f r M i saiiiiinuniintflununtffmniiniimin .^/ Q- 3 CD ^n 5 ^ IE Ol CD C m g 3 (^d> E CO >> -Q Division Sec/ion Number 1 -a O) •4-' c 0) ¥> a. \ APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES ; OR LECTURES ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION, DFXIVERED IN '^Tfic i^ational S>cottts6 (iTIjurcfj, CEOWlf COUET, EUSSELL STEEET^ CO VENT GARDEN, LONDON", IN CONTINUATION OF THE SERIES DELIVERED AT EXETER HALL. THE HEV. JOHN "gumming, D.D. •* And I saw a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." — Rev. xxi. 1. LONDON : VIETUE, HALL, A l^T D V I H T U E, 25, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND 26, JOHN STREET, NEW YORK. PREFACE. This volume is an attempt to expound Apocalyptic prophecies of scenes, events, and glory yet to come. The Author believes that these are about to emerge far sooner than many believe. He desires that more may be found with their lamps burning and their loins girt, and ready to meet the Lord. He longs to attract a greater number from the too ardent pursuit of this world, to great, permanent, and all but instant things, by unfolding their greater beauty, glory, and magnificence ; and thus displacing the earthly preference by the appliance of heavenly hopes. It is his sincere prayer that the reader may enjoy a portion at least of the pleasure felt by the writer in studying and expounding these parts of the Apocalypse. His only regret has been that time was so short, and that the Apocalypse has an end. He trusts he has shown no presumption in endeavouring to expound parts of this blessed Book, very little opened up, either in the pulpit or iv PEEFACE. by the press. He is sure that the precious truths he has unfolded will, by the blessing of the Spirit of God, produce good fruit; and that the hopes, drawn from the future and the heavenly, will refresh, as with the air and the aroma of Eden, those who are covered with the dust and weary of the din of this incessant and besetting world. We are plunging into a state, in which the lights of the Apocalypse will be pre-eminently useful. We shall soon see scenes, events, and changes which will make those stagger whose minds have not been previously directed to this Book. — " I come quickly. Even so, come, Lord Jesus/' CONTENTS. LECTURE I. PAQE Christ's MANY Crowns . . . . . . jRev. xix. 12 . . 1 LECTURE n. The Congregation OF THE Dead. . . Bev.xiv.lZ . . 17 LECTURE III The New Jerusalem , . Eev, xxi. 1 — 21 . 33 LECTURE IV. The Sorrowless State . . ... . Hev. xxi. 3, 4 . . 49 LECTURE V. All things New Hev. xxi. 5 , . 65 LECTURE VI. The Conqueror ........ iJev. xxi.7. . . 81 LECTURE VII. The Unbelieving JRev. xxi. 8. . . S7 LECTURE VIII. Endless Sufferers Rcv.xxl 8, . . 116 "Vl CONTENTS. LECTURE IX. PAGE The Bride i2ev. xxi. 9, xix. 6 128 LECTURE X. The Apocalyptic Temple Rev. xxi. 22 . . 144 LECTURE XI. Millennial Light Rev. xxi. 23 . . ICl LECTURE XII. Day WITHOUT Night Rev. xxi. 24 — 26 176 LECTURE XIIL The Franchise OF the New Jerusalem 72ev. xxi. 27 . . 197 LECTURE XIV. The River OF Life iJgv. xxii. 1 . . 210 LECTURE XV. The Tree of Life Rev. xxii. 2 . . 219 LECTURE XVI. No MORE Curse Rev. xxii. 3 . . 224 LECTURE XVII. Recognition in the Age to come . . Rev. xxii. 5 . . 240 LECTURE XVIIL Faithful and true Sayings .... Rev. xxii. 6 . . 260 LECTURE XIX. Romish Worship Rev. xxii. 8, 9 . 259 CONTENTS. TU LECTURE XX. VA6E Apocalyptic Sayings Rev, xxii. 10 . . 276 LECTURE XXI. The Eternity OF Spiritual Character Rev.xxn.W . .284 LECTURE XXII. The Judgment Rev. xxii. 12 . . 292 LECTURE XXIII. The Great White Throne . . . i d^*'' ''''";? '-^ , J- 310 / Rev. XX. 11 — 15 \ LECTURE XXIV. The Divinity of Christ Rev. xxii. 13 . . 319 LECTURE XXV. The Blessed Ones Rev. xxii. 14 . . 335 LECTURE XXVI. The Invitation Rev. xxii. 17 . . 35i LECTURE XXVII. The perfect Book Rev. xxii. 1« . . 368 LECTURE XXVIII. Ths Advent Rev. xxii. 20 . . 392 LECTURE XXIX. Order of Advent Rev. xxii. 20 . . 406 LECTURE XXX. The Fall of Jerusalem Rev. xxii. 20 . . 426 ■yUl CONTENTS. LECTURE XXXI. FAQS The Man of Sin Rev. xxii. 20 . . 449 LECTURE XXXIL Th.Vicako.Ch.isx \f^^i'i \ 467 LECTURE XXXIIL 488 1848 i OR, Prophecy fulfilled. . . ! -g^''* '^^^i^- 20. ' ( Rev. XVI. 17. LECTURE XXXIV. The Consumption OF Babylon . . . j ■^<^^'- xxu. 20. j j Rev. XVI. 17. LECTURE XXXV. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb Rev. xix. 1 . . 531 LECTURE XXXVI. The New Song Rev. xiv. 3 . . 547 LECTURE XXXVII. Conclusion Bev. xxiL 20 . 561 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES, LECTUBE I. Christ's many crowj^s. *' On his head were many croivnsy — Eev. xix. 12 The crown and cross of Christ are inseparable in our minds : the crown has a retrospective reference to tlie cross ; the one is the consummation and flower of the other. Christ had many conflicts, and in each he triimiphed, and therefore he is presented to oui' view on this occasion as the wearer of many crowns. Every struggle in wliich he took part was necessary : the cup was given him to drink, and he drank it. It is, therefore, with reference to his many past con- flicts, that we now notice the many crowns which he wears. He endured all that the law denounced on us as sinners. It said, '' The soul that sins shaU die," and He died, infinitely died. ]S"ot one element was poui-ed into that cup, (and all bitterness was concentrated there,) which He did not diink and exhaust ; there was not one struggle into which He did not enter, and triumi^h most gloriously for us in it ; nor was there one conflict which did not lead to a corresponding cro^vn. He fulfilled all the law demanded. It said, '^ Do and live." He did it in our stead, and lived to give us life. He magnified the law and made it honourable. Its greatest exactions received, in his obedience, a glorious response; and a crown on his brow is the evidence of . SECOND SERIES. B 2 ATOCALTPTIC SKETCHES. his victory, and that victory is our plea at tlio jiidgmont- seat. He fiilAllcd all prophecies, and promises, and types relating to the Messiah ; each prediction was suc- cessively personated in him ; each promise found its echo, and each t^'pe its counteipart in him. The accom- plishment of these liabilities, in his state of humiliation, ■was his victory ; and each obstruction he surmounted, each step he made good, each position he gained, termi- nated in a crown. His cross was the path to his crown, ■ — ^liis sufferings were the pioneers of his victories ; and his many crowns are therefore the expressive memorials of his many trials, and man}^ triumphs. He undertook to represent Deity to mankind, and to bring God within the horizon of mortality. He finished the portrait, he X3e]-fected the great enterprise. '' "We beheld his glory as the glory of the only-begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth." '' God was made manifest in the iiesh." " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." In other words, he accomplished this glorious apocali/pse. He personated in himself all the splendours and attributes of God. He let God shine and glow through humanity, in undimmed glory, — and manifested to mankind all that man or angel can reach or" know of Deity, — and having finished the sacred sculptiu'e, he received the corresponding croAvn. But besides these evidences of croivns, as far as these are symbols of AT.ctory, he wears many diadems, which are also the evidences of sovereignty. He is a king as well as a conqueror. The crown of creation is his. " By him all things were made, and without him was not an}'- thing made that was made." ''But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever : a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. And Tliou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the founda- tion of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of thine hands : they shall perish ; but thou remainest ; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment ; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed : but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." yieb. i. 8, 10—12.) There is not a pebble CnmST S ILiKY CEOWNS. 3 on tho shore, nor a planet in the sky, which he did cot create ; whatever dt iies inspection by its minnteness, or exceeds our comprehension by its magnitude ; whatever attracts by its beauty, or is fragrant through its per- fume ; whatever is prized for its value, or venerated for its antiquity ; all were made by Christ. He wears the crown and wields the sceptre of all. jS'ot an earthquake rocks the globe, nor a wave rolls on the bosom of the sea ; not a Hash leaps from the clouds, nor a bud peeps from the bough, which he does not unprison and charter for theu' respective missions. As all things were made by him, so all things reflect more or less his glory. So full and overflowing is the earth with the evidences of divinity, that the Pantheist says the word is God, thus praising imdesignedly, by his blasphemy, as much as the Christian by liis adoraation. Pantheism is false, but Pan-Christianism is true. Crea- tion is Chiist developed ; and yet its grandest scene is but a comma in the apocalypse of his glory. Every object speaks of Christ, and reflects his beauty, his ex- cellence, and love ; the withered leaf driven by the whirlwind sparkles with his glory, the dew-drop trem- bling on the rose-leaf, and the snowy summit of the Alps, reflect alike the splendour of his majesty. A chord of love runs through all the sounds of creation, but the ear of love alone can distinguish it. His glory shines from everj^ ray of light that reaches us from a thousand stars ; it sparkles from the moimtain tops that reflect the fii'st and retain the last rays of the rising and the setting sun ; it is spread over the expanse of the sea, and speaks in the murmur of its restless waves ; it girdles the earth Avith a zone of light, and flings over it an aureole of beaut5^ In the varied forms of anmial ti"lbcs ; in the relations of our world to other worlds, in the revolution of planets, in the springmg of flowers, in the fall of waters, and in the flight of birds ; in the sea, the rivers, and the air ; in heights, and depths, in wonders and mysteries, Chidst wears the croAATi, sways the sceptre, and exacts from all a royal tribute to his sovereignty and glory. We can behold, B 2 4 APOCALYPTIC SJCETCnES. but we cannot aiigment it ; avc cannot add one ray of light to the faintness of a distant star, nor give wings to an apterous insect, nor change a white hair into black. 'We can unfold, but not create ; we can adore, but not increase ; we can recognise the footprints of Deity, but not add unto them. All things Avere created by him, and for him. Heaven was created by and for him — his glorious humanity its central object, its Lamb upon the throne, its illuminating sun. '' "Where he is," is heaven : angels are the executors of his sovereignty. He is the head of angels, they receive their embassy from him, they worship him ; he sends them forth as ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation; all the worlds throughout the infinitude of space were made by him to be mirrors of his glory : they roll and beam in their orbits under the impulse of his touch ; they glow in the reflected lustre of his cross, and silently hymn redeeming love, while they gather round our earth, and gaze and wonder at the mysterious scenes which have occurred upon it. " The earth is his, and he made it." There is not a multiplicity of gods, as the heathen dreamed, but many crowns are on the head of the one Creator and Governor of all. Our life on earth is subject to the sovereignty of Christ. He fixed the hour and place of our birth, and he will determine the place and hour of our death. Every pulsation in the heart is the rebound of his touch ; \AX grow old under his sovereignty, unable to arrest the rapid influences of decay, to restore the youthful colour to grey hairs, or to bnish away the mists from the dim eyes of age. We feel we are carried along on an ebb- tide, the impulse and du'ection of Avhich are derived from on high ; and that when our places on earth are vacant, others will be summoned in the sovereignty of the King of kings, to fill them, and to follow out their responsibilities. Our souls too are equally subject to Him, on whose head arc many croAAiis." " All souls are mine." AVhatever of hope lights it up with the foresight of immortality; whatever of joy, repose, pro- gress, and perfection it attains ; whatever of sorrow it CHRIST S MANY CRO^WNS. 5 feels; whatever of regret, remorse, repentance, it expe- riences, are all under his sway, and within the range of his control. He only is able to redeem, regenerate, and save it: it has sunk so deep in ruin that divine sovereignty alone can raise it ; yet in its very aphelion it is not beneath the notice nor beyond the reach of Christ. Cliiist is the sovereign of the universe ; and atheism is a lie, a delusion, a folly. JN'one are so truly objects of pity as those morally and mentally diseased souls who are guilty of renouncing their belief in the existence of God. It is surely unutterable folly to sacrifice hope and joy to some cold metaphysical abstraction, and to reject all that sustains the heart and supports the head of weary humanity, at the bidding of a syllogism. Earth sleeps under a paternal eye, and is safe ^vithin a sovereign aim. Let mankind know it is the fool who says in his heart, '':N'o God." How glorious a spot is earth ! Over it are spread the shadows of the cross and crown of Jesus. The sun and stars shine to let us soe where Christ lay. This nook of the mighty universe is covered with a kingly lustre, but kingly eyes alone can see it. The image and the superscription of Christ are ti^aceable on all beauty and preciousness below. It is the gloiy of earth that he found a cradle and a grave in it ; it is the safety of earth that he reigns and rules it. How blessed will be that promised restoration of all things for which humanity groans, when the reclaimed earth shall emerge from the smoke of the last fii^e, fresh and fair as when first the morning stars sang together ; when the usurper shall be cast out, and all rebel elements shall be calmed and sub- dued, and sin shaU. be expunged, and death dead, and life alive forever, and the wilderness be made glad, and the desert blossom like the rose ; when every atom of it shall glow as with the gloiy of Deity; when the imdu- lating hills, and the rooted rocks, and the majestic mountains, — when the vii^gin beauty of the morn and the matron dignity of evening, and the mystic pomp of the starry night, and all stars above, and all flowers below, and all spiritual beauty, and all moral excellence, 6 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. shall combine to adorn that crown which is only one of many on the head of Him, who is King of kings and Lord of lords ! Christ also wears the croT\TL of Providence, as well as the crown of Creation. If c rules what He has created. '* My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." In fact, the Yciy existence of earth is the consequence of the rule of Christ. It exists because he wears the crown. "\Mien sin was inti^oduced, all its springs were smitten with terrible paralysis, and its just and deserved doom was instant and entire disorganisation and decay. Such would have been its lot if Christ had not stepped in between the polluted earth and its provoked doom, and arrested its ruin by interceding, ^' Spare it yet another week ! I will die a victim on one of its hills, and mag- nify a broken law, while I reclaim by forgiving a guilty people ; and I will take on my head the crown, and on my shoulder the government of earth thus respited." The existence of man is, therefore, evidence of what Christ has done. Earth, the home of generations of the living, and not the sepulchre of the dead, is proof of its rolling under restraining and forbearing grace. Our seed-time and harvest is no less so. The ground Avas cursed for man's sake, and the sky, if not brightened by the rays of that Sun, would have become as brass ; and the earth, if not restored by blood, would have been as iron to us. Those refresliing showers, those ripening suns, that prolific soil, are all the purchase of atoning blood, and the product of the Redeemer's crown. Apart from the mediation of Christ, God can no more give a crumb of bread to an orphan, than he can give a crown of glory to a fiend. AH national and social vicissitudes, and revolutions, and changes, are equally imder liis crown. 3Ien act on their own uninfluenced instincts, and subsequent ages discover they were giving aid and impidse to everlastmg inu-poses. Minds work out their own designs, and they are subsequently seen to have been working out the great thoughts and sovereign plans of God. He touches not the freedom of their choice, and yet they work hai'- CHEisT s ma:n-t ceowks. 7 moniously to one end. j^apolcon thought he was the Btatuary — he was only the chisel. In all his ways, and works, and sovereign an-ange- ments, we see difficnlties which to ns are inexplicable; but this arises from their excess of light, and their vast intricacy and complexity of movement. A child intro- dnced to see complicated machineiy, fails to comprehend it — ^he sees all antagonism and entanglement, and he wonders how it works at all. We are as unable to com- prehend the aiTangements of God. They exceed the grasp of our intellect; we can just see enough to lead us reverently to adore. Some of the difficulties that seem to a few inexplicable, or inconsistent, if so be Christ wears the crown and wields the sceptre of Pro\-idence, are such as these. Might not the Divine Governor have prevented the admission of evil, rather than pcnnit it, and then prescribe, as in the IN'ew Testament, for its removal? This difficulty presses on the denier of revela- tion as truly as on its advocate. Sin is in the world: this is matter of fact; it needs no revelation to prove this. Did God originally make the world a sinful and a sorrowful world? The sceptic will not say so, for this would make a holy being the author of sin, and a benevolent being the soui'ce of sorrow. Was it, then, originally created good, and beautiful, and happy? and did it plunge of itself into sin and miseiy ? and if so, has God left it to the issues of its fii'st aberration, and are we a forsaken family ? If this be so, the position of the Clmstian is siu-ely a more rational one than that of the sceptic, for we "hold and believe in the interposition of a Saviour. The sceptic leaves all to welter in their ruins. 'Nov will it fare better if we put the cro-\\Ti on the head of atheism; for if all be chance, why are disease and death so uniform in their action? If all be accident, surely there would occur amid the tumbling centuries some exceptions to the prevailing law, and years of immortahty would tiu^n up in the evolution of events. The existence of sin, aU admit; its entrance, and its nature, and its removal, Christianity alone consistently 8 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. explains. It tells iis man was created under law : this was the evidence of his creatureship. He broke that law, and now reaps its penalties by nature. Perhaps you say, Might not a benevolent being have passed no law at all in Eden? This is impossible. Law is only the expression of the duty, allegiance, and love, man owes to God ; and expressed or imexpressed, it exists. But might he not have made a law wdthout penalties ? A law without power in the ruler to enforce it, is not worthy of the name, as it possesses nothing of the majesty of law. But are there not laws, and penalties, I ask, following on the ^delation of them, in our o^n experience ? If I open an artery, will not death follow? If I leap from a precipice, shall I not be killed ? Does any one argue that it would have been better if all men had been allowed to violate these and analogous laws, and yet not suffer the penalties ? AYe can only reply, "We accept the wisdom of God as gi-eater than all the wisdom of men ; and we feel that no objection can be urged against Him who wears the crown in the Bible, which does not lie with tenfold force against every view of Providence that is not based in the Bible. "We see bad men frequently live long and grow rich. Does this seem to indicate that the Lord wears the cro^vn beneath wliich this takes place ? The same spectacle perplexed Da^dd many himdred years ago. He received the solution of it in the sanctuary, where we too must seek it. This world is not the scene of retiibution. A day is appointed in which God will judge the world in righteousness. This long-suffering patience which foUovrs the pro- vidences of God, is the irresistible proof that He has not pleasure in the deatli of the sinner, tliat He does not condemn till conversion is hopeless ; and thus the tree spared may be a more instructive lesson to the universe than the tree cut doMTi. But we sometimes see good men full of promise, and fitted for careers of increasing usefulness, cut off in their dawning or meridian course. Is this compatible with tlie fact of that good and benevolent government of CHEISt's MANT CEOWl^S. 9 things to wliich the text refers ? "What seems to us a reason for such men to be spared on earth, may be the sti^ongest for their being removed. Their very worth and force of character may be their fitness for a more elevated sphere. They did theii' work sooner than others, because more largely gifted than others. They were wanted in heaven. Our loss is their promotion. God ^yi]l thus teach us how he can carry out his great designs in the world, with or without instrumentality, as to him may seem expedient. Do we not find, remarks another, genius, and intel- lectual and moral excellence, frequently wasting in obscurity, and thereby prevented from iiTadiating and blessing mankind ? This does apparently happen, but it may be our ignorance that conceals from us the reasons of the fact ? The ends of infinite wisdom are not always visible to us. Great and precious fruits may grow for the use of future generations on trees all but hidden from us. The sower may be unknown, and the fields he waters and tends im^dsited by us ; but other days may reveal benefits and blessings for which whole nations may be thankful. Such occurrences in providence are also in harmony with cases in creation, as is beautifully indicated by the poet : " Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark iinfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air." It is also objected to the equity or benevolence of this administi-ation, that a veiy small part only of the human family knows the gospel at all. ^Vhj is the Gospel, if it be so great a blessing, not extended to the ends of the earth ? The fact is true, but the fault may be in us, not in God. Our apathy, oiu^ want of energy and sjtu- pathy as Chiistians, may be the reason why the Gospel is restricted to the few, and kept fi^om the many. There may be ulterior ends likewise in an arrangement which is not peculiar to divine truth. JSTumbers of the human family are still unacquainted with the best blessings of civilisation, and social refinement, and scientific disco- 10 APOCALYrXIC SKETCHES. veries. If the limited spread of Christianity he an objection to the divine government of Christ, the limited range of other blessings must be no less an objection to the government of a supreme governor at all. But the true reason lies not in the puiT)Oscs of God, but in the apathy of his people. Men are not universally Christians, just because Cliristians are not universally missionary in their spiiit, and character, and sacrifices. It is one remarkable proof of the sovereignty of Chiist in providence, and vrell worthy of notice here, that each new discovery in science serves to show more palpably the truth and divine origin of Christianity. Sciences which were once quoted against the claims of the Gospel, are now aj)pealed to as its handmaids. Astronomy was once pronounced to be the foe of the Bible. It is now felt to be one of its most impressive commentaries. The nebulous matter which, according to recent speculations, was the raw material of new worlds into which it shaped itself without the aid of a creator, has been discovered, by Lord Boss's telescope, to be clusters of worlds ; the evidences not only of a creative power, but of a control- ling hand. There is not a speck in the sky, nor a ray from a distant star, nor a field of vision laid bare by the telescope in the depths of immensitj', that does not cast new light on the sovereignty and crown of Him who is Lord of all ; and K'ewton, and Herschel, and theii' ablest disciples, are ready to attest it is so. Geology was once described as a mine of disproof of the historic accuracy of Genesis, and thereby of the divine origm of the Bible. Christ's control was over it, and his wisdom in the hearts of its students ; and as it grew in accui'acy, it grew in the force and fulness of its testimony to Christian truth. The eye of the sceptic may now read in rocks, and fossils, and ruptiu'cd strata, the .registry of the day on which God said " Let there be light, and there was light." The e\ddences, too, are there, of the windows of heaven having been opened, and the foimtains of the great deep having been broken up ; and thus tlie best and ablest of the students of geo- logj' worship at the footstool, and are ready to place or CHRIST S MATs'Y CROWNS. 11 recognise tlie crown on His head on whicli already are many crowns. Chronology has also had its turn as a forced opponent to the Gospel. Infidel minds, whose hatred to Chris- tianity outran their respect for themselves, professed to have discovered histories of men before Adam. In one of the P}Tamids of Egj^Dt there was found an astro- nomical chart, called the Zodiac of Dendara, which described the position of the heavenly bodies thousands of years before the creation. Folios of evidence were insufficient to persuade these sceptics that Christianity was true, but an accidental, dateless, anonjanous chart was held by them abundantly conclusive against the truth of Christianity. Great, however, was their dis- appointment, when it was ascertained, and could not be concealed, that this chart was a toy — a thing done for amusement, and incapable of any grave use, except in the hands of men who regarded anything as good which promised to aid them in their unholy enterprise. Physiology, too, has been arrayed against Him who wears many crowns. The difference of races, and the diversity of colours, were referred to as evidence that the Eui-opean and African were not sprung from the fii'st paii\ This has been long ago disposed of, and the matiu'est science has been demonstrated to be in harmony with the word of God.' These consecrations of all facts and phenomena to a holy purpose ; these successive seizures of so many weapons of aggression, and the trans- formation of them all into elements of defence, and means of new lustre to the claims of the Gospel — this worsting of scepticism on the fields it selects for its assaults, are all proofs of the providential government of Him who Avears on his head this, and many other croA^ms. All the past is luminous with Christ's crown, and the future shall be yet more so. A decree goes forth from Cicsar Augustus, that the whole land should be taxed. Each family goes to its own city, and Joseph and Mary to theirs, and a prophecy is thus fulfilled. " Thou, Eethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he 12 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES, came forth unto mo that is to be Ruler in Israel." Cffisar thought only of taxes : an unseen but dii'ecting hand made unconscious Ci^esar to fulfil prophecy. The cro^^Ti was not on Ciesar's head, but on Christ's. A liighly educated Pharisee goes on a joiuney to Damascus, full of hatred to the name and people of Christ : a voice from Him who wears the crown pierces his heart, and the bitter Pharisee is transformed into the faithful preacher of the cross. Domitian gratified his vengance by burnish- ing John to Patmos ; and Christ glorifies his own name by making that exile a chosen instrument of imperishable good to all generations. Caesar's prisoner is made Christ's prophet, and the ^Tath of man is diverted to add new force to the cause of God, and kings guided to promote the veiy ends for the extinction of which they combined their crowns. Luther is sent to a convent to do penance, and he finds the Bible. Piinting was invented to do man's work, and it fulfils the pur- poses of God. America was discovered to add to man's empire, and it becomes more and more a pro^dnce of Christ's. Steam was used on man's mission ; it is aheady out on God's eiTands. Thus infinite wisdom, love, and power, combined in Christ, wears this croAvn, and wields this sceptre, and makes all work together for good to the people of God, and toward the spread and permanency of the principles of the glorious Gospel. Christ also wears the cro^vn of Grace and Glory, as well as that of creation and providence. He is " Prince of life," ''King of kings," ''Lord of glory," the true Melchizedec — David and Solomon in one. Such he was acknowledged to be in the cradle and on the cross, and such lie justly and truly assumed to be at every period of his suft'ering life. His words were king's words. Royalty was heard in his language and embodied in his life. This kingdom, the kingdom of grace, is a spiritual one — its laws, its sceptre, its weapons, and its warfare, are all spiritual. It is "not meat nor drink, but righteous- ness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost" — it is not an antitlicsis to any temporal govenunent, but to spiritual corruption. , CHEIST S MANiT CKOWNS. 13 Its subjects are regenerated men, and these only. The baptised, as such, are members of the visible, but not therefore members of the spii'itual, Chiu'ch. In one sense, all creatures are under his sway, and those Avho will not give him glory as an offering, must surrender it as a reluctant sacrifice; but the subjects of this spiritual kingdom are willing subjects — their hearts throb "with loyalty and love to theii* King. The ambassadors and ministers in the midst of it ai^e purely spiiitual men ; they have no sovereign power ; they may no more assume Christ's crown than may kings and statesmen — their office is pastoral, not royal — they are to feed, not to lord it over Cluist's heritage. The tendency in the eighteenth centuiy was to transfer Christ's crovm to the State. As King of Grace, Christ reclaims the aliens, and strangers, and slaves of sin and Satan to himself; he subdues a people to his glorious purpose — he makes them willing in the day of his power — atti'acting by his cross, inclining by his love, and compelling by his Spirit. He rules them by his word. It supersedes all the traditions and commandments of men. Our directors^, as the subjects of Christ, is not the opinion of the wisest, or the tradition of the oldest, or the voice of the most, or the judgment of the best ; it is the word of God alone. What it enjoins, is duty; what it forbids, is sin: it is oiu- Magna Charta. As wearing the crown of this king- dom, the Lord Jesus furnishes his Chiu'ch with ministers, and appoints the ordinances requisite for the Chuix^h's progress. He has said, ''Go into all the "World, and preach the Gospel to every creature;" and, in the sti^ength of this commission, the glorious gospel has been proclaimed ti'om year to year, and from coimtry to country. '' This do in remembrance of me," is oui' sacramental Avarrant till he shall come. On the baptismal font, on the com- munion table, is the impress of royal authority. We meet together, we i^ray together, we communicate, in obedience to Chiist the King. jS'o voice in purely spiritual things has force but his. It is as a king also he sends down his Holy Spirit. The gift of the Spirit is the gift of the thi'one. The Spirit is his only vicai^ on earth. 14 APOCALYTPIC SXETCHES. It is under his cro"\^^i that his kingdom makes way. The stone cut out Avithout hands shall fill the earth. **In those days the God of heaven shall set up a king- dom which shall break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms, and stand for ever." All things are contri- buting towards this great result; a thousand Eaptists prepare the way for his advent, and nations rush into revolutions, and kings, alarmed, abdicate their thrones, and mobs rise in volcanic force against lawful powers, unconsciously to make way for his coming, and to lay down the rails along which the chariot of his glory shall move more rapidly to its goal. All progress in the past of pui'c and apostolical religion, is the result of the royal intluence of the Prince of Life. A King must be with the Church as truly as a Priest in the Church. His crown is as essential to the maintenance and expansion of truth, as his cross Avas and is to the salvation of souls. '^ Jesus died" is the life of the Church. *' Jesus reigns" is her strength and her hope. Our footing is on his sacrifice ; our hope is on his crown. The creation of life comes from the one, the continuance of life fiows evermore from the other ; we must accept both, in order to accept in all his offices the glorious Lord who carried the one and wears the other. Christ, as thus crowned, defends us. Sin has a foot- ing within us ; Satan rages without ; the world, like an encompassing atmosphere, penetrates all the recesses of the heart : and these hostile forces are in action bj" night and by day, and, had we not a defender in Christ mightier than all that can be against us, we should perish from the earth. He tells us from his throne, "I give unto them eternal life, and none shall be able to pluck them out of my hand." Against the kingdom, crown, and sovereignty of Christ, every cori'upt system of Christianity has ceaselessly warred. The Gnostic heresy, under the guise of rigid self- denial and frenzied superiority to the senses, introduced deadly poison into the visible Church. The lofty specu- lations of the Platonists undermined the faith jmd puifed up the the intellects of many ; and artfully com- CnEIST 8 MANY CROAVNS. 15 billing both Avith other carnal and Satanic elements, the Papacy set itself np, really a kingdom, against the king- dom of Christ, though ostensibly its full and logical development. What sldll is displayed in that wonderful structui^e ! what grasp of thought ! what cunning recog- nition of Christ as king, and yet practical dethronisation of him ! How truly is Judas out- Judased in the Pope ! How thoroughly combined the cunning of Satan and the carnality of man ! It retains every doctrine of the Gospel only to subvert it ; it keeps the name only to cover its hostility to the cause of Cliiist, " God is love ; " and imder this glorious banner it has built inquisitions, evangelised with the sword, and deluged the earth with blood. '^ God is light;" and under the beams of this it has hallowed ignorance as the mother of devotion. " Mj kingdom is not of this world;" and with these words sounding in her ears she has built up an ecclesiastical despotism — a pjTamid of j)ower and grandeur, — a throne of pride, on which she sits as a queen, and says, ''I shall see no sorrow." So many and so ceaseless forces have conspired against the kingdom of Christ, that Ave are constrained to infer that the existence of a Church on earth is the result of the sovereignty of Christ. The spiritual Chiu^h sui-- vives, a spark on the sea, a flower amid frosts, an exotic in an alien soil. Had it been human, it had perished long ago. Its existence is its eloquent ascription, " Thou art the King of Glory, 0 Christ." From the experience of the past, as well as fi'om the promises of Scripture, we gather the assurance of the safety of the people of God. Their palladium is not the shadoAV of a throne, their sMeld is neither their own riches nor the state's endow- ments. Their shield is Christ on his throne, their girdle is the Everlasting Arms, their glory their Re- deemer's croAvn. Dynasties change, and empires ebb, and races die, and kings oppose, and enslave, and protect the visible Church ; but Christians Hve, and love, and flourish. The prosperity of the Church is not Avhat the Avorld 16 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. calls so — ^numbers, wealth, extension — but increase of spirituality and love, new and noble victories over sin, greater sacrifices for Chidst's sake, yet more fearless recognition of his name and assertion of liis truth. The Chiu'ch of God is often most prosperous when she has least in her coffers, fewest in her temples, and nothing but hostility in the world. AYe are sure of the ultimate triumphs of the Church of Christ, just because on his head are many crowns. Greater is He that is for us than all that can be against us ; the predictions of its success are as sure as if already turned to perfonnances. All forces shall aid his cause, all tongues shall praise him, every hill-top and every hidden valley shall shine in the lustre of his croAvn. To achieve this, the ministers of Christ need not call in the militia of Caesar, a bishop need not assume the command of a battalion of infantry, nor a cardinal charge at the head of a company of dragoons. Cluist repudiates as auxiliaries alike the bribe of the treasury', the bayonet of the army, and the craft and subtlety of the Avorld. " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Are you subjects of Christ? Are you believers in liim ? Are you Christ's ? Is he yours ? LECTURE 11. THE CONGEEGATIOX OF THE DEAD. " And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, IViite, Blessed are the dead ivhich die in the Lord from hence- forth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their lahours ; and their tvorhs do folloiv them.''