term of one hundred years is so vested in them the said Ralph Leeke, John Smith, and Thomas Vawdrey, upon further trust, that they, or the survivors, or survivor of them, or the executors, administrators, or assigns of such survivor, shall, out of the rents and profits of the premises in Clive, w hich shall arise previous to the determination of the said term of one hundred years, annually pay the sum of sixty pounds, (exclusive of such augmentation as herein before and herein after is mentioned,) on Saint John the Evangelist's day following the preaching of the twenty Lectures or Sermons herein after mentioned, to such learned and ingenious Clergyman in the said University of Cambridge, of the degree of Master of Arts, and under the age of forty years, as shall be duly chosen at the time, and by the persons herein after appointed for that purpose, as a salary for preach- ing the before mentioned Sermons or Lectures." in. " And upon further trust that they the said Ralph Leeke, &c. &c., shall pay the residue of the rents, and profits of the premises in Clive, which shall arise previous to the determination of the said term of one hundred years, and which are herein (oi* by a grant or rent- charge of ten pounds per annum, dated Nov. 4, 1 773) otherwise dis- XX ii Clauses ahridfjed from posed of, to and for the use of the person and persons, who shall from time to time preach the before named twenty Lectures*." IV. " And from and after the end of the said one hundred years, defer- niinalile a.s aforesaid, I give all my said mcssuag'es, lands, tythes, and hereditaments in Clive aforesaid, to the said University of Cambridge for ever, for the iiiirposes herein after mentioned. " And first, it was always my humble and earnest desire and inten- tion, that the following donation should be founded, as much as possible, on the plan of that profoundly learned and successful in- quirer into nature, and most religious adorer of Nature's God, I mean the truly great and good (as well as honourable) Robert Boyle, Ksquire ; who has added so much lustre, and done equal service, both by his learning and his life, to his native country, and to human nature, and to the cause of Christianity and truth. " To the promoting in some degree a design so worthy of every reasonable creature, I direct that four parts out of six of the last mentioned rents, tythes, and profits, to arise from the premises (exclu- sive of such augmentations as herein before and herein after arc mentioned) shall be paid, on Saint John the Kvangelist's Day following the preaching of the Lectures or Sermons after mentioned, annually to such learned and ingenious Clergyman in the said University, of the degree of Master of Arts, and under the age of forty years, as shall be duly chosen or elected on Christmas-day, or within seven days after, by the Vice-Chancellor there for the time being f, and by the Master or Head of Trinity College, and the Master of Saint John's College, or by any two of them, in order to preach twenty Sermons in the whole year. " The subject of which discourses shall be as followeth ; that is to say, the subject of ten Sermons, shall be to show the Kvidcnce for Revealed Religion ; and to demonstrate, in the most convincing and j»ersuasive manner, the truth and excellence of Christianity, so as to inclurle not only the Prophecies and Miracles, general and particular, but also any other proper or useful arguments, whether the same Ije va Tcov TOTS ''EfipaloiV itvia-qp.oTarov TrfnoiTjTar jJiefjLvrjTm ri;? 'Icoawou ' ATTOKaXv^lreccs aaS'^. John's own province; and arrogating the very functions which belonged to St. John himself, and to him alone ; assuming the office of administering rebuke and correction to the Bishops of St. John's own jurisdiction. Even if any one can bring himself to imagine that the seven Asiatic A7igels — devout and holy men, like Polycarp — would have tolerated such presumptuous usurpation, (which is, indeed, incredible,) no one, I apprehend, will suppose, that the one Asiatic Arch- angel — I mean St. John — would have borne it. No ; he would have treated the author of the Apocalypse as he treated Cerinthus. He would have condemned him as he condemned the Asiatic presbyter; and we should have known the author of the Apocalypse only as a second Diotrephes -. On the whole, then, we conclude, from the voice of the Angels, and from the silence of the Archangel, that the Apocalypse is inspired, and that its Author is St. John. ' See " Lectures on Inspiration," Lcct. V. p. IGO. ^ 3 John 9. I.] of the Apocalypse. 23 Before we confirm this conclusion by a brief appeal to internal evidence, let us observe, that this pri7m- tive testimony could not be invalidated by more recent allegations of a contrary kind, even if those alle- gations did not admit of being easily refuted on other ground in addition to those of lateness in time. Concerning this matter oi fact, I mean the ge- nuineness of the Apocalypse, the testimony of the Asiatic Churches of St. John's oivn age is worth more than all the opinions of all subsequent time. Tlie truth also is, that all sceptical surmises on this matter, which are but slight and partial, may be easily accounted for. First, (as we have shown,) from the erroneous imputation of INIillenarian doc- trines to the Apocalypse, which cast a temporary cloud over it; and, next, from the reserve practised by some Churches ', (as, indeed, by our own,) not publicly reading the Apocalypse in their religious assemblies ^ ; whence it came to pass, that the Apo- calypse was not inserted in some lists of Books to be read in some Churches, and thence by some it was erroneously imafjined not to be Canonical. But these allegations, and all others of a like tendency, soon lost all credit; and the primitive ' Cone. Laod. can. Ix. Other Churches pursued a different course. By a decree of the Fourth Council of Toledo, (a.d. 633, can. xvii.) a Presbyter was liable to excommunication, if he did not read the Apoca- lypse in the Church at a certain period of the year. See Appendix K in the Authors Edition of the Greek Text of the Appcalypse, Lond. 1849, p. 203. - See Hooker, V. xx. 4. 24 On the GenumeneHs and Insjjiration [lect. belief concerning the inspiration and genuineness of the Apocalypse became universal. In the pro})lietic words of Eusebius ', — " Though men dispute on this side and that concerning the Apocalypse, yet assu- redly in due time its claims will be acknowledged, on the ground^ o^ primitive testimony. V. Tf now we open the Book itself, every thing there harmonizes with this belief ^ The Author calls himself John. I John, who am also your brother, and conq)anion in tribulation*. John to the Seven Churches which are in Asia\ I John saw these things, and heard them ^. Whom would this name, placed thus by itself, without any epithet or accompaniment, suggest? Whom but the Apostle and Evangelist, St. John? He, and he alone, was John ; their brother, and their pastor, and their guide : and no one else in his age, writing to St. Johns own Churches, would have ventured to assume the name of John, in this bold and unqua- lified simplicity. Again: the Author writes from the isle of Pat- ' Euseb. iii. 24. ^ See also St. Jerome, ad Dardan. Ep. 1-29. ' I have not entered into the question of alleged discrepanc}- of style between the Apocalypse and St. John's Gospel. (Euseb. vii. 25.) This has been already noticed in " Lectures on Inspiration," ix. p. 220-2, and has been well discussed by Guerike, Einleitung in das N. T. ^ 60, p. 555. And, after all, the subject of the Apocalypse is so dif- ferent from that of the Gospel, that arguments from style are scarcely admissible here. No one would argue from tiic Satires of Horace that he did not write the Odes. And yet how (liUbrcnt is the style! * Rev. i. 9, •' Rev. i. 4. '■ Rev. xxii. 8, I.] of the Apocalypse. 25 mos, where he was, for the testimony of the Lord Jesus ; and we know that St. John was banished to that island by the Emperor Domitian, when he per- secuted the Church \ It may be asked, Why then does he not call himself an Apostle f We might ask, in reply, Why does not St. James ? Why does not St. Jude ? Why does not St. John himself, in his Epistles? The name Joh?i would sujice to identify him ; and, by withholding the title of Apostle, and calling himself only a servant of God, and their brother in tribu- lations, he would show, that though he had the gift of prophecy, and was permitted to understand all mys- teries, and to speak ivith the tongue of Angels ~, yet he was not elated above measure by the abundance of his Revelations^; the more he was exalted by God, the more he would humble himself with men ; The secret of the Lord is among them that fear him *; and mysteries are revealed to the meek '\ Further : the Author of the Apocalypse, modest as he is in the description of himself, speaks, as we have seen, to the Angels of Asia with all authority : he distributes praise and blame like a Ruler and a Judge. Now, there was only one person then alive ill the whole world who was entitled to use this language ; and that one person was not only entitled to use it, by his double character as the last sur- ' Sec above, p. 19. - 1 Cor..xiii. 1,'2. 3 '2 Cor. xii. 7. ' Psalm xxv. 13. ° Ecclus. iii. 19. 26 On the Genuineness and Inspiration [lect. viving Apostle, and as Metropolitan of Asia, but lie was solemnly hound to use it. By reason of his office, he was obliged, in duty to Christ, Who called him to it, to speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority '. He was bound to he no respecter of persons ; to he instant in season, out of season ; to reprove, rebuke, exhort^. This one person was St. John. Again : we find that the Author of the Apo- calypse, who writes to the Seven Angels, or Bishops, gives them an Apostolic Benediction, — The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ he ivith you ^. And without all contradiction (says the Apostle) the less is blessed of the better, or greater '^ Therefore, again, we infer that the writer of the Apocalypse is some one greater than the Bishops of Asia. He is some one entitled to bless them. Now, there was one person in the world, and one alone, who, in a spiritual sense, was greater than the Bishops of Asia, and so was entitled to bless them, and might justly be expected to do so ; and that person was St. John. VI. Finally, let us remember, that the Catholic Church throughout the world which is the Body of Christ, and to which He has promised His Spirit and His presence \ receives the Apocalypse as Cano- nical Scripture and as the work of St. John. ' Tit. ii, 15. * 2 Tim. iv. 2. '^ Rev. i. 4. xxii. 21. ^ Heb. vii. 7. '" Col. i. 28. Matt, xxviii. 20. John xvi. 13. I.] of the Apocalypse. 27 I leave it, my bretliren, to you to consider the remarkable propriety which characterizes the divine selection of St. John, and particularly of St. John such as he was at Patmos, for the treatment of such sublime subjects as those which are contained in the Apocalypse. His Gospel proclaims what a divine spirit was in him. Who so fit as he to speak of the mysteries revealed in the Apocalypse "? He was the beloved Disciple. He had been ad- mitted to our Lord's most private retirements ; to the most solemn scenes of His sufferings and sorrow. He had been with Him on the Mountain of Trans- figuration, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the High Priest's hall, and at the Cross. All his brother Apostles had now been taken away by death. He was left the last. He was now a prisoner and an exile in a lonely island. As the winds blew, and as the waves dashed on the rocky shores of Patmos, so the storms of the world were now beating against the rock of the Church. But the aged and lonely Apostle was cheered with glorious visions. He was visited by Jesus Christ. He an exile from the world became a citizen of heaven ; and the barren cliiTs of Patmos were made more beautiful than Paradise. The Man of Sorrows, Whom St. John had seen in His agony at Gethse- mane, He Whom he had seen standing bound be- fore Caiaphas, crowned with thorns, mocked by Herod, condemned by Pilate, pierced by the soldier, 28 On the Genuineness and Insinration [lect, and dying on tlie Cross, was now seen by him enthroned in heaven, and adored by myriads of Cherubim and Seraphim kneeling before Him. / am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last\ I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen ; and have the keys of hell and of death'. He was seen chaining Satan, and casting him into the gulf of fire. He was seen coming in the clouds of heaven to judge the world. He hath on His vesture His name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords ^ His Kingdom is esta- blished for ever. The Voices of heaven cry, Halle- luia,for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneih*. They who have been slain for Him, they who have kept His commandments, are seen glorified for ever. The former things are passed away. There is no more death, nor sorrow ; and God ivipes all tears from their eyes \ They are received into the heavenly palace, to the marriage -feast of the Son of God. Consider how appropriate, how beautiful, how consistent it is with the affectionate tenderness of Christ for His dear and faithful servants, that He sliould cheer His beloved Disciple, St. John, now aged, alone, and an exile, with these glorious Visions ; that He should show Himself in heaven to him who had seen Him on the cross; that He should reveal Himself to him, as He will one day Rev. i. 11. " Rev. i. Ks. Rev. xix. \b. •' Rfv. ,\xi. .). ' Rev. xix. (i I.] of the Apocalypse. 