^ — ^Rev. xiy. 13. I HATE akeacly unfolded several featiu^s of the family of God. I showed'^ you the state of the 144,000 — the sealed ones — true Christians in the sight of God: "they r.re without fault before the throne of God;" that is, *' there is no condenmation to them that are in Christ Jesus;" they are ''justified" by Him, and have ''peace with God." " Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that jus'tifieth." They "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." JN^ext, I described their practical conduct upon earth; or the mode in which they visibly develop in their intercourse with the world, those great Christian principles which they had received through grace : they " follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." They follow Him in the great aim and end of His life — in His appeal to the only standard of truth, the ^vord of God — in his intercourse with the world, sympathising with him in all his soiTOws and reflecting all his joys. You have thus, then, the state of Christians before God — "without fault before the throne; you have, next, the practical course before men — they " follow the Lamb." Having thus read their biography in life, let us read * See Lecture IV. of the Exeter Hall Series, where the above also was delivered SECOND SERIES. C 18 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. and comment upon the epitaph upon their tombstones. Their state is justification before God; their practical character is following the Lamb; and the beautiful epitaph which may be inscribed upon their tomb, and pronounced as the noblest requiem over the ashes of the dead, is — " Elessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours ; and their works do follow them." I allow there is here a special reference to the iirst resurrection, and I believe the blessedness to be associated primarily with their relation to this great event ; but its main truths are not affected by chronology — they arc always true. Let us consider, first, those who are described as " the dead;" secondly their peculiar and distinctive relation- ship— "the dead in Christ;" thirdly, the benediction pronounced upon them — ''blessed are the dead;" fourtlil}', the special reason of that blessedness — " they rest from their labours ;" and lastly, the evidence of their entrance into that blessedness — " their works do follow them." Let me endeavour, as full}' as the time will permit, to lay before you some remarks upon each of these several divisions into which I have split the text, dwelling rather on its general than on its special prophetic bearing." "The dead." "XMiere are they? AVTiere are they not? My dear friends, has the thought ever struck you, in looking round the Avorld, that its dead outnumber its living ? A far greater amount of the popidation of the globe is beneath the soil, than there is at any moment treading and breatliing above it. Our churches, our homes, our thrones, the theatres and playliouses of the world, are all built upon the dust and ashes of the dead. Our corn-fields and vineyards wave above the soil that was once warm with life — " the toe of the dancer treads upon the ashes of the dead." " Where is the dust that hath not been aUve ? The Kpafle, tlie |)lou<;h, disturb our ancestors : From human mould \vc reap our daily bread. THE COXGilEGATIOJS' OP THE DEAD. 19 The globe ai'oiuid eai'th's hollow surface shakes And is the ceiling of her sons; O'er devastation we blind revels keep, Whole buried towns support the dancer's heel." This great globe on Avhich we dwell seems to be as much a sareo2)hagiis of the dead as it is a home of <»he living. AVhat are all its graves, but various compart- ments in this one great and silent mausoleum ! The ashes of Abraham mingle somewhere with those of Martin Luther ; and that of Martin Luther may mingle some- where with those of ]S"apoleon; and the dust of j^apoleou may, in a few years, mingle with the dust of a far better man that has recently passed from the stage of life to the stage of glory — Thomas Chalmers. Thus the world is a vast sarcophagus ; its graves are its chambers, or compartments ; and those compartments are not able to prevent the dust of all from mingling together. Eut not only the remains of those Avho never had a quaiTel — who lived in friendship, and died in peace — but of those who were sworn and implacable foes, by a great law must mingle and blend most peacefully together. The ashes of Martin Luther, and of Leo the Tenth, who hated him so heartily — the dust of WicklifFe, and that of those who cast Ms bod}^ into the stream which bore it to the silent sea — the dust of John Knox, and that of Queen Mary, must blend and lie right silently and peace- fully together. Thus not only the dust of friends, but of bitter foes, as if to cast reproach upon their feuds, must blend and mingle together in spite of all their repulsions. It is now dead — disintegrated — mingling with all streams — mixing with all elements — blown by all winds; yet there is not a particle of that dust, in- corporated with trees, mingled with the sea, or buried in the earth, that shall not hear the first tone of the resurrection trumpet, and become instinct ^yith a life that can never end ; for when the tiTimpet shall sound, each one that died, whether he died in Chiist or not shall, each in his own order, come forth. Some shall rise from the depths of the fathomless sea, and come; c2 20 APOCALmiC SKETCnES. some shall cast off their only -winding- sheet, the sands of the desert, and come. The Pharaohs shall leap forth, when they hear that peal, fi'om their pp-amidal cham- bers ; the Ptolemies shall start from beneath their marble monuments; ]^apolcon, and those who fonght and fell boneath his bamier at Jena, at Austerlitz, and at AVaterloo, shall rise and gather in shivering crowds aroimdhim; the the dust of Martin Luther shall be quickened at "\Vii-- temberg, and put on the apparel suited to a citizen of the new Jerusalem; Calvin shall rise from his grave, which is now unknown : Oberlin and Felix Xeff shall start from their Alpine repose — some rejoicing in the hope that accompanies them to the realms of glorj-, others calling on the hills to cover them, and on the mountains to conceal them, and all shall gaze as they gather together into that tremendous intinitudc;, the eternit}' that stretches before them. BrethiTU, you and I, if we never met in the congre- gation of the li^-ing before, must meet together in the congregation of the dead. Each atom of our dust '* rests in hope again to rise;" ^* for the trumpet shall soimd, and the dead shall rise." And when we stand upon that vast platfoiTQ, amid that mighty surging multitude — a multitude more coimtless than the waves of the sea, or the leaves of the forest, or the sands upon the sea- shore— and when we take a retrospective view of all we have passed through — how poor and paltry will many things look which we have fought, and struggled, and spent our health and strength for on earth ! My dear friends, seen from the judgment- seat of Christ, the most brilliant crowns will grow pale, and the proudest coronets vdH appear denuded of all their attractions, and thousands shall feel that the gold wliich we worshipped, instead of being lit to be turned into shrines and gods for us to adore, was only worthy to be turned into a pavement on whick our feet should tread, in our passage to another, a better, and more glorious repose. This leads me to the second point that I wash to consider — that there are not only '^ the dead/' but dis- tinctively— " the dead in Clu'ist." THE CONGREGATION OP THE BEAD. 21 There arc three expressions used to describe our rela- tionship to Christ. There is, first, to be " mthout Christ :" the state of nature. There is, secondly, to be ''in Christ:" the state of grace. And there is, lastly, to be " A^dth Christ:" the state of glor5\ To be " with- out Christ " is our state by nature ; to be ''in Clnist " is our state by grace ; to be " with Christ" is oiu' destiny, our happy destiny hereafter. It is here implied, that there are but two distirjctions upon earth that are real — •" in Cluist," or out of Cluist; and there is not a tombstone in London, on which affec- tion has written its yaried eulogy over the ashes of the beloved dead, if it had the inscription which God Avould write upon it, that would not record — " Dead in Christ," or " Dead out of Christ." Hence, after all, what is the real value of many of those distinctions, which may be expedient or inevitable, but about which men dispute and quarrel ? How startled will the high churchmen be at the discovered emptiness of those peculiarities in which he gloried! I mean high chiu'chmen in the popular sense, not in the true sense ; for, in the right sense of the word, I hold that I am a higher churchman than Dr. Hook or Dr. Pusey. The high churchman is not sui-ely the man that measui'es the Chiu'ch by the height of the steeple, but he who belongs to the congregation of the redeemed. In this view, those who call themselves Dissenters, adopt a questionable name. If it apply to sepa- ration from the Establishment, it is, at most, of no eternal moment ; but if it mean dissent fi'om the ti-ue church, the church of the redeemed, the name is a reproach. How startled will the Dissenter be, to find his Shibboleth was a Shibboleth earth-sprung, and that it died on earth, and has no place, or part, or mention at the judgment- seat of Christ ! And there, amazed beyond expression, will the Pusepte be (for I tmst that there are some of them who, amid all the rubbish, hold the foundation,) when he discovers that his section gave the fewest members to the Chiu'ch of the redeemed in glory ; and that his candelabras, and his genuflections, and his crosses, and his crucifixes, and his altars, were just so \23 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHE?. much wood, hay, stray, stubble, wliieh he piled upon the true foundation. It will not be asked, when we stand at the judgment- seat of Cluist, JF hence are you? — ^but JFhat are you? It will be no recommendation that you are a Chiux-hman — it will be no disqualification that you are a Dissenter. These distinctions will have dropped away, and perished as unreal in that light in which reality only lives. You may have been baptised — you may have belonged to the visible Church — you may have been one of its ministers — you may have been a communicant — you may have been a liberal supporter of the ordinances of Christ — and yet may not have been in Christ. I believe that what will be seen and witnessed in the hereafter, will startle and surprise many participants of it. You will miss many a bold j)rofessor, whose Yoice you thought you would hear loudest in the chou" of the redeemed ; and you will find there many a suspected one, that you in your ignorance shut out, or in ^'oiu* imcharitableness anathematised, highest and brightest in the number of the saved. You may find there some poor tonsured monk, with his shaven crown and rope girdle, who looked in his cell beyond the crucifix which he held in his hand, and saw in all his glory the Son of Man nailed to the cross, the only atonement, and ''washed his robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." You may find there some poor Jew, who rejected Jesus of IsTazareth the Saviour, but who, in his deep humiliation, in his sorrow and sigliing, and crying to be emancipated from the curse and taint of his sins, and to be at peace with God, sliall discover that he held the Saviour in substance, while he recollects with sorrow that he repudiated Him in name. We shall find there many that we cast out, whom we had no business to cast out ; and we shall miss many whom we had no right to number among them at all. All minor distinctions will then be done away ; the trappings of rank, the disputes of party, the robes, the rules, and ceremonies, will all be left behind in the grave ; and i]\c, only distinction lliat will appear indelilde for ever »vill be, the living in Clirist, or the dead out of Christ. THE CONGREGATION OF THE DEAD. 23 Then you may ask (and surely, if you have any interest in your own safety, you must ask earnest^) — " '\Yha.tis it to be in Christ ?" The language, my dear friends, is most expressive. If I am to describe it generally, I would say it is to look for salvation tlu'ough his blood alone ; to feel that if God were to sink me to the depths of everlasting ruin, He would not pronounce upon me a sentence greater or more severe than I have deserved, and yet to feel, that if, in the name and through the righteousness of Chiist, He were to raise me to a glory too brilliant for mortal eye to look on, and too magni- ficent for the human mind to conceive, God would not bestow upon me a boon greater than Christ's merits entitle me to. To be in Christ, if I may paraphi-ase it, is to feel that Christ paid all we owed to God, and pur- chased for us far more than God owed to us — that He is our only way to know God, and the only way for God to receive us — that He is the only channel for us to reach God, or for God to come clown to us ; it is to feel that Christ's sacrifice is the only expiatory sacrifice for sin, and that it is not only access to God, provided by In- finite Wisdom, but that it is the veiy expression and evidence of God's love to us. Our Sa^ioiu' is precious, not sim^ily as maldng it possible for God to forgive us, (just as it is made possible for the Queen of England to forgive the sentence of a convict, and to remit it,) but, inasmuch as he shows that God will not merely forgive us, and leave us to live the lives of forgiven convicts, at a distance, but that he will take us to his bosom as justified, and redeemed, and converted, and adopted sons. The expression ''in Christ" is a very peculiar one; and I am quite sui^e that you may see, by the simple contrast which I -will make, that it is not an ordinary expression denoting merely, as some think, that we are to folloiv Christ. We do not say a pupil is in his teacher, a patient in liis physician, a son in his father, or a servant in his master ; we say tlie pupil follows his teacher, the patient folloAvs his physician, the son obeys his father, the servant serves his master. Then if this peculiar ex- 24 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. pression " in Christ " is constantly employcfl in Scrip- ture^ if tlic ordinary phraseology of life is dosignc^dly outraged by a strange and uncouth expression of relation- ship, arc -sve not warranted in inferring that there is Bonie gTcat reason for this change, something more than the Socinian means by following Christ ? The Scriptures generally employ plain language; and, when strange expressions are used, it is to describe a doctrine that is strange, or far above the routine of mere humanity. It is in short, one of a series of phrases allusive, I believe, to known and exj)ressive symbols. I find that all in the ark were saved, while all out of it were lost. What would have been the use of any antediluvian sinner, a strong swimmer, determining to follow but not to enter the ark ? He might swim for a few hours, but it would not be long before he sank. IS'ow an antediluvian sinner follo^ving the ark by swimming, in order to escape disown- ing, is just like a Socinian sinner trying to be saved from wrath by merely following Cluist. The allusion may be to the city of refuge. The manslayer, outside, might be smitten down and destroyed, but the moment lie got inside he was safe : while the criminal pursued by the avenger of blood was rushing to the city of refuge, if he Avas caught on his way to it he wordd be slain ; but the instant he got into it he would be safe. Thus following Christ is not enough; you must be in Christ, as the ciiminal was in the city of refuge, as Koah and his family were in the ark ; and then the winds may blow, and the waters may rise, or the avenger may pursue, but " there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." My dear friends, are you in this state ? Are you not merely believers in Christ as a teacher, but '*' in Christ " as your glorious sacritice, your eternal refuge, your priest, your altar, your all? Are you connected with him as the branch is connected with the vine — united to him, incoi-porated with him, one with him, in life, in death, and in eternity? Union with Christ is not a mere figure of speech — it is not a metaphor — it is a reality : so much so, that Avhatever I do is done through THE CONGREGATION OP THE DEAD. 25 Christ's life pervading me. If I lift my hand to the right or to the left, npAvards or downwards, it is in virtue of that life which is in my body ; and if I give a penny to the poor, or subscribe to a school, or do any other good work, it is in virtue of that life which is implanted in my soul by Christ, and which enables me to say with the Apostle — ''I live, yet not I, but Christ livcth in me." Do you believe that? Can you feel this to be reality r Can you peril your everlasting prospects upon it ? If so, blessed are you when li^dng, and blessed shall you be when dead ; if you are not so, you may be Churchman or Dissenter, you may be what you like or what you please to call yourselves — unhappy are you iu life, and unhappy will you be in death — you are out of Clirist. This leads me, in the third place, to refer to the benediction that is pronounced upon those who are here said to be in Cluist. Then if the dead in Chi-ist be blessed, they do not cease to be. Some Christians have taken up the idea, (and I think it is a veiy absurd one,) that there is a cessation of life at death till the resuiTcction-day — that when we die we cease to be until the body is raised again from the dead. Certainly there is no warrant for this in Scripture. Can 3'ou say they are ''blessed" that cease to be? Passive repose, unconscious sleep, sus- pension of life, and unconsciousness, are not surely ele- ments of bliss. If this were heaven, then I could not conceive the blessing pronounced to apply to it. But I consider the idea of the future state to be a very dificrent thing to that. I cannot conceive of happiness without conscious life. Annihilation is not blessedness. The elevation of mind, the expansion of intellect, the enlarge- ment of all the powers, the removal of the shackles that confine them, the spread of the soul's unfettered wings, to soar and revel in unceasing life, and approach ever- more to God without cessation — this is happiness. But we believe that ''absent from the body" is "present with the Lord." An Apostle said this by the inspiration of that Lord, and we must believe it. They arc. then, 26 ArocALYrxTc sketches. "blessed" that thus "die in the Lord;" and to be so they must live so. When a Christian dies, the eye of the monmer looks on the pale face of the dead and weeps; for there is nothing on earth so nnnatural, and sorrowful too, as a dead face. Death is not natural — it is most unnatural — it was never meant to be — it is an infraction of the laws of God's imiversc ; and the dead pale face always seems to me to reflect the shadow of some great disaster, and to have revealed on it the lesson — " The wages of sin is death." The natural eye looks upon that face and weeps ; but the Christian looks beyond the ashes of the dead, follows the emancipated soul, as it rises on outspread and imtiring pinion, and exclaims, '' Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord." In the case of a Christian, the scj^the of death cuts down nothing but what he would leave behind; it merely removes the restrictions and the limits that repress its energies, that the disenthralled and emancipated spirit may soar and rise to God, as its eternal home. ''Blessed" then, "are the dead which die in the Lord." Often have they been cursed when living; but now they are "blessed" when dead. They met with many a trial, and encountered many an obstruction on earth. ]S"o man ever did anything that was good with- out meeting with terrible obstructions. The price you must pay for every kindness you bestow is ingratitude ; and the enduring of vicarious sacrifice or suifering seems to be perpetuated stiU — one generation suffering, that its successor ma}^ have privilege, or happiness, or peace. It is when the noblest deeds are done, and the holiest lessons taught, the greatest persecution breaks forth. But the anathema of the world never yet put down or scathed the children of God. It has only made them rise with a greater energy, and given to their spirit a nobler elasticity, and nerved their high souls for more heroic cnteri)rises. In fact, persecution never yet, in the history of humanitj', put down a good cause, and it never built up a bad one. It is a law which God him- self has made, that the arroAV which is shot from the TSE COXGKEGATIOX OF THE DEAD. 27 persecutor's bow shall rebound and pierce tlio perse- cutor's heart. And hence, it' the sword and the faf»-o-ot are ever to be employed in our warfare, let the one°be unsheathed and the other kindled by the foes, not by the friends of Jesus. The cause of Christ disclaims them. '' For the weapons of om^ warfare are not carnal, but spiritual, and mighty through God." Well, if these believers have been accursed of man, they liave ''died in the Lord" and are "blessed" of God. We may have lost them, and they may be lost to us ; but they are joined to God, to happiness, and to heaven. When I stand over the ashes of the dead, amid aU the freezing doubts that the sceptic would cast, like cold shadows^ upon their grave— amid the torn feelings that relation- ship is conscious of— amid the din and noise of the wheels of this world, I can yet hear piercing the firma- ment, and reverberating from the cold dark chamber below, the "still small voice"— "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord fi'om henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours ; and their works do follow them." They are "blessed," for none can eifectually condemn them. Memory may remind, the law may pronounce, Satan may accuse, conscience may smite. But it is only for a moment, for "'it is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth?" "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again." They are "blessed," for they are removed to the distance of infinitude from all evil. They are in the realms of infinite purity, ^o coiTuption can stain them, no iniquity vex them, no foul pollutions defile them ; they can neither be tempted, nor tried, nor sufter any more. The door that shuts the believer in, shuts out all sin and sorrow for ever. They are "blessed," for there will be there the restoration of suspended intercourse A^dth those they loved. Venerable fathers wliom they bore to the tomb, wiii meet them there— their grey head's literally " crowns of gloiy." Th." babe that di'opped from thy bosom, 0 28 APOCALYPTIC SJi^ETCITES. Christian mother, like a premature fniit from tlie tree of life ill spring, will meet thee in the realms of glory. The cherished fiiends yon loved will gather around 3^011, and the broken circles which you deplored will he com- pleted ; and they will appear no longer capable of mis- construction, or open to any of the imperfections common to humanity. Perfect happiness and perfect purity shall reign there. There will not be a spot upon which jou will be able to lay the finger and say — '*' Here I suifered." The names "widow" and- "orphan" shall not be mooted in heaven, or recorded in the vocabulary of the blessed. !N^ot a tear is shed there — not a sorrow felt ; all is haj)py, because all is holy; and over the fairest and most fragrant blossom hangs the superscription of " eternal." They are "for ever with the Lord:" in Christ upon earth, and "with the Lord" in heaven. It is added as an explanation of this blessedness — " They rest from their laboiu's ; Tliis world is the scene of ceaseless labours ; its highest are weary and heavy laden. You recollect the passage — " There remaineth there- fore a rest for the people of God." In the original the passage reads — " There remaineth therefore a Sahbatis- mos for the people of God;" literally translated, "a Sabbath-keeping." Though another word is used here, yet we may read it, "they Sahhatise from their laboui's, and their works do follow them." In other words, heaven is not the Pagan elysium, or the Mahometan paradise, but a glorious rest, an everlasting Sabbath, for the peoi:)lc of God. Yet, by a strange contradiction it is said — "And they rest not day and night." They "rest," and yet they "rest not." It is a i^lace of endless repose, and yet a place of endless activity. Their energy is their enjoyment. Our Sabbaths upon earth ought to be, as they were meant to be, shadows cast upon the world as from above, foretastes of the great Sabbath of eternity. I look upon the Sabbath as a kind of bivouac preparatory^ to tlie battle of the week ; an occasional and recumng res])ite from Cirsar. ;::« ii- minar}' to the everlasting Sabbath that will ho ()..']i>\<-a THE COXGKEGATlOIf OF THE DEAD. 29 by the people of God. I look on it as a beautiful island east into the roaring and restless torrent of immortality ; and standing upon that island, we can look at the rush and listen to the din of the eddying world, and see leaping do^m from above in undimmed splendours the sunshine of heaven, and hear from afar the unspent chimes of an eternal harmony. The Sabbath is too precious to be given up ; humanity will not suiTender it, Christianity will not let it go. It will be revered by the Christian as long as the Avorld shall last. The poor man would be the greatest suifercr, were there no Sabbath. What ! would 3-ou give up that blessed day of jubilee, on which the highest and lowest can assemble in the house of God, and say— ''We arc peers;" when the rich and the poor can meet together, and feel the ennobling and kindling sentiment of a common brother- hood—'' The Lord is the maker of us all ?" Part with your beautiful cathecbals, but part not with your precious Sabbaths. Man built the cathedi^al, God hal- lowed the Sabbath ; the one might be tne injiuy of the beaiitiful— the other would be the loss of the essential. An ii-reparable catastrophe, an awful judgment, a bitter bereavement ; humanity and Cluistianitv together would weep over the extinction of the Sabbath, as the setting in night of its brightest day. Architects can build new and better cathedi-als— princes can no more mace the Sabbaths than they can create the world. Make your Sabbaths on earth, as far as influence, example, and advice can extend, to be cherished by all that are dear to you, and your Sabbaths m glory will be a "rest from your labours." What, let me here ask, is the way to get the Sabbath best observed ? I think the interference of legislation is a good method ; but it seems veiy strange to me, that ihe Christians of this countiy should be always bother- ing the House of Commons about these matters, when they hold the matter in their own hands. Let the nation make the Sabbath visible, and no Post-office or Parliament will touch its sacredness. Let us make our Sabbaths what they ought to be, and the Legislatui'O 30 APOCALVrXlC SKETCHES. must make them so too ; and I tmst the daj^ will soon dsL^m iijDon the world, when, in the reflection and reper- cussion of all that is aroimd us, Sabbaths beautiful in your homes, and peaceful in your streets, and hallowed in j^our sanctuaries, will make Sabbaths felt andhalloAAcd in the House of Commons, and senators afraid to utter one word tending to their desecration. But it is added, " that they rest from their labours, and tlicii' works do follow them." What a precious truth is this ! " Their works do follow them !" If a Ilomanist had written this, it would have been, '' Their works precede them ;" but God wrote it, and therefore " their works dofoUotv them." In other words, our works do not go before us to heaven, because we enter there wholly through grace ; but '' our works do follow us," as the retinue that speaks to the universe, that we have brought forth the fniits of the Holy Spirit of God. We are admitted into heaven be- cause of Christ's righteousness ; we are seen to be fit for heaven by the fruits we have brought forth. His right- eousness imputed is our title — the Sjnrit's righteousness imparted is our qualification ; Christ's work our right — the Spirit's work our fitness ; and the fruits we bring forth the evidence of both. We are justified by an im- puted righteousness — we are sanctified by an imparted righteousness ; these two are inseparable. Our works, then, do not precede us — they follow us. The only thing that goes before us to heaven is the Lamb ; " these are they that folloiv the Lamb ;" and the only things that come after us are our icorks. Thus you go to heaven between two — Christ, the King of GLry, precc^des you, to open its gates for all believers — the good you have done folloAvs after you, to give evidence, from tlie light that is reflected from behind, that you belong to the company of the redeemed, and are chilchTn of God ; and fit to take your place and part in the chou's of the re- deemed, around the throne. Take care, then, you do not let these intcrcliange places. When you hear persons say, that we, evan- gelical ministers, arc against good works, tell them it is THE CONGREGATION OF THE DEAD. 31 either a misrepresentation or a complete misconstruction of our views. I insist upon good works and almsgiving to every Christian cause — clothing the naked — feeding the hungry — circulating the Bible — aiding missions, just as strongly as any human being can insist upon them ; but then I do not invert the pyramid, and try to make it stand upon its apex instead of its base — I put things in their right place, Christ before, and the works after- wards. If you follow the works, you will be found among those to whom Christ shall say — " I know you not;" for the faiiTst of them all has more of evil in it than you know ; but if they follow you, they occupy their rightful place, and you will thus necessarily follow Him who gave the works all their life, their continuance and beauty, and you all your title to that rest that re- mains for the people of God. A^^iat a beautiful and blessed thing is the Gospel of Jesus ! Precious is the Bible — more precious still the Gospel it contains ; precious are our Sabbaths — ^more precious still the everlasting Sabbath. Love the Gospel ; live under the influence of the Gospel; s^^read the Gospel ; if needs be, die rather than part with the Gospel. It teaches us piu-ely to live — it teaches us peacefully to die. An aged Christian's death has no teiTor ia it — very little cloud on it ; it is that beautiful evening twilight, that mingles so imperceptibly with the twilight of the eternal mom, that the night between is scarcely felt. " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord fi'om henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours ; and their works do follow them." How thankful should we be that we have been deli- vered from the superstition and bondage of the Chm^h of Home ! Her best and most exemplary members, according to her theology, must enter at their death into a state of pui^gatorial torture, purifjdng according to its intensity of agony, and its length of diu-ation. Their best and holiest dead must enter into this middle state ; it is this prospect that lies inevitably before them. Hence no Romanist dies triumphant — no halo sun-ounds 32 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. his head, no song of victory escapes from his lips. The blazing fires, not the glories of heaven, bnm before his eyes ; and instead of resting from labour at the hour of death, he feels that the keenest portion of his sulferings is yet to come. It is not so vrith the true Christian, whose faith and hopes are drawn, not from the tradi- tions of men, but from the inspired oracles of God. He regards the death-struggle as the last of his laboui's, and his exit from the body as his instant entrance into peace. "WTiether he is cut down in the midst of his days, or dies daily in long and lingering decay — whether he slips the coil of life at once, or sees and feels it gradually un^vind, he cherishes the sure and imperish- able hoj)e of an abundant entrance into joy. He sees on the last margin of time, the interlacing margin of eternity ; hears, borne from afar, the soimds of his wel- come, and tastes in the cup of death the sweets of immortality and life. Let us cleave to that blessed book which contains the Gospel, and serves as a lamp to oui' path through the valley of the shadow of death. By its instrumentality children now understand what the greatest ancient philosophers had no conception of. That blessed book rekindles in the heart extinguished love, and relights and trims the lamp of immortality — it guides the judg- ment— inspires the aff'ections — restores the Sabbath of the soul — it overarches the di'eariest caverns of despair with the bow of promise, and rings benedictions in the tombs of the dead. It alone opens to us an avenue from earth to heaven, and plants in its darkest and dreariest nook the radiant and imperishable inscription, " Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." LECTUEE III. THE NEW JERUSALEM. " And I smv a new heaven and a neio earth : for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away ; and there ivas no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, pre- pared as a Iride adorned for her hushand. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is ivith men, and he ivill dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall he with them, and le their God. . . . And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God : and her light was like unto a stoyie most jxreeious, even like a jasper-stone, clear as crystal ; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east three gates ; on the north three gates ; on tlie south three gates ; and on the ivest three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked witK me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth four-square, and the length is as large as the breadth : and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the ivall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the build- ing of the wall of it tvas of jasper : and the city teas of pure gold like unto clear glass. And the foundations SECOND SEniES. D 34 ArOCALYPTlC yKETCHlOS. of the wall of the city icere garnished with all manner of ])recious stones. The first foundation was jasper ; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony ; the fourth an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius ; the seventh, chrysolite ; the eighth, heryl ; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysop)rasus ; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, a)\ amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls ; every several gate teas of one 2J^('i'l • ((nd the street of the city teas of 2Mre gold, as it icere transpa- rent glass.''— lio^. xxi. 1—3,' 10—21 . The scenes first recorded in this chapter plainly follow the Advent of Cluist, and as plainly precede the long expected millenninm. rii'st of all, as it seems to me, the earth will be purified by the last fire, as it is written in 2 Pet. iii. 10. " The day of the Lord," that is, the day in which is fulfilled the promise of his coming, " ^Yill come as a thief in the night ;" or as it is elsewhere written, ''Behold, I come as a thief." What then takes place on this day? ''in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up." The same startling event is also described in verse 12. " ^Mierein the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." AYhen this overfiowing fire shall have wrapped the world, and consumed all that is in it, and, ha^-ing done its mission, has passed away, Christ and his risen saints shall descend from theii' ai^rial glory upon the piuified earth, called in verse 13, " The new heavens and the new earth;" and this descended company is here described as " The Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." This glorious spectacle is just the ful- fiment of the prophecy of Isaiah Ixv. 17 ; " Por, behold, I create new heavens and a new eiu-th. I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people : and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in lier, nor the voice of TEE NEW JElirSALEM. 35 crying." The Apocalpptic description in this tT\x>ntY- first chapter, is also the fulfihnent of a kindred promise made by the mouth of Ezckicl (chapter xxxvii. 24). '' And David my servant {i.e. beloved servant) shall be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd : they shall also -walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. . . I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle, also, shall be with them : yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people." This noAV Jerusalem coming do^n out of heaven, is just the sealed ones out of every kindled and tiibe and tongue, that is, the 144,000, — those who had "washed their robevS and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," — the sackcloth-wearing witnesses, once all but extii'pated from the earth — " a woman," once concealed in the wilderness — ^now coming down in their resurrec- tion and holy bodies, like a cloud of glory, to reign on that earth on which they sufiered so much and so long. This scene is the realisation of a vision thirsted for dui'ing eighteen centimes, Eom. viii. 19. — " the mani- festation of the sons of God," " the adoption, to wit the redemption of the body; " and also of John xvii. 21, " That they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee ; that they also may be one in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me;" and also of Gal. iv. 26, "Jerusalem, which is above, is free, and is the mother of us all. The old Jerusalem is thus forgotten in the richer glories of the new, and the fii'st Pai'adise lost in the lasting splendours of the second, and the "vision of peace " is no longer prophecy, but per- formance and blessed fact; all this erection of gloiy, magnificence, and beauty, shall rest and shine on that very earth which Satan has usurped, and sin has har- rassed, and clouds and darkness have hung over for so many thousand years of pilgrimage and e^-il. God's ancient city, the dim type, -s^'as called by expressive names : " the city of the Great King ; " •' City of God ; " " 13eautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth." These examinations, it is plain, exceed the scene actual- D 2 36 Al'OCALYrTIC SKETCHES. iscd, eyen in Solomon's reign, in which they had no adequate counterpart; tlicy were rays shot from the future, they had their rest on the then present, but their light from the futiu'e. Ancient Jerusalem wrecked the divine idea of a city, just as Adam wrecked God's great idea of a man ; but God's pui-pose is frustrated in neither — it moves over their respective ruins to its perfection, and they both find that perfection, the one in Clmst, and the other in the ]Slew Jerusalem. In this chapter of the Apocalypse, therefore, we have dim ancient predictions fullj^ realised, prelibations and foretastes of distant blessedness fully met — shadoAvy out- lines filled up, and the deep yearnings of humanity, and the fervent prayers of saints, responded to in music, in beauty, and in glory. It is at this period, that (Heb. xii. 22) ^' ye are come imto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general as- sembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven ; and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant." This city reveals its origin in our presenting its defini- tion. It is not an emanation from the earth, but some- thing deposited on it. It docs not grow like a ti'ec out of the earth ; it comes down like a di-sdne thought, per- fect in all its structure, radiant with glory, the creation of God, a thing of heaven to adorn the earth, a meeting place for God and them that are his. It is called a Ilohj City. This is the secret clement of its perpetuity, and beauty, and excellence. Holiness is immortality. " No- thing that defileth can enter," and, therefore, nothing that can originate and feed decay can fiisten on it. There is no weed, no briar, nor thorn, nor Upas-tree, in that regenerated soil, and therefore there is no root of bitter- ness, or bitter bud of woe. It is called also, by St. Paul, ''The city of the living God." Athens was the city of Minerva, and Home of Mars, and were the cities of dead gods ; but this is the city of the living God, sup- ported, sustained, and enriched by his presence, and TEE NEW JERUSALEM. 37 pervaded thronghont its universal stiTicture by his living energy and love. It is also called in verse 10, ''that great city," — great, not in its material, bnt moral gran- denr, — great in the glory that hovers over and aroimd it, like a rainbow round a fountain ; having all the elements of endui'ing greatness, because inhabited by the ". Great King." It is described as Jerusalem, or, as this word means, the vision of j)eace. The first vision perished in the storms and clouds of war, and even in its noon-day splen- dour it was an imperfect type of this new and glorious scene. Then the Sun of Eighteousness had risen but a few degrees above the horizon, and Jerusalem, and all its towers, projected a long and cold shadow over the earth. But in the days of the new Jerusalem, that sun has ceased to be horizontal, and has become vertical, and all shadow is simk beneath the glory that sti'eams dovm, iminterrupted by passing cloud, and yet neither scorch- ing the earth, nor wearying its inhabitants. It is also called the Keiv Jerusalem, not only as a con- trast to the old, but as ever continuing to be new. It is like the "new song" which, hovers perpetually roimd it, as musical and sweet, after it has been heard a thou- sand years, as when it first sounded in. the sky. In- finite things alone never pall upon the taste, infinite beauty never grows old, and infinite excellence never wearies. Our homes on earth have but alloyed delights, and the fairest of them all are not attractive enough to render change unnecessary ; but the scenes and beauties of the future city shall never lose theii^ lustre, or diminish their attractions. At its commencement, and in all its after cycles, this song shall be sung : " We have a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for walls and for bulwarks." It is next described as having in it ''The glory of God ;" this is plainly the shechinah, or that bright glory that bnmed on the mercy-seat between the cherubim in the ancient temple, and was to the Jew the visible and standing evidence of the favour and presence of God. It shone on the pillar of fire in the wilderness, burned on Horeb in the bush, and was plainly a rav from Him 38 APOCALi-PTlC SKETCHES. Avlio is the brightness of the Father's glorj' and the express image of his person. There is, therefore, no doubt that the Lord Jesus will be manifested in the new Jerusalem, in some such glorious manner, so that every eye shall see Him. This idea is still more fully brought out in verse 3. " And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Be- hold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people ; and God himself shall be with them, and be theu' God." This is plainly an allusive reference to Exod. xl. 34 : " Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." This dwelling of God with us in gloiy in the IS'ew Jerusalem, is the fulfilment of a promise made 1490 years before the advent of Christ, in Leviticus xxvi. 11, ** And I will set m2/ tabernacle among you; and I "^dll walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people;" and also of another, pronounced 587 years before the advent of Christ, in Ezek. xxxvii. 22, " Ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be vour God." " He will dwell Avith them," is, literally,— '^ He will be the shechinah among them ; — the word meaning stiictly to be a dwelling. Thus the declaration in the commencement of the Gospel of St. John, for instance, is a clear allusion to the shechinah. " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt (or shechinaed) in the midst of us." ''Go up to the mount, and I mil be the glory;" {i.e. the shechinah.) (Haggai i. 8.) " That the glory may dwell," i.e. that the shechinah may be ''in our land." (Psalm Ixxxv. 10.) Just as the glory took up its residence in the taber- nacle, so the Body, from which it was a reflected sjilen- dour, which is Christ, the unquenchable sliechinah, will take up his residence in the J^ew Jerusalem. This is " the glory to be revealed," to which the Apostle alludes; and " the King in his beauty," of whom the Projohet speaks ; and the fulfihncnt of the promise, or rather hope, "We shall sec him as he is." We have Christ in THE NEW JERirSALEM-. S9 the midst of lis now in his special and gracious presence, and we see him '' tliroiigh a veil darkly," as he is enjoyed by " two or tliree met in his name ;" " whom, having not seen, we love, and whom, though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Some saw him as the man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;" others saw liim in his resun-ection body, — all beauty and perfection. Stephen saw him. " at the right hand of Gocl," in his own essen- tial glory. Some may be standing here who shall see him in his triumphant procession from the skies. " He Cometh with clouds." ' ' To them that look for him he will come again the second time without sin unto salvation." In A-erse 11th it is said, "Her light was like imto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." The word used for light is not (pojg nor \vyrvog, the ordinary expressions, but <^(ucrr?ip. This last word means a luminary, and involves the idea of rule. " The sun to rule the clay," is an expression of its meaning. The word is also applied to the Urim and Thummim, or precious stones on the breastplate of the High Priest, on which the impinging rays of the glory that dwelt between the cherubim disclosed the counsel of God in times of perplexity and doubt. The same word is likewise used in the sense of a win- dow, or means of transmitting light. So Christ is the medium of all the light and glory that rest on the New Jerusalem ; then, as now, the only means of intercourse A\T-th God. I^Tot one ray of everlasting joy, not one rivulet of living waters, not one blessing of the throne or of the footstocJ. will reach us even there, save through the mediation of Him who is the great and only Mediator between heaven and earth. " A great and high wall is declared to rise around the great city ; a plain evidence that outside arc foes, who require to be kept off the sacred enclosure which they would other^vise enter, as Satan entered Paradise. These enemies arc the same that are alluded to in chap. XX. 8 ; and these walls are the literal accomplishment of 40 APOCAXTPTIC SKETCHES. the promise, — " Salvation t^^II God appoint for walls and for bulwarks." "I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and the glorj^ in the midst of her." Omnipresent love within, and omnipotent power without, are the prerogatives of the Ts^ew Jerusalem. Psalm xlviii. is literally her glorious charter. " Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. For, lo, the the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marvelled ; they were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain as of a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east ^dnd. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God : God will establish it for ever. AYe have thought of thy loving kindness, 0 God, in the midst of thy temple. According to thy name, 0 God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth : thy right hand is full of righteousness. Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments. Walk about Zion, and go round about her : tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces ; that ye may tell it to the generations fol- lowing. For this God is our God for ever and ever : he will be our guide even unto death." The twelve gates, or literally gate -houses, are the en- trances by which the righteous enter — all for entrance, but none for exit. And that it may be seen that there is abundant access for the representative number, 144,000, that is, for all the i^cople of God, these gates are stated to be twelve in number. There is no element of ex- clusion anywhere but in man. There is room in the JS'ew Jerusalem — room in the twelve doors of access — room in the affections of God — in the atonement of Jesus — in the welcome of Calvary — in the oftcrs of the Gospel — and none are excluded save they that exclude by incapaci- tating themselves. THE NEW JERUSALEM. 41 There arc also twelve sentinels. This alludes to the custom of planting sentinels at the gates of ancient cities. Thebes, with its huncked gates, had a hundred sentinels to keep watch and ward. The temple of Jerusalem had its unceasing militia in its priests and Levites ; and Paradise lost had over its approach the flaming cherubim to resist all approach to its sacred enclosure. These angel sentinels are there to defend the inmates from all hostile elements without, and thus to fulfil, amid milen- nial glory, the functions they now rejoice to discharge at present, — of being ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation. These gates were so arranged, that thi-ee faced each point of the compass ; anti thus they fulfil by their dis- tribution the promise of our Lord, — '' They shall come from the east and ffom the west, and from the north and from the south, and sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob ;" and these constitute that sublime gathering which shall be " the manifestation of the sons ofGod."^ The city had '' twelve foundations, and on them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb." The Apostles laid the foundations of the Christian Church ministerially, that is, they proclaimed Christ alone the foundation. *' Other foundation can no man lay;" and they themselves were the first laid upon it in the super- stnictui-e that commenced at the resurrection of the Lord. In former times, he who laid the first stone, identified himself with the fabric, and was covered with a portion of its glory. Thus Tacitus states, that when the Roman capital was built, all sorts of persons took part in laying the foundation, that it might be felt to be the protection and the pride of all. Yet the Apostles are not described as the foimdations, but only as having their names inscribed on the foundations; and even these names, so justly venerated, are legible there, not in their OAvn light, but in the light of the Lamb. This is, perhaps, a response to the Redeemer's promise, — ''In the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, they shall sit on twelve thrones, 42 APOCALYPTIC SICJETCHES. judging the tT^-olve tiibcs of Israel." Peter, we hero see, had no primacy in the first Jerusalem, and he has plamly none in the second. He that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city." This act is the sjTiibol of taking possession. Thus, in chapter xi. 1 : the Eeformed churches were separated from the Romish apostasy by a measuring reed, — a reed, frail and perishable, because it was a separation only of a visible church from a visible apos- tasy,— the former having some sinners, and the latter retaining some saints. But here a golden reed is used, to denote a perfect and evcrlastmg distinction between the saved and the lost. Thus the mockery of sovereignty was once put into the hands (if Jesus : the unquestion- able reality of authority, and power, and empire, Tvill be seen in his hand in the jN'ew Jerusalem. '' The city lieth four-square." This is language significant of stability ; a cube is firm in any and every position. Among the Greeks, a man of fii'ni resolution was called avrjo Terpdyiovoc, literally a foiu'-square man. This is the city that hath foundations that cannot be shaken, whose builder and maker is God. 'No earth- quake shall upheave it, — no violence disturb, or enemy enter it. It rests an immortal fabric on its everlasting site. " The building of the wall was of jasper." The word fvSo/ir?a-ic is properly a bulwark; and as jasper is used to describe the Lord Jesus, it is here implied that the Hedeemer is its bulwark. ''The city was pui'e gold, like unto glass." Gold is the symbol of incorrodibility and of value ; it is the most precious of all the metals, and least affected by decay ; but this is not sufiicient to express its full beautj' ; it is also "clear as glass." In the visions of the harpers on the glassy sea, we had the j^urity, but not the per- manence, of the church ; but here we have the purity, "clear as glass," and the permanence too, "pure gold." These its manifold glories are associated with that mys- terious Urim and Thummim, or precious stones in the High Priest's breastplate. There are employed the THE Is'EW JEEUSALEM. 43 blue sapphire, — the variegated-Yeined chalcedony, — the green emerald, — the dark red sardonyx, — the sea-green and pale chrysolite, — the blue-green beryl, — the brilliant topaz, — the dark tinted chrysoprasus, — the deep red hyacinth, and the violet amethyst, — all sparkling in the splendours of the light of the Lamb ; and dull, and dead, and coloiudess, except in reflecting around his beams. The people of God are represented in Scriptiu'e under various names. They are frequently compared to living stones, and, occasionally, to precious stones. Thus it is declared by God, '^They shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels." These jewels, or precious stones, sparkling in the same light, ha-^-e each its own peculiar characteristic. It may be designed to set forth this idea by imprinting on each stone in the walls of the j^cav Jerusalem an Apostle's name. If this be so, we may suppose that the name of John •^vill be upon the sapphire, the mild skylike lustre of which expresses best the character of the loved and loving John. The brilliant topaz may bear the name of the splendid and impressive Paul. The dark red sar- donyx may denote the glowing zeal of Peter ; and tlie piu'ple amethyst may be dedicated to the grave and dig- nified James ; and the emerald, so agreeable to the ej'c, the cultivated and holy Luke. It is thus that stones have sermons, and gems a language; and the twelve precious stones in the foundation of the j^ew Jei-usalem, on which were inscribed the names of the twelve Apostles, may have a deeper meaning than appears on the surface. AH that is beautiful in nature may have its counter- part in something beautified by grace ; and these two strings, — once dissonant, — may be touched anew, and prove again harmonious chords in the great and eternal harmony. All the precious stones in the crowns of kings, and in the cabinets of museums, are the scattered fragments of that explosion which sin kindled in ancient Para- dise, now strewn over the earth, and buried frequently in its depths; relics in short of its magnificence, and memorials of its catastrophe. In this city these precious 44 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. stones shall be exhibited in all their pristine gloiy ; in masses, not in minute fragments ; brilliant and pure, not dimmed and shaded, lluby rocks and quarried diamonds shall be there. Its floors shall be emeralds, and its dome shall be like sapphire; and its High Altar the Son of God, ''the Pearl of great price," from which shall ascend perpetual incense, and around which shall rise as fi'om innumerable hosts, a hurricane of praise for ever. The very dust shall be of diamond, and the meanest thing where all is magnificent shall be gold. Its soil shall be ever fresh and fragrant as the rose ; its sky around like the rainbow, and over it all flowered with stars ; and its distant hills shall be for ever alive with light. Darkness shall flee away from it like a doubt before the truth of God, and no night shall draw its sable cm-tains over earth's head. All space shall be full of Deity, the stars shall be the scriptures of the sky, and the light of the Sun of Righteousness the apocah^Dse of all. All sounds shall be harmony, and all mysteries light ; the universe itself shall be a glorious hymn, and worlds the words m which it is written ; and pine-forests, and palm-groves, the lichen and green fern, and the giant oak, and the hiU tops visited aU night with troops of stars, shall overflow with the light of love, and life, and glory, and all so pure that snow would stain, and dew defile them. A new and yet more glorious genesis shall come upon our world. This poor earth, for six thousand years a vast sarco- phagus, shall recover more than Eclcn life and beauty after its baptism of fire. It shall be : " A cathedral boundless as our wonder, Whose quenchless lamp the sun and moon snpply, Its choir the winds and waves, its organ thunder, Its dome the sky." Magnificent scene ! Yet more magnificent citizens ! The antediluvian will be there, whose prospective faith, penetrating clouds and darkness, reposed on the Lamb of God. The patriarch, who saw Christ's day from afar and rejoiced, will be there also. Eacli age of the world wiU contribute to this happy city ; and that age THE NE\V JEHUSAIEM. 45 will be seen to have been the noblest and the best which poured through these twelve gates the mightiest crowds of redeemed citizens. Persons from every climate will be there. The African from his burning sands, and the Laplander from his everlasting snows ; the Jew from his wanderings, and the Ai^ab from his tent. All of the descendants of Ham, Shem, and Japhet, who have seen and accepted Jesus as their Saviour, dra^vn by a great centripetal attraction, shall meet in that new Jerusalem ; and, like globules of quicksilver, mingle in fact, as they have met in sjjirit, and so be for ever with the Lord. Men from all ranks shall be there. The monarch and mechanic, the prince and the peasant, denuded of all circumstantial differ- ences and distinctions, and glorious in that common righteousness which humbles the heart while it exalts the person of the wearer, shall there see in each other brethren, and wonder they failed to see it before. Monarchies and republics, schools and imiversities, sects and parties, shall all present to this city happy citizens, • — the fruits of that living Chiistianity, which so many of them would neither understand, nor patronise, nor thrust out. Such is our inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled. How should we rejoice in the prospect, the certainty, rather, of spending a blissful eternity with those we love below ! to see them emerge fi'om the ruins of the tomb, and the deeper ruins of the fall ; not only un- injui-ed, but refonned and perfected, with eveiy tear -VAdped from their eyes, standing before the throne of God and of the Lamb, with palms in their hands, ciying with a loud voice, '' Salvation be mito oui' God and to the Lamb for ever and ever." What delight will it afford to renew the sweet counsel we have taken to- gether ; to recount the toils and laboui^s of the way, and to breathe, and to gaze, about the throne of God in heaven ! nay, rather to join in the s}Tnphonics of holy voices, amidst the sj^lcndours and finition of the beatific \asion. To that state all the pious on earth are tending. Heaven is attracting to itself whatsoever is congenial to 46 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. its nature, is enricliing itself with tlio spoils of earth, and coUecting mthin its capacious bo«om whatsoever is pure, permanent, and dirine ; leayini^ nothing for the last fire to consume but the objects .md slaves of cor- ruption ; whilst eveiy thing that gracvf) has prepared and beautified shall be selected from the beauties of tlie world, to adorn that eternal city which has no need of tlie sun or moon to shine in it, for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the lamb is the light thereof." There has existed in every age of the Avorld a longinf* after a state on earth more pure, permanent, and divine, than any yet realised. Travellers have explored al; realms, and poets have embodied their highest presentiments, and tradi- tions have handed do^^ll dim and distant recolh^ctions of departed beauty as pledges of its return. From Cain to Job, and from Job to Abraham, and from Abraham to Columbus, weary humanity has been in pursuit of a city that hath foimdations, and " desiring a better country, that is a heavenly." This glorious city is the response to these yearnings ; it is the coronal of the brightest hopes, — the consummation of the grandest prophecies, — the satisfaction of the deepest and most earnest yearnings of the human heart. It is plainly a literal city, — a material as well as moral structure, — for risen bodies as well as regenerated spirits ; and thus matter as well as mind and conscience AviU reach its perfection. This city will show what a renovated earth is capable of; what an aiTay of glory, order, harmony, and perfection this chaos shall become at the bidding of Him on whose head are many crowns. It AviU be that brilliant focus on which shall converge all tlie beams of material and moral gloiy which are at present scattered over all the realms of Deity. Its permanence, too, shall equal its perfection. There shall be no waning moons, and setting suns, and en- veloping night ; no flood, nor ebbmg tides, nor drifting snoMs, nor fi'osts, to injure the everlasting verdure of that scene. JS'o lightning shall smite its walls, or scathe its cedars ; nor whirlwind disturb its air, nor fire leave its black footprint in any of its dwellings. THE NEW jehusalem:. 47 Earth, thus restored, with Jerusalem its sublime capital, may be the great school of the uni^x-rse, — the sublime instructress of other worlds, and thus it may- play a part in the futiu'e that will cover all the shame of its fii'st aberration. These are truths which we should do well to study more. The contemplation of its approaching glory would dim all earthly lustre, and draw off oui- affec- tions from things seen to things unseen, and constrain us to confess that here we are j)ilgrims and strangers. We should feel, too, the force of the Apostle's appeal : — • '^ Seeing ye look for such things, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conyersation and godliness!" Does the prospect wing our souls with new zeal, and energy, and strength ? Does it lift jou above all that is grovelling and impure ? Just in as far as it elevates, sustains, and sanctifies us, do we believe it, and no fui'ther. Open yoiu' eyes to this brightness, and your hearts to this warmth and love, as the expect- ants of such a home. Its advent becomes nearer every- day; all things hasten it. Earthly cities are dissolv- ing ; kings are falling from their thrones ; nations are convulsed and agitated, as if struck successively by iiTesistible tempests ; the bonds and joints of the social fabric are being loosened and dissolved. " The cities of the nations fall." Great Babylon is coming into remembrance before God. These are the ''removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that these things that camiot be shaken may remain." Oh, let it not be forgotten that oiu' preparation for this glorious city is not an acquaintance with its mine- ralogical or geological characteristics, nor a poetic sym- pathy with its glory and pure splendour. We may be poets able to sing all sweet songs, and painters able to transfer to the canvas all bright scenes ; we may be able to group and catalogue the stars, describe and classify the flowers, and yet not be Christians. It is the pure in heart who shall see God. It is they who are like Christ, who shall live eternally with Him. It is holy character that abides for ever. The Xew Jerusalem is 48 APOaiLYPlIC SKETCHES. being prepared for those tv*1io have new hearts, new affinities, new affections, and new natures. Corruption cannot inherit its incoiTuption. Unsanctified feet may not tread its golden streets, nor impiu-e eyes rest upon its beauty, nor one uni'egenerate heart beat amid its blessedness. There is but one essential franchise — a new nature : ''Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." Xo qualification will be accepted as a substitute for this. Make sure of a new heart, and you may safely cal- culate on an entrance into this city. This is the only indispensable qualification. It matters not how obsuure, despised, or forgotten you may now be ; you may be renewed and sanctified, and made meet for this " inherit- ance of the saints in light," by that Holy Spirit who is promised to all that ask. ''If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your chilch^n, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Spirit to them that ask bun !" It is no superiority to the necessity of a xitdl moral and spiritual change, that you belong to the very highest orders in the realm. " Ye must be born again." ITothing besides is any other than respon- sibility. This alone is meetness for the inlieritance of the saints in light. LECTURE ly. THE SOUEOWLESS STATE. *' And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the talernacle of God is luith men, and he will dwell tvith them, and they shall he his people, and God him- self shall he icith them, and he their God. And God shall ivipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall he no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there he any more pain : for the former things are passed awayT — Eev. xxi. 3, 4. "We have seen the descent of the !N'ew Jerusalem, and endeavoured to describe that peculiarity of it — " the tabernacle of God with men" — or the disclosure of the shekinah in the midst of it : I now proceed to consider the emphatic relationship which is to be enjoyed by its people in the midst of it, — '' they shall be his people, and he shall be their God." This promise has been repeated since the world began. Patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, all have heard it. We are his by his own sovereign and everlasting choice : ''I have chosen you, ye have not chosen me ;" — " chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world," thus we were the objects of distinguishing mercy before the world began ; and eternity to come, or promised home, is only the response to the aboriginal purpose bf eternity past, the epoch of actualising of our predestination to *' an inheritance in- corruptible and unclcfiled, reserved in heaven for us." I do not here make an attempt to explain this truth ; election lies far above the reach of humanity ; it is a mysteiy, and I merely assert it as the unequivocal aimouncement of everlasting truth, reiterated and SECOND SEIIILS. £ 50 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. repeated, calmly and clearly, in scrijjture, as tlie ex- pression of the mind and pui-posc of God. "Whether we can harmonise it with our responsibility — another great docti-ine — or not, cannot affect its tiiith. God has said it, and it mnst be true. As such, and on such authority, let us receive it ; and " what we cannot see now we shall clearly see and know hereafter." Man's responsibility and God's soyereignty are truths — eternal tiTiths ; — their hannony is real, but not audible to us ; oui' ears are too deaf, our perceptions too blunt. The epoch of their contact — theu' focus — is not yet arrived ; it will be : wait patiently. 'We are the Lord's by XDiirchase ; we are not oui' o^vn, but bought ^^ith a price, the precious blood of a Lamb without spot. JS'othing we have is freehold ; He has redeemed us and all we have to himself. AYe are pro- perty— but not man's. The brightest gem in tlic Redeemer's cro^-n is the purchase of his precious death, an evidence of its virtue, a trophy of Calvaiy, and a niiiTor to an admixing miiverse of the majestic truth which placed it there. AYe are His by preoccupation : He has sent his Holy Spirit to take possession of his piu'chase — to inlay each soul with holiness — to keep each body as a hollowed temple, and each heart as a shrine of " whatsoever things are true, and beautiful, and just, and holy :" — " If any man have not the Spirit of Cluist, he is none of his." Christ in heaven prepares a place for us, and his Spiiit within us prepares us for that place. " This people have I formed for myself" is the inscription on every soul that shall dwell for ever in the ]S'ew Jerusalem. AYe are His by likeness. If this be so noAV, it shall be more so then. Prejudices and imperfections stain the beauty and dim the lineaments of that glorious like- ness noAV upon us ; so much so, that it is doubted, dis- puted, denied ; but then we know that we sludl be visibl}' like him, for " we shall sec him as he is." The sons of God are now hidden — '' the world knoweth us not." But then shall be the era of the " manifestation of the sons of God;" — that era for which creation THE SOEEOWLESS STATE. 51 groans ; — there shall then be no clifficnlty in distin- guishing whose we arc, for Christianity's grand auto- graph shall be legibly upon us. The great truths imprinted in oiu: hearts shall then have their illuminated counterparts upon oiu* faces, and our sonship shall be no more the conviction of faith, but the realisation of sense and sight ; all the jewels shall be seen — the living stones, the peculiar treasure : the saints of God shall be beheld no longer through a glass darkly, but face to face. It is also added, " God shall be their God," or as it might be read, " God Himself Immanuel, theii' God." God shall be seen in that present Christ so clearly, so fully, so gloriously, as we have never seen him before. That love, that once wept, and suffered, and died — that poured out itself in tears, in groans, in agonies, in death; — that sympathy, that wearied not in the sun- shine, and that faltered not in the storm, and exhausted itself in no circumstances ; that mercy that absolved the guilty ; that power that calmed the hurricane, healed the sick, and raised the dead ; — whatever in Deity is mighty, benevolent, gracious, good — shall be luminous in the Lamb of God upon his throne ; and all this shall be OTU's — ours ever — unchangeably ours ! This is the height, and essence, and coronal of all the promises ; it is the focal point in which they all meet ; it is the fulfilment of our deepest desires. That crown, that in- heritance in light, that city of God, shall be oiu's ! All this is good, but it is not all good unless God shall be oiu's ; and it will be so. This is better than all ; for it comprehends and exceeds all. If one say, ^'I will be yoiu- friend," we expect he ^^-ill lend us aU which that word comprehends; of the hiAvyer, the minister, the physician, who so pledge themselves, we expect the en- joTTnent of the excellences of each. Even so, if God say, *'I Avill be to you a God," we expect that all his attri- butes, will bo the wall around us ; and so it will be : everlasting light and gloiy, and wisdom, and beauty shall ever flow into us like a sea; each face shall be more glorious than the countenance of Moses. jS'othing short of this would satisfy us ; nothing less than God can fiU E 2 62 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. the vast capacities of au immortal soul. His gifts, and graces, and blessings camiot fill it, — Deity alone can. It was so meant at the beginning. This inheritance shall neither change nor fail . It is beyond the reach of the tides and transformations of time: *'I am the Lord, I change not :" the highest excellency of the creatiu^e may change, — ^'aU flesh is grass;" — ^' the world, and the fashion of it, passeth away." God remains an un- changeable, inexhaustible, and everlasting inheritance ; overflowing with joy after the lapse of a thousand millemiiums. Triily is it Avritten, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived, what God is to his people ! Happy art thou, 0 Israel ! A\Tio is like unto thee, 0 people, saved by the Lord, the shield of thy strength, and the sword of thine excellency?" Do we so hope ? Can we feel and say so ? Is this our relationsliip ? And this God, who shall be our God, " shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." Such is a prophecy of the happiness of those who are the citizens of the T^ew Jerusalem. AMiatever is ex- pressive of human enjoyment — of immunity from what- ever grieves and disquiets now — ^is here made tributary to this apocalj-pse of tlie future glory. The removal of tears is a blessed promise ; but mere removal is not all that is here meant; the words are literally rendered, " God shall wipe out {^t,a\ui[jEi) all tears (litea-ally eveiy tear) fi'om their eyes." This means that God will not comfort in sorrow, or dry up tears as they start i»k)Lllie_ into the eye, which is our experience here, — life being alternately tears and transports, weeping and rejoicing, — ^but that He mil extinguish the springs, or wipe out the very fountain of tears. Thus, tears cannot occiu- in the jS'cw Jerusalem ; there are no springs of tears in that city, no sources of weeping, no roots of bitterness, no elements of sorrow. In this dispensation tears have innumerable and in- exhaustible springs. No countenance gazes on the sky, THE SOllROAYLESS STATE. 53 on whicli tears have not fonnd a channel. " In the world ye shall have tiibulation," is a prophecy about the fiiliilmcnt of which there is no disjrate ; it has its fulfilment in all homes, and circumstances, and centuries, and all sorrowfully attest it. Look where you like in this age, and you will see springs of tears ; look where you lilvc in the !N"ew Jerusalem, and you will not find one single spring of tears. Those losses and disappoint- ments which are the occurrences of every day, "^dll be impossible in the Millennium. We shall no more behold sunshine suddenly enveloped in clouds, and j)roj)erty the accumulation of years of industiy suddenly swept away, and the heirs of plenty suddenly made orphans — beggars! Here, an unexpected turn in the tide of ever-fluctiiating feeling leaves you on the sands, an irretrievable wreck ; and props you thought permanent as the rocks, melt away under unexpected and mysterious influences. There is no spot here sheltered from the stoiTQ at every point of the compass ; no pinnacle which, if raised above the floods of the earth, is not therefore more exposed to the scathing lightnings of the sky. In the new Jerusalem, the spiing and sources of un- certainty, and injuiy, and decay, are utterly removed. Time does not waste, and eternity does not impair, the inheritance in light ; the bread of carefulness is no longer eaten, and thieves there do not break through and steal ; the crown of thorns is exchanged for the crown of glory, and the perishable tabernacle of this life for the '' house not made with hands," and the dim tapers of this dispensation for the emerald glories of a better. Another spring of tears on earth are the bitter be- reavements which chequer the common lot. These are confined to no circle, and prevented by no circumstances; they are the experience of humanity. Our relatives in eternity at this moment outnumber our relatives in time ; — the memory of the oldest is the picture-galh ry of the greatest number of the dead. "Widows and orphans are here the lasting evidences of tears. Bat " no tears " there, is the characteristic of the future. Sickness shall not waste, nor years wear down. 54 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. nor sin taint, nor cares wrinkle, onr immortal yonth, nor Death find one victim for his realms, nor Diseast! any food to feed on, nor Sorrow a subject. jS'o mourners shall be seen in the streets of the oS'ew Jerusalem ; no hatchments on its walls, no funeral procession amid the aisles of that cathedral whose size is all space, and no sound of weeping, or of woe, or funereal chant, amid the songs of saints and the anthems of seraphim. The deepest spring of tears shall not be there. Anxieties and vexations of innumerable kinds are our inheritance here. Broken hearts are in palaces, and sleepless nights are not unknown on beds of down, and bleeding hearts beat heavily beneath royal purple, and cold shadows fall at times on the brightest family. We are noAV too remote from the Sun of Righteousness to be exempt from these. His rising is yet too low. In the New Jerusalem these are all exiles for ever ; there is no footing for them ; no word for them; they exist in recol- lection only, and are neither felt nor feared in that new and pure experience of the soul. Tears, too, are shed in this dispensation, under a sense of the presence of sin. There is felt here "a godly sorrow :" — '' the good I woidd I do not " grieves many a heart. This mourning shall be audible till lost in the tones of that glorious jubilee ; I'liese tears shall sprinkle the tlu'cshold of the gates of entrance to the City of God, and then cease for ever ; the distance of infinitude shall stretch b(?tween sin and saints in glory. J^othing that defileth can enter, or create fever in a single soul, or awaken sorrow in any breast. Want shall not tempt to do wrongly, nor passion to do rashly, nor prejudice to act blindly. There will be nothing to repent of, or to confess, and therefore no tears of penitence can start into light there. Tears are now shed from looking at the state of the w^orld around us. '' Hi vers of tears run down my cheeks because men keep not thy law." ** Oh that my head Avero waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that T migkt weep for the slain of the daughter of my people !" Jesus even wept as he looked on Jerusalem, THE SOEEOWLESS STATE. 55 and Paul grieved as he beheld Athens wholly given to idolatry. The world, as it is, creates much sorrow in a Christian's heart. Such tears are impossible in that happier state : there the wilderness shall rejoice, and every rock of earth shall be a part of Eden, and every inhabitant holy as happy. There arc tears nov\^ at the limited spread of Chris- tianity on earth. We grieve that eighteen centuries of its existence have left so faiut an impress on the earth ; and we only lament the more when we see the reason of it in ourselves, our disputes, our selfishness, our sins. There are tears, too, at the injury done to the Gospel by the inconsistencies of professing Christians. The loudest profession is found out to be the most dexterous deception, — Chiistianity is used as a vehicle to power or wealth ; and sceptics blaspheme, and worldlings are hardened; demons triumph, and Christians weep. There are tears because we can do so little good. We see much to be done, and feel little able to do it ; our desLiTs outi'im oui' possibilities of good, and we feel as if we were but cumberers of the ground. The world, itself, too, is a fountain of tears : — '' we who are in this tabernacle groan, being bui'dened." — *' This is not our rest," is wiitten upon the earth that now is, by our tears ; the whirlwind is not the eagle's eyrie, the ocean is not the sailor's home, nor the battle- field the soldier's rest, nor this world the Christian's. We feel desu-es which notlung here can gi^atify ; capa- cities which created things cannot fill; and longings after a purity, a penuanence, a beauty, and a glory, never realised since the departing footsteps of Adam and Eve were heard at the gates of Paradise. Our souls en- large with our possessions ; the horizon widens as we survey it, and we leave the earth just when our minds are ripest. A thousand voices cry aloud, This is not your rest ! — and responsive echoes within us repeat it. These tears shall all be wiped away, — these springs of tears shall be annihilated. This removal is by the Lord himself; that hand that was pierced for us shall dry our tears ; He retrieved us 56 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. from perdition, He sustains us in our course; and crowns the tender mercy in which he first visited us, with the hist. act of loving kindness, — '*He shall wipe away all tears from aE eyes." This removal is entire. 'Not one tear, or soui'ce of te£ir, shall be left ; and, like the spring, the power and pain of weeping shall be put away. It is as certain as it is entire. As sure as you weep now, so sure ye shall be comforted. His love makes the promise; his power performs it. '''All his pro- mises are yea and amen ;" and such joys and consola- tions as you experience here — and these are not few — are prelibations, and earnests, and foretastes of that richer repast he is providing for you. A few more years of conflict — -of prayer, and patience, and hope, and ye that " sow in tears shall reap in joy;" — and the gloiy of the result convince you how truly the Apostle calculated — " I reckon that the suflerings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed." In that blessed state there shall not be seen the tears of despaii'. Judas wept — 'his tears fell like dew — and no forgiveness carried consolation to his soul, and no hand of compassion wiped away tears from his eyes. Such tears are not known in the New Jerusalem. There is there no Judas' guilt, and therefore no Judas' tears. — Nov will there be there the tears of hj-pocrisy. We are apt to forget that a tear, as well as a kiss, can betray ; there may be as little sorrow in the one as affection in the other. Saul might be found among the prophets to-day, and among the penitents to-morrow, and a hj^ocrite in both. There skall be no tears at a sense of sin in our hearts, for it shall be put away utterly and for ever ; nor at the experience of j^lague and famine, its stern avengers, for tlicse have no place in tliat glorious city ; nor even the feeling of an absent Lord, who seems often on earth to withdraw himself, for there we are for ever with the Lord ; nor at the wickedness of our own familiar friend, or the i-iigratitudc of the largest recipient of our bounty, for such manifestations are no THE SORHOWLESS STATE. 57 part of that blessed apocalypse. The benediction that came down upon ns so softly here, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted," is not heard in that state ; there we shall not " look on Him we have pierced, and weep," nor shall we ''weep when we remember >Sion," nor ''hang our harps on the willows," nor sing with sighs the Lord's song in a foreign land. Voices we have listened to with ecstasy shall never be stnick dumb; forms we have beheld with admu'ation amid the light of the Lamb shall never pass away. ISTo sod shall hide from our sight the dead we love. It shall not be true then, " Our days are like a shadow, and we are withered like grass." The transitory is lost in the eternal — the pains, the vexations, the tears of this humanity, in the pleasures, the joys, the glories of immortality. Years will heap themselves on years, and not one symptom of old age shall appear. Twice ten hundred years will roll round their millennial cycle, and there shall be no fear of dj-ing — all the sources of fear, of sorrow, of disquiet, shall be diied up, and the grand temple of that scene where there is no temple, shall never echo a groan, or glisten with a tear. In this dispensation Ave are comforted in sorrow ; in the future we shall be comforted from sorrow. Perhaps your tears flow doAATi upon the wrecks of what once was yours — precious and hard-earned. " It is given you to suffer ;" " whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." You are brought to sorrow now, that you may hereafter sorrow no more : -the loss of your estate is perhaps the gain of your soul — the withering of your gourd your inducement to seek after the tree of life. Are your tears pressed out by a poignant sense of reproaches, heaped undeservedly upon you ^ Do you say now, " For thy sake I have home reproach?"' Are you therefore sad? "If ye be re- proached for the name of Christ, happy are ye ; for the Spii'it of glory and of God resteth upon you." A day comes when all reproach shall be rolled away like the clouds, and clear and beautiful as the stars beyond shall your spirits shine in the firmament of the New Heaven. 68 ATocALrrxic sketches. Those malevolent passions which have covered the "udde earth "svith wrecks — pride, ambition, revenge, en\y, deceit, and malice, shall be extinguished, and not one- trace of the havoc they created shall outlive the last flame. The Napoleons, and Caesars, and Alexanders of the earth are displaced, and the niches of renown they desecrated by theii' presence are filled up and made beautiful by the noble army of martyrs, the goodly fel- lowship of the prophets, the glorious company of the Apostles. There shall exist among these not one malig- nant passion — across those calm brows shall not sweep the shadow of a malevolent feeling — in those happy hearts shall nestle no emotion but love. Keason shall be illumined with perfect truth ; affection shall be wide as love ; desii'e shall ever rmi parallel with duty, and the soul rise and soar perpetually toward infuiite per- fection; and this harmony of all things within with all things without shall leave no room for tears and sorrow. Names that are now memorials of glorj^ shall be expunged from our recollection; battle-fields and vic- tories, and slaughtered battalions shall be forgotten ; the discordant drum and the shrill life shall be hushed eternally; the red eye of battle shall be closed, and the lightnings of war that have blazed over Europe, and made cities volcanoes, and nations ashes, shall be quenched for ever; and mothers shall not weep over their slain sons, nor widows bewail the conflicts of humanitj^, nor refugees see from afar the ascending smoke of the flames of homestead and happy rooftree. The cause of truth shall be transferred fi^om an appeal to the sword to peace and love. Plague and x>cstilencc shall not turn great capitals into the catacombs of the dead, nor bleak winds and premature frosts disappoint the expectations of the husbandman. Hospitals for the sick, and asylums for the aged, and refuges for the destitute — these mingled memorials of the suft'erings and the charities of himianity, shall li^^e only in our reminiscences. There shall be no dread of death, nor any precursory disease. Life shall cease to be tragedy in any. To live and to be happy THE SOEKONYLESS STATE. 59 shall be one. Funeral chant, and grave, and c^^ress, are gone ; a new genesis has overtaken the earth. Eden ends, as Eden began, its history. The Crescent, that has ^vave4 over so much ciime and cruelty — «o much guilt in power, and so sore suffering in innocence; that has treated conscience, and resjDon- sibility, and heart, and judgment, as if these were meant to be the passive instruments of tp-anny, and neither to utter nor to feel the thi'obbings of indignant protest; which has called ignorance religion, and fanaticism de- votion, and cruelty the highest duty — shall be swept off the earth from which it has so long intercepted the pure light of heaven. That fell apostasy which grew out of the cori'uption of the Gospel, and has rivalled Mahometanism in some of its most iniquitous characteristics, and has made the Crucifix and the Breviary as significant of cruelty and wrong- doing as the Crescent and the Koran ; which has substituted blind credulity for enlightened belief — sub- stituted the decisions of synods for the truths of the Spirit of God, and relation to the Church for personal union to the Lord ; which has taught robbers to say the Apostles' Creed before they sally forth on theii' unholy mission, and to render thanks to the Yii'gin Marj^ over theii' plunder ; which stained the streets of Paris with tears and blood on St. Bartholomew's day, and the stones of Smithfield on earlier occasions ; which has made its places of po^er Aceldamas, and has furnished the mate- rials of the saddest chi^onicles in the history of nations, — shall be cast, like a millstone, into the depths of the sea, and thus cease to be the scoui'ge of men, the perse- cutor of the saints, and the dishonoui-er of Christ. The Ganges shall no more bear to the sea the ashes of widows consumed on the fimcral pjTC of theii' husbands ; nor shall the car of Juggernaut crush its wretched devo- tees; nor shall the goiy cjinitar, or the blazing torch, depopulate the hamlets of India. This woe-struck earth shall be emancipated from this tlu^aldom, its groans sliall cease, and its last pang be tlie birth-throe of a new and more glorious scene. 60 APOGiXTPTIC SKETCHES. The last shock that loosens all the kings of the earth from their thrones, shall serve only to clear the wrj for the approach of the Prince of the kings of the earth ; and the flame that Trraps this earth in its fire-shroud, shall only light believers to their millennial rest ; and that holy hand which sweeps from the T^ew Heaven and jN'ew Earth every defiling element, and whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, shall wipe away all tears from all the eyes of them who are to gaze with unspeakable joy upon that restored and regenerated crea- tion, in which this song shall be sung T\ith an empha- sis and fulness with which it has never been sung before : " Make a joyfid noise unto the Lord, all the earth ; make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise. Let the sea roar the fulness thereof — the world and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands, let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth : with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity." " There shall be no more death." Here Death revels. The dead in our world outnumber our living — there are more graves than houses — the inhabitants below the soil are far more numerous than those who are above it. Death is in the palace, in the hall, in the hovel — the country and the city — in mountain and valley — in all seasons and in all soils — in ripeness and decay — in the withered gi^ass, the blasted flower, the wasted rock, the tideless heart. iN'one are beyond his reach, and none are beneath his notice. The brow that is smooth and beautiful to-day, shall in a few years be grooved out with wrinkles, like the brown sea-sand which the tide of life is leaving. Life, like water, finds its level in the grave ; and its fall is just enough to turn the wheel of life. But in that new and glorious state, flower and fruit shall bloom in amaranthine beauty; its loveliest thing shall last the longest ; it streams sliall flow in im- mortality, its x^cople live for ever. "Widowhood and orphanage, and disease and death, are unknown. Life shall be the everlasting heritage of the saints of (lod — a life of joy, of holiness, of happiness, and peace all. THE SOREOWLESS STATE. 