29 appear, coming in awful majesty to Judge the Quick and Dead. How significant also is it of Christ's love to His Church, sorrowing, afflicted, widowed in this world, that He should not call away His last surviving Apostle before He had revealed to him the future glorious condition of the beloved Bride, when reunited to her Lord in heaven ! VII. What, therefore, my Christian friends and brethren, can be more full of comfort to us than the view which this subject presents ? Heaven is our home : here on earth we are exiles ; we are in Patmos. Especially, in these our days, the heavens are dark ; the sea is high ; the waves dash upon the rock : tJie floods are risen, Lord ; the floods have lift up their voice K Ours is an age of storms. The beach below us is strewn with wrecks — the wrecks of Empires. Yet in this dark gloom of the world, in this our solitude and exile, we may have inward peace, and light and hope and joy. If we love Christ with St. John, if we suffer for Christ with him, we too, like St. John, shall be visited by Christ. Then St. John's Visions will be ours. His Revela- tion will be ours. Our Patmos, will be Paradise. And we shall pass from the storms of earth to the eternal sunshine of heaven ; and from the dreary solitude of our worldly banishment to the blissful mansions of our Father's House. ' Psalm xciii. 4. 30 On the Genuineness, S^c. of the Apocalypse. Let us pray. MERCIFUL LORD, we beseech Thee to cast Thy bright beams of light upon Thy Church, that it being enlightened by the doctrine of Thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist St. John, may so walk in the light of Thy truth, that it may at length attain to the light of everlasting life, through JESUS CHRIST our Lord. Amen \ ' Collect for St. John the Evangelist's Day. LECTURE 11. Rev. chap. After this I looked, and, behold, a door was ojJened in heaven ; and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said. Come tcp hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediateli/ I was in the spirit : and, behold, a throne luas set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone : and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats : and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment ; and they had on their heads croivns of gold. And out of the throne jjroceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices : and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the Seven Spirits of God. And before the throne thei-e was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the seco7id beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him ; and they were fidl of eyes within : and they rest not day and night, saying. Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory, and honour, and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the 32 On the relation of the ApocaJypsse [lect. throne, saying. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and potver : for thou hast created all things, and for thy jjleastire they are and were created '. It was my endeavour, on a former occasion, to sliow that the Apocalypse, or Revelation, is rightly received as a divinely inspired work of the Apostle and Evangelist St. John, and I would now propose to offer some remarks on the peculiar relation in which this Book stands to the rest of the Sacred Volume of the Old and New Testament. 1. Here, first, let us observe one of its most im- portant characteristics, which we may be allowed to call \i% finality . The Apocalypse reveals the future. It discloses the History of the Church, even to the Day of Doom. It places us not only before the Tribunal of Christ, but in the Heavenly City. It displays to us not only the armies of Satan leagued against the sacred camp, but it opens the doors of his dark prison-house. Not only does it teach us, that all things which we now see will have an end ; but it shows what that end will be. In this respect the Apocalypse is invaluable. Some, you are aware, there are, in these our days, who venture to affirm that Christianity was destined only to be a provisional and temporary dispensation ; that it is but one link in the chain of truth ; that ' The Reader is referred for a revised English Version of this Fourth Chapter, to the " Harmony of the Apocalypse," Lond. 1852, § 12, with the Notes. II.] to the Canon of Holy Scripture. 33 it is only a transitory stage, a moving scene in God's Revelations : and that as it has superseded Judaism, so, in its turn, it may be expected to give place to some other Religion. Others, again, imagine that Christianity, like hu- man science, admits of discoveries : that the Faith originally taught by Christ and His Apostles, and, as St. Jude says, once for all ' delivered to the Saints, is pliant and elastic, and may be developed in greater fulness, and expounded in wider amplitude ; and that it is the privilege, nay and even the duty, of Reason and Philosophy, as some pretend, or of a self-styled infallible Church, as others no less con- fidently assert, to give due expansion and adequate perfection to the unchangeable Word of God and to the everlasting Gospel of Christ ! But all these proud imaginations are put to flight by the Apocalypse. This Divine Book teaches us that we are not to look for a}i7/ new Religion ; nor for any new form of Christianity. It opens to us a view, as in an un- broken avenue, of the whole interval between Christ's First Advent as a Saviour, and His Second Advent as our Judge ; and it declares, that the Gospel, first preached by Him eighteen centuries ago, is the Code of Faith and Duty by which He will judge us at the last day. To those, then, who present us with new Religions, ' (irra^, Jude •'). 34 On the relation of the Apocalypse [lect. or with new forms of Christianity, we reply, Look at the Apocalypse. Its counsel to the world, in the great concern of Religion, is, not to expect any thing new, but to maintain what is old. Its ex- hortations are, Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life^. Do thy first works. Remember thy first love ^ Strengthen the things ivhich remain. Hold fast that which thou hast^. Behold, I come quickly. I will put upon you ^ none other burden, but that which ye have already, hold fast till I come ; and he that overcometh and keepeth My words unto the end, to him will I give power ; and I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches \ And when it speaks of the Gospel it calls it Eternal ^ Thus we are taught by St. John, in the Book of Revelation, that Christianity is the consummation of Religion ; and that the Religion of the Apocalypse is the consummation of Christianity. 2. Again : in another important sense the Apo- calypse has a final character. It is the work of St. ,Iohn. He, the last surviving Apostle, was specially > Rev. ii. 10. ^ Rev. ii. 4, 3. ^ Rev. iii. 2, 3. 11. * " Nisi quod ab Aj)osto/is pra3ceptum est." Berengaiidus ad Apoc. ii. 25. — Bede, Explau. Apocalyps. in cap. ii. Non mittavi super vos aliud pondus, &c.] Non patiar vos tentari supra id quod potestis sustinere. Attendite, inquit, a falsis prophetis. Non enim ego vobis novam mitto doclr'mam ; sed quam acccpistis, servate in fiuem. 6 Rev. ii. 25—28. <"• Rev. xiv. G. II.] to the Canon of Holy Scripture. 35 employed by Christ to complete and canonize the Sacred Volume of Holy Writ. This fact is carefully to be borne in mind. It is one of the principal clues to the right Exposition of the Apocalypse. The New Testament, like the Old, consists of two parts. The Old is divided into the Law and the Prophets; the term Prophet being used in its gene- ral sense, to describe one who is commissioned by God to declare His Will, whether it concern the future or the present. In the same manner the New Testament may be regarded as composed of two portions, one Historical, and the other Prophetical. The Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles form the Christian Pentateuch : the Epistles and the Apo- calypse constitute our Prophetical Pandect. The former may be called the Evangelical, and the latter, the Apostolical, Canon. And it is to be remembered, that the same Evangelist and Apostle, the Beloved Disciple St. John, was employed by our Blessed Lord to complete and authenticate both: the first, by His Gospel, and the second, by the Apocalypse. And since the New Testament is the consumma- tion of the Old ; therefore, in the concluding words of St. John's Gospel ^ and in those final sentences of his Apocalypse, If any man shall add unto these Chap. XX. 3. xxi. 25. D 2 36 On the relation of the Apocalypse [lect. things, God shall add unto him the jylagues that are written in this book ', — both alike expressive of completeness and finality. Our Blessed Lord, acting by tbe ministry of St. John, closes the Canon of Scripture. He subscribes it with His own Almighty hand, and sets upon it His Divine Seal, and delivers it to the Church, as the perfect AVord of God. Let us now proceed to observe, that the Apoca- lypse of St. John — though prior in composition to his Gospel, yet by a prophetic anticipation suited to its peculiar character — does, in fact, appear to suppose the existence of that Gospel ; and that, as the Pro- phet Malachi is called the Seal ^ of the Prophets, so the Prophet St. John, in the Apocalypse, is the Seal ' of the Bible. 3. This opinion is confirmed by the prophetical symbols in the portion of the Apocalypse chosen for our text. It W'Ould indeed be presumptuous to obtrude upon you any interpretation of these mysterious emblems, as absolutely certain. Nothing has tended more to bring discredit on the Apocalypse than the rashness of those Interpreters who have reversed the order of things, and, forgetting their office as Expositors, have > Chap. xxii. 18 — 21. ^ D"'i;^''13n DJlin, Sigilluni Prophetarum. See Hottinger The- saurus, p. 483, p. 324. ■■' Hence the Apocalypse is called crcftpayh t;";? /3(/3Xoi'. See authorities above quoted, Lect, I. p. 1. II.] to the Canon of Holy Scripture. 37 constituted themselves into Prophets, and have endea- voured to make the Evangelical Prophet ♦S'^. John the Edpositor of their Prophecies. Still the abuse of the Apocalypse must not tempt us to forget its 2ise. Blessed (says St. John) is he that readeth, and they that hear the luords of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein '. Every one, my beloved brethren, who endeavours to interpret the Apocalypse, has special need of St. Paul's caution. Let him that prophesieth, (that is, expoundeth,) prophesy according to the proportion of faith^. Let him not interpret any one passage so that it be repugnant to the general tenour of Holy Scripture, but let him take care that the sense he ascribes to it be in harmonious unison with the oracles of God ^ You will also carefully bear in mind, my younger hearers, that in the interpretation of Scripture, and especially of its symbolical language, the judgment of the ancient Church is of great weight. In later times, the Apocalypse has been made an arena of theo- logical controversy ; and its sense has been some- times made to vary with the bias of its several expositors. Under these circumstances, it is fortu- nate for us that we are able to appeal to the judg- ment of ancient Christian Interpreters, who were exempt from the partialities and prejudices of our own age ; and that thus we can retire from the strife ' Rev. i. 3. xxii. 7. - Rom. xii. 6. ^ j p^t. jy. n. 38 On the relation of the Apocali/pse [lect. of modern polemics to the calm retreats of Christian Antiquity. Their judgment, therefore, is of great value ; and it is very desirable that it should be resorted to: indeed it is much to be regretted, that many mo- dern Expositors of the Apocalypse have been so much fascinated by their own theories concern- ing it, that they have overlooked the precious materials which Christian Antiquity supplies for its illustration '. 4. Bearing in mind these cautions, let us now pro- ceed to observe, that the heavenly Visions of the Apocalypse open (in the Fourth Chapter) with a Revelation of the heavenly Church, — typified of old by the Tabernacle and the Temple, — and of the Most High seated upon His Throne. The Throne is cano- pied, as it were, by a Rainbow, in sight like unto an Emerald : it is flanked on either side by seats, on which are seated Four and Twenty Elders, wearing golden crowns, and clothed in white. Lightnings, thunders, and voices issue from the Throne. This is the Holy of Holies in the heavenly Temple. Seven lamps " burn before it, which (we are instructed) are the Seven Spirits of God. Before it, also, is a sea of glass like crystal. These recall to mind the Sevenbranched Candlestick, and the ]\Jolten Sea in the ancient Temple. Under the Throne and about it ' See Note A. in the Appendix, for some notice of the Ancient Commentaries on tlie Apocalypse. *■' Xa/xTTuSfy. II.] to the Canon of Holy Scripture. 89 are four beasts, or, rather, Living Creatures \ as the word ought to be rendered ; to suggest a reference to the Living Creatures in the parallel passage of the first and tenth chapters of the Prophet Ezekiel ; and also to obviate all possibility of confusion with the two Beasts ^ in the latter part of the Apocalypse. These Four Living Creatures are full of eyes, and each has six wings : and they rest not day and night, saying. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which icas, and is, and is to come. And when those living crea- tures give glory to Him that sitteth on the Throne, the four and twenty elders fall down and worship Him that livetli for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the Throne, sayiiig. Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive the glory and the honour and the power : for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created ^ In this glorious Vision, the Ancient Church recog- nized and adored the Triune God, enthroned King of the Universe. In the arched Iris spanning the divine throne, she beheld an emblem of His severity blended with love ; in it she saw the dark showers of His Judgments gilded by the bright beams of His Mercy. The hea- venly Bow spake to her of the Deluge, the ship- wreck of the world for sin ; it spake to her also of calm and sunshine after the storm. ' (a>a, riiTf. See Note to Harmony, ch. iv. 6. 2 Bripia. Rev. xiii. 1-18, &q. ^ Rev. iv. 4—11. 40 On the relation of the Ajmcalypse [lect. It spake of hope and reconciliation with God; and of the Day-spring from on high ^ ; and of man's sinful nature irradiated with orient colours by the Sun of Righteousness ^ It spake therefore of the Incarnation of Christ. Behold I set My how in the cloud. By the Mystery of the Incarnation, in which man's nature is united in a prism of glory with the Divine, the Godhead descends, as it were, from heaven to earth by an angelic ladder ; Mercy and Truth seemed met together ; Righteousness and Peace kissed each other. Truth flourished out of the earth ; and Righteousness looked down from heaven ^. Such were the tlioughts suggested to her mind by the Rainbow arching-over the throne in heaven. Again. To her eye the crystal sea symbolized the pure waters of Christian baptism, through which we enter the presence of God. The sea is like crystal, because of inward purity as well as outward washing *. The whole sea of the Christian life must be as lucid as its surface ° ; and the baptismal water is as it were consolidated, by the operation of God's Grace on man's Free- Will, into a precious stone, strong and clear as crystal. The heavenly font is set before the Divine Throne. The new birth of the Christian is ' Luke i. 78. = Mai. iv. 2. 3 Psalm Ixxxv. 10, 11. M Pet. ili. 21. ^ Bede ad loc. Propter fidcm veri bapHsmi refertur ad vitrum in quo non aliud videtur extcrius quam quod gestat interius. Crystallo quoque, quod de aqua in glaciem ct lapideni prctiosum efficitur, baptism! gratia figuratur. II.] to the Canon of Holy Scripture. 41 effected by Water and tlie Holy Ghost. And there- fore the sevenfold gifts ' of the Holy Spirit, specially imparted in the Apostolic Rite of Confirmation, are before the throne, to prepare the soul for the pre- sence of God. The Seven lamps burn before the throne. The Christian soul is also instructed in God's Law, encouraged by His Promises, and warned by His Judgments. These are signified by the voices, the lightnings, and thunders, which issue from the throne of God : for thunder is God's voice ; the Law was given with thunder and lightning from Sinai ^ ; and our Lord named St. John a Son of Thunder ^ when he called him to his Apostolic office of preach- ing the Gospel ^. 5. What, now, is to be said of the Four Living Creatures, with figures like the Cherubim, winged, and full of eyes, upon which God Himself is en- throned ? We must remember that the Heavenly Temple was the pattern of the Temple on earth ^ In the earthly Temple God was enthroned upon the Ark, where was the Law and the Testimony. Bearing in mind this relation, the Ancient Church beheld in the Four Living Creatures a figure of the Four Gospels. They had been represented under this image by the Prophet Ezekiel ^ in his vision at the ' Isaiah xi. 2. ' Exod, xix. 16. ^ ^ark iii. 17. "* See Theophyl. in Mar. iii. 1 7. viovs ^povTrjs ovofia^ei as jieyaXo- KTjpvKas Koi dfoXoyiKardTovs- * Heb. viii. 5. ^ Chapters i. and x. 42 On the relation of the Apocalypse [lect. river of Chebar : and now they are viewed again by St. John in Patmos. This interpretation, which recognizes the four Gospels in the four living crea- tures of heaven, dates from the age and school of St. John himself. It is found in the writings of St. Irenseus', the scholar of Polycarp, the disciple of St. John, and is sanctioned by the almost unanimous authority of the greatest teachers of the Eastern and Western Churches. Many here present will remember with pleasur- able emotions, liow it has found its way into the region of Christian Art, and has hallowed the pencil of the Painter, and the chisel of the Sculptor, and has served to raise the thoughts of thousands from the strifes and stains of earth to the peace and purity of heaven. And it will have there presented to your minds a most striking testimony, (made more remark- able by the corruptions of an adulterated Christianity, M'ith which it is too often surrounded,) that the winged and myriad-eyed Word of God, as preached in the Gospel of Christ, is the basis of the Heavenly Throne ; and that, as God formerly manifested His Glorious Presence in the Schechinah on the JNIercy-seat of ^ Irenseus, iii. 11. See also S, Victorinus, B. P. M. iii. 416. Quatuor aninialia IV sunt Evangelia. — S. Jerome, in two beautiful pas- sages cited in Appendix A. to " Lectures on Inspiration," No. xix. h and 2. Andreas, 1. c. p. 597. Berengaudus ad Apoc. iv. 7 — 10, Aquinas ad loc. Quatuor animalia scilicet Evangclista'. — And Hayino says, NuUi dubium, quin haec animalia Dominuni J. C. significcnt, ct omncs mnctos, pruecipuc qualuor Evangelia. — See other authorities in " Lectures on Inspiration,"' \). 16.3. II.] to the Canon of Holy Scripture. 43 the Ark, shaded by the golden Wings of the four Angelic Cherubim, in the Holy of Holies, in the Ancient Temple, which was the figure of heaven itself, so in the Christian Church He is now pleased to dwell on the four living Cherubim of Evangelical Truth. 6. Next, what shall we say of the Four a7id Twenty Elders, seated on either side of the throne of God? As the Four Living Creatures represent the Four Gospels, so we are led by analogy to anticipate that the Four and Twenty Elders represent the older Dis- pensation. And it is a remarkable fact, of which we are reminded by Christian Antiquity, that the Old Testament Scriptures, according to one of the most commonly received modes of Jewish reckoning, (by which the Twelve Minor Prophets are reckoned as one book, and the two books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles as one each, and some other similar arrangements are made,) consist, on the whole, of Four and Twenty Books \ In the Twelve wells of Water and Seventy Palm- trees, at Elim, where the Ancient Church encamped in the wilderness '\ the Christian Church ^ saw after- ^ See " Lectures on Inspiration," Appendix C. p. 396. 2 Exod. XV. 27. 3 S. Hieron. Epist. ad Fabiol. torn. ii. p. 590. De XLII Mansionibus. Nee dubium quin de XII Apostolis sermo sit, de quorum fontibus deri- vata; aquae totius mundi siccitatem rigant. Juxta has, aquas LXX creverunt PaluiBe, quas et ipsos secundi ordinis intclligimus Praeceptores. — Venema de Mcthodo Proph. 1U4. Deus concessit XII Pontes et 44 On the relation of the Apocalypse [lect, wards a type of herself, protected by the shade and refreshed by the waters of the doctrine preached by the Twelve Apostles and Seventy Disciples of Christ. And, as the Apostles of Christ are called in Scrip- ture " The Twelve ' ;" as, again, the Greek Version of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint, or " The Seventy," from the Seventy-two Elders or In- terpreters, so the body of the Law and the Prophets is often entitled by the Israelites, " The Tiventi/-fonr" Indeed this title, Esreem-Arba, or ''The Tiventy-four^' is commonly prefixed to Hebrew Bibles, to indicate their contents ; and so, to the ear of an Israelite the name ""The Twenty-four'" would suggest the Old Tes- tament Scriptures ; just as to the Christian, " The Twelve'' represent the Apostles of Christ. And these Books of the Old Testament are called, in the Apo- calypse, the Twenty-four Elders, because they signify the Elder Dispensation, as contrasted with the New Testament. This interpretation, which identifies the Twenty- four Elders with the Old Testament, was current in the Christian Church- for more than a thousand LXX Palmas, i. e. Scripta Apostolorum et Evangelistarum, e quibus veram doctrinam ad solatium abunde petere possunt Christiani. • oi 8a>8(Ka. Matt. xxvi. 20. Mark xiv. 20. Luke xxii. 47. John vi. 71. 1 Cor. XV. 5. 2 Victorinus, B. P. M. iii. 417. Viginti quatuor faciunt tot numeros quot et Seniores. Sunt auteni libri Veteris Testamenti qui accipiuntur Viginti Quatuor, quos in Epitomis Theodori invenics.— See also Victo- rinus, Schol. in Apoc. p. 55. ed. Gaiiandii. A most important Testi- mony against the Trent Canon. Victorinus is of the Third Ccnturv. II.] to the Canon of Holy Scripture. 45 years. But ^vhen, in the sixteenth century, at the Council of Trent, the Church of Rome disturbed the order, and marred the number, of the Canonical Books of the Old Testament, by adding to them the Apocrypha, as of equal authority ' ; although, to cite the memorable words of St. Jerome^ the Apocrypha " do not appertain to the Twenty-four Elders, whom St. John represents as adoring the Lamb, and casting their crowns before His throne,'' — then this interpre- tation was suppressed. But it is our duty to revive it. And, now, behold what a noble picture is here presented to us of the divine dignity and aw^ful majesty of the Holy Scrip- tures ! They are the Throne of God. They are the Zodiac of the Sun of Righteousness. With what So Primasius, B. P. M. x. p. 296. Veteris Testamenti Libros canonica auctoritate suscipimus tanquam XXIV Seniores tribunalia preesidentes. — So Ambrosius Ansbertus, B. P. M. xiii. p. 464. Quia prioris Testa- menti XXIV libris utitur, quos auctoritate canonica suscepit, in quibus etiara Novum Testamentum revelatum accipitur, idcirco in XXIV Senioribus Ecclesia figuratur. — So Berengaudus ad loc. and ad iv. 8* Per sedilia XXI V Libri Veteris Testamenti designantur. — Bede, Explan. Apocalyps. in cap. iv. Singula eorum habebant alas senas] .... aliter. Alae sense quatuor animalium, quae sunt vigintiquatuor, totidem veteris instrumenti libros insinuant, quibus evangelistarum et fulcitur auctoritas, et Veritas comprobatur. — And Haymo and Aquinas. Viginti quatuor sedilia dicuntur libri Veteris Testamenti, qui sunt Viginti Quatuor. — See also S. Hieron. in " Lectures on Inspiration," App. A. xix. (a), and App. C. and the Fifth Book of Maccabees, written, probably, in St. John's age, cap. ii. 3, and 9 ; and compare the Rabbinical authori- ties in Hottinger, Thesaurus Theol. p. 101. Carpzov. Crit. Sacr. V. T. p. 134, and Dr. Todd's Lectures on the Apocalypse, p. 274, note. ' See " Lectures on Inspiration," Appendix B. ^ Ibid., Appendix A. xix. (a), (e.) 46 On the relation of the Apocalypse [lect. reverent love, therefore, ought we to regard them ! How diligent ought we to be in hearing and reading them ! How zealous and resolute in obeying them ! Behold, again, what a glorious vision is here dis- played to us of the aim and end of the Holy Scriptures. The glory of God. The eternal honour of the Most High. The Gospels are endued with light, life, and voice; and all are exercised in the praise of God. They rest not day and night, sayinc). Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. This Evangelic Trisagion evokes the Choral Anti- phon of the Old Testament. That is, in the heavenly Vision, the New Testament gives voice to the Old. When the Four living creatures give glory to Him that sitteth on the Throne, then the Four and Twenty Elders fall down before Him, Who liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throvie, saying. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive the glory and the honour and the power : for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. 7. Thus the ancient Church saw in the Apocalypse a vivid representation of the true office of the Scrip- tures of Both Testaments : she heard their voices in heaven, joining in everlasting Hallelujahs to the JNlajesty of the Most High, seated on His heavenly Throne, Sovereign Lord of the Universe. It will not be imagined that we intend to pro- pound this interpretation as unquestionable \ No, it * It has been objected to this interpretation, that it supposes an inanimate olyect to be symbolized by an animated one. But, let it be II.] to the Canon of Holy Scripture. 47 is propounded only as probable; and probability is perhaps the limit to which, with our feeble faculties, we can arrive in this world, in the interpretation of such mysterious symbols as these. But then, it must be remembered, that there is a certain good even in probabilities. And since this interpretation rests on a considerable amount of primitive testimony of the divinely-appointed Interpreter of Scripture, the Christian Church, and therefore cannot give occasion and encouragement to private and neoterical fancies ; since also it is in harmony with the main tenour of Christian teaching; and since it serves to confirm our faith, to excite our love, and to animate our devotions ; and since it tends to augment our reve- rence for God's Holy Word, and makes us more careful to study and obey it ; — then, we may venture to affirm, the uses of such a probable interpretation are not probable but certain ; and it may reasonably be supposed that the Holy Spirit, Who does nothing in vain, and has written the Apocalypse for our learning \ had these uses in view when He revealed these Visions, and pronounced the words, Blessed is remembered, that the Scriptures are Xoyia (avra, "lively oracles" (Acts vii. 38) ; and it is remarkable that, in the next Vision, the Reed (representing the Canon of Scripture) is endued with life ; for the true reading in Rev. xi. 1, is eBodrj fioi KoXafios Xeycoi/, i. e. the Meed speaks, for it is inspired. Besides — these emblems of the Scriptures are to be extended, in a secondary sense, so as to comprehend all persons and all Churches which build their faith on the Written Word of the Old and New' Testament. * Rom. XV. 4. 48 On the relation of the Apocalypse [lect. he who readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy ' . 8. A very important observation arises here. This interpretation accords very felicitously with the known character and office of the Author of the Apocalypse, St. John. He was specially employed by our Blessed Lord to close the Canon of Scrip- ture; and it is in entire harmony with the scope and position of the Apocalypse, the crown and colophon of Holy Writ. It was very requisite that the Church should receive an assurance concerning the number of the Books of Scripture. St. John was the fittest person to indicate that; and no place so fit for it as the Apo- calypse. Malachi closes the Old Testament with a retrospective reference to the Law of Moses and the Statutes and Judgments -. St. John authenticates the contents, and displays the divine authority, of Both Testaments. 9. In further illustration of what has been said, let me now invite your attention to another passage in this Book. The eleventh chapter of the Apocalypse contains a revelation of the condition of the Church Militant on earth. St. John is there ordered to measure the sacred precincts with a Reed ^ like a Rod. This direction, it may be observed, is specially appropriate to the Evangelist, St. John, who sur- ' Rev. i. 3. - Ma!, iv. 4. ' KoKanps. II.] to the Canon of Holy Scripture. 49 vived all the Apostles, completed the building of the Church, and being the beloved Disciple of the Incarnate Word, Who is the Alpha and Omega of all God's Revelations, closed the Canon of the Holy Scripture. And, it will be remembered that the word "Canon" is derived from the Hebrew Kanch ', the term which is used by Ezekiel in his fortieth and forty-second chapter, and which is the same as the Greek and Latin word Kawa, or Reed, and the English cane ; and that it signifies a measuring reed, and is therefore well applied to the Divine Reed of Faith, that is, to the Holy Scriptures- of the Old and New Testament, which are the supreme and sufficient Rule of Christian Doctrine. Also, the Hebrew measure called the Reed, was 1 Credner, Geschichte des Kanons, Halle, 1847, p. 6. Das griechische Wort Kavoov, versvandt mit Kawa, Eohr, entspreche dem alt-hebraischen r\^p welches von der Grund-bedeutung Rok); Halm (KoXafxos), die vveiteren Bedeutungen gerader Stab, Aless-stab, gerader Schaft, u. s. w. ableitet. . . . Vergl. Apokaly])se, xi, 1. KaXajios 6/xoToj pa/3Sa> und dazu Victorinus Petavionensis (Gallan. Bibl. Patr. iv. p. 39). " Hsec est arundo et mensura Fidei." Origen de Princip. 1, prsef. " Certa linea perfectaque Regula (Kavu>v)" — S. '' Amphilocliius (Append. No. xvii.) ends his verses enumerating the books of Scripture, ovTos d\lA€v8ev xP'"^^v, said of. the seven- branched \vxvi.a. 1 Rev. i. 20. = Rev. i. 13. ii. I. =' Zech. iv. 14. 54 On the relation of the Apocalypse [lect. the spirit of prophcci/ '; intimating thereby tliat the word prophcci/ is used in the sense of Evangelical Preaching. What, now, are the two Witnesses, and two Olive Trees ? Some Interpreters, you are aware, suppose them to be t\vo Persons. Enoch and Elias are specified by some. Others adduce other names. But the Prophecy aims higher, and reaches further than the person and existence of any child of man ^ It is in dignity, divine ; and in duration and extent, universal. The ancient Church, expounding the Apocalypse, remembered the words of God to INIoses concerning the seven-branched Golden Candlestick of the Taber- nacle ; she recollected the vision of Zechariah ; she had before her eyes that prophet's seven-branched Candlestick, fed with oil by pipes from the two Olive Trees ; she recollected, also, that St. John himself has given a key to the meaning of the symbolical Candle- sticks ; and she knew full well that, in the words of Isaiah, she, herself, being the Church of God, onust look for light to the Law and to the Testimony ; and that, if she speak not accordi7ig to this ivord, it is hecause there is no light in her^; she knew, also, in the language of St. Paul, that she hath received this ministry not to preach herself hut Christ Jesus the ^ Rev. xix. 10. - See the notes in the Haumony, chap. xi. 8, 9. •'' Isaiah viii. 20. II.] to the Cano7i of Holy Scripture. 55 Lord, and that God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Las shined into her heart, to (jive the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, so that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, Who is the linage of God, should shine throughout the world ^. The Church, we say, considering these things, as she looked on the two Golden Candlesticks fed by the two Olive Trees, saw herself illumined by the Two Testaments ^ The Scriptures of the Two Testa- ments are her Olive Trees, planted in the House of the Lord ^ ever flourishing with fresh leaves for the healing of the nations ^, ever bearing the emblems of peace, ever pouring forth the oil of gladness, and ministering the food of light. And in the form and office of the Two Candlesticks she saw her own character and ministry, under the Two dispensations, — the Law and the Gospel, — as being therein the divinely-constituted Guardian, Keeper, and Liter- preter of the Word of God. Like them, the Church is to be of pure gold ; like them, she is to be firmly set on a solid basis in the presence of God ; like them, she is to be visible to all ; like them, to extend her branches far and wide, and to diffuse her light, and irradiate the world. Her 1 -2 Cor. iv. 1—6. - Similarly Vitringa Anacr. p. 468. Oleae figurant Spiritiim Sanc- tum (ut liquet ex v. 6) dona et gratiam suam comniunicanteni per medium Vcrbi Dei divisi in Libros Veteris ct Novi Testamcnti. ^ Psalm Hi. 9. * Rev. xxii. 2. 5G Oil the relation of the Apocalypse [lect. tbouglits must all be upward. Her light must aspire to heaven. Her feet are on the rock ; her heart is among the stars. Let us also observe that, like the seven-branched Golden Candlestick, the Church has no light hi her- self. She can do nothing without the Olive Trees. If the golden channels \ which connect her bowls wutli their branches, are choked, then she will burn dimly ; if they are broken, she is eclipsed, and the Tabernacle of the World is dark. We now perceive that the transition in the Apo- calypse, from the measuring Reed to the Two Wit- nesses and Two Olive Trees, far from being abrupt, is very natural and easy. The Two Testaments contain all things necessary for salvation ; they constitute the Rule or Canon of Scripture; they are the measuring Reed of the Church ". That measuring Reed is put by the Angel of the Covenant, Christ Himself, into the hand of St. John; for St. John, the last-surviving Apostle, was specially appointed by Christ to authenticate and consummate the Canon of Holy Scripture, and thus to fix the faith of the Church. The reed mea- ' This word Channel — Canalis — is to be added to the derivatives (mentioned above, p. 49,) of the Hebrew Kaneh, a reed, which word is used to decribe the branches or channels of the Holy Candlestick, Exod. XXV. 31 — 36. xxxvii. 22, which is a type of the Church illumined by the Word of God. - The connexion of "the Seven Thunders' (Rev. x. 3. 5) with all these Scriptural Symbols will be considered in a subsequent Lecture, Lect. VL II.] to the Canon of Holy Scri2)ture. 57 swes the Sanctuary, and so exhibits to us tlie suffi- ciency of Holy Scripture. 11. Yet, further, in the connexion of the Olive Trees and the Golden Candlesticks we be- hold a true picture of the relation of the Church to Holy Scripture, and of Holy Scripture to the Church. This, as you well know, is, and long has been, a much-controverted matter; and perhaps no better, no more vivid, representation can be given of it, than in the Candlesticks fed by the Olive Trees '. The Church of Rome, you are aM^are, would per- suade us that we owe the Scriptures to herself, and that if we would believe in their Inspiration, we must acknowledge her authority. She even affirms that Scripture de^'ives its validity from her sanction. It is Scripture, she says, because she has canonized it. So that, according to her theory, the Word of God owes its existence, as such, to the Church of Rome -. What is this, but to invert the right order of ^ Primasius, x. p. 314. Ecclesia duorum Testamentorum lumine radiata formatur. And Bede, p. 385. — Anonym, ap. S. Aug. 0pp. iii, p. 3130. Duo Candelabra Ecclesia est ; pro Numero Testamentorum dixit duo : ita at ex Septem Candelabris una Ecclesia est. Nam Zacharias (Zech. iv. 2, 3) unum Candelabrum vidit Septiforme ; et has duas olivas, id est, Testaraenta, infundere oleum Candelabro, id est, Ecclesiae. See also Bishop Andre wes, (c. Bellarmin. cap. 11,) who concurs in the opinion that the two Witnesses signify the two Testaments. See Appendix I. p. 176 — 187. ^ See the quotations from Roman Divines in " Lectures on In- spiration," p. 13, note. 58 Oil the relation of the A'pocalypse [lect. tilings ? It is not to draw light into the Candlestick of the Church from the divine Olives, but it is to attempt to light up the living Olive Trees of Scrip- ture from the dead Candlestick. Again: the Church of Rome will not allow the divine oil of Scripture to flow freshly, freely, and fully ; no, she clogs up the pipes, and thickens the liquid stream of pure doctrine with the coarse and clotted admixture of corrupt traditions. What is this, but to mar the Candlesticks, to make the wicks fungous, and the light dim, and the air noisome, and the sky gloomy, and the nations blind ; and to incur the Wrath of Him Who walketh in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks ', and to tempt Him to remove her from her 'place ? My beloved brethren, let us pray for her, and let us watch for ourselves. Almighty God, let us be sure, does enlighten His Church by the holy oil of His Spirit poured from the Olive Trees of the Two Testaments. He is the only source of light : He is the Father of Liijhts"-. In His light we see light. Let us not imagine, then, that we can illuminate ourselves; much less that we can illuminate His Word ! The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God\ He has also set the Golden Candlestick of His Church Catholic in the World, to be the recipient of His light, to keep it ever burning, and to convey and ' Rev. i. 13. ii. I. - James i. 17. Psalm xxxvi. 