61 The cessation of tears is placed on tliis special gro\ind, that ''there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor ciying, neither shall there be anj more pam." Death in this dispensation seizes on all things seen ; it collects its spoils from youth and age, beauty and de- formity. Its footprints are to be traced in every depart- ment of the creation. The geologist detects the proofs of his presence in the deepest excavations, in subterranean chambers, in mines, in fossils, in petrifactions, and in gigantic remains old as the history of the present collo- cation of the earth. The botanist hears annually his oft-proceeding foot- fall in the shrill winds, and the dropping leaves, and the fading flowers. Even the asti'onomer thinks he sees in the moon, not the beauty of an untainted orb and an unfallen population, but evidences of gigantic wreck and wide-spread ruin, as if the attendant of the earth had felt the shock and shares in the fallen grandeur of the superior planet. In our frame it needs not the eye of the physiologist to detect the seeds of death, or the multiplpng proofs of its approach. "All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass ; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof fadeth away, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever." " It is appointed unto all men once to die." " Man Cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down ; he flecth also as a shadow, and continueth not." But these the findings of science, and these the asser- tions of scripture, shall cease to be true of that new and glorious experience into which the sons of God shall enter. The body shall deposit in the grave all it contracted by sin, and earth shall surrender to its last baptismal fii'es all it has inherited by sin, and tree-like it shall flourish by the waters of life, and we shall be ever happy under its shadow, i^or shall anything occui' in the shining cycles of millennial felicity to remind us of death. " It is a world whei-e every loveliest thing Lasts longest; where decay hfts never head 62 ATOCA-LYPTIC SKETCHES. Above the grossest forms, and matter here Is all transparent substance; the flower fades not. But every eve givts forth a fragrant light, Till by degrees the spirit of each flower Essentially consuming the fair frame Retines itself to air; rejoining thus The archetypal* stores where nature dwells In pre-existent immortality. The beautiful die never here — Here are no earthquakes, storms, nor plagues. The skies, like one wide rainbow, stand in gold — The clouds are light as rose leaves, and the dew Is of tlie tears which stars Avee]), sweet with joy. The air is softer than a loved one's sigh; The ground is glowing with all priceless ore, And glistening with gems hke a bride's bosom." !Nor shall there be any more sorrow — that secret and deep sorrow which cannot find tears. Sorro^v^ is the heir-loom of humanity ; its records arc found in the tapestry of royal halls, and in the clii-oniclcs of hamlets. There arc aching hearts where no teai's arc seen, and sorrows too deep for sighs ; there arc martyrs without visible faggots and flames. This, too, shall be done away, for there shall be no more soitow. What sorrow has been felt in the hearts of parents at the wayward and criminal conduct of childiTn ! What sorrow has circled round and crusted the spirit of ardent philan- thropy, as it received ingratitude for its recompense from those for whom it sufl:ered and sacrificed ! Who has not been forced at times and und(^r circumstances of singular misfortune to exclaim with the patriarch, " All these things are against me !" And even those voices of con- solation that have cheered and sustained us, have been A'oices crying in the wilderness, and bearing on their v>'ings the wilderness air. Under its most favourable aspects — in circumstancrs of weaitli, of lionour, of free- dom; under pui7)le, ermine, and hiAvu, there are heavy hearts Avhich sorrow penetrates as does the dew the soil, and each knows best its o^^'n bitterness. Many a liand holds a cup filled from that wliich ovei-floAved in (jletlisemane — hesitating to lift it to the li])S that pray, *' O my Pather, if it be possible, let this cup pass from THE SOKROWLKSS STATE. 63 me." There are brows still, about which are crowns of thorns ; and Christianity still t;^kes np its cross and follows Jesus. Many a Shunamite woman, when asked, '' Is it well with thee ? is it well with thy husband ? is it well with thy child ?" answers, "It is w^eU," while her heart is breaking. The sorrows of men are as vai'ied as their circumstances. But in this new age, as no tear will rush into the eye, no sorrow ^vi]l vex the lieart. Here joy enters into the heart; there the heart shall enter into joy. Our days, like the hours on the sun-dial, shall be measured by sunshine. " The ransomed of the Lord shaU come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads ; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." The whole brood of sin shall be excluded. AYhatever it brought into the world shall be swept out of it ; what- ever man forfeited shall be restored, and that restored estate more beautiful and more precious a thousandfold. And this shaU add intensely to every element of joy, that there shall be no possibility of apostasy, nor tcmpV ation to it. Set your affections on this future apocalypse of joy, of beauty, and of happiness. It is revealcxl, not as a specimen of poetry, or for the gratification of mere human feelings of delight ; but to draw up our hearts to its clear and unclouded sunshine ; to enable us to look with comparative indifference on the gilded toys and bright glare of the things of this life, and so pass as sti-angers and pilgrims, looking for a city that hath foundations. Sustained and inspired by so bright a hope, we may wtU bear patiently the afflictions of this present life. These will only render the future more welcome, and, if possible, more beautiful by contrast. The weary tra- veller enjoys best his home ; the child sleeps sweetest after crying. The Aveaiy Chiistian, who experienced no respite from his conflicts on earth, and descended to the grave exhausted and all but overcome ; who passed through much tribulation ; who bled, fainted, and failed 64 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. by the way, — will enjoy the refreshment of that rising morning, and feel it worthy of the name by which he had often anticij^ated il on earth, *' the rest that remaineth for the people of God." Tell others of its prospects. Show them the way. If it be precious to us, let us not try to monopolize it. AYe shall enjoy it just in proportion as we labour to extend it to others : it grows by diffusion ; it decreases by hoarding LECTURE V. ALL THINGS NEW. " Se that sat upon tJie throne said, Belwld, I maJce all things neiv. And he said unto me, Write : for these ivords are true and faithful. ^^ — Eey. xxi. 5. These words indicate the vast material transformation of which our earth will be the subject dming the mil- lennial epoch — our resiuTection bodies shall not undergo a gi-eater change. The Creator of earth, who sits on the throne, is here declared to be its Regenerator ; and by referring to Eey. v. 6, we ascertain the permanent character in which he sits upon the tlu-one : '' And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne stood a Lamb as it had been slain" (wc ka^ayfiLvov^ as if just slain in sacrifice). It is therefore the Lamb upon the throne who thus makes all things new. This throned one is the most august and wondrous spectacle in heaven or earth. It is the symbol of suffering continued amid the pageantry of royal rank. He who hung upon the tree reigns on the seat of empire ; the hand holds the sceptre that once clenched the nail ; the brow wears many crowns around which was a wi'eath of thorns ; he who could barely find a grave has found a thi'one ; he whom men execrated rules over all. The crucified is seen in the glorified ; the man of sorrows is ^^ hid in the maj esty of the King of kings - ' Thus Jesus retains within the veil, and will retain for ever, the marks of suffering. These traces in Him who is on the throne are the memorials of the most solemn fact ever done in time ; the epochal hour of time, the central act of Providence — the crucifixion. His last cry on Calvary is thus perpetuated in multiplied SECOND SERIES. IS 66 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. echoes ; the destroyer of death is ever associated with the death by which he destroyed it. His sacrifice is too stiii3endous a fact ever to he forgotten. It remains an eternal phenomenon. This is hononr. Tliis shame is higher, holier, brighter than all hononr. Tliese wounds were the weapons of his victory ; tliis suffering was the battle that ended in our salvation. Heaven is not ashamed of it, should we ? AYe are thankful he is thus a throned, as he was once a crucified, Christ. If he had never died, no mercy would be possible ; if he had never risen and reigned, none could reach us. His death makes oui' salvation possible, his life renders it actual. He be- stows from the throne what he purchased on the cross, so making good as a King what he merited as a Priest. It is thus that every blessing we receive is a throne bless- ing as weU as a crown blessing. The c^q^ress and the palm, battle and victory, shame and glory, death and life, cross and croAvn, are the warp and woof of that robe of righteousness which is the only costume of the Millennium. Humanity in its tendcrest aspect is thus in the closest presence of Deity. The Incarnate One is there. My flesh is there. I have not only relatives — parents and childi-en — but my Elder Erother, yea, closer than a brother, preoccupjdng a seat, and preparing all things new for me. It is he who says, ** I make all things new." '' By Him all things were made," sin excepted, which is a blot, an intei-polation. All things — rock, mountain, river, sea, star, moon, and sun — emmet, eagle, elephant — heathbell, oak, and forest — all Averc made by him, and still bear indelible traces of his power, benevolence, and godhead. AVe still hear his voice in the thunder, and see his glory in the liglitning, and feel the pulses of his life in all that lives. At fij^st all things were made *' very good." Sin, however, entered, and death by sin, and these have marred and mutilated the fiiir face of things. The bright mirror is broken, but its fragments show how beautiful it was. The glorious temple is un- roofed, and the shechinah is quenched, and its altars are cold, and weeds luxuiiate in it, and all venomous reptiles ALL THINGS KEW. 67 crawl and breed in it ; bnt its dilapidated walls, and its broken columns, and the live sparks that leap occasion- ally from the smouldering ruin, indicate in some degree what it was. It shall not be left so for ever. The Creator is to come forth again as its llegenerator. Deity will, as Deity alone can, remake all. He will harmonise all its discords — allay its fever — and expunge the foul blot of sin which was dropped upon Eden by Satan, and has radiated to its circumference. Then his autograpli shall be written and made legible on all — the weakest thing shall express his power, and the most defective thing his excellency. The sea, ever gazing upward, shall miiTor on its sleepless eye the immensity of God. The dew- drops on every acre of grass shall sparkle with his love, and earth itself shall be the bright jewel on which his Ilfame shall be visibly engraven ; and tree, and plant, and flower — oak, and hyssop, and mountain daisy, shall show whatever beauty they wear is borrowed from his smile, and whatever fi\agrance they exhale is derived from his breath ; and they shall render to him their thanksgiving, by consecrating all they are to beautify the j)lace of his feet ; and these new heavens and new earth shall be one grand Eolian harp, over w^hose strings the Spirit of God shall sweep, and draw out inex- haustible harmonies. Thus Creation shall become a meet supplement to Revelation, and Providence a com- mentary on both. The temple shall be open day and night, and animate and inanimate nature shall lift up ceaseless incense, and unite its thousand-voiced psalm of praise. Time shall be a perpetual Sabbath, and all things shall be worship. The sun shall have no spot, the sky no cloud, the year no autumn, earth no graves. '' He said unto me, Write." I showed you, in our exposition of the chapter that describes the Eeformation, that ''write" means hear, attend, take special notice; and " write not," means disregard, despise the order. '' AVrite," in this place, denotes the absolute certainty of the fulfilment of these promises : it teaches us that all obstiniction shall be swept awav — all opposition F 2 68 ArOCALYPTIC .SKETCHES. dissolved, as an icicle in the sun. iMaii's Tvord may ho successfully resisted, but the word of the Lord endureth f^r ever. It is now written — it shall soon be actual. Hope still, desponding believer ! turn yoiu' weeping face eastward, and know that, notwithstanding clouds and eclipses, and evil augui'ies, the Orb of day "wdll rise in beauty, and reign for over. '' Earth shall be full of his glory;" ''all nations shall be blessed in him;" " he shall reign for ever." AMiat is prophecy now shall soon be performance — words and deeds are alike to Deity. ''It is done" — the prophecy is ^viitten; the perfonnance will soon overtake it. The spectacle of the . new heaven and the new earth shall soon emerge from the last fire. All that obstructs it shall give way. The name of Christ shall supersede every name. The first name, Christian, pronounced in sconi at Antioch — wi'itten frequently in blood — covered with reproaches, and muti- lated by sects, shall be heard in music in the everlasting jubilee — it shall be inscribed on the throne, and in the light of the glory of the Lord shine with imperishable beauty. The kingdoms of this world are then tlie king- doms of our God and of his Christ. As if to convince us of the ability of Him who sits upon the thi^one to accomplish all, he introduces himself under another name: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and ending." A shallow scepticism would seize on this as a con- tradiction. How can one bo alpha and omega, first and last, " be^hining and ending," at the same time? So equally contradictory to us is the sublime description of Deity, " Avhich is, and was, and which is to come." But arc not all the ideas which relate to Deity seem- ingly contradictory to us ? Infinity, Eternity, the Trinitj', all overflow the earthen vessels that seek to contain them ; and in our pride we pronounce that a tjontradiction which we should only adore in humility and awe. Clirist is the beginning and ending of aU — the archetype, and the agent, and the issue of aU.. \Yhatever wisdom has been expressed by combining the letters of the alphabet— -whatever tnith has been told — AXL THINGS NEW 69 Whatever of true beauty poets have simg, or painters pourtrayed, or statuaries sculptured — whatever of science and literature sages have sought or luiiversitics havo taught, — are all in the great alpha and omega of time and eternity. Chiist is the beginning and the end of all, the harmony and perfection of all, the light and the life of all ; and even those disclosures which have been rashly quoted as inimical to his truth, and incompatible with his word, shall be seen to have been misappre- hended by man, but never to have missed their coui'se to his presence, or failed in their contiibution to his glory. As Christ is the beginning and ending, all things shall praise him as such ; and all his people consecrated to be his priests in the I^ew Jerusalem shall present all things to him as acceptable incense. Then shall his command be universally obeyed — '^ Give unto the Lord, je kindi'eds of the earth, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord glory due unto his name." " Christ will send us clown the angels, And the whole earth and the skies Will be illumed by altar candles Lit for blessed mysteries ; And a priest's hand through creation Wavetli calm and consecration." As all things are thus to be made new, I need scarcely repeat that all the inhabitants of that new city must be made new creatures too. '^ This great change begins on earth." It takes place now or never. It is ^N^ritten, *' If any man be in Christ, he is a new creatui'c ; all tilings are become new.'' If then we are the prejwred denizens of the ISTew Jerusalem, we must have passed through a great change. '* We are born again." *' We are the sons of God." Let us try ourselves in the sight of God, and by the light of his word. If in oiu' experience all things have become new, we have found a new object of worship. Self became the centre of love and the object of worsliip at the fall. " Ye shall be as gods ! " was the successful temptation; and ever since, the agg; audisement, and elevation, and supremacy of "I" 70 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. has been the thirst of fallen nature. But now ^' I " gives place to *' I am that I am," — the law of self to the love of God ; and He who only is worthy fills the whole soul with his glory. A new object of pursuit also turns up, and shines before us ; it is no longer self- aggrandisement, but the glory of God. Man learns and lives the first question in the catechism, — " Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever." It is no longer the grand question, AVill this profit me? but, Is this accordant with the will, and conducive to the glory of God ? AVhether he eats or drinks, he does all to the glory of God ; and thus his least and loftiest acts — liis most public and most private — have each and all a sublime aim, a holy significancy. Each day grows into a Sabbath ; each meal is covered with a sacramental glory ; and all his thoughts and actions and intercoui'se with mnn- kind, become perpetual worship. He seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and walks with new and beautiful feet the rugged paths of life, ever feeling, and ever prapng, — *' JN'ot my will but Thy will be done." This new creature, thus ripening for the IS'ew Jeru- salem, among other things become new, has new views of God. Once God was present to his mind only as an enraged and avenging Deity, whose footprints on earth were the traces of his travelling to judgment. The waters of baptism to his eyes sparkled with "w^ath ; the communion table was darkened with an awful and fore- boding cloud ; and every voice of God, in the sanctuary or in the world, sounded to his car like Sinai's trumpet. The only happiness he felt was that which grew up in the chasm within him, out of which he had expelled all the impressions of God : to feel no God was his greatest peace — to run from him his ceaseless effort — and the prospect of eternity was terrible, because it was the certainty of encountering God. Old things are now passed away — all has become new. He sees in God no longer the avenging God, but the reconciled Father; he hears his voice, sweet and beautiful as is the music of the spheres; and round about his throne he sees the rainbow, ALL THrN"GS NEW. 71 and oyer him mercy and tmtli ai^e met together, and righteousness and peace have kissed each other. He has now confidence in God ; perfect love casts out fear. God's law is felt to be perfect liberty; his will, the happiness of His people ; and all he has revealed, the expression of his everlasting love. The presence of God, the new creature feels to be its chiefest joy. It is from the very heart that he cries — " A\Tiom have I in heaven, but Thee ? And there is none upon the earth I desire besides Thee." In all his ways he acknowledges God ; in all his experience he sees the shadow of the hand of God, and from all depths and heights he praises Him. In trouble he flees to God for comfort ; in pros- perity he looks to Him for direction ; and at all times he walks with God as Enoch and JN^oah. He in whose experience all things are become new, has new views of the Lord Jesus Clirist. Once he thought his name a very musical close to a prayer ; a charm in trouble ; an ''Open, Sesame," at the doors of the kingdom of heaven, but no more. He had no spiritual and scriptural views of His character, and offices, and work ; no right conception of what he had accomplished, or what his atonement had done for us. JS'ow he sees him and his work in a new light. He views him as the great medium of intercourse between heaven and earth ; as the ransom of our souls ; the propitiation for our sins ; the Lord our Righteousness ; in whom all the promises are yea and amen, and all the attributes of Deity our defence, and all the law oiu" friend. His name is felt to be above every name in value, and his work that precious result iiTcspective of which heaven had been removed far beyond the hope of sinners. Such a one has received new views of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Once he supposed the Spirit to be a mere figure of speech — a name applied in common with many others to God. ISTow, a new light has broken in upon his mind ; he feels he can neither think nor do what is good, or holy, or just, unless by the inspii^ation of the Spirit of God, and that he needs for salvation as truly the sanctifying enorgj- of the Holy Spii'it, as he 72 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. needs tlie atoning blood and jiistif\ing righteousness of the Son of God. AYe soon Icam that we have neither taste nor capacity of pure and spiritual religion till He create it; nor lite, nor saving light till He produce it; and thus the work of the Holy Spirit becomes to him who is the subject of its power, a great, a living, and glorious truth; his quickener, his comforter, his teacher. He receives new ideas of the word of God. To him the Bible was once a dull and uninteresting volume, in which he could find little to enlighten his miud, or interest his heart. He has discovered in it glorious tniths ; he has heard sounding in it celestial music — the very voice of God, the very accents of eternity. He sees it to be a storehouse of all his soul needs; a sea, whose floor is covered with precious gems and pearls, from which he that dives deepest and oftenest brings up the greatest number ; a book that surpasses all in interest and im- portance. It is his study by day, his meditation by night. He regards it as the very vicegerent of God ; the oracle he has erected for us ; our TJrim and Thummim ; our pillar of cloud in the wilderness by day, and our pillar of fire by night. He tests all religious opinions, sentiments, and theories by it. He listens to the most eloquent preachers with ''Thus saith the Lord" sounding in the depths of his heart ; and Avhat is not in the Eible he is com-inced is not essential to our salvation, and what is there he reverences as if he saw God bow the heavens, and heard his words clearly and unequivocally from the sky. ^or arc his \dews of the Sabbath less altered. He re- collects when he felt it to be the most dreaded and the dullest day of the seven, no less on account of its dreary services, than its distasteful topics ; and he rejoiced when the shadows closed upon its eve, and gave him the pros- pect of six days of congenial employment. No change has passed upon the Sabbath ; it comes now as it came in Jerusalem, in Antioch, and wherever saints have met, and Jesus has manifested himself. But a change has passed on the man— the Christian is a new creature ; and the Lord's day with otlier things lias become new also : ALL THINGS NEW. 73 he hails it as a respite from the world — a silent hoiir amid its din, "when all its wheels stand still, — a foretaste of Eden, — an acre of Paradise saved from the mildew of the fall, and still blooming in its primsgval beanty, rendered yet more so by the consecrating touch of Him who defined it anew, and made it the special hour of the • manifestation of himself to those whom he had chosen out of the world. Such a one has also new ideas of his own state. Once he thanked God he was " not as other men ; " he now prays — "God be merciful to me a sinner!" Once he thought he had at least a good heart, notwithstanding many faults ; now he feels his heart was then deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and he prays still — " Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me." Once he said — " All these things have I kept from my youth upward ; " but now, " I have sinned in thought, and word, and deed, and broken thy laws, and vexed thy Spirit, and am rmworthy of the least of all thy mercies, and am the chiefest of sinners." It is when we see ourselves just as sin has left us, and in the light of eternal ti'uth, that we form a right estimate of oiu' real deserts. For pride and self-confidence we learn humility, — a grace least appreciated by man, and yet most beautiful before God : — " The bird that soars on highest wing Builds on the ground her lowly nest; And he that doth most sweetly sing, Sings in the shade when all things rest. In lark and nightingale we see What honour hath humility " Wherever beats the humble heart, there the Spiiit of God has built a temple for his residence. Such a one has new and nobler views of others also. Once he regarded others with positive hostility or indif- ference ; his charity, if it began any^^^here at all, began where it ended, at home. " Am I my brother's keeper?" is the real expression of what he felt ; and if at any time he spared a sympathy for others, it was during some severe pressure, when, for the sake of appearances, he 74 APOaiLYPTIC SKETCHES. was compellGd to contribute to the neeessitj^ of others. Self has ceased to be the circTiiuference of his charity ; he sees in the meanest a brother, and in the recipient of his beneficence the outstretched hand of the Son of God. His heart thrills ^\•ith new sjTnpathies, and gloAVs ^^'ith a divine love ; a love that ministers alike to the spii'itual and temporal necessities of mankind, and feels how little is done Avhile an5i;hing remains to be done. To be a fellow worker with Christ, — to make the widow's heart sing for joy, — to mitigate the ravages of sin, even v.'herc he cannot see the extirpation of its venom, — to kindle on the weary face of humanity the rays of hope and joy, and to light upon the world a shower of blessings wherever he can be felt, is the new and nobler desire that now actuates his soul. His joys are also new, in their origin and their nature too. His former joys were either sensual, and expressed in ''Eat and di'ink, for to-morrow we die ; " or sinful, as derived fi'om sinful causes ; or merely intellectual, and arising from the cultivation and exercise of intellect. Beyond such springs of joy he kncAV none. He has now tasted the joy of the Lord, — the joy that arises from the knowledge of Chiist, and of the success of truth, and the triiunphs of grace. The tidings of the word of God being ti-anslated into some new tongue, — of the cross of Christ penetrating the hearts, and drawing forth the love of some semi-barbarous race, of the progress of pure re- ligion,— of disinterested benevolence, — of devotedness, — of self-sacrifice, delight his heart ; it is thus he sympa- thises with Christ in his joy, and proves himself one training for citizenship in the Kew Jerusalem. His sorrows, too, are not the world's son'ows. He grieves at its sufi'erings, but still more at its sins ; he sees in human suft'ering a termination ; but to human sin none, but the second death. The lledeemer's sorrow is his ; its springs are his also. His hopes, too, are new. '' Christ in him the hope of glory," is his blessed possession. This hope maketh not ashamed ; it stretches beyond tlie stars, and clings to the throne of God when earthly things are swept away; ALL THLN-GS NEW. 75 and derives nutriment from the hidden manna when all sublunary sustenance is gone. It entereth within the veil, and ends only in ha^Tng. It is described in 1 Peter i. 3—5, ''Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resuiTcction of Jesus Christ fr"om the dead, to an inherit- ance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kep^t by the power of God, tlu-ough faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed m the last time." Such must be the citizens of the ^ew Jerusalem. It is a new place for new men. ITone else are admitted ; — ''Except a man be bom again, he cannot see it." Dear brethren, is it so with you ? Have all things be- come new in your experience ? JSTothing short of this will do ? Every faculty, affection, power, within us must be renewed ; and none can thus transfonn us, but God. He who made us, alone can remake us. Ptcvelation and creation are alike the pre- rogatives of Deity. The minister, like the prophet's servant, may lay the staif on the body of the dead, but the Master alone can quicken. " Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God only can give the increase." Baptism may admit into the visible Chuix-h, but grace alone can admit into the true Chuix-h. " ^^ithout holi- ness no man can see the Lord." Have we " put on the new man ?" Do we " walk in newness of life r" do we "partake of the divine nature ?" Have we experienced the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ? Do we evidence this by likeness to Christ ? by hatred of sin ? by delight in the law of God ? by victory over the world? by rigbteouness ? by brotherly love ? I need scarcely state how possible and how common it is to be grievously mistaken in what constitutes the essential characteristic of the new birth, — this moral ti^ansfonnation of character, — this inner revolution of sympathy, and love, and light, and joy. Outward and wtuous conduct, even the most iiTe- proachable, is not regeneration. Externally you may 76 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. appear all that is truly beautiful, and just, and trae, and yet Tsdtliin there may not beat one pulse of a new heart. The foolish virgins were not outwardly distin- tinguished fi^om the wise. Saul the Pharisee, touching the righteousness of the law, was apparently as blame- less as Paul the Apostle. The young ruler could boast that he had kept all these things from his youth up- ward ; and the Pharisee could thank God he was not as other men. The difference between this mere outward morality, and the Chiistian indeed, is precisely that between a portrait in every respect perfect as a likeness, and the living child, of the original of which it is the copy. The aspect and features of the former are super- induced by a hand from without ; those of the latter are the expression and efflorescence of vitality from within. In the mere moral man, we have the etfects of social and conventional influence; in the regenerated Christian, we have the results of the life of God. The one is man-made ; the other, God-made. The first yields before the wear and tear of life, and ultimately dis- appears ; the other grows in stature, and strength, and beauty for ever. Great pri\dleges are not the evidences of a new crea- ture. The Jews awfully and fatally deceived them- selves in this respect. They were " Israelites to whom pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God, blessed for ever;" and yet they were those for whom the Apostle had ''great sorrow in his heart." Privileges do not com- mend us to God, — they commend God to us. They do not necessarily increase our piety; they increase our responsibility. The tares rcceivf;d the rains and sun- beams as copiously as the com, and they remained tares still. OutA\'ard seals are precious only as accompani- ments of the Avritten deeds or will: alone, they are vrorthlcss pieces of wax. We may follow glorious pri- vileges as the Egyptians followed the pillar of fire by night, to their own destruction. Tyre and Sidon sunk ALL THLtTGS NEW. 77 amid transcendent privileges. Privileges serve to aug- ment the guilt of them, that perish amid them. They may, thi-ough oiu' sinfulness, deceive us. "We may rest in our privileges, instead of resting in God. We may love the Sabbath, and not the Lord of the Sabbath. AYe may glory in the sect, and forget the Saviour ; yea, die for the Chiu-ch, and yet cnicify the Lord of gloiy. When the Jews were in danger, and that danger plainly the pimishment of their sins, — they shouted, '' Bring us the ark of the Lord !" vainly supposing there was inherent in the outward spnbol a saving virtue adequate to protect their nation in the conscious and palpable transgression of the laws of God. Too many, in the same spirit, though under a different dispensation, on seeing the approach of death, and with no retrospect of a life of devotedness to God, say with the djmg Con- stantino of the fourth centmy, — " Give me baptism !" or with numbers in the nineteenth century, — " Give me the sacrament !" ''Send for a priest!" This is the very essence of delusion ; it is religion perverted into a bane, — it is Christianity desecrated to a charm, and its glorious privileges turned into opiates which lull the soul in peace ! peace ! when truth attests and God sees " there is no peace at all." ISTor are great gifts the evidences of a renewed and sanctified nature. These co-exist with the greatest depravity. It is quite possible to pray like a seraph, and preach like an angel, and yet lead a life of sin. One may use all the plu'aseology of the Gospel, and have a memory stored with all its truths, and yet live and die a stranger to its transforming influences. Light is not always life, though life is always light. Judas was a preacher, and Baalam was a prophet; and Satan is thoroughly aware of the falsity of every heresy, and as fully acquainted with the texts and truths by which it may be met and scattered. He has all knowledge, yet no grace, nor holiness, nor hope. He has the archangel's wisdom combined with the fiend's malignity, and the rush of many thousand years of experience over him leaves him only more cunimig. 78 APOCALTPTIC SKETCHES. OutAvard communion with the purest risible chiux-h on earth, is not a necessaiy or infallible proof of renewal of heart. It is desirable to seek this, but it is not salvation. Too much is said at the present day about the comparative merits of systems, and too little is felt of the power of real, li^TJig religion. AYe have too many ecclesiastics and too few ministers : Churchmen and Dis- senters abound; Christians are still scarce. Pray do not teach yoiu^ children EjDiscopacy, and Presbytery, and Pree-churchisra, or Belicf-clnu'chism, or if there be any other analogous ism. They will soon enough learn to wrangle and dispute about these. Teach them fii-st of all Christianity, and to seek fii'st the kingdom of God and his righteousness. This is the root and pith of Christianity ; all else lies around it ; this is itself. Never mind if your chikben tui'n out defective Epis- copalians, or indifferent Independents, if they grow up children of God, and patterns of Christian virtue. Would you not prefer Dissenting saints to Church sinners ? Better, surely, pass to heaven through a Methodist meeting-house than j^lunge into hell by the way of a cathedral. Surely, surely, it is better to be uncanonically saved than to canonically damned. Better, beyond controversy, enter heaven right through a rubric, than sink to ruin with ceremonial conformity to its minutest requirements. The kingdom of God — that is, true Christianity — is not meat, or cli^ink, or rubric, or rite, or ceremony, or Church, or Dissent, but '' righte- ousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Nor is the testimony of others to our character an infallible evidence that we are new creatures, ready for admission into the New Jerusalem. Paul thought Dcmas was a Christian ; the Apostles deemed Judas an earnest and sincere fellow-worker with themselves. Satan can paint a Christian as perfectly to our eye as God can make one. Still less is our own persuasion evidence either of the depth or reality of grace. A whole church once thought of itself, **I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing," while its real condition was thus delineated by the Searcher of ALL THINGS NEW. 79 Hearts : *' Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Some will so far delude themselves, that they will enter into the presence of the Judge, saying, *' Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works ? And then ^dU I profess unto them, I never knew you ; depart from me, ye that work ini- quity." Two builders are described in Scripture, each equally confident : the testing winds burst on their resj)ective fabrics — and that built upon the sand fell. It is not the strength of oiu' confidence, but the strength of the foimdation, on which we must rely ; and on that Foundation w^hich is laid of God, none but li^dng stones can be reared, or any other than a holy superstructure rise from the earth to heaven. Christianity is not a religion of form, or circumstance, or ceremony, or of baptism, or of circumcision. With and without these it has flourished ; for these are but its accidents — its temporary and evanescent robes, the signs of its present state, and not the inseparable accom- paniments of its future glory. It is the religion of the inner man, the life of the heart, the peace of the con- science. Its dwelling-place, its sacred fane, its conse- crated shrine, is the heart that has been hallowed by the Holy Spirit of God. The Gospel is not in tongue or in appearance, but in the inward parts ; not in word, but in power ; not a name to live by, but life ; not a system without us, but a pruicij)le within us ; not the expulsion of one theory in order to make room for another, nor a collection of dogmas, a vocabulary of shibboleth, but holiness, and happiness, and truth. To eat with un- washed hands, or to heal on the Sabbath-day, or to leave imwashed the outside of the cup, are not the sins it selects for reprehension. To he, not to seem, is its require- ment. "To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God," are its unpretending but fragrant fiiiits. " Uncircumcision is nothing, and circumcision is nothing, but a new creature." There is neither Jew nor Gentile, nor Greek, nor barbarian, nor Eoman, nor 80 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. Him, nor Englishman, nor Esquimaux, nor plebeian, nor noble, nor queen : Christ is all and in all to them that believe, as their title, and Christianity is all and in all as their qualification; all else is responsibility. What we requii-e as a preparation for this new state, the procession of which already appeal's above the horizon, emerging from the smoke of Eui'opcan ruins, is that all within us should be made new ; that Jesus should enter that desecrated temple, more precious in its wreck than Solomon's or Herod's — the temple of the soiiL — and com- mand those brutal appetites — those wrangling passions — those crowds of lusts, to retire — that it may be made no longer a house of merchandize, a den of thieves, but our Father's house, a house of prayer. Then shall we see within, and finally without also, the evidence of the fulfilment of these words, '' I will make all tilings new." LECTURE VI. THE COXQUEKOK. *^ Se that overcometh shall inherit all things/*-' Rev. XXI. War is the aspect of tliis dispensation; earth is a battle-field; Christians are soldiers; the Bible is our armoury ; victory our hope. We are encompassed with a cloud of enemies as well as of witnesses ; the whole field of our existence and action is covered with them ; every hill, and dale, and valley ; every height and depth ; the past, the present, and the futui-e, — all glisten with their hostile array. The stamp of 8atan has conjured up these desperate squa- drons, and they are prepared for -sdctory or destruction. Sin is not the least powerful nor the least present enemy. It has infected the air we breathe with hostile miasma ; it has left its sere blight on every acre of the earth ; it has distilled its deadly poison into every heart, from royal height do-\vn to plebeian level; it waits and watches for imjDress and victory at every avenue, and even in a Chiistian's heart it is not utterly extirpated; its condemnation is put away thi^ough the blood of Jesus, and its power is broken by the Holy Spirit ; but it still vexes, assails, and sometimes prevails against the be- liever. It is, indeed, denuded of all its attractions in a Chi'istian's eye, and arrayed in its o^vn inherent and essential hues ; so truly so, that it comes to him always as a foe, and is never welcome as a friend. Sin lives in the Christian, but the Christian does not live in sin ; it exists in him as an intruder, detested and extruded by every energy he has, not as a lodger, either wel- SECOND SERIES. G 82 APOCALYPXIC SKETCHES. come from character, or tolerated for profit. Tliere is the same difference hetween sin in a converted man and sin in an nnconverted man, as there is between poison as it exists in a rattle-snake, and poison found in the body of a human being. In the one it is con- genial to its natui'e, and cherished as its defence ; in the other it is felt as a foreign element, and the system has no repose till it is expelled. In the unbeliever sin overcomes the man; in the believer the man over- comes the sin. In the heart of the fonner, sin luxu- riates an indigenous plant ; in that of the other it is cut down, and crushed, and stunted as a poisonous exotic. Sin overcomes the child of nature, sin is overcome in the child of grace. The next enemy we have to overcome is the world. It is now in all its phases and aspects the world — the enemy of the people of God. The friendship of the world is enmity to God, and whoever is the fiiend of the world is the enemy of God. " Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him : for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world." It is, hoAvever, a disheartened, because a discomfited foe ; it wars against the people of God, not as a confident and hopeful enemy, but because it is incapable, from its instincts, of doing otherwise. Its opposition is its necessitj". It battles without hope, or rather in despair. It must, however, be remembered that this victory consists not in mecha- nical separation from the world, but in collision with it — in resistance, in protest, in spiritual victory over it. The epiciu^ean says, " Eat, fkink, and be merry ; for to-morrow we die." The Romanist says, " Fast, and starve, and stint, and escape into a convent, for if you remain in the world it Avill conquer you." The Christian says, remain in the world, but be not of it ; do not shrink from its responsibilities to avoid its perils. Stand where God in his providence has placed you — patient in suffering, humble in prosperity, THE COXQUEROR. 