9. ■' 1 Cor. ii. II. II.] to the Canon of Holy Scripture. 59 diffuse it far and wide. We receive Scripture from Him through the Church ; and what has not passed through its sacred Pipes, even from the beginning, — what has not come to us by the golden tubes of the faithful testimony of the Church, — we do not acknowledge as Scripture '. But the Church has no light of her own. If God should withdraw the supply, or if she obstructs the channel, her light wanes and dies. But He is graciously pleased to pour forth a perennial stream of the oil of spiritual truth and grace in His Written Word ; and the Son of JNIan, the Great High Priest, is ever walk- ing in the midst of His Church, warning her to keep her lights burning ; and we are sure that the light so given, though it may be dimmed, will never die. 12. Lastly, the irreverent and contemptuous treat- ment which the Word of God will receive, and which, alas ! it is now receiving, from the World, is pourtrayed by St. John in this divine prophecy ; and the final triumph of that Word is revealed also. Let us, therefore, be on our guard ; let us be made wise thereby. The Two Witnesses prophesy in sackcloth. The Two Testaments- are assailed by Satan, and im- ' Thirty-nine Articles, Art. VI, " In the name of the Holij Scrip- ture we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church" " Anonym, ap. S. Aug. iii. 3129. Dabo Teslibus meis, id est, Duobtis Testamentis ; et prophetabunt diebus mcclx. numerum novissimse per- secutionis et futiirse pacis ct totius temporis a Domini passione. Here, 60 071 the relation of the ApocalyjJse [lect. pugned by men, as the One Testament was by the type of Antichrist, Antiochus Epiphanes, and as Both were by Diocletian. Their warnings may be despised ; their commands may be broken ; they may seem as dead ; their carcases may be trodden under foot (as the Apocalypse prophesies) in the streets of the (jreat Citt/, the figure of a rebel Church. They that dwell on the earth may rejoice over them, because the Two Witnesses tormented them. The Kingdoms of this World may imagine that the Word of God slumbers; that all its precepts are obsolete; its lightnings extinct, and all its thunders spent. Nations may enact Codes, and frame Constitutions, which treat that Word as dead. Men may busy themselves in endeavouring to prove that the Two Witnesses are not inspired ; they may proudly dream that they have reduced them to silence by scoffing sneers and sceptical so- phistry. Churches may withhold the Word of God, and prohibit its circulation, and stifle or adulterate its testimony by human traditions and legendary fables. But the Scripture cannot he broken ; the Two Witnesses are immortal. They may appear to be dead, but, — as St. John declares in the Apocalypse ', — they still live and it may be observed, is a refutation of their assertion who affirm that the ancient Church always understood the 12G0 days litcralhj, \. c. 3^ years, and that this would be the exact duration of the last persecution. ' Kov. xi. 10— 1 -J. II.] to the Canon of Holy Scripture. 61 breathe ; they will rise again ; the Spirit of God will animate them ; they will stand again on their feet, and they who see them will fear \ They will be raised in triumph to heaven, like Elias, on a chariot of tire. All flesh is grass : the grass withereth, the flower fadeth ; but the Word of our God shall stand for ever-. Heaven and Earth shall 'pass away, hut Christ's Word shall not pass away ^. •Rev. xi, 11. 2isa. xl. 0— 8. 1 Pot. i. 24. ^ Luke xxi. 33. LECTURE III. Rev, i. 7. Behold, He cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall see Him, and they also ivhich j^ierced Him. The present season \ in which we commemorate the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of our Blessed Lord and Saviour, breathes, as it were, a solemn spirit into the thoughts, and gives a holy direction to the pur- suits of all who live under the sacred influence which is exercised by Almighty God Himself upon the soul through the ordinances of the Church. And no faithful member of her Communion can, it may be supposed, be ignorant of the inestimable benefits — moral, intellectual, and spiritual — which he may receive by yielding his heart, as it were, like a willing instrument, and even, if we may so speak, like the harp and lute of the Divine Psalmist, to be played upon by a spirit from Heaven, and to ' Preached at St. Mary's Church, Cambridge, on Easter Sunday, 1848. The Coming of Christ. 63 be attuned to holy melodies in the regular ministries of religion. The subject in which we are now engaged lends itself readily and cheerfully to this spiritual guidance ; and we proceed, therefore, without further prelude, to invite you to some meditations on the Apocalypse, which are in accordance with this solemn anniver- sary. 1. St. John introduces his Revelation with these solemn words ', / was in the isle that is called Pat- mos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day I ' Rev. i. 9, 10. - Some learned men in the present age have imagined that the Lord's Day here, is the Day of our Lord's coming to judge. But the day of Judgment is not rjfiepa KvpiaKrj, but rjpepa Kvpiov. KvpiuKji fjpepa is rightly rendered die Dominica, the Lord's Day, as KvpiaKou bfnvvov, 1 Cor. xi. 20, is the Lord's Supper. There is ample evidence to show, that i\ie first day of the week (pla a-a^l3dTav) was called the Lord's Day (KvpiaKT]) in the second century. St. Ignatius (ad Magnes. c. ix.) contrasts the Jewish Sabbath with the Christian Lord's Day : St. Irengeus appears to have used the word in a fragment ap. Qusest. ad Orthod. cxv. (ap. Justin. Martyr. Opera, p. 490, ed. Bened.) Melito, Bishop of Sardis in the second century, wrote a book " on the Lord's Day," TTepl KvpiaKrjs, (Euseb. iv. 26,) which shows that this was then the recognized and general name of the day. Hieron. De V. 111. xxiv. Cf. Routh's Reliquiae, i. p. 107. 114. 129. 1G8. 176. 419. The word is used in a letter of Dionysius of Corinth, (ap. Euseb. iv. 23,) and by Clem. Alex. (Strom, v. p. 712. ed. Potter.) So it was rightly under- stood by Victorinus and the Author of the Synopsis Sacrse Scripturae, ascribed to Athanasius, tom. iii. p. 200. The article rfi is omitted in some MSS. In the words of Bishop Pearson on the Creed, Art. V. " From the resurrection of our Saviour and the constant practice of the Apostles, the first day of the week came to have the name oi the Lord's 64 The Comimj of Christ. [lect. The Wcekli/ Festival on which the Church cele- brates the Resurrection of her Lord was that day on which it pleased our glorified Redeemer to give His Revelation ' to His Servant John, and to announce to him what the Spirit saith unto the Churches -, and ivhat things must he hereafter ^ And it has been thought by some that the Lord's Day, on which these Visions were revealed, was not only the Weekly but the Yearly Festival of the Resurrection ; that it was Day, and is so culled by St. John, who says of himself in the Revela- tion, (Rev. i. 10,) / mas in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. This I take to be without question that statics dies which is mentioned by Pliny, in his Epistle (lib. x. Ep. 97) to Trajan (a.d. 104). Affirmabant banc fuisse summam vel culpse vel erroris Christianorum, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire, carmenque Christo quasi Deo canere." We find dies Dominicus, in TertuUian de Idol. c. 14, a.d. 200, which is a translation of rf^epa KvpiaKr). I conceive that the words of Nicephorus (vii. 47) concerning Con- stantine, tjv 'E^paioi Trpmrrjv eixop r^pepav, "EXXtjz/cs 5' rfKiw avlBevro, KvpiaK^v KaT(ov6p.aae, do not mean that he gave the name KvpiaK^ to the first day of the week, (which is untrue : see Dion. Alex. ap. Euseb. iv. 23 ; Routh, Rcl. i. 3G8,) but that he publicly established that name. They who otherwise interpret it, neglect the force of the prei)Osition Kara. It is well known that this day is now called KvpiaKi) in the Levant ; and it has been so called there from the days of St. John. It may be observed, that in addition to the general fitness of holy Visions to a holy day, there is a special aptitude in the Visions of the Apocalypse to th^^^rst day of the week. For all these Visions — the Seals, the Trumpets, the Vials — arc grouped in sevens, and they natu- rally begin on the first day of Seven, the birthday of the Church, whose History they unfold, and each Vision terminates in its own Seventh — the image of her future Rest. ' Rev. i. 1. " Rev. ii. 11. •■« Rev. i. 19. III.] The Coming of Christ. 65 that festival on which we are now met together, — Easter Day '. With these reflections, let us proceed to observe, that in the Apostle and Evangelist St. John, to whom we ascribe the Apocalypse, we possess the best com- panion, and the most faithful guide through the scenes of the eventful history which now occupies our thoughts. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved ; he leaned on the bosom of our Lord at supper''; he was with Him in Gethsemane ; he followed Him to the High Priest's Hall ; and he alone of the Apo- stles stood at the Cross of Calvary, and heard the last words of the Son of God. To him our Lord be- queathed His sorrowing mother, and that disciple took her to his own home^; and, doubtless, St. John heard from the lips of the blessed Mary a recital of those things which she had kept and pondered in her heart^. He was the first of the Apostles at the tomb of his risen Lord : he was with Him in Gali- lee, after the Resurrection ; and on the Mount of Olives he witnessed Christ's Ascension upon the clouds of Heaven : This is the disciple who testifieth of these things ; and loe know that his testimony is true \ 2. In the words of the Apocalypse (chosen for our text) we find a reference to a particular circumstance in the crucifixion of our Lord, — Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they ^ See Hammond in loc. ° John xxi. 20. ^ John xix. 27. ■' Luke ii. 19. * John xxi. 24. F 66 The Coming of Christ. [lect. also which inevced Him. Of the four Evangelists, St. John is the only one who records this circum- stance of the piercinc) of our Lord's side ; and on him, as well it might, it made a deep impression : When the soldiet's came to Jesus, says he, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water. A nd, adds the Evangelist, he that saw it (speaking of himself) bare record, and his record is true : and he knowetli that he saitli true, that ye might believe '. For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken. And again another Scripture saith. They shall look on Him Whom they pierced. The reference in the Apocalypse to this circum- stance, the piercing of our Lord's side, may be re- garded as confirming the identification of its author with St. John ; and this corroboration will appear more strong, when we remember, that the Evangelist in his citation in his Gospel from the Prophet Zecha- riah, They shall look on Him Whom they pierced, deserts the Greek Septuagint Version', and resorts to the Original Hebrew, which is here different from it ; and that precisely the same thing is done in this same citation by the Author of the Apocalypse, Every eye shall see Him, and they also ivhich pierced ' John xix. 3-2—37. ^ Compare Bp. Pearson on the Creed, Art. IV. p. 201, note, ed. 1715. III.] The Comimj of Christ. 67 Him : and that, both in the Gospel and the Apoca- lypse, the Hebrew is rendered by the same word, and that an uncommon one \ in Greek. This circumstance in the Crucifixion is not merely to be regarded as the accomplishment of a very re- markable prophecy concerning the Messiah ; and as proving two most important facts, — namely, the reality of the human nature of our suffering Re- deemer, and the certainty of His death upon the Cross. In both these respects, doubtless, it is very important. Nor is it only, also, a theme for affec- tionate sorrow, and pious meditation, as fulfilling the prophetic announcement made to Mary, the Virgin Mother, by the aged Simeon, at the presentation of her child Jesus in the Temple, BeJiold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall he spoken against ; {yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed ^. Assuredly the sign was spoken against at Calvary ; and assuredly the lance, which pierced the side of the Divine Son, went to the inmost soul of the mother. But there was mercy — heavenly mercy for her, flowing from that very cause which produced her pain; and through the love of our dying Lord, the same Evan- gelist who then stood by her side at the foot of the cross, and beheld the wound inflicted, and the gush- ing forth of the blood and of the water, has declared e^fKevTTjcrau. ^ Luke ii. 35. cp. John xix. 2.5. F 2 G8 The Cominc} of Christ. [lect. its sacred meaning, and has shown that there was heavenly life in those divine streams, which proved the/<2c^ oi death. If we refer to the first Epistle of St. John, we read — Who is he that overcomcth the ivorld, hut he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is He that CAM'S. 1)7/ Water and Blood ; not by Water only, but by Water and Blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. There are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood : and these three agree in one '. St. John, who saw the fact, interprets the mystery — This is He Who came by water aiid by blood, Jesus Christ. " He who came'' is another term for the INIessiah. Art thou He that should come"^, or do we look for another ' ? And, in St. John's Gospel, our Lord says, All that ever came before Me, that is, all who laid claim to the title of JNIessiah before Me, were thieves and robbers ^. Therefore the words of St. John, This is He Who came by water and by blood — Jesus Christ, signify. This is He Who claimed the title, and Who exercised the office, of the JNIessiah, by Water and by Blood. 3. How, it may be asked, did Our Lord so come? He came, if we may so speak, even before His Coming ; He came before His Incarnation ; He came in Pro- phets ; He came in Patriarchs. Before Abraham was, ' I John V. o — S. - (p^ufxfvoi, Tm; Comek. ^ Matt. xi. :^ Jolm vi. U. ■* Jului x. .m. III.] The Comiiu) of Christ. 69 I am'. He ca7ne in all the purifications of the old Law, that were made by water, (and many and vari- ous they were,) and also by blood, for it is written, The blood is the life ^ and again, Without shedding of blood there is no Q^emission^. The first Testament, as the Apostle to the Hebrews shows, was dedicated with blood and water '^. All the legal purifications and oblations derived all the efficacy they possessed, from Christ, and from His death. It was the Water and the Blood, shed from our Blessed Lord's side upon the cross, which imparted all the virtue to all the Water and the Blood poured out in the sacrificial rites of the Levitical Law in the Temple at Jerusalem, and in the Tabernacle of the Wil- derness. Yes ; and, we may add, to the Patriarchal sacrifices at Bethel, and on the plains of Mamre, and on the hill of Moriah, and on Mount Ararat ; and to the sacrifice of Abel on the borders of Paradise. So this is He that came by water and by blood, even Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain from the founda- tion of the world \ St. John also says — It is the Spirit that beareth witness ; because the Spirit is truth. How was this ? The Spirit of faith infused into the hearts of Patriarchs and Prophets, and of all true believers under the Levitical and Patriarchal dispensations, enlightened their eyes with heavenly radiance, and ' John viii. 58. - Gon. ix. 4. •'* Heb". ix. 22, -* Hob. ix. 17. 19. 5 Rev. xiii. 8. 70 The Comhuj of Christ. [lect. enabled them to see the illustrious glories of the Gospel in the dim shadows of their own ordinances. By this, as the Apostle speaks, they saw the promises afar off, and embraced them K They rejoiced to see the day of Christ ; they saw it, and were qlad^. They beheld the day in which, as the Prophet Zechariah says, a fountain would he opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin arid for uncleanness^, a fountain opened in the bleeding side of the Son of David, in the City of David. They foresaw the time when God would sprinkle clean water upon them, and they should he clean : and from all their filthiness He would cleanse them, and give them a new heart ; and put a new spirit within them *. This then is He who came hy water and blood, Jesus Christ. That is, this is the One, Only, Universal, Messiah; He who came not only hy Apostles and Evangelists, but by Prophets and Patriarchs; He who 710W comes, and ivill come to all ages forward to the end of time ; and who also came to all the chil- dren of God, in all ages, backward, from Calvary even to Paradise. Such are the clouds on which the Divine Comer, Jesus Christ — Who will come hereafter in the clouds with great glory — even now comes ^ ; the clouds 1 Heb. xi. 9, 10. 13—26. " John viii. 56. » Zech. xiii. 1. ^ Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26. * As St. Augustin says, Epist. cxcix. 45, Venit nunc in tola hac hora novissimd Christus in Suis membris tanquam in nubibus vel in tola ipsa Ecclesia quae est Corpus Ejus, tanquam in 7iubc magna fructificante in universo mundo, ex quo coejjit praedicare et dicere, Agile pa-nitcnliam. III.] Tlic Coming of Christ. 71 in the heaven of His Church : from which He pours ' down the spirit of grace and supplications upon His people ; and makes them turn their eyes and hearts, in penitential love, to Him ; and by which He sends a gracious rain upon His inheritance, and refreshes it when it is weary I 4. Let us consider now, specially, the prospective meaning of these words. How do they concern our- selves f What did St. John intend to impress upon our minds when he wrote. One of the soldiers pierced His side, and forthwith there came out blood and water f and when he added the solemn declaration, and he that saw it bare record, and his record is true : and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe ? In reply, let us observe, that the Christian Church owes her life to Christ's death. Christ loveth the Church and gave Himself for it, says St. Paul, that He might sanctify it with the washing of water by the word^. According to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost *. He hath purchased the Church with His own blood^. And again : Ye were redeemed, not with cor- appropinqtcavit enim regnum ccelornm. — Matt. iv. 17. So also Aquinas, following Haymo, in Ecce venii cum Nubibus ; i. e. Sanctis, qui pluunt per prtedicationem, coruscant per miraculorum operationem, elevati fiunt per rnundanorum abdicationem ; volant per altam contempla- tionem. — Isa. Ix. 8. Qui sunt isti qui ut nubes volant. ' Zech. xii. 10. 2 Pgalm Ixviii. 9. ■' Eph. V. 26. ' Titus iii. 5. ' Acts XX. 28. 72 The Comiiu) of Christ. [lect. ruptible things, as silver and gold, buticith the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot '. He hath loved us, and washed us from our sins with His own blood ^ As the mother of all living. Eve ^ — the figure of the Church, — was formed from the type of Christ, Adam, upon whom, as we read, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall, and he slept*; so the Church, the Spiritual mother of all living, owes her being to the Second man, Jesus Christ, the Lord from heaven % slumbering in the sleep of death upon the Cross ^ Again : naturally, as ?nen, as St. Paul asserts, all of all nations of the earth are made of one blood ', that of our first parent, Adam ; so spiritually, as Christian men, we all derive our life from the one blood of the second Adam, Jesus Christ. And how is this life communicated ? Eve w^as formed from the side of Adam, when he slept, and thence mankind derives its being. So, concerning the second Adam, we read, 07ie of the soldiers, with a spear, pierced His side, and forthivith came there out blood and water ; and This is He that came by ivater ' 1 Pet. i. 19. Heb. x. 29. - Rev. i. 5. ^ q^^ jij. 20. ^ Gen. ii. 21. * 1 Cor. xv. 47. ' Christ's death may well be called a slumber, for He was soon to be awakened from it, He was to rise again. — Hooker, V. Ivi. 7. " The Church is in Christ, as Eve was in Adam ; yea, by grace we are every one of us in Christ, and in His Church, as by nature we are in our first parents. God made Eve of the rib of Adam ; and His Church He framcth out of the very flesh, the very wounded and bleeding side, of the Son of Man." ' Acts xvii. 25. III.] The Comimj of Christ 73 and blood, Jesus Christ ; and It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. The life of the Church is due to the death of Christ ; and it is communicated by means of those quickening, re- freshing, and strengthening Sacraments, which Christ has appointed for the conveyance of the virtue of His death, and which were significantly represented by the stream of blood and water which flowed from His precious side, when He offered Himself a Lamb without blemish or spot \ a pure, perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice upon the altar of the Cross. And why, it may now be asked, do we affirm that it is so communicated ? Because Christ Himself has been pleased to assure us of the fact ; and it is not unworthy of observa- tion, that He has assured us of it (as the Church her- self has ever believed) by the same Evangelist and Apostle who saw His side pierced, and forthwith there came out blood and water. It is in the Gospel of the beloved disciple, St. John, that Christ says, Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God ^. Again ; it is in the Gospel of St. John, that Christ declares, Verily, verily, I say unto you. Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of God, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My Flesh and drinheth My Blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the 1 1 Pet. i. 19. = John iii. 3. 5. 74 The Comimj of Christ. [lect. last day ; for My Flesh is meat indeed^ and My Blood is drink indeed '. Certain, then, it is, tliat we derive our natural life from Adam, sleeping in Paradise ; and no less certain is it, that our spiritual life is derived from Christ, slumbering on the Cross ; and it is also certain that, as our natural life is conveyed from Adam through Eve, formed from his side, so our spiritual life is conveyed to us through Christ's Church by means of the Sacraments which He Himself has been pleased to institute in His Church for that purpose, and which derive their efficacy from Christ's death, when He shed Blood and Water from His precious side on the Cross. 5. Behold, then, the glorious view thus opened to our eyes. Contemplate Jesus Christ dying on the Cross at Calvary. See Him there lifted up, like the brazen serpent lifted up by God's command on the pole in the wilderness ". See Him there displayed publicly, crucified in the sight of thousands at the great Paschal feast at Jerusalem ; stretching out His divine hands, as it were in love and mercy, to embrace the World. See His sacred side pierced, and streams of life thence flowing forth, streaming backward through all ages, even to the fall of man, hallowing all the sacrifices of Blood and Water in the Levitical and Patriarchal Churches, and flowing forward, in living rivers of Paradise, in the Baptismal Waters and ' John vi. 53—55. - Numb. xxi. 8. John iii. 14. III.] The Coming of Christ. 