83 Christian in all things. Do the good that requires to be done — avoid the evil that menaces you — treat the sniile of the world as the passing sunbeam, and its fro^Mi as a momentary cloud. " Endure as seeing Him who is in\TLsible." . AVe are called upon to overcome the world's allure- ments. A corrupt world crowds its temptations upon you ; places of sinful amusement, and others of yet deeper evil, open their doors, and light up their lamps, and display all their attractions. These are the splen- doiu-s of corruption — the phosphorescence of decay. Ambition bids you sink the Christian in the candidate for office. Tame beckons you with her trumpet to lay aside simplicity of life ; and AVealth spreads its shining heaps, and invites you to become its devotee. These arc the world's basilisk eyes, its bates, its snares. Withstand them in their beginning. Hear sounding in your ears the Master's voice, '' He that overcome th. shall inherit all things." AVe are called on to overcome the afflictions of the world. " In the world ye shaU have tribulation," is the law of oiu' life here. This tribulation has various manifestations. The loss of health, of property, of relatives; these either cry aloud to you, ''Curse God and die ;" or whisper in the depths of the broken heart, '' God hath forsaken you, and your God hath, forgotten 3^ou." Can you say, ''The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord?" Does 5'our Christianity shine forth as the sun, height- ened in effulgence and glory by the contrast ? Do jon pray in ti-ouble, and praise in joy, and cling close to God in all things ? Then its glare does not dazzle you, and its scorn does not irritate you. You overcome. Still have faith in God as your God, and in Jesus as your Eighteousness — ^in holiness as perfect beauty — in love as true happiness. _ Do 5-0U overcome the world by endeavouring to bless the world ? This is the noblest victory. When you hear of whole lands lying in darkness and in the shadow of death, do you respond to their piercing appeal ? g2 84 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. Does sjTupathy with souls loosen the attraction of wealth ? Do you resist the suggestions of avarice, and lay what you can on the altar of the Gospel ? A re- ligion that does not finally overcome the world, and rise superior to it, is not of God. ''"WTio is he that overcometh the world? It is he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ — who is born of God. The next enemy we have to war with, and to over- come, is Satan. He is no figure of speech — he is a fact, a great and active fact — a composite of a fiend and angel — cunning and craft, and power and energy, enlisted against us. In all sins there is diabolical venom. Satan '' filled the heart of Ananias." Tho " god of this world blinds the minds of them that believe not. Our salvation moves hell as much as heaven. Angels minister to it, and Satan labours to imdermine it. He varnishes vice with virtue — covetousness with the aspect of economy — pride with that of self-respect — revenge with righteous retribution — and rejection of the Gospel with consideration. '' We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers ; against the rulers of darkness of this world; against spiritual wickedness in high places." There is a sym- pathy, too, between our hearts and Satan : each conaipt desu-e puts on his uniform, and serves in his cause, and pleads with powerful eloquence for allegiance to the usurper. Satan too has vast powers. He is strong in might, and profound in cunning ; he overcame even in imiocence ; he is the prince of this world. His malignity is equal to his might; his only gleam of joy shoots from success in ruining, and hence all the energies and cftbrts of his fiendish natiu-e are concentrated in cftorts to con- taminate. He vitiates in order to vanquish. Konc are too high to be beyond his reach, and none too holy to defy it : the more exalted you are in society, or in moral and intellectual eminence, the more you are open to his fieiy darts. And his perseverance is equal to his power and enmity. He is never weary of his work. In all places — the sanctuary, the exchange, the sea, the garden, the bed — he tracks his victims as the Avild beast his prey. THE COXQTJEROE. 85 Our only safety under God is resistance in the strength of the Spirit of God. Eesist him, and he T^dll flee from you. He is a coward — a vanquished enemy — desperate only in the agonies of certain defeat. Clirist bruised his head, and he flees from any that withstand his assaults in the strength of Him who overcame him at first. '' AYhosoever is born of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not," — that is, so as to over- come or destroy us. A stronger than Satan is on our side. Divine strength is made perfect in weakness. Hence ours is the victory of God. '' Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through Jesus Clmst." AYe gain, and yet God gives the victory ; we fight, but not at our own charges ; we overcome, but not in oiu^ own strength. By grace we stand. It is "thi'ough Jesus Christ." In him we are ac- cepted, adopted, glorified. Through him our imploring look, our fainting heart, our failing strength, sejid their appeal to God ; and, in return, we hear sounding in our hearts glorious promises, — and invigorating our spirits, omnipotent strength, — and cheering us, the crown of life suspended in the future. But we ought not to be discouraged because our victory is not instantaneous. It is not the act of a day, but the accomplishment of a lifetime. God ''giveth us the victory." There maybe failures in certain parts of the warfare. It may not be victory at every point, and every hour of the battle of life; but its close will assuredly be so. Thus Abraham over- came, and entered into that city for which he looked, "whose builder and maker is God." Thus Jacob ''' gathered up his feet into his bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered to his people." Caleb ''Avholly followed the Lord," and said, ''I am this day fourscore and five years, and yet I am as strong this day as I wns in the day that Moses sent me." Moses was trans- planted, like a glorious tree, from the borders of the earthly to the sunshine of the heavenly Canaan. They too are there, having overcome, who " weep as though they wept not, and Avho nossess the world a? 86 APoavxrrnc sketches. though, they possessed not, and use it as not abusing it." They too are yietorious who can say, *'A\Tioni have I in heaven but Thee ? and in the earth there is none that I desire besides Thee." They too Avho nm the race set before them, looking to Jesus. They, in short, who, by the might of weakness, fight the good fight, and lay hold on eternal life. In order thus to overcome the world, you must be a Christian indeed. Anything short of this will fail in the hour of conflict. " Almost Christians" will be alto- gether lost. You must be a convert, not a merely sober, and honest, and industrious person. We, the ministers of the Gospel, must be more anxious to see around the pulpit, not crowds of curious inquirers after something new, but living, and thirsting, and praying converts, subdued by the Spirit of God, and overflowing in sym- pathy with all that is holy, beautiful, and true. You must abjure all that stands between you and the full reception of the truth. It matters not how dear, or old, or popular, or profitable, this obstruction may be. Is it the absorbing love of money — a love to which j'ou sacrifice time, and religion, and duty, and pri-s-ilege? '' Covetousness is idolatory." — ''Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." Every true Christian has the spirit that in Paul expressed itself thus, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" — with money, as well as with influence, ability, reputation, rank and power. Here the hottest conflict is often waged; this is often the turning point of eternity. A victory here is a thorough one — it gives impulse and impetus to one's whole sub- sequent career ; the greatest surrender begins here, and others are less difficult. "\Ye must conquer, and turn every evil course to w'hich years, and interests, and secular and intellectual sympathies, may unite us ; we must look at such a course, not in the light of the century, or climate, or country we are placed in by the pro cadence of God, but in the light of the unerring oracles of Everlasting Truth. We must be honest be- hind the counter ; truth-speaking in the witness-box ; imjiartial on the tribunal of justice; honest at home and THE C0XQT7ER0E. 87 abroad, iii all the duties, and relations, and offices of life. We are to eoloiu' the circumstances of the world, not they us. AYe must move along the direct and un- bending line of duty, through, or over, or against all opposition. Great battles are thus fought in individual persons — great, and severe, and exhausting conflicts in shops and closets, and where the ear of the world hears no din, and where the eye of the world sees no smoke, and where the shout of nations celebrates no illustiious victory. This conflict will involve yoiu' abandoning all com- panions who have no sympathy with the great and instant things of eternity. They may have highly cultivated tastes; may be descended from aristocratic families ; may be great pati'ons of the drama, and capable of pronouncing the most eloquent panegyric on the intonation of some Italian artiste, or on the notes of the Swedish Nightingale, or the graceful steps of some accomplished danseuse ; but their title to be the .selected companions of a Christian must be far higher than these ; there must be Christianity, spirituality, the impress of the character of Christ. AYe must sacrifice taste to Christian duty ; we must give up the elegant and interesting coterie for Cluist's sake. These elegances mmj be; but this Christian character must be. The former is the accidental — the agreeable ; the latter is the essential — the iadispensable. I speak of choice. "We may be mixed up in public, social, municipal, political, or domestic cii'cles, which we may not and dare not renounce ; this lot is given us, not elected by us ; and so Ave must take our part, and fulfil it. But when we have our choice — be it of companion, or husband, or wife — we must make Cliiistian character a vital point, and the absence of it a bar to all nearer and more intimate i-clationship. "■ If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my dis- ciple." " He that loveth father and mother more than me, is not worthv of me." 88 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. Be sui'e that so awfiil and solemn a sacrifice as this is required, of you, and you must not hesitate to make it. Home and countiy, and houses and lands, arc all as dust in the balance, when weighed against clear duty. On this point the word of God is most exjilicit, and here the Christian overcomes. His address to the people of God must be substantially, ''Where thou goest I will go; where thou lodgest I will lodge ; tliy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." This was the choice of him Avho counted all but loss for Christ ,• and it must be the deliberate choice of all that overcome, and inherit all things, as he overcame, and is now a participator of the glory to be revealed. AYe shall have to experience this conflict, if we are destined to overcome, in the obligation we feel to renounce trade, or traffic, or emplojTnent of the most lucrative nature, which is plainly incompatible with Christian principle. Saul of Tarsus renounced the most brilliant prospects in the world to become a preacher of Christ; the Ephesians burned their books of magic on receiving Clmstianity ; Luther left a university career, full of promise, in order to lift up his protest against eiTor ; and John Newton ceased to be a slaveholder as soon as he began to be a Christian. At this turning point there will be conflict, and, in the case of every true Clnistian, victory. Is extra time required for some of the avocations of Caesar, avocations just and useful in themselves ? Do not subtract it from the Sabbath, or from the hours devoted to religious study, and reflection, and praj^er. Do the times require you to curtail your expenditure ? Do not lop ofl" your contributions to works of beneficence, and piety, and love ; rather lay aside the splendid car- riage, lessen tlic great establishment a little, or diminish the needlessly splendid retinue ; deny your taste its lawful gratifications, not your Christian sjnnpathy the efflux of its tide in expressive beneficence. You are called on to enter into conflict with inner selfishness in all its retreats and developments. It will resist your efforts to do good, tc spread the Gospel, to aid the poor THE C0XQT7ER0K. 89 and the needy. This enemy is more powerful than Satan ; he is ever within you — in league with all that is depraved without, and evil within. It will weave a thousand j)lausible excuses in its defence, ostensiby in yours ; it will gild its doings with dazzling splendour ; invent ncAV names for old sins ; and, in the name of Jesus, advocate and spread every evil and abominable work. Conflict, resistance, prayer, are the means of its expulsion; an inheritance incorruptible and unclefiled, and that fadeth not away, is the reward of \-ictory, the close of stiTiggle is the promise of Him who overcame, and is set down at the right hand of God, and is King of kings and Lord of lords, the Avearer of many crowns. " He that thus overcometh shall inherit all things." Scholz reads, ravTcl, these things — and not, Travra, all things. No doubt the allusion is to those beautiful promises made to the Seven Chuixhes — on which it is my intention, if spared, to addi'ess you — contained in the earlier parts of this book. Thus, the Eedeemer's promise to the ChuiTh of Ephesus is, " To him that overcometh wiU I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." To the Church of SmjTua it is promised, ^' Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a croAvn of life. To the Chui^h of Pcrgamos, " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone ; and in the stone a new name written, which no man laioweth saving he that receivcth it." To the Church of Thyatira it is said, '' He that overcometh, and keepeth my works to the end, to him will I give power over the nations ; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron : as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I re- ceived of my Father ; and I will give him the morning star." To the Church of Sardis it is promised, '' He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life ; but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels." To the Church of Pliiladelphia the beau- tiful pronMse is made, *'Him that overcometh wiU I 90 ArOCALYPTTC SKETCHES. make a pillar in the temple of my God ; and he shall go no more out : and I Avill yriite upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh do^^'n out of heaven from my God : and I will ^T.-ite upon him my new name." To the Laodicean Church, the last of the seven, it is promised, ^' To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne." These glorious promises are the component parts of the inheritance promised in the text. More minute descriptions of their excellence, and beauty, and glory, are presented in other j^arts of the Apocalypse ; such as, " They shall hunger no more, neither thii'st any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat ; for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters ; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Whatever is contained in the promises made to the conquerors of the Seven Churches ; whatever is promised to the redeemed in the subsequent parts of the apocalyptic drama ; whatever is promised in the previous part of this chapter, — all are pre-intimations of that inheritance of all things which is tlie reward of him that overcomes. 'No^y you have a foretaste of the inheritance ; hereafter you shall have the full enjoyment of it. Even now " all things are yours, death, or life, or Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas; things present, and things to come, all are yours ; for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." A day comes when right shall become possession; when the most brilliant promises shall become perfonnances ; and our glad hearts own that, glorious and animating as the former were, they are exceeded inconceivably by the weight, and splendour, and magnificence of the latter. " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived," the grandeur of that state into which the Apocalypse floAVs — a perpetual stream, standing in which we shall see all propliecy become history, and that history a dim and inadequate portraiture of what is experienced. THE CONQTJEEOE. 91 If such be the scenes that lie beyond the horizon, reserved for those that overcome, let us draw from the prospect present personal consolation and instruction. Be content with such things as you have. Your real estate is not here ; this world can neither contain nor comprehend it ; it lies far beyond it. You have enough to paj^ your passage-money : let this satisfy you who are moving to a glorious estate. You are rich indeed ; we estimate a man's riches not by the amount of change in his pocket, or goods in his house, but by his estates — his funded property. You have little of sensible wealth in possession, but an inheritance of all things in re- version. Draw from this fact compensatoiy joy amid the privations of the world ; turn youi' futiu'e certainty into present joy : present happiness is the interest legi- timately accruing from this funded wealth — these heavenly riches. Draw on the future in order to enhance the beauty, and augment the weight and wealth of the present. David said in faith, "Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine," though he had not yet conquered them. It is this that defines itself in the experience of the heart, and shows the Apostle's word to be an axiom needing no proof : '^ Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." By this faith we eat of the hidden manna, and drink of the Fountain of li\'ing waters, and taste the fruit and have the service of the leaves of the tree of life, and walk the streets and dwell amid the glory of the ISTew Jerusalem, before we arrive at the other side : " whom having not seen we love, and in whom, though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." This promise ought, as it is designed, to animate and strengthen us in this heroic conflict. " Put on the whole armour of God; fight the good fight." — ''Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." The eye of the Great Captain of the faith is on us ; he is deeply interested in our efforts ; he will guide us 92 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. with his eye ; ho will strengthen and uphold us. If wc fight we are sure of yictory ; it is a conHict that ends in conquest — a battle whose laurels are certain. From this let our hearts di'aw new and glorious energy, and our hopes their buoyancy, and our coui'age its insj)ii'ation and its life. JN^othing can be surer than this inheritance to them that overcome. God's promises are true as history — his prophecies real as performances ; there is no precarious- ness or contingency in the words of God ; what he has said is "yea and amen." AYe may therefore act upon a promise of God, regarding it just as good as if the day it is due were past. The kingdoms of this world rise and fall like the ever-ebbing and ever-flowing tides of the sea ; but the testimony of God remains as the rock — unseen to-day amid the froth and foam of the waters ; but visible to-morrow, strong in its foundations, and imscathed and undiminished from the collision. In the presence of all created things, God rises above them in majest}^ and gloiy, and in their decay he remains. This inheritance, which is promised to the victor, is possessed of transcendent excellences and beauty. The ''all things" include "the tree of life" and "river of life," and "crown of life;" it is incorruptible and un- defiled, and fadeth not away. There is no worm in any of its cedars ; no rust or tarnish upon its gold ; no moth in its gannents ; no pain, or disease, or death amid its inheritors ; nor any monuments left of sorrow, of suffer- ing, or of death. Every joy that blooms in it is ever- lasting— it " fadeth not." A little pleasure that endures long, is preferable to much that is evanescent ; on the least and greatest of the joys of heaven is the stamp of eternity. It is an " everlasting rest," " eternal in the heavens." It is beyond the breath of sin, the mildew of mortality, the wear of age, the influence of decay. It lies beyond and above the tide-mark of time, and is not wasted by the waves of eternit5\ The certainty and clcaniess of this revelation is no ordinary element of victory. A perfect state was as much the pursuit of heathenism ps a perfect man. AVe THE CONQUEHOK. 93 have no need now to visit the ISTile, and the PjTamids, and the Ganges, in qnest of some lingering ray Irom the future yet unquenched. All immortality is cleaiiy brought to light in one clear apocalypse. It is now partly let down from heaven. Let us be encoui-aged also by the shining roll of those who have overcome and inherited the promises. How radiant with these conquerors is the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews I '' Ey faith IS'oah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved A\T.th fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foun- dations, whose builder and maker is God. Thi'ough faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful Avho had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea- shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims of the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindfiil of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned : but now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called theii^ God, for he hath prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac : and he that had received the promises offered up his onlv-begotten Son, of whom it was said, 94 AxOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. That in Isaac shall thy seed be called : accounting that God was able to raise him up, even fi^om the dead ; from whence also he received him in a figure, liy faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. Ey faith Jacob, when he Avas a-dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph ; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel ; and gave com- mandment concerning his bones. Ey faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child ; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pha- raoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer afEiction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasiu'es of sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of Chiist greater riches than the treasures in Eg5T^)t : for he had respect unto tlie recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king : for he en- dured, as seeing Him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the fii'st-born shoidd touch them. By faith tliey passed through the lied Sea, as by dry land : whicli the Egyptians essaying to do were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were com- passed about seven days. By faith the harlot llahab perished not Avith them that believed not, Avlicn she had received the spies with peace. And Avhat shall I more say ? for the time would fail me to tell me of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jepthae, of David also, and Samuel, and of the pro})hets : Avlio through faith subdued kingdoms, Avrought riglitcousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of Aveakness were made strong, Avaxed A'aliant in fight, turned to flight tlie armies of the aliens. AVomen re- ceived their dead raised to life again : and others Avere tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings, and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds THE COXUUE.UOE. 95 and imprisonment. Tlicy were stoned, they were sawn asnnder, were tempted, were slain with the sword : they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins ; being destitute, aiilicted, tormented ; (of whom the world was not worthy : ) they wandered in deserts and in moun- tains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all having obtained a good report thi^ough faith, received not the promise : for God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." In each of these, faith was the victory that overcame the world ;/ and the fruition of the inheritance, and the fulfilment of the promise was the corresponding rcAvard. Nor did the overcoming ones cease from the earth Avhen these disappeared. The bequests they made have served successive generations, and the glorious succession continues. Poljxarp, immediately after the Apostles, when summoned to renounce his Saviour, beautifully said, ' ' Eight}' and six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who has saved me?" When tied to the fagots, and enduring the slow torture of the kindling fuT, he thus victoriousl}* prayed : ''0 Father of thj beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom I have received the knowledge of thee, 0 God of angels and powers, and of the ^vhole creation, and of the whole family of the just who live before Thee, I bless Thee that thou hast thought me worthy of tliis day and this hour, to obtain a portion among the martjTs in the cup of Christ, for the resurrection of both soul and body to eternal life in the incorruptibleness of the Holy Spuit. Therefore, and for all things, I praise Thee, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, through the eternal High-Priest, Jesus Christ, thy beloved Son, through Avhom be glory to Thee, along with Him in the Holy Spii'it, both now and ever. Amen." The Paulikians protested faithfully in the east ; and the Waldenses, amid the fastnesses and caves of the Cottian Alps, withstood the influx of superstition and error for centuries, and preserved their faith, like their 96 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. own Alpine snows, in its virgin purity and beauty. "Wickliifc and Huss fcught manlully, and fell before the sword of the enemy on earth, to rise and reign amid the white-robed throne in glory. Luther overcame where few had long stood; the Chui'ch and the Avorld rose against Luther, and he boldly grappled with both ; bmn- iug the Pope's Bull ; despising the threats of princes ; and claiming for mankind the privilege given them from on high, of readmg an open Bible, and worshipping God in spirit and in truth. Latimer, too, overcame, lighting in England a candle not yet put out. Oberlin overcame cold, and distance, and weariness, and spread among ignorant and uncultivated tribes the blessings of pure religion. In what Christian language are not the names of Knox, and Bunyan, and i'elix I^eff, and Henry MartjTi, and Eliot the apostle of the Indians, now heard? They were not a few of them *' in perils by the heathen, in perils of the city, in perils in the wilderness, in peiils in the sea ; in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thii'st, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness;" but they over- came and entered into glory. " AYherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of wit- nesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us iim with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame ; and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. LECTlRiE \'n. THE UXBELIEYIl^G. " J^ut the fearful, and unbelieving, and the alominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their imrt in the lake which hurneth ivith fire and Irimstone : ichich is the second deaths — Eey. xxi. 8. I select unbelief as the root and fountain to which all other sins are traced in Scripture. Unbelief prevented the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan. Paul, as one who was taught its heniousness by the Holy Spiiit of God, addresses his Hebrew converts thus, — ''Take heed lest there be in anj' of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." It is a heart disease. Disease in the finger, the eye, the ear, is not fatal ; but disease at the heart is not only fatal itself, but morally it is the prolific parent of the dark progeny enumerated in this verse. It has been made matter of complaint by persons of a sceptical mind, that heaven and hell should be made contingent on belief or unbelief ; as if mere belief were the highest virtue, and want of it the greatest sin. Paith in Scripture, howe^'er, is not mere intellectual credence, it is, properly, confidence in God, or accepting His truth and promises, and all He is, as real, and placing implicit and imwavering confidence in his word, more than in the Avorks of men. Is it no injury to human institutions to be denuded of aU confidence ? AVhat becomes of a bank or insurance ofiice, if con- fidence in their stability and substance be removed ? liuin lights on all. Destroy confidence between husband SKCOXD SERIE's. H 98 APOCALTrr -' r^KETCHES. and wife, patient and physician, client and la^Ter, and you paralyze every possibility of good. Exhaust from our social and commercial world all confidence, and you will soon find the Avhole system a rope of sand, destitute of cohesive power, and ready to fall to pieces. This unbelief, or, ^ I haTO called it, want of con- fidence, while it is so mischievous, is at the same time time the most subtle, evasive, and secret. It lurks under the affections like a caterpillar amid leaves, or a worm in a rosebud, and gnaws and wastes them. Other sins are easily seen — it is not so ; but its existence can be detected by its effects, — it always develops itself, — the sins, in fact, in this veiy verse exude from it and appear upon the surface. It shows itself in the least subtle and therefore most easily detected shape — viz. in positive rejection of Chris- tianity; this is vulgar infidelity, according to which the Eible is a fable, and Christ crucified folly. It gazes on the Clmstian firmament, and sees no sun or stars ; or on the earth, the ocean, and the forest, and the landscape, and sees in none of these the footprints of Deity as upon the sands of time : or in its more recent and perhaps perilous formula, American and German Pantheism, it rushes to the opposite pole, and sees every thing so over- flowing with Deity that it calls the proof of God's ex- istence God, and everything part and parcel of God. It is thus that the Pantheist in his blasphemy unde- signedly praises God, by acknowledging everything a vessel full of Divinity. But in all its shapes, ex- travagances, and pretensions, its air is thiit of the dungeon — its dogmas icicles — its element the niglit — and its doom dissolution before that warm tide of light and life which shall overflow the earth. This unbelief develops itself also in practical unbelief, combined with theoretical acceptance of every truth. Such persons profess to believe every truth of Chris- tianity; they assail notbing, tliey dispute nothing; they are man'ied and tlieir children are baptised according to the rites of Christianity ; they enter the sanctuary full of apathy, and they retire having lost none of it. These THE rNLELIEVIXG. 99 arc the most unmanageable of all persons ; tliej- are not to be laid hold of", there is no handle about them ; tliey present perfectly smooth surfaces, and all appeals glide off, like water off the wing of a waterfowl. One longs to hear them contradict, or dispute, or deny, but they are incapable of this ; and yet if you say they are un- believers, they will repeat the Apostle's Creed and the Ten Commandments without a single omission. But the Gospel has no hold of their hearts, no control over their affections — no echo in their conscience — its great voice has no music for theu' ear, and its sublime hopes no attraction ; they remain just what they would be if Christianity never had been proclaimed in the world. On them it has left no evidence of its presence. Dis- guise it as they like, they are unbelievers. There is another class, who like much in the Bible, and are mightily pleased with a great deal of its theo- logy, and so far think it inspired. But there are certain parts they do not like — great exceptions, they think ; and they insist on it that their acceptance of the Gospel of St. John does not imply their belief in the Penta- teuch, or their reception of the Apocalypse. They want, as they say, to weed the Bible; that is, really and truly, to make their taste, or convenience, or conscience, the Procrustes-bed to which the Bible is to be fitted. These seem to forget, that if this be admitted, every trans- gressor will lit the Bible to his case; and when each has cut off from the Bible what he dislikes, or what rebukes his sin, there will be found a very small residue of in- fluential or useful matter. This cannot be. We must receive the whole Bible or none of it. It is God's truth or Satan's lie — it is nothing between. It all rests on one basis ; it assumes for all the same original ; it is the highest truth, or the greatest blasphemy ; it must re- mun unmutilated and unaltered. Our life must be brought up to its pitch — in short, we must be evan- gelical Christians or cold sceptics. They, too, e^-ince tliis spirit of imbelief, who reject pirticular truths of Christianity because they cannot CO nprehend them. Some reject the Trinity because H 2 100 APOCALYPTIC SKKTCHES. they cannot comprehend it ; and for the same reason the Atonement and Incarnation also, forgetting that they receive as facts and truths a thousand things in this "svorld ^\hich they cannot comprehend. Eveiy man acts, for instance, upon the principle, that by the volition of the will he can move his arm up or down, right or left, just as he pleases. Can you, for instance, explain this wonderful mystery, — that Thought — a thing which can- not be detected, which the chemist cannot anal3-ze, which the anatomist cannot hold on his scalpel, which you cannot touch, weigh, or measure, — that this im- ponderable, and intangible, and mysterious thing — Thought, can make all the nerves and muscles of the hand cross and intertwine without delay in any direc- tion it may prescribe; or how it can move all the fingers of the hand upon the keys of a pianoforte, or on the strings of a violin, with such amazing precision, that it is the nearest possible approach to a miracle ? Can you comprehend this mystery ? And Avill you tell me you cannot receive the truths of the Bible because you can- not comprehend them, while you receive many equally as incomprehensible things in every-day life ? It will be quite time enough to reject God's ^yoY([ or its doc- ti'ines because they are incomprehensible when you have rejected everything in creation, and every day's ex- perience, because it is no less so. Another form of this unbelief is — the dislike of a simple, spiritual worship. I do not wonder that so many people become Iloman Catholics, nor is it any matter of surprise to me that so many clerg^'men have become priests. Mj' only sur2)rise is, that every uure- generate and unconverted man does 7wt become a Eoman Catholic ; and I declare, if I were not a Christian, I would become a Catholic myself. It is an externally beautiful and convenient form of religion. You can sin on one side of the street, and procure absolution on the other ; its ritual services arc fascinating to the senses, its incense fragi-ant to the smell, its music attractive to the car, its architecture most gorgeous, its ceremonial grand, its robes splendid. If you are poor, your poverty THE UNBELIETIXG. 101 will got you to heaven ; if you are rich, your riches will help 5^ou to heaven ; if you arc fond of solitude, you may meritoriously retire to the cell or the convent'; if you prefer splendid society, you can mingle with car- dinals, popes, prelates, and other high occupants of power. I confess, I wonder that every unconverted man is not allured and charmed into becoming a Catholic. But it is impossible that any man who knows wdiat spiritual Christianity is — in whose heart there are throbs of the new life — should ever become a E,oman Catholic. He knows in his heart, not by information, but by inwrought and sensible experience, that ''God is a 8]3irit, and that they who worship him must wor- ship him in spirit and in truth." It is their merely outside Christianity that explains the fact, that many of oin* o^yIL people, our Scottish people, when they come to London, are the fii'st to follow the attractions of a more ritual Avorship ; and not unfiTquently they who have been the most staunch supporters of a severe but Scriptural form, have subsequently become the most outre Tractarians. So it w^ill be : the most unsanctified must have elaborate gratification of the senses. But the spiritual heart, while it is delighted with the best music, the best architecture, and the best forms, provided there is no interruption to that true spiritual worship Avhich seems to me to be the grandest worship, feels that God himself, and God's word, and God's worship, need but to be seen just as they are, to be presented in their greatest beauty. Such is another instance, then, of this imbelief. It also robes itself in pride and presumption, rushing iiTCverently where angels veil their faces ; or if not, it falls into despaii'. The eye of pride scarcely sees God at all ; the eye 'of presumption looks at his mercy alone ; the eye of despair, at his justice alone. I must noAV notice unbelief in its special attitude of departing from the living God. God was, and is now, the great centre of the universe; and before sin was in- duced into this universe, everything — every living and inanimate thing (if I may use the expression) had the Deity for its centre of attraction. Evcrytliing came 102 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. from God ; every thing moved onwards to God, and found in Him its repose, its happiness, its peace. Sin entered the world, and smote all the springs of things ; and everything has since this intrusion received a cen- trifugal tendency. At fu'st all things were centripetal , that is, seeking the centre; now all things are centri- fugal, that is, flying from the centre ; and every object, therefore, which once carried man to God, noiv, through sin in it and in man, carries him from God ; or he rests in the object instead of upon God, or he has gone with the object to a distance from God. If man had never fallen, the rich man would have been led by his wealth up to Him who is enthroned on the riches of the uni- verse ; and the man of great intellect would have been led by that intellect to seek more and more for light to enable him to decipher the inscriptions iipon all things written by God's finger, and thus to be brought nearer and nearer to God ; and the man of great rank would have felt his station but the reflection of the dignity of God, and have seen God in it, and by it ; — now all these things, through man's sin, carry him away from God, or become to him substitutes for God. The wealthy wor- ship theu' wealth; the intellectual worship intellect; the great worship greatness ; and all things, smitten by sin, have lost their original centripetal tendency, and by theii' acquired centrifugal force cany all they are and have away from God, or plunge man into departure from the living and true God. i^ow the great tendency of the Gospel is just the reverse of all this : it brings man back again to God. All religion lies in this : *' nearness to God." All irreligion, whatever be its shape, name, or form, lies in this : '' departure from God." To be with, or to approach to, God, is real religion; to be with God, is happiness ; and to be in God, is safety. To depart from God, this is sin ; to be without God, this is irreligion and miserj^. We approacli God on the wings of faith and love : we depart from God by the leaden weiglits of unbelief, sensualitj', and sin. And strange it is that man, tliough he thus departs from tlie living and tru(^ God, yet ceases not to have a god. There THE UNBELTEYING ^ 103 is no such thing as atheism in the world : there may be atheism, certainly, in the sense of being without the true and living God; but there is no such thing as atheism in the sense of being without a god. As soon as a man has lost the living God, that moment he begins to set up a dead god. And is not this attested by the history of the whole world ? Athens, though without the true God, was yet not without a god, for she had her Minerva. Rome, too, could not do without a god, and therefore she had her Mars. The Eomanist, having lost the true God by the intervention of priestly dark- ness and corruptions, cannot do without his god, and therefore he adores the saints, his guardian angel, the host, &c. The rich irreligious man, too, has his god. True, he may not bow his body before it, that is a mere form : he may not speak the very words, '' Oh, save me, my Wealth !" this is mere lip ; but his heart bows, his heart speaks : it is the heart that worships ; and the heart of that wealthy man really says to his gold, '^ Gold, thou art my god ! — I worship and adore thee !" That which a man draws his main happiness from, is his god ; and, whenever he loses the living God, he must have another god in his stead, because man's soul was made to be a slu-ine and temple of the Deity. You may as Avell try to produce a vacuum that ^\'ill be perma- nently so in the midst of our atmosphere, as to produce a moral vacuum in a man's mind that is to expel all religion. He must have a god within : some other god he must have, if he depart from the living God: he deserts a great, glorious, eternal, omniscient and omni- potent God, but he is not therefore without a god, he admits another — an idol. And you will find, that just in proportion as a man de- parts from the true God, in the same ratio does the god he makes become monstrous and degrading : there is a pro- gressive descent. Take for instance, the &st departure from the living God — the poor superstitious member of the Church of Eome. The moment he has lost the tme God, or Father, that moment he begins to project from himself a god, or to fomi a god out of his own dark, 104 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. superstitious mind; and that god a very terrible and vindictive one. He lacerates his flesh, mutilates his body, pines in poverty, lives in solitude, wretchedness, cold, and hunger, wears a painful dress ; and all this he does in order to propitiate a god that he has made for himself. Just as if you go, while the bright sun shines high in the firmament, into those deep dens and caverns of the earth into which its rays never penetrate, you there find all sorts of poisonous and sickly weeds gi'ow- ing ranldy up ; so, just in the same proportion as you depart from the sense and presence of the true God, do the poisonous weeds and oflshoots of fanaticism and superstition grow and luxuriate in the heart of man. Let me explain what are sjnnptoms of this departure from God, this unbelief, this mother-sin, and endeavour to speak what may be practical and profitable to you. And first there is the suspicion, whether God has actually spoken what the preacher proves unequivocally to be the word of God, Do you recollect the earliest commencement of Eve's departure from God ? tliis will afford you an illustration of what 1 mean. AMien Satan came to Eve, he did not dare to say, " God never said so, or pronounced this ;" but he put it in the shape of an interrogation : " Hath God said so ? Ai-e you quite sure that these were God's words ? ]\fay you not have mistaken his meaning ? May it not be a misapprehen- sion of yours." And then again, he taught her to look at it in the light of expediency, as if he said, '' Is it likely that God, who made sc beautiful a being, Eve, as you are, would visit you with death merely for touching a tree, — that beautitul tree, the rich fruit of which diffuses so grateful a perfume through Eden, and the taste of which is you know not how sweet ? Is it possible ? do you not mistake ? have j'ou no doubt ? " And she, thus tempted, looked upon the fruit, and saw it was fair to tlie eye, and pheasant to the senses ; and regarding its fruit as a fruit that would make her wise (there Avas yiehling to expediency!) plucked an apple, broke the coiiunandment of God, and so brought death upon herself and uU her posterity. THE TTNBELTEVING. ' 105 T^Ticnever a suspicion of the truth of God's decla- rations is injected into your minds, remember it is you only safety to resist, repel, and protest against it Open the Bible : what you find plainly written there, receive ; what you do not find there, reject as un- essential. The next evidence of his departure from God, will be difterence of sentiment with God. We say, We agree with this and with that, and, Here are some things we cannot agree with. God says, " Seek ye first the king- dom of God and his righteousness, and all other things will be added unto you." But you say, " In the house of God, and on the Sunday, it is right to seek God first ; but surely the passage does not mean more than this." And you will perhaps say, "Are we required to seek God's honour and glory first in the warehouse, the shop, the bank, the mart, the house of commons, the house of peers, the palace, on the seas, in the field of battle ? — are we to seek God's glory first there, as well as in the sanctuary, and every week-day as well as on the Sabbath? This Mall never do : it may be very philoso^Dhical, very beautiful, but we could not get on in this way, nor live by it ; it will not serve our turn, it must be a mistaken view of Christianity, or an obsolete proscription, or a Jewish one." Then again, we read, "Those who honour me, I will honour," — that if we seek to obey his will first, God will do everything for us. You say, " That may have been all very well for the Apostles, but it will not do for us ; it may have been most admirable in the Apostolic age, but it is altogether unsuited for the nineteenth century, Avhen competition is so keen, and competitors so man}'. If we shut up our shops on Sunday, we shall go to ruin : if we do not read the newspapers on Sunday, we shall lose the last news from the Continent ; if we do not go to the news-room on Sunday, we shall fall behind our neighbours in political information. " Christianity must be adapted to the nineteenth century," you say, " and not the nineteenth century to Cln■istianit5^" My dear friends, the religion of God is unchangeable, like God himself: it is meant 106 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. for all ages and all countries ; and you will find it true, believe me, in all centuries, that if you seek God lii*st, and honour and serve him first, all the information you really need you will have time to gather, and the wealth you can truly want will be bestowed on you, and all the happmess that is good for you will be super- added to you. Make the experiment. It is not for persons to say, ^' This will not do :" make the experi- ment : take God at his word : try it, and you will see it will stand tnie, for the God of truth has pronounced it. This alone is the secret of all wavering, halting, hesitat- ing— the not putting confidence in His truth, as God's own truth; a constant feeling that it is only man's word : you want that clear, distinct, unhesitating con- viction that God has spoken, and that the Bible is His autograph ; the very echo of the voice which resounded through the trees of the garden of Eden. Another symptom of departiu'e from God, is not only difference of sentiment, but faltering in our walk with God. Perhaps we are outwardly walldng with God, but we begin to falter. Some one whispers in our ear, ^* You are over-zealous, you preach too often, you speak too much ; you go to church too often, you read the Bible too much: your health will suffer, you cannot stand it, you must be moderate." My dear friends, what is moderation ? Did you ever hear of moderation in honesty ? If it were preached to you, would you not understand it to mean, *'Be a thief?" And if you were told to be moderate in speaking the truth, would you not understand it as, "Tell lies ?" "Well, then, if moderation be so intolerable in keeping the sixth, or seventh, or any other of the commandments, how can it be tolerable in keeping the first commandment ? " Love God a little, but not too much !" Hear the law : '' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself." There is no fear of our being too enthusi- astic, too zealous in religion. In fanaticism we may be so, in su])erstition we may be so ; but in real religion there is no risk of this, all the risk lies in the ojiposite THE UXBELIEYING. 107 way ; there is not the slightest fear of expending ail one's energies in the service of God. But, strange to say, so constituted is this world — or, rather, so corrupted is it — that the same man who con- demns want of enthusiasm in a physician in the cure of his patient — in the lawyer, in labouring for his client — in the member of Parliament, in pleading for Jfree-trade, or resti'iction, or some other earthly dogma, — the man, in short, who condemns the want of enthusiasm in the things of Caesar, that very man comes forward and re- probates the possession of it where it ought to burn with with the intensest light, and glow with the greatest splendour — in the service and in the sanctuary of God. Thus unbelief shows itself in faltering in our walk with God, and hesitating to advance. It also shows itself in the suspension or diminution of our confidence in God. The Cluistian walks with God as a child walks with its father. It is rarely that a child suspects or fails to confide in its father ; and as it grows up to years of thought, its confidence in its parent is gi'adually deepened and strengthened. ISTow, take the confidence of the child in its father, and multiply it by the immense — the infinite ; and, remo^dng the alloy and imperfection attaching to creatiu-es of the earth, then you will have some slight idea of the extent of what should be the true Christian's confidence in his heavenly Parent. "WTien the Christian looks upon God in this light, he walks with all the childlike confidence of a son with his father ; but when he loses this confidence, he walks like a slave after his master, crouching and tix^m- bling behind him : he looks to God in the sanctuary, but is frightened if God should look at him in his place of business, at his hearth, or his place of amusement. He begins to walk, not as a son with his father, but as a maniac with his keeper — in di'cad, slaveiy, and dismaj^ And whenever this feeling takes the place of confidence, there is a departure from God, and an e\ddence of an evil heart of unbelief in thus suspecting God. This is the secret of much of the prevailing feeling respecting the communion-table. Much of it has prevailed long in 108 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. the Scotcli clinrclies, and more or less in all otner Chris- tian communities. Men have had a constant conviction that the Lord's table is a sort of snare or ti'ap — a sort of opportunity which God takes for pouncing upon the im- ■wary, the unwatchful, and infu'm, to destroy them. It is not so : this is all a delusion. A communion-table is spread for the humble, hoping, trusting, believing Chris- tian : it is meant for those who desii'C to be Christians, if they cannot say they are more. It is spread on Calvary, not on Moimt Sinai. And yet, communion Sabbath after communion Sabbath, only four or five hundi-ed persons come to the Lord's table. Why do you not all come? It is nothing on God's part that prevents you, but some- thing in yourselves : in short, an evil heart of unbelief leads you to depart from Gocl ; you have lost the im- pression that God is your Father, and gathered the conviction that he is only youi^ keeper and master ; and you are, therefore, afraid to meet him. You grow into a state of dissatistaction with God altogether. Strange, that the eye should be dissatisfied with the purest light, the ear with the noblest harmony, and the heart with the holiest worship ! But so it is ; and simply because the heart is scared with unbelief. And, lastly, you stand still. You faltered in your walk with God, 3'ou suspended your confidence in him, you became altogether dissatisfied with God, and now you stand still. This is the progression described in the first Psalm: ''Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners : nor sittcth in the seat of the scornful." First, you go amongst the '' ungodly:" that is, excellent moral men, who have no real vital religion : then, wlien you have companied with them awhile, joii go with " sin- ners;" that is, the openly wicked : and when you have gone with them awhile, you reach the company of the '' scornful;" those who scofi'at all sacred things. First of all, you " If (ilk in the counsel of the ungodly;" that is, you take the advice of the ungodly. Bye-and-by you '* stand in the way of simiers ;" you think you can stand and look on without getting any harm by it. And bye- THE UNBELIEVING. 109 and-by you '' sit down in the seat of the scornful." Such is the declension or departure of a man from God. You have too much conscience at once to retreat wholly, and too little faith to advance. You dare not give yourself wholly to the world, and will not give yourself whoUy to God. You will not renounce your sins, and dare not renounce your religion. You di'ead your scepticism, lest it should fail you ; you dread your religion, lest it disquiet you. You have neither the peace of the world, that is but for a season, nor the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, and is the blessed possession of the true believer ; and, therefore, you are the most miserable of men. You occupy an incessantly disputed ground. In tlie history of this countrj^ we read of the men who walked, lived, feasted, and slept in their armour, with sword in hand, and all accoutred and pre- pared for battle. These were the borderers of Te^dot- dale, and Nithsdale, and Eskdale. Their lives were the most harassed and disquieted, because they were always exposed, on both sides, to the incursions of the foe. So in spiritual things : the man who has got religion enough to di'ag him to the sanctuary on the Sabbath, but love of sin enough to take him to the playhouse next day — the man who dare not keep away from public worship, but cannot keep away from all the sinful follies of a sinful world — that man is the most wi^etched and miserable of all. The thorough reprobate has his heart hardened, and enjoys a degree of peace ; the thorough Christian has perfect peace ; but intermediate persons, who are now nibbling at heaven, and now revelling in the earth, and taste, each by turns, the cup of the Lord imd the cup of the world, are men in a ceaseless fever, Avho know neither the world's peace, which is the devil's, nor the Christian's peace, which is God's. I care not so very much to what denomination of Chiistians a man belongs — that is circumstantial ; but it is of most A-ital importance whether he receives God's truths as the Bible reveals them, or the lies which obscure and hide them. For instance, it is not of eternal moment whether you be a Churchman or a Dissenter; 110 ArOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. but it is so, whctlier you be a Socinian or a Chiistian. It is not, I say, of eternal moment, whether you be of the Church of England or the Church of Scotland ; but it is of eternal moment whether you are a Roman Catholic, or a Protestant or evangelical Cliristian ; be- cause the differences between the several denominations of the Christian Church are net so great as they think them, who constantly apply the miscroscope to these differences, and tiy to magnify and make them, as great as possible. And, depend upon it, those men who do so are conscious of something wrong ; in short, that there is no real difference, and, therefore, the little that there is they must try to make as great and momentous as they can. I believe that Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, and AYesleyans, agree in essen- tial, vital, lasting truths. Look at tlie points upon which they differ from each other, and make your election; but remember, it is an election in circum- stantials, not in vital and essential truths. Indifference to vital truth or to deadly error is a very different thing. The world may call this liberality and enlightenment ; but Christ will look upon it as latitudinarianism and lukewarmness. Essential truth is essential to salvation ; ciix'umstantial truth, to completeness or comfort. AYe may err in the latter, and yet be saved ; if we eiT in the former, we cannot be saved. Socinians and Roman Catholics, as such, cannot be saved. I do not say of those who are Socinians or Roman Catholics, that they cannot and never will be saved ; but this I do say of each, that it must be, if there be truth in the Bible, in spite of their creed, and not in consequence of it ; and salvation will be more or less probable to tliem, just in the same ratio in AAdiich they abjure their peculiarities of doctrine, and learn that the arm of salvation is not an arm of flesh, but the arm of God manifest in the flesh. Another evidence of departure from God, or unbe- lief, is, not making progress. If there be no increase, the presumption is, that there is decrease ; if there be no progression, the presumption is, that there is retro- THE UNBELIEVING. Ill gression. I cannot find in the Bible the least evidence that I may stand still. But, of course, there are two or tlu'ee ways of gro^vdng : you may grow downwards in humility, as well as upwards in holiness and con- formity to God ; and it is quite possible that we may be growing downwards in humility simultaneously with our growing upwards in holiness and likeness to God. If we are growing in our acquaintance with our own wealmess, our own sinfulness, our own untrustworthi- ness in ourselves and of ourselves, we are growing in the right direction ; or if we are growing in greater victory over sin, greater conformity to the image of Christ, greater superiority to the attractions and allui'e- ments of the world, having oiu' hearts more in heaven, then Ave are growing in another and no less heavenly direction. But the Chiistian must either grow and approach to, or retrograde and depart from, the living God ; he is never stationary. A great sign of imbelief is the love of this world. This is the great source of apostasy to many. As long as you were without the riches of this world — when you were making your way, and just gaining enough to live by, and had nothing to spare — you were Chris- tians, spiiitually-minded men, devoted men ; but at length the world begins to smile upon you, wealth begins to flow in, and in proportion as you become rich and prosperous, how true is it, in many cases, that you depart fi'om the living God ! We all long for more than we have ; but we may have to bless God through the endless ages of eternity, that God never made us what we wished, but what he, in his infinite wisdom, saw fit to make us. The smiles and blandishments of the world are often the stings and poison pf the Chnstian life and character : you cease to place your affections on God, and place them on the world ; and you begin to love, and serve, and worship, and finally die in and with the world. By the world I do not mean mere external nature. The Christian is not called upon to have a distasteful eye or a tuneless ear, to wear a gloomy visage, or exhibit an austere and 112 APOCALYPTIC SKETCnES. pombrc air ; nor is he called on always to speak theo- logy or teach its doctiincs, — or dispense his prescrip- tions (if he be a physician), amid a cluster of texts, — or to sell doctrine (if he be a trader) along with his com- modities. But when the world says, '^ Do this," and Christ says, " Do that," he then shows his Chiistianity by proving he has no choice. If Clirist be his blaster, he will follow him ; if the world, he wiU folloAV it. It is more in the quiet decision of the Christian heart that true Christianity exists, than in all the noise and con- fusion you often hear in the world. I do not think the loudest professor the greatest believer. The very reverse of this is often the case. The great deep stream, as it rolls on its course, till it disembogues itself in the main, does so silently and softly. The brawling little moimtain-brook, fed by a thunder- shower, makes a noise as its waters rush along its stony shallow bed, soon to leave it diy. It is often the soil which is scarcely fertile enough to bear grass upon its surface, that conceals rich veins of gold in undug mines below. So, often, under the most iiigged and imcouth, or the most quiet and apparently taciturn aspect, there lives the sustaining principle of true religion. Be slow to conclude, that the loudest professor is the greatest Christian : be slow to conclude, that when you see nothing ivithoid, there is nothing icithin. This departure from God, the gi'cat accompaniment of unbelief, is the commencement, unless arrested, of end- less ruin : just as the approach to God is the commence- ment, unless stopped, of endless happiness. Kemember the last words, addressed by our Lord to the two great classes of mankind: lie says, ''Come, jq blessed of my Father," to the one class ; and to the other class, ''Depart from me, ye that work iniquity." The word " Come," addresssed to the weary and heavj'-laden on earth, wiU also be repeated from the judgment- throne; the word ''Depart," that strong characteristic of the unbelieving here, will also be repeated from the judg- ment-throne. And thus heaven is, as I have often told you, but a ceaseless approximation to God the centre THE UNBELIEVING. 113 each being there is touched with a centripetal impulse, and brought nearer to God in light, happiness, holiness, knowledge, and jo5^ And hell, again, is just an eternal departure fi^om God, each step in that departui'e deepen- ing the agony felt, and darkening the di'ead and tenible eclipse. Departure from God is the t^dlight of darkness and everlasting woe: approaching to God is the morning twilight that ushers in a day of everlasting glory and felicity. It rests with you, my dear hearers, under God, to take your choice — departure from God, or approach to God ? — hell with its misery, or heaven with happiness ? It rests with you, under God, to choose this day which shall be your portion for ever and ever. I call on you to cleave to the word of God. Do not admit anything supplemental to it, nor subti'act any- thing that is neccssaiy to it. God's word, as I have already told you, is the very autograph of Deity ; it is the only vicar and vicegerent of God that we have upon earth ; it is God's voice peipetuated in music and mul- tiplied echoes. He still speaks in it, as he spoke in paradise to Adam and Eve. Cleave to this book, then ; hold it fast as the voice of God. AMiat it condemns, shrink from ; what it applauds, cleave to. Take it as your chart sent from heaven, to guide you through your journey on earth : take it as your lamp in life, as your hope in death, as your pathway to Jesus, to immor- tality, and the sides. Maintain commimion and fellowship with God ; walk T^-ith and live near God. Miss not the house of prayer ; forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. Do not let it be said that while a bright day fills the chuiTh, a wet day empties it; that a little headache, which would not detain you from the exchange, keeps you fi'om the sanctuaiy. Do not make the Sabbath a day for recruiting your body : rather take a day from C£esar for that end. Make the Sabbath a day of communion and fellowship with God. Do not show that you are punctual in the things of Coesar, but careless in the things of God. Be thanldul for your Sabbaths, for -^ou SECOND SERIES. I 114 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. know not how long they will last. Be thankful for the Bible, for you know not how long it will lie open before you. Be thanldiil for yoni' privileges, for you know not how long they will be continued to you. Work ye while it is yet day, for the night cometh in which no man can work. And, fiu-ther, look upon all that sur- rounds you in this perishing world as transient, ephe- meral, evanescent: all its glory is approaching to an eclipse : all its grandeur is soon to pass away, like as a fleet ship glides sTvdftly past us at sea. All that men call high, will soon be of low estate : all that men pro- nounce to be little, wiU be seen to be great and glorious. Look around you, and you see the long-established institutions of the nations tottering, and crashing, and falling to pieces. Even in oiu' own countiy, men's hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. AV^e are now quiet, at peace — comparative peace — like a beautiful gem, placed in the bosom of the mighty waters, our throne, and our country, and oiu' people, are secure ; but it is, I solemnly believe, because upon that gem the name of Jesus is legibly inscribed, and that here amongst us his truth is more or less reverenced and prized. But, however long these privileges of ours may last, we know that our coimtry must be moved ; the shocks which shake the world cannot leave Great Britain unmoved. The day is fast hastening, I am persuaded, when aU human institutions will be more or less loosened ; let us, therefore, look up, and leam to place our hearts upon that throne which cannot be shaken ; and we shall hereafter have to bless God for detlu'oning kings, scat- tering dynasties, shattering thrones, and con^iilsing the world ; for the shaking of things here wiU thus have led us to look to the things which never can be shaken or removed. ibid, dear friends, let ujs walk -with God. Let mo give as the last prescription, *'Love to walk with God," Learn more and more to see God. We always carrj^ so much atheism with us A\'hen we travel into different countries, or go forth into the fields, or stroll by the THE TTJTBELIEVIXG. 115 sea-side. Try not only to see natuTe, but to rise from ]^aturc lip to nature's God." Try to realise God in the less perspicuous book of liature, as well as in the more perfect page of Eevelation. Let the stars that shine in the firmament be to you as the eyes of the omniscient, omnipresent Deity. Let the tints of flowers, and their fi^agrance too, be to you but as visible creations of the smiles and breath of God. Let all I^ature's sounds pro- claim to you his love : all scenes reflect to you his glory and greatness. And, whether the thunder-cloud over- shadow you with its lowering darkness ; or heaven's golden sunshine beam upon you in all its effulgence, you will have no awful forebodings of the future, no paralyzing reminiscences of the past. Every hill shall be to you a Tabor; every day a Sabbath ; every house a sanctuary ; every table a Lord's table : the bright orbs and worlds above and around you, as God's shining foot-prints in the immensity of space. You will taste of the grapes of Eschol in the wilderness, and see a door of hope in the valley of Achor. You shall hear the voice of God in all sounds, and realise the presence of a heavenly sunshine in the tents of Mesech, and the tabernacles of Kedar. And, above all, pray for that Holy Spirit who is needed to create that confidence, arrest this departure, and give us a new impulse to carry us to God. And may that Spirit descend on us all, and make us earnest, loving, consistent, devoted Christians. I have thus tried to analyse the mother sin, of which the sins enumerated in verse eighth are but the progeny. It may be that these sins are here enumerated as the special characteristics of the antichristian and Eoman apostasy. They are, unquestionably, the historical characteristics, and, I believe, necessary fruits, of that system. But whether there or here, unbelief is the parent. Faith is the cure ; it worketh by love — puii- fieth the heart — overcometh the world ; it is the gift of God, and the privilege and possession of them that pray. I 2 LECTTJEE YIII. EN-DLESS StlFFEEEES. " Which is the second death.''^ — Eey. xxi. 8. I HATE already addressed you on previous Sunday evenings from the subject of ** the ISTew Jerusalem coming down fi'om God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband ;" and also on its peculiar accompaniment, '' The tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them ;" and we have rejoiced together at the promise of the final extinction of all tears and sorrows in the hearts of God's people, for God shall wipe away, and wipe out the fountains of, all tears from their eyes. I noticed the creative intimation, '^ Behold I make aU things new," and the free invitation addressed to all, " I will give imto him that is athirst of the water of life freely ;" lastly, I stated that all these promised good things are to be the inheritance of *' him that overcometh," an expression which involves conflict, weapons, a leader, and victory. My object this evening is to show that the notion held by some in the present day, that the suiferings of the lost vrill not be eternal but temi^oral, is eiToneous, and without any scriptui^al or reasonable foundation. Before entering upon my subject, I will read a short quotation from Archdeacon Palcy. He says, ''It is veiy difficult to handle this di'cadful subject properly; and one cause of the difficulty is, that it is not for one poor sinner to denounce such awful terrors and appalling consequences upon others." In stating that the pains of the lost are not temporal but eternal, I am aware that I take the unpopuliu' andj to many, the unpalatable \iew ; but the ENDLESS SUFFEREES. 117 truth of a docti^ine does not depend on its agreeablencss, or upon the many or the few that hold it : '* To the law and to the testimony ! if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." As far as I can conceire of the state of the lost, I think the expression in the text, ''the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone," is figurative. I do not think it is here implied that there will be a material fire, or a literal gnawing worm, to torment the lost; these are the expressive, and it may be inadequately expressive, vehicles and sjinbols of their intense and untold agony. Besides these there are elements of woe enough in hell. Let a virtuous and delicate mind, to allude only to one, conceive what it would feel, were it condemned for a time to the company of persons selected fi'om the Bride- wells or the Penitentiaries of the earth. Would not the scene be a painful one. Would not their blas- phemous oaths stiike terror into the heart, and their impure words create disgust and abhoiTence in the piu^e and delicate soul ? And yet, to be placed in such a hell on earth is but a faint shadow of the realities of that literal hell: here, amidst all the varied foims of dejDravity, redeeming traits are thi'own up, mitigating and relieving elements of aboriginal beauty shine forth; but among the lost there is no softening element at all, nothing but unmixed sin, unmitigated and unmingled evil in its various degrees. In the state of the lost, too, those evil passions which so often rankle latent in bosoms here, and develop their powers with years and opportunities, we have reason to believe vnll there be released of every restriction, and left unshackled to revel in full and exasperated expan- sion for ever. " He that is holy, let him be holy still; he that is unholy, let him be unholy still." Heaven is the full and unfettered expansion of those noble prin- ciples of holiness, and buds of happiness, that God has inipL nted in the renewed heart; and hell is the eternal growth and expansion of the poisonous passions and rimkliLg elements of misery formed in the natural heart. Tl-us ! sinner sinks to hell as a natural consequence of 118 irocALYrxTC sketches. his past conduct ; it is not God who has doomed a sonl to hell, it is not his fiat that sends it there, hut sin, which has ripened the soul for it, weighs it down and huries it there. I gather from the Scriptures, that whatever of beauty and splendoui', and ennobling motive, and inspiring hope, survive here, are emanations of the Almighty. But there will be with the lost God's curse concentrated ; no trace of beauty without, no trace of joy within — an ever-gathering and seething sense of woe, casting over the length and breadth of hell one dark, terrible shadow, crushing the soul, yet never filling its capacity of woe — the whole past distilling bitterness, the future evolving from it not one ray of happiness or hope : but down the terrible steeps of hell the cataract of God's wi'ath shall precipitate itself over palpitating piles of men, and no intimation heard that one di'op of the water of life shall flow to cool or quench the biu'ning flame. The lost will be in the possession of all theii' faculties. ITemory will be there, as we see in Abraham's address to the rich man : " Son, remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazaras evil things." Memory will record salvation past like a ship at sea, seen for a moment and gone for ever ; a preached Saviour rejected, and ofi'ered mercies the most precious then perished. *' Wliich way I climb is hell, — myself am hell ; " and then will be the consuming recollection, " I might have been rejoicing with the redeemed in heaven, but now I am to suft'er eternally in hell, not because there were no invitations in the Gospel addressed to me, or any un^villingness in God's heart to receive me, but because I did it all myself." The conscience will be fully alive in hell. You have only to imagine man's conscience in full unfettered ac- tion, all the opiates of earth withdrawn, and aroimd it a sea of overflowing evil, to conceive what a hell man bears in his bosom : '' AVliich way I climb is hell, — myself am hell," will indeed be true. A man may cany Ein)LESS SUFFEREES. 119 coiled np in his heart so terrible a prestifje of hell, that it needs but the hand of death to uncoil the life, and the intense agony symbolised by *' the consmning fire" and ''gnawing worm" will be produced. '' So writhes the mind remorse hath riven. Unfit for earth, undoomed to heaven, Darkness above, despair beneath, Around it flame, within it death." Have any of you committed some terrible crime against society ? If so, do you not remember the burning shame and agonising self-reproach that followed that act? Wherever you went the recollection haunted you; to escape from it was impossible; it stung you from every point. This is but a faint shadow of the power of con- science in the regions of the lost. We need not the doctrine of eternal reprobation in its popular sense. "WTiatever good is in man, comes from God ; whatever of evil, comes from man ; the lost plunge into hell solely by their own personal course and choice ; each sin one indulges in is but a budding woe, and perseverance in the wicked practices of sin is just travelling on the high road that leads to destruction, whilst the renunciation of it and return to God would restore him to the path- way to eternal happiness. But I do not delight to dwell on the misery of the lost. Blessed be God, my message to all is an oifer of eternal life, and that mthout preparation on your part, or any delay : no preparation is necessary ; you are in- vited to come just as you are, to Him " who is the resurrection and the life." I do not believe that the terrors of the law, or a description of the miseries of the lost, are God's consecrated instruments for the sal- vation of souls. The weapon that is all but omnipotent to convert, is the manifestation of the love of God in Christ, the preaching of '' God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." " He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." These are God's appointed and effectual means of con- 120 ArOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. verting the sinner, and when applied by the Spirit of God they cannot fail. But the chief subject of inquiry this evening is, What is the duration of the state called " the second death?" Is it temporal or eternal? for a little, or endless ? Some able di\dnes are of opinion that its duration is temporary, and this idea is gaining ground in the present day. I humbly think that it is the grace of God alone that keeps the holders of this opinion from Socinianism, and not the consistency of their own logic. They are amid the rapids, — let them watch, and tremble, and fear. I will noAV lay before you several theories that have been broached on this subject, founded on the idea that the sufferings of the lost will be temporary. Some think the wicked ^^-ill be annihilated, either at death, or after suffering a season, and that immortality is the special gift of the Gospel ; others that they shall be transferred to heaven after being punished a season. To confute these opinions, I would quote such texts as these, — ''Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit ^o^^n\ with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven ; but the chikben of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." '' The Son of Man shall send His angels, who shall gather together all things that offend, and them which do i^iiquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire." '' Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness." ""Where their worm dieth not, and the fu^c is not quenched." ]N"otice the very strong expressions here used to describe the mise- ries of the lost. ''Outer darkness" without a hint of a future ray of light ; "a furnace of fire" without the promise of a cooling drop of water; " their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Do those expres- sions denote no more than a merely temporary punish- ment ? Again: "Then shall he say to them on his right hand. Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prej^ared for you from before the foundation of the world;" to ENDLESS SUFFERERS. 121 those on the left, " Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." Heaven and hell are here beautifully represented by the terms ''come" and "depart." Heaven, here described by " come," is the application of the centri- petal power, each movement of the Christian drawing him ever nearer to Christ his centre ; and hell, here embodied in the word " depart," is the continuance of his centri- fugal force, by which every unbeliever is carried to a greater and greater distance from Christ, throughout the gloomy cycles of a ceaseless eternity. " These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." The same language that describes the duration of the punishment of the wicked, limits also the happiness of the righteous ; the duration of the one is in the same words as that of the other, since the same word is applied to both. If you hold that the state of the lost here described is temporary, you must admit the state of the righteous to be temporary also ; if the term " ever- lasting" stamps eternity on the one, on what grounds can you detemiine that " eternity" stamps temporal dura- tion on the other? If there be any limitation in the time, there would surely have been a glimpse of it given here; but no such limitation appears. " Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord;" " shame and everlasting contempt;" or, in the Apocah^ptic description, " the smoke of their tor- ment ascendeth up for ever and ever ;" not one intima- tion of an abatement of woe is discoverable ; no dim dawn, no vista of deliverance. The Greek word, hq TovQ ci'iuJvaQ Twv cao)vwVf here translated "everlast- ing," signifies literally "unto the ages of the ages," aUi (jJVi " always being," that is, everlasting, ceaseless existence. Plato uses the word in this sense when he says, " the gods that live for ever." But I must also admit that this word is used several times in a limited extent — as, for instance, " the everlasting hills." Of course this does not mean that there never will be a time when the hills will cease to stand ; the expression here is evidently figurative, but it implies eternity. The 122 ■ APOCILYPTIC SKETCHES. hills rIuiU remain as long as the earth lasts, and no hand has power to remove them but that Eternal One which fir?:t called them into being ; so the state of the soul remains the same after death as long as the soul exists, and no one has power to alter it. The same word is often applied to denote the existence of God — ''the eternal God." Can we limit the word when applied to Him ? Because used occasionally in a limited sense, we must not infer it is always so. '' Everlasting" plainly means in Scripture ''without end;" it is only to be explained figuratively when it is evident it cannot be intei-preted in any other way. The view entertained by some is, that the lost, after enduring for a period unspeakable woe, will be ultimately annihilated. Others, as I have stated, think that the soul derives its immortality from God as the Eedeemer, not from God as the Creator ; they regard immortality as Christ's purchase, the gift of the Gospel, not the soul's inherent attribute ; so that the soul that believes the Gospel is immortal, whilst the soul that rejects the Gospel thus rejects immortality, and meets with annihi- lation as the demerit of sin, under which sentence all are who are in a state of nature : they object to the resurrection of unbelievers at all, and think they cease to exist after death. I cannot admit the doctrine of annihilation, either immediately or eventually, unless there be an express assertion of it in Scripture. No man can specify any thing that he knows to be annihilated. The flax that grows in the field, when woven into linen, wears quite a different appearance ; the linen, cut into a thousand pieces, is changed into another substance, and becomes paper ; the paper is put into the fii^e, and rises out of it in the form of smoke ; the smoke is exhaled into the clouds, and descends in rain to moisten the parched earth, or in dust and carbon to fertilise the exhausted soil : not one particle of the original flax is lost, although there be not one particle that has not undergone an entire change : annihilation is not, but change of form is. It will be thus Avith our bodies at the resurrection. The ENDLESS SIJEFERERS. 