75 Blood of the Eucharist ; thus blessing and refreshing all of every age of the Church, and animating and uniting them all, as living branches, in one spiritual Vine ', and as fellow-members, communicating, and, as it were, knit and woven together by veins and arteries in one Body, the Body o/' Christ-. Thus, while we stand with the Evangelist St. John on Calvary, and look on Him Who7n our sins have pierced, we see in Christ crucified the One Fountain and Well-spring of all the grace that now flows, ever has flowed, or ever will flow, to men, whether in Legal Sacrifices or in Evangelical Sacraments; we behold the One Source of all spiritual life to all who by faith and obedience have been, or ever will be, justified and sanctified upon earth, and hereafter glorified in heaven. Thus, also, we learn to behold the present in the past, and to read our own history in that of the ancient People of God. When they marched from Egypt to Canaan, God smote the stony Rock in the desert, and the water gushed out, and the streams flowed in dry places^. In that smitten Rock we behold Christ pierced. They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them ; and that Rock was Chrisf^. In those streams issuing from the hard cliff in the sandy desert, and refreshing the people in their w^eary pilgrimage, and making herbs and flowers to grow and blossom on their banks, we see the sacramental » John XV. 1. -1 Cor. xii. 12, 13. 'Col. i. 24. ^ Psalm Ixxviii. 21, cv. 40. ' I Cor. x. 4. 76 The Coniimj of Christ. [lect. graces mIhcIi flow from the wounded side of the Rock of Ages ', our loving Saviour; and wliicli, wlien received with the affectionate yearnings of love and desire which animate the heart of the true Israelites, whose souls are aihirst for the living God, as the hart desircth the water-hrooks^, change our Carmels into Sharon s, and make the desert of our life to blossom as the rose. 6. No one will here imagine that in thus asserting the use and necessity of Sacraments, where they may be had, for spiritual health and everlasting salvs,tion, we are thereby asserting that Salvation is necessitated by Sacra^nents. No ; Sacraments are not physical causes, but moral instruments, of salvation ; and unless they are received with the dispositions which God requires as the conditions of their efficacy, they are unavailing, vain, and fruitless, yea, they will aggra- vate our guilt, and increase our condemnation. And, alas ! we all know that the grace of God is too often received iji vain. We know that, of those who dipped their vessels in the streams which gushed from the rock and flowed on the sand in the desert, and drank — they, themselves, and their cattle — from the fresh river, many rebelled against God, and their carcases fell in the wilderness ^. They were destroyed of the destroyer \ And they werefgures of tis \ But, did they who drank not, live 1 This is the question for us. All who receive ' l:>ai;ili xxvi. -J, w;«r^'i/i. - Psalm xlii. 1. •* Hcb. iii. 17. ■* 1 Cor. X. 10. ' Tvnoi i]fxiiv. 1 Cor. x. (>. 11. III.] The Coming of Christ. 77 Sacraments are not saved by Sacraments. But will they, who reject them, live? They who refuse the Table which God spreads for them in the wilderness \ and they who will not dip their vessel in the stream which flows in the dry places, how will they live ? The clouds and the water belong to God, and not to them. The rock is deaf, unless He speaks to it. They are wanderers in the desert. They may die, though they drink ; but if they refuse to drink, will they — can they — live? 7. Nor, again, let it be imagined, that, in thus affirming the necessity/ of Sacraments where they may be had, we are ascribing any inherent power or essential virtue to Sacraments. No: the necessity of Sacraments arises not from any thing existing absolutely in them, but from our obligation to obey Christ. We cannot be saved without obedience to our Saviour. And since He has been pleased to insti- tute Sacraments, and has commanded them to be received, therefore they are necessary. And, again, though we do not ascribe intrinsic efficacy to them, yet we do ascribe infinite power and divine virtue to Him Who instituted them. We affirm that His death is the source, the only source, of Spiritual life to us. And it has pleased Him that this virtue should be conveyed to us by the channels of Sacra- ments. And therefore all who confess that spiritual life is derived only from Christ's death, must affirm ' Psalm Ixxviii. 20. 78 The Comim) of Christ. [lect. Sacraments to be necessary. But we no more sup- pose that Sacraments are the origin of Spiritual life, than we imagine the serpent of brass to have been the cause of health to the wounded Israelite. No : like it, they are the divinely appointed means of health, and derive their efficacy from Christ's death. And what the Wise Man says of the brazen serpent, is true of Sacraments : He that turned himself towards it, was not saved hy the thing that he saw, but by Thee, Thou that art the Saviour of all '. 8. We now pass on to observe, that in the piercing of our Lord's side on the Cross we have not only a proof of His death, and a visible, significant token of the source of all spiritual life, and a lively repre- sentation of the sacramental means by which it is conveyed ; but we have also a permanent proof of His Resurrection ; and therefore a pledge of our own. And how does this appear? Let the same Evangelist reply. St. John informs us that one of the Eleven Apostles, Thomas, was not with them on the evening of the Resurrection when Jesus came a7id stood in the midst, and said. Peace be unto you. And when afterwards the other Disciples said unto Thomas, We have seen the Lord, he replied, that he would not be convinced of His Resurrection, unless certain evidence, specified by himself, was given him of the fact. He would * Wisdom xvi. 7. III.] The Coming of Christ 79 not be content to know that Our Lord had appeared in a human body : what he required was, to be con- vinced that Our Lord had appeared alive in the same human body as that in which He had suffered on the Cross. And how was this to be ascertained? By the woimds He had received upon the Cross. Eaicept (says the doubting Apostle) / shall see in His hands the print of the tiails, and put mi/ finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe \ As much as to say ; These are the criterions and cognizances by which His identity is to be established : let me see these tokens, and I will be convinced. And of these, the wound in the side was the most conclusive. For the two 7nale- factors crucified with Jesus had their hands nailed to the cross, as well as Jesus; but no one had been pierced but Jesus. Our Lord, Who was not present in person when Thomas spake, no sooner appeared to the Eleven on the following Lord's Day, than He replied to the words, and complied with the wishes, of the wavering Apostle. Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side : and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and My God \ Thus we perceive that the wound, which Our Lord 1 John XX. 24—29. 2 JqI,,, ^x. 26—28. 80 The Comhuj of Christ. [lect. received from the soldier's spear, lias served, under God's Providence, as the means of establishing the great fact of Our Lord's Resurrection, and of assuring us of our justification by His blood ; and we believe and affirm with the Apostle, that God raised up Jesus from the dead. Who was delivered for our sins, and was raised again for our Justification^. God, by raising Christ from the dead, has acknow- ledged that satisfaction has been made to His justice by Christ's death. By this His Almighty favour, declared in Christ's Resurrection, He has announced to the world that He has accepted the world's proxy. Therefore, in the Resurrection of Christ, not only was Christ's own natural Body revived, but also His spiritual Body, the Church, was raised to life. She arose from bondage to liberty, from death to life, from shame to glory. Hence in our Baptism, in which justification is exhibited to us, we not only spiritually undergo the death and burial of Christ, as Scripture teaches, but we also rise with Christ. Know ye not, says St. Paul, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death ? Therefore we are buried with Him by bap- tism into death : that like as Christ was raised fro7?i the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life -. We are buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God ^. ' Rom. iv. 24. - Rom. vi. ;J, 4. ^ Col. ii. 12. III.] The Coiniiu) of Christ. 81 Hence, too, we arc assured of onr own future Re- surrectioti. As Christ was raised with His body, so shall we, also, rise again with our bodies. For Christ, says the Apostle, is risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive '. Again : St, Paul says of himself, / bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus ^ / always bear about in the body the Dyhig of the Lord Jesus'^. The faithful servant of Christ bears about with him the marks of his dying Saviour, by being crucified to the world. And, let us consider, also, the wonderful fact, that Christ Himself ever bears in His own body the marks of His death. In the same Body in which He was crucified, in the same body He rose from the Dead, in the same body He was seen by St. Thomas and all the Apostles, and by five hundred brethren at once^, in the same body He ascended into heaven. He now bears these marks, the marks of His own Death, even on His Royal Throne, in the sight of Angels and Archangels, at the Right Hand of God. He is not ashamed of the wounds He received for our sake. The proof of His Death is inscribed there ; it is engraven on His precious side ; and the proof of His Death is the proof of His Resurrection. It is no more a stigma of His shame; it is a badge of His power ; a record of His love ; a trophy of His Triumph over Death, Hell, and the Grave. To 1 1 Cor. XV. 20. 2-2. ' ^ Qal. vi. 17. » 2 Cor. iv. 10. " 1 Cor. xv. 6. G 82 The Coming of Christ. [lect. take up the Patriarch's strain : Not only are His Words written in a book — the hook of the everlast- ing Gospel ; but the great facts of His Death and Resurrection are graven with an iron pen in the Rock ; graven by the soldier's lance on the Eock of Ages, there to be read by the eyes of Men and Angels for evermore '. And what next does the Patriarch say ? The sequel is solemn and significant. / k7ww that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day tipon the earth : and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God : Whom my eyes shall behold, and not another ^ Yes ; every eye shall see Him ; they also ivhich pierced Him ^. 9. Let us endeavour to realize to ourselves this fact. Let us represent to ourselves the future cir- cumstances of the great Day, — the Easter Day of the World ^ Then we shall be raised from our graves, and behold Him Who died for us and rose again ; and, behold. He is alive for evermore^. He will then come upon the clouds of heaven. We shall look on Him Whom ice have pierced. We shall see the wounds He received for our sake. For He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed'^'. ' Job xix. 22—24. ^ j^ij ^ix. 25—27. ^ ^^^ ;_ 7, "* Among the Interpreters who suppose that tlie "Revelation" was made on Easter Day, (see above, p. 1.39,) may be mentioned Eichhorn ad loc. (i. 10.) See also Roscnniiillor, and Suicer v. KvpuiKt). ■' Rev. i. 18. '■ Isaiah liii. 5. III.] The Comimj of Christ. 83 10. If we could give a voice to that precious blood which flowed from them, and speaketh better things than that of AbeP; if those wounds could speak, what now would be their language to us ? You have felt indignant, it may be, with the Gen- tile soldier, who pierced your Lord's side. But con- sider yourselves, lie was the soldier of C?csar, you are the soldiers of Christ. He had not seen what you see ; he had not received what you enjoy. He knew not that his lance fulfilled a prophecy, and proved that He Whom he pierced is Christ. He had no St. John to teach him the meaning of those sacred streams which gushed from the wounded side of the Son of God. But you have been quickened by Christ's Death. Even now, in a certain sense, the text has been fulfilled to you. Christ, who will come hereafter on the clouds of heaven with His holy Angels, has come, and comes daily to you on the clouds of Apostles and Prophets ^ You have seen Him Whom you have pierced. You are compassed with a cloud of Witnesses ^ You have been baptized into Christ's Death : and your life has been hid with Christ in God\ You have been bathed in that water, and cleansed by that blood, which flowed from His pre- cious side. You hear the words of St. John. You 1 Heb. xii. 24. - Berengaudus in Rev. i. 7. Venit cum nubibus. Possunt per nubes Apostoli caeterique Praedicatores intelligi. See above, p. 7i'-l. 3 Heb. xii. 1. * Col. iii. 3. G 2 84 The Coming of Christ. [lect. are invited to drink of the cup of salvation ', and to be refreslied with manna from heaven. You have been instructed by the doubts of St. Thomas, and by the faith of St. John. You have seen the proof of Christ's resurrection; and, in that^ the earnest of your own. How, then, are you acting 1 Are you risen with Christ ■? Are you walking in newness of life- f Do you mortifj your members on the earth '\ and set your affections on things above f Do you remember the terms of the covenant to which you were pledged at your baptism ? or have you forgotten what Christ lias suffered for you ; have you despised what He has purchased for you ? Are you of those who, by an ungodly life crucify afresh the Son of God^ and put Him to open shame ; and who count the blood of the covenant, whereioitli they ivere sanctified, an unholy thing, and do despite to the spirit of grace ** f Then thou art the man. Not the Roman soldier M'ith his lance, but thou, the so-called Christian soldier with thy sins, art the fittest object of thine own reprobation. Thou hast pierced, and art pierc- ing, Christ. Therefore condemn thyself; mourn over thyself: look with a contrite heart, and streaming- eyes, on Him Whom thou hast pierced. Tliink what anguish thy sins have cost Him. Think on the heinousness of sin, which demanded such a sacrifice. Think, therefore, of the punishment due to it here- ' Psalm cxvi. I '3. - Rom. vi. 4. 