123 death of the body means not annihilation. Kot one feature of the face will be annihilated, but every feature of the countenance which we have seen glow with joy here, will glow T\ith yet intenser rapture in heaven. Our Lord says, " They shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." This implies they shall realise the fact that Abraham is there ; and, like the rich man who beheld '' Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom,'' they shall recognise that it is Abraham. If the body does not cease to be, is there any evidence that the soul will cease to be ? There are passages which show that, in a certain sense, even now the siimer is dead. " The hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." ''And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." And so the death of the soul means it is the victim of sin ; and the second death is only an intenser development of this state. The words descriptive of the state of the lost are, " punished with everlasting destruction;" this implies they are conscious of the destruction ; their souls, therefore, could not be literally annihilated. " He that believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the Avi-ath of God abideth on him." " The worm that never dieth, and the &e that never shall be quenched." Such language must imj^ly the perpetuity of the punishment of the lost, and the consciousness of this punishment which they endure. It has been objected, that it militates against the goodness of God, to suppose that any of His creatui'cs shall be visited with eternal or ceaseless miseiy. But I answer, AVe are not the best judges of what militates against the goodness of God; we can only judge from what He has revealed. "\Ye know but a little nook of the universe ; and it may be that for the greater exhi- bition of His goodness God has allowed sin to remain ui the world, and will suffer it to be visited with eternal punishment hereafter; it may be that, as the inhabitants of for distant orbs learn from our world lessons of God's ti'anscendent goodness, never to be forgotten throughout the cour.tlcss ages of eternity, and that from Calvary 124 ArOCALYPTlC SKETCHES. truths rise and reach new worlds eveiy hour, that elec- trify theii" tenants, — so, instead of this great demonstra- tion of perpetual punishment being incompatible with God's goodness, it may perhaps more clearly exliibit its intensity, and purity, and love. Again, it has been said, it militates against God's justice to suppose he would visit an eternal punishment upon a temporary disobedience. To this I reply, Wc are not competent judges of the e^dl of sin. It may be that what murder and theft are to us, and appear to us in a material world, malice, revenge, and covetous desires are seen to be just as frightful in a world of spirits. We have only one standard by which we can estimate its inherent evil : — it is this — if it is true that nothing less than the shed blood of Incarnate Deity could atone for sin — if it was necessaiy for the Creator of the universe to leave his thi'one of glory and majesty, and, separating himself for a time from the adoring anthems and praises of holy angels, to take upon him our nature, and, after enduring a life of scorn and derision, to be shamefully cmcified by the very men he came to save, that he might offer himself an acceptable sacrifice before a single sin that Adam brought into the world could be expunged — if we remember this, Ave can easily conceive that an eternal hell is not too terrible a punishment for that which necessitated such a sacrifice, or for those who ''reject so great salvation." Our Lord, whose tones were ever tones of unutter- able love, except where rebuke was a strong necessity, once said these remarkable and awful words : ''It were better for that man if he had never been bom." I can conceive that to be no ordinary calamity which makes the fact of one's birth to be a ciu'se, and one's existence a regret. Again, some have objected that the continuance of the existence of sin throughout eternity in any part of God's universe is very difiicult to conceive of. I admit the difficulty, and that it seems strange that such a state should be pei-petuated ; but I must not reject it because I cannot fathom it — it is plainly revealed in ENDLESS SUFFEllEUS. 125 the Bible. I confess that it would appear far more consistent Tvith our ideas of what is beautiful and desii'able, if sin and its attendant evils were to be finally expunged from the universe, and all God's creatures were to unite in one harmonious chorus of loyalty and allegiance to their Creator. But it is not for oiu' limited minds to speculate on what would be desirable in the government of God's imiverse ; we have simply to receive with faith wnat he has graciouslj^ re- vealed. Yet, if it exist at all, the duration of its existence is a subordinate difiiculty. But others have asked. Is there no sign in the Bible that the Gospel will be preached in hell, and that its wi-etched inmates, after enduring for a time some of the punishment due to their sin, will have a final off'er of full and free salvation ? The Bible tells me of no rain- bow of covenant mercy that shall span the concave of heU ; it gives no intimation of an ofi'ered Saviour to mitigate the miseries of the damned. I read only of the worm that never dieth, and the fire that never shall be quenched. If the Saviour is preached to the lost in hell, and they embrace the Gospel, then the manifes- tation of God's grace will be far greater there than in this world; for in this it failed, in that it succeeds. But we are taught in the Bible to look for the mani- festation of God's grace in this world only. Our Lord says, ^' I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work," — evidently referring to death. '' AMiatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no device nor labour in the grave." "He that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost hath never for- giveness, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come." These texts appear to me a convincing proof, that the atonement shall never be preached in the regions of the lost. All probation ceases with time : '' My Spiiit will not strive any more." If the Spirit stiives Avith the lost in hell, then it was not true that he ceased to strive with the antediluvians. But the misery which 126 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. the lost shall undergo, will exercise upon them, it is alleged, a piuifying power, and after a lengthened period their souls shall be completely purged by suffering and pui'gatorial fire, and made fit for heaven. There is no evidence, I reply, that punishment can purify the heart. 1^0 man was ever made a Christian by suffering ; that change can be effected by the Holy Spuit of God alone. Sufferings may shovr what sin is, not what the beauty of holiness is : if any amount of suffering on our part could save a soul, why did the Sa\iour bleed and die ? Is it at all likely that so great a sacrifice as God In- carnate would have been offered if man could have been saved by suffering Avithout it? Besides, the intense appeals of the Gospel imply there is no hope hereafter. '' AYhy will ye die ?" ''Ye will not come to me that ye might have life" " Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heav^' laden, and I will give you rest." '' Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." '' To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Language seems to exhaust all its force in entreating sinners to be saved ; its very intensity indi- cates the awfulness of the state from which Clirist would snatch us. The views that the lost in hell will finally be saved, seem to detract from the power of the Gospel. If hell can be the birth-place of glorified spirits, why was Calvary ever heard of, or that inno- cent, spotless Lamb made a victim for sin ? My dear friends, heaven endures for ever, and hell endui'es for ever ; but here is the unspeakable comfort, that this night the Lord Jesus invites you in loving accents, Believe on me, tinist in the sacrifice I have once oftered for the sins of the world, and ye shall be saved from the unutterable woe of the ore, and shall enjoy with angels tlie inconceivable bliss of the other — ye shall reign with me eternally in glory. This great idea, Eternity, is the weightiest M'ord in human speech; it changes mightily whatever it is attached to. Suffering which is eternal suftering, and joy which is eternal joy, are states of infinite moment. Sill that is not productive of eternal torment, would ENDLESS SUFEEEERS. 127 seem not to necessitate an interposition of Inlinite Worth. A love without retribution would be conni- vance at sin. Given any one vital doctrine of Chris- tianity, and the everlasting suffering of the wicked is a corollaiy plainly deducible from it. I can come to no other conclusion than that to which our Eeformers came — which Apostles taught — which the Holy Spiiit inspired — ^viz. that Heaven and HeU are eternal states — the one endless joy, and the other endless misery and woe and suffering. LECTTJRE IX. THE BEIDE. ** And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked tvith me, saying. Come hither, I will shew thee the Iride, the LamVs ivifeT — Eey. xxi. 9. *' And I heard as it ivere the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thimderings, saying, Alleluia : for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us he glad and rejoice, and give honour to him : for the marriage of the Lanib is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted, that she should he arrayed in fine linen, clean and white : for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me. Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage-supper of the Lamh. And he saith unto me. These are the true sayings of OodJ^ — Eev. xix. 6. This relationship, viz. of bridegroom and bride, is so frequently employed by the sacred penmen to illustrate the great spiritual truth of the believer's union to Christ, that we cannot but conclude it is not only appropriate, but replete with instructive meaning. It occurs in the following, among other passages : — ** For thy Maker is thy Husband (the Lord of Hosts is his name) ; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called." Isa. iiv. 5. '' He that hath the bride is the bridegroom." — ^John iii. 29. TUE liKIDE. 129 "1 have espoused you to one husband, that I may- present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." — 2 Cor. xi. 2. " Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish." — Eph. V. 25—27. *' Blessed are they which are called to the marriage- supper of the Lamb." — Eev. xix. 9. '' The holy city . . . prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." — Eev. xxi. 2. This, and other analogies, so common in Scripture, show us that Creation and Providence are fuU. of mean- ing, and cast light on the relationship of the higher world — a light that will one day reveal the common origin and end of both. Even now creation is per- petually stri\ang to express its inner and glorious truths; it is big with divuie and mysterious doctrines; it groans and travails in pain, waiting to be delivered. In its present disordered state, creation bodies forth majestic shadows of the superior world ; and they who deal with it, if spii'itually unenlightened on eternal things, hold in their hands a valuable casket, full of precious gems, which they are unable to unlock, much less appreciate ; they are the admirers of the mere typography, but have no conception of its inner meaning ; they study and understand the mechanism of the instrument, but neither hear nor believe in its sleeping tones of heavenly music. It is, I admit, mutilated and marred by sin ; it is covered with dark spots of plague, and and breaks forth at times in terrific struggles, in vol- canos, and earthquakes, and thunder, as if in agony to speak out all its eloquent burden. During the millen- nial day, the earth, like the snake in spring, will cast off its old and wrinkled skin, and appear beautiful and peaceful like a restored angel. Nature, which means ** coming to the birth," will then be bom, and the jS'ew Earth will be the fair and beautiful offspring, radiant SECOND SERIES. K 130 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. with immortal youtli, and eloquent as the Evangclis's and Apostles of spiritual truths. The week-day and soiled garments will be consumed in the last fh-e, tmd the new and glorious robes that become its everlasting Sabbath shall be worn, ever ncAV and ever beautiful, by all creation, which as a holy Levite shall minister before the Lord perpetually. It shall then be seen that our sweetest joys were but imperfect and diluted foretastes of higher and purer, and that they were meant to lift us far above themselves to those sublime and unalloyed pleasures which our eyes have not yet seen, nor our natures yet tasted. So this holy relationship of bride- groom and bride is the type and shadow of a kindi'ed, but more glorious. In this relationship, there is first of all the privilege of selection, which is peculiar to the bridegroom. So it is in the spiiitual ; the first movement is toward us, not by us ; from Christ to us, not fi'om us to Christ. Qui- love is the reflection of his, oiu' response is the result of his attraction ; we are deaf till he speak, dead till he quicken, disinclined till he di'aw us, and destitute till ho emich us. In the experience of this world, the affection of the bridegroom is created by some excellence or beauty which he perceives in the bride ; in other words, ours is a created love, contingent on something external to itself, and fed from that external influence perpetually. But Christ's love is essentially sovereign; it is created by, and dependent on, nothing external to itself. AYe love, because we see something beautiful or good in the object loved: Christ loves the unlovely by natm-e, to make them lovely by grace. AYe love the object because it is beautiful : Christ loves the ol)ject to make it so. AYe love as creatures, he loves as God ; deity is in his love, humanity in oiu"s ; his is the fountain, ours is the heart filled from it. Deuteronomy vii. 7, is the just exposition of the love of Christ, and of the reason of our interest in it: '* The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people, (lor • THE BETDE. 131 ye T^Tre the fewest of all people), but because the Lord loved you." And again, in Ezckiel xvi. 8, '' j^ow when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness ; yea, I sware imto thee, and entered into covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. I washed thee with water, and I annointed thee with oil, I decked thee with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thine hands, and a chain on thy neck. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty ; for it was per- fect thi'ough my comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." But the intensity of this love is not sufiiciently seen in its lighting upon us in our misery. We must esti- mate it by the greatness of the Saviour's sacrifice, by endeavouring to gauge the humiliation, and sorrow, and sense of woe he sank into, in order to redeem the bride from her ruin, and raise her to her forfeited inheritance. We must see him leave the throne of glory and the realms of blessedness, and, borne on the wings of a love which could see nothing in our natui-e to alight on, that was not fitted to repel it, identify himself with our woes, and miseries, and weakness, and wants, and ruin; and thus emptied, endui'e our ciu^se, drink to the di^egs our bitter cup, pursue lost and sinking humanity to the fui'thest depths of its degeneracy and departure, seize it in the arms of everlasting love — redeem, sanc- tify, ennoble, and finally glorify it, till it became his bride, and companion, and co-heir Avith the Bridegroom himself — a glorious thing without spot or wiinkle. Truly, such love has height and depth we cannot measure. According to the usages of this life, the bride is given away to the bridegToom by one who has authority, from relationship or otherwise, to do so. This earthly fact is a shadow let down from the heavenly. So the Saviour saw and expressed it. " Thine they were," says Jesus, in his sublime intercession, *' and thou gavest them me." *' All that the Father giveth me sliall come to me." 132 APOCALYPTIC SKETCiilis. They were tliiis given to him by him who made them, and they only are his bride. The husband endows the mfe with all his goods ; she becomes a copartner with him. Has not onr Everlasting Husband done so ? Has he not clothed us with riglit- eousness and salvation, and adorned us with jewels, and made us morally beautiful through the comeliness lie has put upon us ? Has he not robbed heaven and earth, all the kingdoms of nature, all the stores and treasures of grace, in order to build up a house beautiful as his bride, and meet for her dwelling ; bringing the jewelled lights of a thousand mines, and the brilliant tints of the iridescent spar, and the awful glory of a brighter sun, to beautify the place of her residence ? All his are hers, and all hers are his. In this world the husband is the representative of the wife's responsibility : her debts and liabilities become his. This, too, is a shadow of the heavenly. Our re- presentative— the representative of our responsibilities as well as persons, is oui' Everlasting Husband. He has fulfilled the law we had broken; endured the penalty we had incurred; paid all we owed to God, and pro- cured infinitely more than God owed to us. ^' On Him was laid the iniquity of us all ! He hath borne our griefs and earned our sorrows." Our responsibilities repose on him; we have sinned, but he has suffered; we are guilty, but he is righteous; we have renounced our name by nature, and are called by his — we are Christians. His name, and ours, too, is ''The Lord our Eighteousness." We are detached in all respects from the first Adam, and detached by indissoluble ties and affinities to the Second. We have changed alike our state and our nature ; we have heard and obeyed the summons addressed to her in the 45 th Psalm : * ' Hearken, 0 daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear ; forget also thine one people, and thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him. She shall be brought imto the king in raiment of needlework ; the virgins, her com- panions that follow her, shall be brought unto thee. THE BHIDE. 133 "With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought ; they shall enter into the king's palace Instead of thy father's shall be thy children, whom thou may est make princes in all the earth." Perfect confidence is the very air that husband and •wife must breathe ; that confidence which mitigates the sorrows, and enhances the joys of life ; which quenches suspicion, and dissipates the gloom of reserve. This confidence belongs to the higher relationship also. Jesus says, '' I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth ; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made Imo^vn unto you." He courts our implicit con- fidence in return ; he asks you to lay aside all distrust, distance, suspicion, and to feel that none are so near you as the Son of God ; and to none may you unbosom ^ith greater confidence your wants, and sorrows, and trials, and feai^s. He is '^touched with the feeling of our infimiities ;" he sympathises with us as no angel about the throne, and no saint before it, can. Trust in him at all times : he bids you — it is your safet}', your joy, your peace — it is his command. Obedience is the duty of the mfe ; " "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as the Chui'ch is sub- ject to Christ." Such is our duty — rather, it is our delight ; for this obedience is not the exaction of law, but the off'ering of love. '' If ye love me, keep my com- mandments." Oiu' obedience ^dll be in proportion to our love ; its strength and its tone are the expression of the intensity of our love. Its life, and beauty, and pro- gress, and victories, is love. Emptied of this inspiring element, all service is mechanism, and all obedience a dry husk. It is in this relationship we may confidently expect the supply of every want. '' He will supply all our need according to his riches in glory." We are poor, and blind, and naked ; and He is, for all who accept him, righteousness, and wealth, and life, and light, and raiment white and clean. He win heal all our wounds. '' Ey his sti^ipes we are healed." He is alike the balm and physician ; from the ArOCALYrTIC yKETCHES. 134 crown of the head to the soles of the feet, there is in us no soundness at all. But he is our physician as well as our husband. He healeth all our diseases. He A^-ill enrich us with unsearchable riches, and finally transfer us from this scene of trial, and vicissitude, and pain, and tears, to the new Jerusalem that cometh down from heaven, the city of the lining God, the home of saints, the beauty of the universe ; the prepai^ation of Infinite Wisdom and Love. In the passage on which I have been commenting, we read, ''I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's ^ife." She requires to be she^Ti. This indicates a fact which is implied in all portions of Scripture, that in this dis- pensation the true Church is hidden, veiled, concealed ; and only on the millennial day, when the sons of God are manifest, will she be seen in her true and imperishable beauty. " Our life is now hid with Christ in God." " We are God's hidden ones." It is written, ** The world knowcth us not, as it knew not Him." The out- ward world neither sees, nor comprehends, nor appre- ciates the children of God — the hidden bride, the kings in disguise. The world can understand civil rank, not spiritual dignity ; political power, not holiness ; wisdom, and might, and nobility after the flesh, and base things, and things that are, but not that inner and true beauty which is the inspii^ation of God, which outlives all, and never fades. The tabernacle in the mlderness was covered with rough skins, and fastened with coarse ropes ; and to those eyes that had seen the magnificent productions of Eg57)tian architecture, the porticos, and columns, and temples of Egypt, the sanctuary of Israel must have appeared a mean thing. But in the former were venomous reptiles, the products of the Nile, and scaraboan beetles, crawling about thcu' shrines, or raised on pedestals, and receiving the adoration of intelligent men ; while under the plain exterior of the latter, were the mercy-seat, and the ever-beaming glory between the cherubim, and the presence of God, and pure worship, and holy worshippers. Thus the bride, like the Bride- gi'oom, has no beauty that men should desire her — she is THE BRIDE. 135 no"W veiled, misconstrued, mistaken. But tlie day of her manifestation comes. " The ChuiTh," says Archbishop Leighton, ''is called the 'king's daughter' (Psalm Ixv. 13) ; but her come- liness is iuTisible to the world, ' she is all glorious within.' Through sorrows and persecutions, she may be smoky and black to the world's eye, as the ' tents of Kedar ; ' but in regard of spii'itual beauty, she is ' comely as the curtains of Solomon.' And in this the Jewish temple resembled it aright, which had most of its riches and beauty in the inside. Holiness is the gold of this spiritual house, and it is inwardly emiched with that. The glory of the Chiu-ch of God consists not in stately buildings, of temples, and rich furniture, and pompous ceremonies ; these agree not with its spiiitual nature. Its true and genuine beauty is, to grow in spirituality, and so to be liker itself, and to have more of the presence of God, and His glory filling it as a cloud. And it hath been observed, that the more the Church grew in outward riches and state, the less she grew, or rather the more sensibly she abated, in spiiitual excellences." We have seen her in days of her exposiu^e to perse- cution, suffering martyrdom, covered with such shame and reproach as the world could heap upon her, hT.ng among the pots, sojourning amid the persecuted Pauli- kians of the east, and the suffering Waldenses of the west, a widow and a weeper. "We have caught glimpses of her amid the flames that consumed her, and under the smoke that rose from her ashes, or in the cells and dungeons prepared for her by the Apostasy, in which she shed forth a supernatural glory that often awed her enemies. But at the epoch described in the text, she is to be presented to the Bridegroom a glorious Church, unveiled and visible to heaven and earth, having laid aside her weeds of sorrow, her ashen garments, and put on her coronation robes, and standing forth a monument of grace, the mastei-piece of Chiist, the joy of the whole earth. Previous to the presentation of the bride, we are told, chap. xix. 7, that " she had made herself ready." This preparation is now going on, and at the 136 APOCALynic sketches. coining of Clirist the professing Chnrch will be di^-ided into two great classes — one, the mere pretender ; and the other, the trne Chui'ch, the Lamb' s wife. So it is wiitten in Matt. xxv. 1—13: ''Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten Yii'gins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them ; bnt the wise took oil in theu" vessels with their lamps. While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slum- bered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise. Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saving, Not so ; lest there be not enough for us and you ; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the Bride- groom came ; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying. Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Yerily I say unto you, I know you not. "VYatch, therefore, for ye Ioioav neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh." AYe have, in the five mse virgins, the Lamb's wife — the bride made ready for the Bridegroom; and their preparation con^esponds to that which is said to be the characteristic of the Apocalj-ptic bride having made herself ready. The woman seated on the scarlet- coloured beast had her peculiar readiness, for " she was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls." But the true bride has no such meretricious finery. She has '' washed her robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb;" she has heard the ciy that now soimds forth, ''Behold, the Bridegroom cometh;" and to her who thus looks, and longs, and prays for him, he will soon "appear the second time," on the lightning's wing and in the clouds, " mthout sin unto salvation." The pr^- THE BEIDE. 137 sent moYements of the nations of the earth are all designed to stir up the bride to meet the Bridegroom ; and these convulsions, which shake the kingdoms of this world, tend to detach her affections more and more from things seen, and to lift them to things unseen and eternal — to her future home — her watching Lord. The true church -wdll become more and more united, pure, and spiritual, as the time draws nigh. She will lean less on an arm of flesh, and look more to her husband, Christ. She will act out with greater simplicity of purpose and energy of heart the Apostolic prescription, to " buy as though she possessed not, to weep as though she wept not, and to use the word as not abusing it." It is after the bride has made herself ready, and the Bridegroom has come, that the glorious festival described in these words, "The mamage of the Lamb is come," is celebrated. It is very remarkable that in this book alone Christ is called so often the Lamb : (''the Lamb's wife," and '' Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.") The reason of this Apocalyptic expression may be, that the Saviour's greatest and most glorious character is that which is most precious to sinners upon earth — that oiu* salvation and His glory are bound up together — that eternity to come shall cele- brate His cross, as eternity previous predicted and pre- figured it — and that his triumph on Calvary was his greatest act, and its results his richest honoui', and its remembrance the illumination of the future. The marriage -supper is the anival of that epoch which the redeemed of every age have anticipated. It has been the longed-for day of patriarchs, the glowing prediction of prophets, the biu'den of songs, the hope of the Chui'ch, the era for which creation groans and the sons of God pray. The widow does not more desii'e her husband, nor the bride her bridegroom, than the people of God desire this day. When this era arrives, there will be greater scope for the love of the people of God toward their Saviour. They can say now, "AMiom having not seen we love;" but when the object of faith shall become the object of 138 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. sight, and when they shall see him as he is, they will love him as they ought. Their enlarged capacities and purer nature will be capable of feeling and expressing an intenser love ; and those feelings of gratitude which we have long felt too big for utterance, will then find a channel for their egress adequate to their ardoiu' and magnitude. AVe shall see the King in his beauty ; we shall feel how little we have loved and served him, how little our largest sacrifices have been, how feeble our deepest gratitude, how faltering our holiest walk, how poor our richest offering. This supper will be the scene of great and unspeakable joy — joy unutterable and full of glory : at God's right hand is fulness of joy — it is no wonder that it will be so. It is creation's deliverance — the festival of Christianity — the coronal, and close, and victory of the redeemed, after ceaseless struggles. Here joy enters into us, — there we shall enter into joy ; '' as a bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so will thy God rejoice over thee." ''He will rejoice over thee with joy," He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing : " and angels, witnessing the grand festival, and catching by reflection some rays of its joy, and hear- ing its sublime song, will also sing, " Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honour to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." The transition from this scene of conflict, and trial, and faintness of heart, and feebleness of service, to this royal festival — this day of recovery of all we lost in Adam — this concentration of all joy — this commence- ment of unending and growing bliss, will awaken within us emotions of ecstasy such as our faint hearts and narrow si^irits are now of necessity strangers to. Enlarged as our capacities will be, we "shall be satisfied." We shall reap nothing but bliss, know nothing but ti'uth, feel nothing but love, and do nothing but righteousness. 33ut here, as in all the privileges proclaimed in this book, there is implied the necessity of present character to fit us for this future felicity. " Elessed are they, also, which are called to the marriage- supper of the Lamb." They are those of every kindred, and nation, and people, and THE BETDE. 139 tongiie, who have accepted the promises and offers of the everlasting Gospel, and "svho have believed God's tes- timony concerning his Son — " who have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" — who are " chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, unto salvation, through sanctiiication of the Spirit, and belief of the truth" — who are, in short, the bride, the Lamb's wife. I believe that the redeemed company who gather together to celebrate this high festival will be a great majority of every generation of the human family. It is true that, in every age, there are more that despise or neglect the Gospel than there are that accept it. But it is a flict all admit, that half the human race, and, of course, of each generation, dies in infancy ; and if all infants dying in infancy are saved, altogether irrespective of the will of the parents or the rites of the Chui'ch, as I believe them to be, then there will be a majority of man- kind saved. This majority will constitute that " great multitude which no man can number," who sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God ; who join in the maniage-supper of the Lamb. There will gather around that august and glorious festival persons of every age. The antediluvian who saw the Saviour through the vista of four thousand years, the Patriarch of IJr of the Chaldees, and the patient sufferer of the land of TJzz. The Prophet will find there his most glo^vuig predictions all realised, and the Evan- gelist ^ill see the Sufferer his pen delineated now seated as the King and Conqueror whom his hopes expected. The martyrs that cried, " Lord, how long!" and entered his presence through the fires of martyrdom — the wit- nesses who remained faithfid amid all but universal apos- tasy— the intrepid reformer — the babe of yesterday and the man of to-day, all will take their places at the mar- riage-supper of the Lamb. Individuals, too, of eveiy climate will be there ; each zone of the earth shall render up its tribute, every latitude its treasures. The African from his burning sands, and the Laplander from his per- petual snows ; the Arab from his tents, and the Druse from his mountains ; all the descendants of Shem, Ham, 140 APOCALYPTIC SE:ETCnES. and Japhet, bound together by the mysterious links of loYC, and forming one great and ti"ue brotherhood, shall meet together at this feast, and see each in each a brother, and all. in Christ the Eridegroom ; and in those he has gathered and presented to himself, the bride — the Lamb's wife. Men, too, from every civil and ecclesias- tical economy will swell the ranks of these happy ones. The stem republican, and the accomplished royalist ; the subjects of civilised governments, and the victims of bar- barous and cruel ones ; the conquerors of the world, and those they enslaved; all whom a Divine ray reached and raised from darkness to light, shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and prove that no external circumstances can intercept the entrance of the glorious Gospel, or form an impassable wall between the Saviour and the sinner. Men, too, of every rank and class of society — those at the apex, and those at the very basis of the social pyi'amid • — the monarch who reigns over many millions, and the mechanic who knows but two things — his business and his Bible ; the noble who looks back upon a lineage stretching into ancient times, and the peasant whose home is the circumference of his family, and whose lineage is soon read on the fly-leaf of its only heirloom and crest and ornament — the Word of God ; the sufferer from his bed of sickness ; the martyr from his flame- shroud ; the missionary from his lonely grave ; the soldier from his gory bed ; and the sailor from his sea-tomb, shall come together, having nothing in common but love and likeness to Christ, and share in the sacred festivities of the marriage -supper of the Lamb. Castle and camp, and royal palace, and noble hall, shall each furnish guests ; each rank and degree of life shall have its repre- sentatives before the throne. However these may have differed in gifts, in privileges, in circumstances, on earth, they have all one great family likeness ; and so it will be seen, when the masks of earth have all dropped off, and the Divine features of a regenerated nature shine forth in infinite variety, but with imperishable lustre. At this marriage feast there will be enjoyed perfect THE BEIDE. 141 rest. The labourer rests at eventide, the warrior rests after the battle, and the Christian at the close of his pilgrimage. Each faculty and affection will enjoy its peculiar Sabbath, and every capacity will receive its suitable nutriment, and every feeling its di^dne and ele- vating ecstasy; and the whole man will enjoy a festival which the most expressive symbols only enable us to see through a glass darkly. Those perplexities which baffled our researches upon earth mil all be unravelled, those difficulties which we could not master here will be dis- solved in that pure sunshine ; and mysteries seen to be so now will cease to be so there, and providences as in- scrutable as they are painful in this dispensation will then find their solution in a flood of glory; and the sacred page on which we have found clouds and darkness will be seen clear and beautiful in that holy light. Then will be creation's jubilee — the Chui^ch's triumph — the Redeemer's glory, A large portion of those who have made themselves ready is now in the more immediate presence of the Lamb. The locality they now live and worship and rejoice in, we do not know — it may be much nearer us than we are aware — but, wherever it be, there is no family on earth that has not an interest in it — that is not linked to it by indissoluble ties — that has not amid its shining numbers a representative waiting for the hour hcmr that restores to them those they left on earth. A large portion of its predestined inheritors is still unborn ; many are now living, but not yet born again. Many are now the sons of God, walking worthy of theii* high calling. Those within the veil and those without, the in-door and out-door servants, are alike constituents of the Church of the redeemed; and, in due time, the whole family in heaven and earth shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, at the marriage-supper of the Lamb. My dear brethren, we are all now on trial for this sublime and glorious destiny. Each year, as it rolls away, is so precious, because it carries us either to this great gathering or away from it. Each minute is re- 142 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. plete with infinite valne, for it contributes to the forma- tion of a character which shall outlast the dissolution of all things, and be darkened with an everlasting eclipse, or be resplendent with the rays of gloiy. Everj'thing we now do or say stretches into this solemn future. Ever}^ word and act has its echo hereafter. A^Tiat we now sow we shall hereafter reap, in gladness or sorroAV, in joy or tears. The queen upon her throne, the prime minister before her, the peer, the clerg^nnan, the phy- sician, the merchant, the tradesman, the Protestant, the Roman Catholic, the Infidel, the Atheist, are all rushing, with speed that can neither be retarded nor arrested, into that awful future which divides them into great classes — one for the festival of the Lamb, the other for the wrath of the Lamb. Extinction is impossible. The soul is a word that cannot be unspoken — a leaf that cannot be annihilated. Wliether we smile or weep, Time wings his flight ; Days, hours, tliey never ci'eep ; Life speeds hke light. Whether we laugh or groan, Seasons change fast ; Nothing hath ever flown Swift as the past. Wliether we chafe or chide, On is Time's pace ; Never his noiseless step Doth he retrace. Speeding, still speeding on, How, none can tell ; Soon will he bear us To heaven or hell. Dare not, then, waste thy days — Reckless and proud ; Lest while ye dream not. Time spread thy shroud. It is the desire of God, that all whom I now address ^trioiild rise and share in the hallowed liospitalities of the Lamb. He has spread before cyqtj eye the sacred page from which remonstrant flashes, like the flame- THE BRIDE. 143 sword of the cherubim, warn us from the paths of ruin. Eveiy week he sends us the Sabbath, like a messenger from the skies, to reveal afresh the sanctuaiy, the ordi- nances of the Gospel, the message of loye, the means of grace, the hopes of glory ; there is no speech where its Toiee is not heard ; its line is gone out through all the world ; it bids you prepare for the maniage supper of the Lamb. God's providential dealings incessantly impress tlie same truth. He awakens the sleeping judgments which he has in store, and charges them to strike that theA' may stir us uj) to reflection and forethought. Sickness and bereavement, the shrouds of our babes and the gi^aves of our fathers, the arrow by day and the pesti- lence by night, the sui'ges of a nation's wrath and the ripples of an individual's sorrow, are the trumpets of God sounding in our ears our growing responsibilitiee, and urging us on piercing motives to arise ancl make ready, for '^ Behold, the Bridegroom cometh.'' LECTUEE X THE APOCALYPTIC TEMPLE. ** And I saw no temple therein : for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamh, are the temple of it.^' — Rev. xxi. 22. This sounds like a discord in the harmony of heaven — it looks as if it were the projected shadow of '^J^o God!" — it seems out of place. ''No tears," one can easily admit as an Eden feature, and joyfully anticipate as a blessed fact ; but '' no temple" seems a gap in the landscape — a stain on the glory — a cloud on the bright, sky. Take away the house of prayer, and our peaceful Sabbath, and our public ordinances, and our village spires, and the chimes of Sabbath bells, and the hill of Zion, the ascending crowds of solenm worshippers, and the songs of praise, and the rich, deep calm that still ovei-llows, as with the light and love of the better land, our Sundays, even in England, — and you seem to me to despoil earth of half its beauty, time of its most brilliant gems, and humanity of its sweetest and most precious birthright. This negative, too, seems to contradict other apocalyptic sketches. We read in one place " The temple of God was opened ;" in another, " The temple was filled with smoke;" and in another, '' They serve Him in his temple." In these passages it seems to be intimated that the mde earth shall then be one glorious temple ; but in the passage under consideration it ap- pears to be thought that the millennial age shall have no temple at all. There is no contradiction — there is real harmony, between these statements, if we will only listen ; a little reflection and discrimination will bring it out. THE TEMPLE. 