3 Col. Hi. 5. ' H.-i.. X. t>9. III.] The Corning of Christ. 85 after. Let Him henceforth be thy Lord and thy God. Pray to Him for pardon. Pray to Him for Grace. Pray for a clean heart. Pray for love, like His. Bear the cross for Him, as He bore it for thee. Bear the marks of His death on thy heart, as He bears them in heaven. Suffer with Him, as He suffered for thee. Dwell in heart and soul with Him. Meditate on His invincible Might, and awful Majesty. See in His Wounds the proof of His Victory. They proclaim that He has vanquished Satan, and burst the bands of death, and broken in pieces the powers of darkness, and raised Himself; and that He will raise thee ; and that all who are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of 3Ia?i \ and shall come forth. And then, when all the dread scenes described in the Apocalypse shall be displayed before us ; when the smoke of the bottomless pit ^ shall ascend from beneath, and the gates of heaven be opened above ; when the sea shall give up the dead in it, and death and the grave shall deliver up the dead in them ^; when the dead, small and great, shall be raised, and stand before G'od, and the Throne be set, arid the Books opened, and every one be judged^; and when every eye shall see Him, they also which pierced Him ; then God grant that we may see Him with joy ; then, when Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, may we also appear with Him in Glory ^ ! 1 John V. 28. '^ Rev. ix. 1,2; xiv. 1 1 ; xix. 3. 3 Rev. XX. 13. * Rev. xx. 12. ^ Col. iiii. 4. LECTURE IV. Rev. i. 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ. It is my purpose on the present occasion to state what appears to be the true view of the plan of the Apocalypse; and to illustrate it by an Expository Comment, which will be continued in subsequent Discourses. What is the design of the Apocalypse "? This is a difficult question, and one on which very different opinions have been expressed by Interpreters of great learning and ability ; and it is, therefore, far from my intention to pronounce a confident judgment upon it. The result of my inquiries is offered, with due deference, for your consideration, and with a deep sense of the need of caution and sobriety, and of prayer for spiri- tual illumination, in the treatment of this solemn subject. Let me premise a few words concerning the sub- sidiary means for the Exposition of tlic Apocalypse. Exposition of the Apocafypse. 87 1. The first place must be here assigned to the Apocalypse itself. It is its own best Interpreter. Every sentence ' of this Book is pregnant with mean- ing. The more it is studied, the more will this be found to be the case. Not a word ought to pass unnoticed. There are indeed many passages in it which at first appear obscure ; but there is scarcely one which, after careful examination, will not be seen to be explained by other portions or phrases in this same Book. Here let me earnestly exhort you, my younger hearers, not to content yourselves with the English Version of the Apocalypse, but to have constantly before your eyes the Original Greek, in some good critical Edition, where the Various Readings are carefully noted, — as, for instance, in that of Gries- bach ^ or of Scholz ^ It would be invidious to specify the numerous errors which have been com- mitted by modern Expositors, through neglect of this precaution. Any one who undertakes to ex- pound the Apocalypse from our English Version alone, will deceive himself, and mislead others. It is no disparagement to our Authorized Version ^ The learned Henry More says very truly, (Book v. 15,) " There never was any book penned with that artifice as this of the Apocalypse, as if every word were weighed in a balance before it luas set down" ^ 2 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1786. 3 2 vols. 4to. Lips. 1830-6. Since the above was written, an Edition of the Apocalypse, containing all the collations, of Scholz, and others not included in his work, has been published. 8vo. Lond. 1849, 88 Ecvposition of the Apocalypse. [lect. of the Apocalypse to say, that it admits of consider- able improvement '. This may be easily accounted for from the nature of the case. The Apocalypse, from its peculiar character, is more difficult to render accurately than any other Book of the New Testa- ment : and from the circumstance of its not being publicly read in the Church of England, our Trans- lators appear to have been less familiar with it than with the rest of the Sacred Volume. Besides this, fewer JManuscripts of it exist than of any other Book of the New Testament ; and very few of these Manuscripts- had then been collated', and hence the Text was not so well settled, when our Transla- tion was made. 2. Next in order — for interpreting the Apocalypse — must be placed the ancient Hebrew Prophets, especially as read in the Septuagint Version, which ' In the Harmony of the Apocalypse, with Notes to it, published in 1851, -Ito., the passages are specified which appear to require revision. - The Complutensian Editor had only one MS. of the Apocalypse ; Erasmus had only one, and that a mutilated one ; R. Stephens had only two, and they were of a very inferior character, and were not accurately collated: so that tlie "Lectio 7-ecepta, quie ab Erasmianis editionibus profluxit, admodum infirmo nitatur tibicine ;" and from this our Translation was made. See Wetstein, Proleg. ad Apocalypsim, and the Author's Preface to his Edition of the Apocalypse, Loud. 1849. 3 Hence, when Dr. Bentley published a specimen of his new edition of the Greek Testament, (which, it is deeply to be regretted, was never completed,) he selected for this jjurpose the last chapter of the Apocalypse. See his " Proposals," in Henlley's Works, ed. Dycc, iii. 475— 49(i. Bp. Monk's Life of Bentley, ii. 122. IV,] Ed'position of the Apocalypse. 89 was used by all the Cluirches to which St. John wrote. You, my younger hearers, will be surprised and charmed with the light which they reflect on the Apocalypse '. Let them be your Commentators. You will perceive how St. John adopts their glow- ing imagery: how he takes up the prophecies of David, Joel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah, and of other Hebrew Seers, as if they were earlier Chapters of his own Apocalypse: how he adds his prophecy as a sequel and continuation to theirs ; or rather, to speak more correctly, how the same Divine Spirit, Who spake by the Prophets in the Old Testament, completes His own work by the Book of Revelation in the New. Let me exhort you thus to obey St. Paul's pre- cept. Compare spiritual things with spiritual'. Let this be your Rule of Interpretation. Compare the Apocalypse with itself, and with the Hebrew Pro- phets ; and you will be taught by God to understand His own language. In His light you will see light ^ 3. To speak now of human Interpreters. The Apocalypf-e has employed the pens of learned and able Expositors in every age of the Church. It has been illustrated by the pious labours of ancient Bishops, Martyrs, and Doctors^ — Irenjeus, Victo- ' See " Parallela Apocalyptica," p. 886, of Mr. Grinfield's Scholia Hellenistica ; Pars Altera. " 1 Cor. ii. 13. •'' Psalm xxxvi. 9. ' A brief notice of the Ancient Commentators on the Apocalypse 90 Ej^imsitimi of the Apocalypse. [lect. riiius, Jerome, Augustine, Primasius, Andreas, Are- thas, Hajmo : — it has been elucidated by the learning and acumen of Bede and Aquinas ; and by the erudi- tion and intelligence of later Commentators, who are too numerous to be specified. But I cannot forbear to notice the elaborate Comment of Campegius Vitringa, distinguished alike, for the most part, by solid learning and Christian moderation '. And in this our own University, we are forcibly reminded of the illustrious names of Mede, More, Lightfoot, and Newton, which will ever be honourably asso- ciated with the history of Apocalyptic interpretation. Many distinguished names of contemporaneous Ex- positors will occur to your own minds : and of their labours Posterity will judge. These various Interpreters may be distributed into two classes : one consisting of those who have employed the figurative mode of Interpretation ; the other composed of those who have preferred the literal. The Ancient Expositors belong, for the most part, to the former class ; the JNIodern, to the latter. Each class has its peculiar uses, and may serve as supplementary and corrective to the other. I cannot disguise my opinion that in recent times the literal mode has been often carried too far, and has produced low and unworthy notions concerning will be found in Ap])endix A in the Edition mentioned above, p. 87. ' The title of Vitringa's work is " Anacrisis Apocalypscos." The edition to which 1 refer is the tl)ird, Lcucopetrsp, 1721. IV.] Ea^positioii of the Apocalypse. 91 this glorious Book. It seems to have been forgotten that the Apocalypse is a divine Po Chap. i. 13. * Rev. i. 14. Dan. vii. 9. * Rev. i. 16. Isa. xi. 4. xlix. 1. 2. Luke xiii. 3. Epli. vi. 17. Ps. cxlix. 6. ^ The following is a remarkable comment on this passage, dating from the end of the second century. TertuUian, contr. Marcion. iii. 14. Apostolus Joannes in Apocalypsi ensem describit ex ore Dei prodeuntem, bis-acutum, praeacutnm, quern intelligi oportet sermonem divinum, bis acutum Duobus Testamentis, Legis et Evangelii. — Berengaud. ad loc. Gladius duo acumina habere visus est, quia doctores duorum Testamentorum doctrinis eruditi, facile hostes devincunt ; et quod de ore Dovtini procedere visus est, significat quod Ipse dixit, (Matt. X. 20,) Non enim vos estis qui loqidmini, sed Spiritus Palris Vestri Qui loquitur in vobis. '' Chap. i. Ifi. 20. H 98 Exposition of the Apocali/pse. [lect. to the end of the world '. He has the keys of hell and of death ^ He commands St. John to write what he sees, and send it to the Seven Churches of Asia ^. Seven Epistles are dictated to these seven Churches ^ ; and each of these seven Epistles commences M^ith the words, / kiioiv thy works ; each contains a promise from Christ to him that overcometh ^• and each ends with the words, — He that hath an ear, let hivi hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches ^ Let us observe here, that there were many ' more than f-even Churches in Asia when St. John wrote ; but that he addresses only seven ^ These seven Churches are represented as seven Candlesticks. The candlestick in the Temple consisted of seven branches, and, seven being the emblem of complete- ness ^ represented the Universal Church. Similarly each of these seven Candlesticks represents a Church ; and, they not only have an historic reality, but taken together in their sevenfold unity, they typify the ' Rev. i, 13. 20. Matth. xxviii. 20. ^ Rg^, ;, jg, ^ Rev. i, 11. '• Rev. ii. iii. " Rev. ii. 7. 11. 17. 26. iii. 5. 12. 21. cp. xxi. 7, and 1 John v. 4, 3. See Harmony, ^ 3 — ^ 1 1 . « Rev. ii. 7. II. 17. 29. iii. 6. 13. 22. ' e. g. Hierapolis, Trallcs, Magnesia, Colossae. ■'* It has been observed that St. Paul, as well as St. John, writes to Seven Churches ; and in them to all Christians. See S. Cyprian, de exhort, martyr, c. 11, and note in next page. ^ Andreas ad loo. hia tov i^SofinSiKov ajud^ioii to t