145 It will be granted by every Christian, that during the coming era, when the Gospel shall universallj^ prevail in its highest, deepest, and purest influence, there will be no sceptic, infldel, or Socialist temple. Such are and have been in this dispensation ; but in the 'New Jeru- salem, law, order, and love, shall be the air and sun- shine of all space : Avild and sensual dreams shall have passed away like exhausted clouds ; unbelief shall have periled from the earth ; scepticism, that airj', cold and unsubstantial frostwork — that Iceland of negations — shall have been utterly dissolved under the sun of • light ; one trace, fragment, or memorial of it shall not remain. There shall be no Socinian temple there, nor shall there be any one holding Socinian sentiments in the New Jerusalem, I listen to the fore-heard echoes of its songs, and I hear none disowning or leaving out, but all proclaiming clearly and pei-petually, the essential deity of the Son of God, In Eev. V. 12, it is written, that '^ ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, say, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that arc in them, I heard saying, Elessing, and honoui*, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the tlu'one, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever," And again, in Rev, vii. 9, " After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, sajdng, Salvation to our God -s^'hich sitteth upon the tlirone, and unto the Lamb." The atonement thus gives colouring to their songs, and emphasis to their gratitude. The deity of Jesus is there universally felt, acknowledged, gloiified. He is the object of universal worship. There will be no Romish temple there. Here ''the SECOND SERIES. L 146 APOCAxrrxic sketches. man of sin sitteth in the temple of God, shewing him- self that ho is God :" but there Christ is the only high priest, and his praise the censer of ever-burning in- cense. The Yirgin Mary is there, not a goddess on the altar, or a queen, but a worshipper before the throne; and the apostles, and martjTs, and saints, receive no religious service, but give ceaseless ado- ration, and thanksgiving, and glorj^, and honour, ''to Him that loveth them, and washed them too fron^ their sins in his own blood, and made them kings and priests unto God." There shall be there no Turkish mosque or temple — the Crescent has then and there waned and disappeared before the Cross; the channels of the Euphrates have been filled with the streams of that " river that makes glad the city of our God ;" the minaret is buried in the decay of past ages ; the fiillen firmamental star has no orbit in the millenial sky, the locusts of Egj'pt no admis- sion into the New Jerusalem, and the Koran is unkno^m, and the cave of Mecca is merged in the bottomless pit for ever. There shall be no Denominational temple there. Those distinctions which have crept into the worship of God in the lapse of yeai's, shall all melt away in that flood of light and gloiy that lights up with everlasting splendour our new Jerusalem ; the names and distinctions of Epis- copacy, Presbytery, Independency, and "Wesleyanism, with their peculiar crotchets, parties, quarrels, and framework, shall all be swept away; and the name which was fii'st pronounced in scorn at Antioch, shall alone be heard in the choii's of the redeemed, and gloried in as their noblest distinction. Names so musical now will then be heard no more all ; glories so radiant now, will be quenched, or rather superseded then; — Christ shall be all and in all, and man shall be glorious only in His glor}^ There will be no material or local temple there. No place will be sequestered and set apart for the special worship of God ; the scaffolding comes down when the edifice is complete ; the discipline which is temporary. THE TEMPLE. 147 gives way to the communion of saints which is eternal ; the canonised urn is gone, for the fountain and river of living waters are disclosed. The whole earth shall be holiness to the Lord ; the hand of the great High Priest shall wave consecration over it, and Christ himself shall be the temple of the universe. The absence of a material temple is, in short, the expressive symbol of the departiu^e and decay of all those auxiliary means and ordinances which are of so great value here ; there will then be no sacraments, as the great substance of them, the Son of God, will be present. ^' Till I come," is the close of the Eucharist ; '' in remem- brance of me," cannot be said of one actually and bodily present; these, therefore, are both left behind, as the calyx or corolla when the fruit is ripe. There will be then no stated weekly Sabbath, because time will be a perpetual Sabbath ; the little bright pools reflecting at intervals in the march of days the splendour of the skies, will be covered by the rising tide from which they have been always fed, and will reflect in purer and intcnser lustre the glories of the ISTew Jerusalem. The evening star will hide its head on the rise of that sun, and the occasional rest will merge into everlasting repose. There Avill be no ministry of the Gospel. There will be no teacher, because all ^^dll be taught ; or rather, the Great Teacher will take on himself the fimctions which he now delegates to men, and thus fulfil his own promise, '' All thy chilcben shall be taught of God," and '' They shall no more teach every man his neighbour." In Ephesians iv. 11, 12, the limits of the existence of the ministry are declared to be, '' He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some j)as- tors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifpng of the body of Christ, till ive all come, in the unity of the faith and of the Imowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measui'e of the statiu'e of the fulness of Christ." This last attainment, this perfection and unity, will take place at the millennium ; and then the gift of teachers, now enjoyed, and inadequately valued, will be withdi-awn. L 2 148 AroCALYPTIC SKETCnES. There "^yill there be no prayer. It will then be un- necessaiy, entirely so ; it is peculiar to a dispensation of wants, weaknesses, imperfections, ignorance. In the IS'cw Jerusalem there will be no wants, and therefore there can be no prayer, which is the expression of them. Prayer has its root in this world amid wants and tears ; and its flowering in praise and sunshine and fulness of joy in the world to come. Thus, then, in the coming age there is no preaching, for all will be converted ; no prayer, for all wants will be supplied ; no faith, for all will be fruition ; no hope, for all will be having. JS'ow, more or less, perfect!}', the universe is the temple of God. Then, God vrill be the temple of the universe, — its walls, the attributes of Beity, — its roof, the majesty the Eternal, — its gate, the incarnate Lamb; — and suc- cessive generations shall kneel around the throne, like zones of gloiy, and praise him for ever ; then all creation shall be holy, every spot of earth consecrated, every hour canonical ; exhaustion and fatigue shall be utterly unlmown, " they shall run and not weai'y, walk and not faint." These facts, so true of the coming dispensation, so atti^active features in it, imply that there are and must needs be temples in this. They exist now by divine prescription, by necessary laws, from tried experience : ''Forget not the assembling of yourselves together;" '' "Where two or thi^ee are met together in my iJ^Tame, there am I in the midst of them." J^o one can read with ordinarj^ care the Acts of the Apostles, without seeing that social worship was held to be of Scriptui-e obligation, and shown to be Apostolic and Christian practice. We need continuously re\dved our impressions of eternal and future realities ; we require our love to God, our reverence for tiiith, our patience, our peace, our repose, strengtlicned and nourished; and surely nowhere are the springs of those more abundant, or more fully revealed, or more overflowing, than on the Sabbath in the house of prayer, and amid the exercises of the sanctuary. There is excitement, a holy and precious excitement, in the living voice of the living ambassador THE TEMPLE. 149 of God, in the listening auditory in the place where past generations have worshipped and gone upwards; and above and beyond all these, is the special promise, tlio sure pledge of the Lord of the Sabbath, the King of Zion, to hallow by his peculiar and distinguishing bless- ing the place where he records his name, and where his people meet. I find no special geographical locality, or latitude, or soil, assigned for a Christian temple in the word of God ; nor can I trace any intimation respecting its aspect, its shape, or its size ; but surely the least attentive reader of the word of God cannot fail to discover the Divine sanction and Scriptural precedent for the fact of public and social worship, and of one day selected from the current of days for the special time of such worship definitely fixed, and therefore of divine obligation. It is true, some say every day is holy, and there is now no necessity for one to be selected from the rest and made peculiarly so : — the divine warrant for such a day is a sufficient answer to such an objection ; man is not wiser than God ; and all the practical results of such a theory, wherever it has been attempted, are no less decisive e^-idence of its inherent evil and iiTcligion. " ^Ye can read at home a far better sermon than we can hear at church," is also perfectly true; but it is just as true, and as extensively true, that in almost every case where such an objection is urged, there is neither prayer oftered nor sermon read at home; and if there were both, there still remains what is no light argument in favour of the duty of waiting on the public preaching of the gospel — the fact, that it is the ordinance of God, and, as such, is honoured of God, and has impressed upon its observance the promise of his special presence and enriching benediction. ^Ve need no sacraments, say others, to remind us of that death which is in every pulse of our new life, or of that divine and glorious Savioiu' who redeemed us by love, and will come again to receive us unto himself, whom we cannot forget. God knew best what we should require, and has ap- pointed these visible symbols, to remind us of facts we 150 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. are ever prone to undervalue or forget ; if there be no cup, the wine will bo spilt ; if there be no ordinances, religious impressions will evaporate : and it is matter of fact that, whenever the outward forms and ordinances and obligations of Christianity have been despised or neglected, the inward life has lost much of its energy, and a cold freezing atmosphere has spread its benumbing influence in every direction, and over every portion of the Christian body. But it is no less important, it may here be proper to remark, to guard ourselves from the opposite and equally mischievous extreme, so prevalent in our day, which rushes from the scepticism that tramples under foot the ordinances of God, to the fanaticism which canonises and worships them as idols in the room of God. We know not which is most injurious ; the one which would evaporate every right into a transcendental mystery, or an empty metaphor and figure of speech ; or the other, which would condense them into gods, and make the Chiu^ch a new Pantheon, a place of innumer- able shrines and altars for thcii* adoration, till a crucifix becomes more precious than the atonement, an altar the Saviour, and a wafer their God. Thus it is that sensual pride would idolise, and intel- lectual pride would scorn the sacraments, — a pulverising scepticism would destroy them, and a sensuous super- stition would canonise them. God will meet neither the pride of a darkened intellect, nor that of a depraved heart; but he condescends to the weakness of man, and mercifully and wisely provides for all its require- ments. Man needs a temple. His nature shows it : were he pure intellect he could dispense with it, — were he mere animalism he could not rise to it, still less above it ; but as soul and body, immortality and mortality wed together, he finds in the a]')pointments of God, his word, his house, his ordinances, all that is requisite in this dispensation to aid, to stimulate, improve, and fit him for a nobler and more glorious destiny. Shiners need temples. They require to be arrested, THE TEMPLE. 151 roused, awakened, or they perish in their sins; their minds require light, their judgments facts, their con- sciences conviction, their whole nature regeneration, improvement, and elevation; and no process has been shown or felt in the history of mankind to have been so fraught with power, as that of a faithfully preached Gospel. Saints need temples no less than sinners. They are the corn in the field, the flowers in the garden, the branches of the vine, and they must have the dew-drops and sunbeams of the sky to fall upon them, or they wither ; they are dependent, they live on influences from above. Grace is an exotic ; it is implanted from on high, amid an inhospitable and imcongenial world, and it must be sustained and invigorated from the source of its birth; and it has been invariably and uniformly found, in all places, ages, and cuxumstances, that the greater our growth in grace, the greater becomes our appetite for the means of its maintenance and increase — the exercises and influences of the sanctuarj^ of God. It was no sentimental poet, but holy David, who wrote the eight^'-fourth psalm : '* How amiable are thy taber- nacles, 0 Lord of hosts ! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house : a day in thy courts is better than a thousand : I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." The soul grows in capacity with its progress in know- ledge and truth ; one satisfaction delighting it awhile, indeed, but preparing it also to thii'st for new and more glorious draughts from the fountain of living waters; and hence, wheresoever the in\dtation is sounded forth, on the highway, or amid sacred furniture, from the pulpit or on the hill-side, " Ho, every one that thirstcth, come ye to the waters," it hears in such words sounds full of melody and irresistible attraction, and resolves, at all hazard or expense, to be there. The " company " of the people of God is a Christian's "own," the scene, the source, the kindlcr of fellowship, sympathy, communion ; and therefore they who have made the greatest progress 152 APOCALTPTIC SKETCHES. in conformity to the Divine image, are they who seek most, and frequent oftenest, the house of God, the as- sembly of the saints, and enjoy its ennobling exercises mth greatest delight and largest benefit. " People of the living God, I have sought the world around, Paths of sin and sorrow trod, Peace and comfort nowhere found. Now to you my spirit turns, Turns a fugitive unblest; Brethren, where your altar bums, Oh, receive me into rest ! Lonely, I no longer I'oam, Like the cloud, the wind, the wave, Where you dwell shall be my home, Wiiere you die shall be my grave; Mine the God whom you adore, Your Redeemer shall be mine; Earth can fill my heart no moi-e. Every idol I resign." Society requkes temples. The Christian Chui'ch is the nui'sery of a Christian people. A society that springs from the mosque, the Socialist's den, the Romish temple, will be found unmanageable, unquiet, unpros- perous, the mere slaves of a designing priesthood, the creatures of democratic or rather ochlocratic turbulence, and destitute altogether of that nobility of nature which imparts obedience to laws and lawful authority without servility, and creates a manly, independent character without the least tendency to disrespect and insubordi- nation. The house of God is the sacred platform which levels none and elevates all, — on which liberty, equality, fraternity, truly so called, grow up as branches of the tree of life, instinct with true vitalitj^, and loaded with real fruits ; where our common and aboriginal nature is felt by all hearts to be our common condition, and ac- knowledged amid all the trappings of rank and the veils of circumstance ; where rich and poor meet together, and see and cherish the tics of a common but not ignoble brotherhood. Society cannot become compact till wedded by Chris- tian love: and it can attain its culminating greatness THE TEMPLE. 153 only when it is universally illuminated and inspired and directed by the wisdom that is from above. All govern- ment in this world requires temples. Be it a monarchy, a republic, or an aristocracy, there can be little righteous rule above, and less loyalty and obedience below, where the restraining, guiding, sanctifying truths of Chris- tianity are not appreciated. Conscience is the fountain of power ; it must be touched. In the house of God, and through the instrumentality of the truth of God, this faculty is reached, and awakened, and replaced upon its legitimate throne ; and man then thinks and plans as before God. "\Ye may be ass'ired, houses of prayer where such results follow, are far more important contributions to the stability and safety of the State than prisons ; and the lessons of Christianity, than stringent laws ; and love and loyalty, the inner inspii-ation of the soul, than the fears created by penal codes, or the obedience forced from without by an Argus-eyed police. Loyal subjects, and wise and just and merciful rulers, are not the wild shoots of nature, growing on the commons of the earth, but Divine plants, the planting of the Lord, and requiring Divine nutriment. I never can believe that the social order, ail but universal allegiance, and enthusiastic rever- ence for our institutions in this great land, are merely the results of commercial calculation of loss by their removal — or of Saxon doggedness, or of pure habit, or of traditional veneration. Their roots have struck, no doubt, into the convictions and hearts, but deeper and stronger still, I believe, into the consciences of our people. A jus humanum in itself thus rises to the rank and strength of a jus divimim ; and in the blow levelled at the ordinance of man, they see a stain aimed at the honour of God. The true charter of our social liberties is the word of God ; and the place where its words are read, and its responsibilities impressed — call it cathedral, church, or chapel — is a place on which the State mightily depends. It is the Bible that exposes all forms of tjTanny and falsehood, by bringing before the mind the t5i)es, and images, and formulas, of immortal truth and spiritual freedom ; by displacing the authority of the 154 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. Church by the authority of Christ ; by annihilating the decretals of Popes by the voice of God. Put away oiu' Bibles, and pull down our sanctuaries, and how long would our institutions remain ? The Bible is the palla- dium of oiu' constitutional freedom : with the Bible, we can never be enslaved, without it we cannot remain long free ; what is brightest in our history is reflected from it ; what is most powerful, pure, and holy in our con- stitution is inspired by it. In the futiu'e dispensation, in which, as asserted in the passage under review, there will be no temple, it may be proper to add, there will be no necessity for a temple. In the ancient temple of Jerusalem — the special and peculiar residence of Deity — were the Urim and Thummim, the Shechinah and the mercy-seat, and the overshadowing cherubim. But in the coming dispen- sation, the temple will be co- extensive with the city, the Church and State will be one ; the xerj walls will be built of those precious stones, fragments of which were placed on the breastplate of the high-priest ; and the glory of the Lord, that dwelt between the cherubim of old, will cover with its splendours every spot of the holy city. Then all citizens will be Chiistians, all rulers spiritual ; and the great idea of Dr. Arnold, so forcibly and eloquently rendered by the Duke of Argyll, in his recent work * — impossible in this dispensation — will be actualiscd, and Church and State will be melted into one in the new Jerusalem, inseparable and undistin- guishable for ever. All will be priests unto God. Such temples as exist on earth will be unnecessary in the future age, because all space will be holiness to the Lord. In the ancient economy, certain rules and acts of worship Avere so restricted to the temple of Jei-usalem, that it would have been siti to attempt to perform them in any other place. Thus it is written in Deuteronomy xii. 13, ** Take heed to thyself, that thou offer not thy * " Presbytery Examined, or an Essay, critical and liistorical, on tlio Ecclesiastical History of Scotland sniee the Reformation.'* By the Duke of Argyll. Moxon, Dover-street. THE TEMPLE. 155 burnt offerings in every j^lacc that tliou seest ; bnt in the place which the Lord shall choose, in one of thy tribes, there shalt thou offer thy burnt-offerings, and there shalt thou do all that I command thee." In 2 Chronicles vii. 12, it is written, " And the Lord appeared unto Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and ha^'e chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice." And in this present dispensation, though the tyi3e is merged in its antitype, and the whole earth is fit in itself for sacred rites and spiritual worship, — as it is declared by oiu* blessed Lord, " The hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor- shippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him;" *'Ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father;" — yet every spot is not in fact suited for assembled worshippers, owing to the din, and conflict, and interruptions of the world. Mammon has preoccupied one part ; the conflict of po- litical parties, another ; the competition of trade, another ; and unless a spot be selected and separated from the sur- rounding worldliness, and hedged and walled round, and visibly and legibly devoted to sacred and spii'itual things, there could scarcely be a visible church. — This arises from abounding worldliness, from the imperfections and sinfulness of oiu' position, and from the usurpations of Satan, which become more intiiisive as the hour of his ejection di-aws nigh. Eut in the new Jerusalem — the better, and purer, and perfect age, — a Sabbath-calm shall float over a redeemed earth ; — the whole earth shall be retrieved, as it is akeady redeemed, and every acre shall be holy ; every pulse of eveiy heart shall be worship, and every breath shall be as fragrant incense, and the floor of that temple shall be the whole earth, and the worshippers all living men, and time a perpetual Lord's-day ; there shall be no world to keep out, no intrusion to prevent, — no distinction between house and house, service and ser- vice, spot and spot possible ; all scenes will be salvation, and all sounds praise. Christ shall be the temple of the Millennium, and all redeemed saints '' pillars in the 156 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. temple of my God." All lioiirs, too, shall be canonical, all seasons high festiyals, and all affections at all hours in tune. All space shall be temple-space, and all days temple-days. AVe gather from these revelations of the future, what are the elements of fitness for its sublune and holy em- ployments. Delight in the service of God is the cha- racteristic of all its inmates, and this delight is not originated there, it is begun here, in indi\T.dual hearts ; it is nui'sed and developed amid all the means of grace ; and unless we have some consciousness of its presence within us now, and give some evidence of its intensity, and power, and increase, we do not possess that internal character which fits us for the enjoyments and exercises of the people of God, in the presence of the throne of God and of the Lamb. It is a prepared place for a pre- pared people ; its citizens were made so here, their fran- chise is received only here, their fitness is generated here. 'We must be bom before we can breathe the air, behold the light, or engage in the duties of this present life ; and we must be " born again," before we can enter on the scenes, inhale the air, or join in the harmonies of the age to come. According to a principle that runs through all of the universe that we know, the inhabitant is fitted for his habitation, the bird for the air, the fish for the waters, the ox for the earth, man's hody for the earth that now is, and so man's soul and body for the earth and age and scenes to come. To produce, liasten, and mature this grand moral and sjDiritual adaptation, is the great end of all our ecclesiastical scaffolding — our Lord's-days, our prayers, our Bibles, our sanctuaries. Do we possess it ? Is the kuigdom of God, which is " not meat, nor drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," within us? If these things be so, what a bright prospect is here unfolded for the people of God ! Those imperfections which cleave to all we think, feel, or do ; those inter- ruptions which break in on our most sequestered and solemn communings with God; those spectacles of sin and soiTow and death, which cry aloud with piercing THE TEMPLE. 157 eloquence, "All have sinned," and ''The wages of sin is death;" those inner conflicts of St. Paul, repeated in every heart in which the Spirit of God dwells; those groanings, waiting to be delivered; those conceptions, that fade as we try to realise them; those pui'poses, that perish in practical development, — shall aU cease on the very threshold of that state, in which the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple. In the words of Mr. Birks, one of the ablest and acutest of living in- terpreters of prophecy, " The kingdom of peace and righteousness must dawn at length on the earth : what though the worship of JMahuzzin shall long defile even the Christian Church with foul idolatries, and flatterers, who cleave to a faith which theii* hearts never welcome, may usui^p the name of the Catholic Chui'ch, to crush under holy titles the faithful mtnesses of the Lord, — it is but a little time, and the tjTanny shall cease, and the delusion shall pass away. The sanctuaiy of God in these latter days must be cleansed from its man^^ defile- ments ; the flatterers of the outer court exiled from the assemblies of Christ ; and a pure and virgin Church be prepared to welcome the returning Bridegroom. What though the scofters of the last days may exult in their vain boasts of a light which is not of heaven, and of a knowledge in which the only Savioiu' of sinners is for- gotten and despised ; — what though the multitudes may gather under deceitful watchwords of Liberty, Light, and Progress, and the worship of man, self-regenerate by his own wisdom, for one last confederacy of Gentile unbelief; they shall still come to their end, and none shall help them, though statesmen may exclude the truth of God from their counsels, though philosophers may speculate on all the depths of history without once discovering theii' own need of a Saviour, and build up a new Babel in the last days of human liberty and equality, and imaginarj^ triumphs of reason ; though divines may invent a Gospel without Christ — and metaphysicians, a world without the living God ; this record, like a finna- ment of unalterable, ineffaceable truth, is above them and around them, to rebuke their folly, and confirm the 158 APOCiLYPTlC SKETCHES. faith of all the servants of the Lord. In the strife of modem parties, amidst the fever of commerce and trade, it reminds us of a counsel which is ever advanc- ing s^^dftly to its bourne, of angel ministries that are unceasingly aroimd us, and of a solemn resurrection which di'aws nearer and nearer, and like a thief in the night, may break in suddenly ^vith a wild and strange surprise upon all the schemes and projects of worldly men. The prophecies that we now trace dimly and painfully with the eyes of the flesh, and amidst the thick mists of a fallen world, will then start out before us in their clear and imveiled beauty, and awaken per- petual songs of wonder and praise and adoration in the hour of the resurrection, and throughout everlasting ages in the kingdom of our God." Our clearest conception of that temple-less, because all-temple, state, are dim, faint, and unworthy. We sec it through a glass, darkly. This glass shall be cast away on the confines of the age to come ; the eye shall be pui'ged of its weakness and its film ; the air shall be light— that light the glory of Deity; and the future vision realised by John in Patmos from the bosom of the Egean sea, shall be seen by us, stretching out before us a glorious panorama — a present fact — the comple- ment of the past — the commencement of an ever- brightening future — the fulfilment of all prophecy — the realisation of all promise. Let us love and be thankful for Christian temples upon earth. They are its chiefest bcautj' — the springs of its peace, the nuclei around which the forlorn hopes of humanity may cluster and find suj^port. Let their hallowed exercises be dear to us ; let us accustom our- selves to their air and associations, let us prefer the " sAvallow's nest" in the rafters of the humblest to the sheen of palaces or the pagcantiy of courts. They have been the nurseries of past generations — the springs in the valley of Baca, dug by our forefathers, and filled from the fountains of heaven, from which weary pilgrims have drunk and gone on refreshed, as from strength to strength, till they appeared before God in Zion. THE TKMPLE. 159 May God, wlion he takes from us many precious things in just judgment for our iniquities, spare to us oiu' sanctuaries ; and when these fail, may heavenly and better buildings receive us into everlasting habi- tations ! LECTUEE XI. Mn.T.TlJryiAL LIGHT. •' And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it : for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof ^ — Key. xxi. 23. TiiEEE are some portions of Scripture which we are surrounded by great acknowledged difficulties; and yet there is a solution of them which it is our duty to attempt, by concentrating on them all the light we can command. Difficulties must not discourage us. The Spirit of God, in all he has written, designs our instruction ; and our text and other passages, although admittedly beset with difficulties, are revealed by him, and not to be avoided by us. "We ought rather, in a spirit of humility, teachableness, and prayer, to seek the guidance and dii'cction of that Spirit who is promised to teach us " things to come," that he would enable me to unfold, and you to understand them. I desire, first, to show that our text relates to the futui'e in time — not in eternity. I believe there is scarcely a promise contained in the xVpocalypse that shall not be actualised on earth. I believe it is, from fii^st to last, mainly a description of the Church triumphant below — not the Church triumphant in Heaven. I believe that every portion of it relates to believers in that glorious resurrec- tion state in which they sliall appear when Christ shall come and call them to himself, and that this New Jerusalem is the descent of Christ's people from the air into which they had been caught, and that this their settling upon earth will be the great picture and portrait of what grace can gather from the wrecks and I^IILLENNIAL LIGHT. 161 ruin of tho fall. He says, " I saw a new heaven and a new earth" (that is, a new outward ^dsible economy), '' for the first heaven and the fu'st earth were passed away." And he then says, ''And I, John, saw the Holy City, I^ew Jerusalem," (which we are now describing), '' coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." And then he adds, '' And I heard a great voice out of heaven, sapng, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and thej- shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and shall be their God." The term Shechinah, the visible glory between the cherubim on the mercy- seat, is derived jfrom a word which means '' to dwell." Thus, then, where it is wiitten " the Word dwelt among us," may be read ''the Word, the Shechinah of glory, was in the midst of us." I believe that that glory, which blazed in the bush on Horeb, which shone on Mount Sinai, glowed in the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, which guided the Israelites across the desert ; the glory which finally rested on the mercy-seat, and between the cherubim, and shone in unearthly lustre from the precious stones on the breastplate of the high-priest, revealing things past, present, and to come, was nothing else than the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person." AYe know not now what may be the appearance of Christ ; we know not what will be the nature of his futiu'e personal appearance amongst us; he will probably come in some bright manifestation like that which shone between the cherubim, and with an effulgence fidl of glory, which our eyes shall then be prepared to gaze on, of which we can form but a dim and inadequate conception, amid the clouds and shadows of this dispensation. I have called your attention to the character of those who shall dwell in that city. " I then endeavoured to assign reasons for its having gates at the east, west, north, and south, corresponding with tliat beautiful promise, " Many shall come iTom the east and the west, from the north and SECOND SERIES. M 162 ArocALYnic sketches. from the soutli, and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." I noticed the character of the city, ''it lieth four-square;" and showed, by reference to classic waiters, that the Greek word translated foiu'-square, was used to denote strength and solidity; in classic plu-aseology, ** a man to be trusted, a man of stability, pennancnce, and strength ;" is literally a foiu'-square man ; and the city is so described to indicate its permanence and strength. I then referred to the precious stones that are to be its found- ations, and showed that they might have been designed to teach us that all the wrecks of the fall shall be restored; that those precious and beautiful fragments, which we now value as gems, and which were cast forth and shattered by the great explosion which took place in Paradise, shall all be rcgathered and restored ; and that the earth, so long defaced and marred by the presence of sin, shall again reflect, with a new and everlasting lustre, the brightness of Him who made it once, and reconstructed it again. I believe that the outward material frame-work on which we live shall imdergo a process of change as gi'cat as our own bodies ; and that the resurrection of our bodies is the nearest representation of what shall be the change which the earth shall experience, when it shall be consumed by the last flames, and restored, renewed, readjusted by the presence of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I showed, too, that on each stone — precious stone — there was inscribed (as we are told) the name of an Apostle — the twelve Apostles of the Lamb ; they were not the foundation, for Christ is the foundation, but tlieir names will be inscribed on these precious stones. I have sometimes wondered if it was the design of the Spirit of God to teach us the character of the Apostles by the character of the stones on which their names are to be inscribed. If it was so, we might suppose the sapphire, mild and beautiful in its lustre, to be the representative of John. We might suppose the glowing topaz to be the repre- sentative of Paul. We miglit thus represent each Apostle's peculiar excellence, by analysing the chai'acter MILLENNIAL LK^HT. 163 of the stone. But perhaps this is mere fancy, and not the design of the Spirit of God ; if so, it is better let alone. And then it is added (as I explained last Lord's- day evening), '^ I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." I endeavoured to explain this. I showed that it seemed as a gap in the celestial landscape ; as if the removal of oui' temples from the earth were like the removal of the very stars from the o'erarching sky, or of the flowers from the summer scene ; for if there be one thing more beautiful than another here below, it is our groups of Churches and worshipping assemblies; and the ex- tinction of them would be like the extinction of the brightest and most lovely features in the whole moral landscape. But I showed the meaning to be, not that there should be no worship, but that there should be no visible sev^uestered temples for the performance of it : in a word, that th« Avliole earth will be one vast temple, and all its inhabitants but one great body of holy and happy worshippers. rii'st I said there would be no Socinian's temj)le in heaven ; if he get there it is in spite of his Socinianism, and the reason why I say so is not from any unchari- tableness, but because I notice that in all the songs and anthems of the redeemed aroimd the throne, every one ascribes to Jesus glory, and honour, and thanksgiving, — an ascription in which the Socinian can never join. It is plain, then, that there are no Socinian songs in heaven, but the veiy reverse : therefore there can be no Socinian temple or worship there. I noticed also that there would be no Eomish temple there, for the very ob\'ious reason that the accent " Ave Maria" is not once uttered by the worshipping hosts. "Abba, Eather," is the burden of their song : they give no honour either to saints or angels : it rises undividedly and exclusively to Jesus. "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and stixmgth, and honour, and gloiy, and blessing." I showed, too, that there would be no denominational temples — no AVesleyan, Episcopalian, or Presbyterian temples in heaven — ^not 164 AI'OCiLYPTIC SKKTCHES. one. These names are all merged in the splendour of one name — the first name by wliich our Lord's disciples Trerc designated upon earth, that is, " Christians;" and thus the name pronounced in scorn, or other\dse, at Antioch, shall be pronounced with hosannahs in the !New Jerusalem. '' Christian" shall be the uni(]^ue, the all-absorbing, all- comprehending name ; and sect, and party, and denomination, shall be for ever discarded and cast away. jNTeither will there be any stated hours of worship there, for every hour shall be holy ; nor stated places of worship, for the Avhole earth shall be holy. Now, the universe is the imperfect temple of God ; then, God shall be the glorious temple of the luiiverse. Now, the w^orshippers are few : they who despise Him many ; then " all shall know Him, from the least even to the greatest ; and a mighty multitude, M'hich no man can nimiber, bearing pahns in their hands, shall give honour and thanksgiving and praise io our God and. to the Lamb for ever and ever." And now we have arrived at the verse which I have this evening read to you : '' And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it : for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." I do not know if I shall present a just and scriptural exposition of this passage, but I shall endeavour to do so. It is not asserted here that there will be no sun or moon in the firmament over and around us : there is no prophecy of the annihilation of the sun, moon, or stars. The idea of annihilation, like atheism itself, is an utter absurdity ; there is no such thing indicated in Scripture or proved in science. It is not, then, here predicted tliat the sun or moon shall be extinguished, but the ]n'()})h(H'y is, that they shall be superseded — that there will be no need of them ; and for this obvious reason, that a richer, intenser, and more brilliant glorj' shall overflow Avith an ■universal Hood of light the Avholo of the New Jerusalem, the city of our God. Now we shall perceive this, pcr- haj)s, more distinctly, if we recollect that the sun and the moon are not fountains of light ; they are but rcfiec- tions of light. The moon has long been known to be an MTLLEIVNIAL LIGHT, 165 opaque body, and the sun is now asecrtainod to be opaque also ; and the light which they both give is not self-derived, but borrowed. The earth's light at midniglit is borrowed from the moon; the moon's is boiTowed from the sun. The earth's light, at mid-day is bor- rowed from the sun; and the sun's light, again, is not self-derived, but borrowed from some more centi'al sun, around which a thousand suns and a thousand systems perpetually revolve; and we, perhaps, from facts like these, which the progress and improvements of modern astronomy are daily disclosing to us, may form some faint conception of the greatness of that Being who made and lighted up all the hosts of heaven. When I gaze upon the lofty iimiament on a star-lit evening, and behold the countless lamps that bum there with unfading brilliancy — when I reflect that all these are but the outposts, the sentinels (as it were,) of avast innumerable army which lies behind them, — that these suns and centres of vast systems are themselves but planets, all deriving their light from yet larger and more central suns, — I see all natiu'e teaching the absurdity of polytheism — all thmgs proclaiming the being, the unity, and glory of God ; and giving a display of the grandeur and magnificence of Him who is enthi'oned amid the riches of the imiverse, that overwhelms the imagination in every endeavour to grasp or conceive it. They have no need, then, of the sun or moon — that is, in tliis millennial day of glory and beauty, there will be no necessity for borrowed lumina- ries, because the great Original ^vill be there. On this earth we need not the stars at noon-daj^, nor can we at that hour perceive them; yet the stars are not then extinguished : they are only lost in the blaze of the brighter luminary of noon. There will be no need of the sun, moon, or stars, in the Millennial reign ; they vriU all then be superseded, not extinguished; their dim lustre will be lost in beams of ^K'ater splendour. That sun which now shines in its meridian glory shall wax pale and dim in the presence of that greater and brighter Sun from whom all its rays are borrowed and deprived ; and this teaches that there is some identity between the 166 APOCALYrTTC SKETC3T:S. moral glorj^ which shone between the cherubim, that is, ''Christ," and the literal and physical light that shines through the universe which encomjoasses us. The one is not the contrast of the other, but the complement of the other ; the moral and spiritual light is the perfection of the natural light. The Shechinah will possess a glory- far eclipsing the glory of the stars : from between the cherubim will radiate a glory that ayIII make j)ale a thou- sand suns ; and that new light will reveal objects and disclose hues which to us arc quite imperceptible in the light that now is. Let me try to show you in what ways it ^vill do so. Fii'st, I believe that that ncAv light will reveal all things beautiful with far greater intensity. The light which now reveals to us the tints and colours of flowers, the beauties and splendour of the stars, of gems, and of the rainbow, shall die : but the new light, which is to supersede it, will show us all these things with intcnser brilliancy; and display to us beauties in them which we have never yet seen — hidden splendours, as yet con- cealed or disguised — and will prove that this earth, the workmanship of God, has beauty and gloiy and magni- ficence within it, which eye hath not yet seen, nor man's heart ever yet conceived. In that new light all the dis- coveries hitherto made by science will appear as notliing when compared with the disclosures that will then be brought within the horizon. Mines of interesting dis- covery, stores of richer grandeur will be laid bare, and more exquisite harmonies, now silent, will evolve from Creation : and we shall find that all which science and research have yet done, was but to bring us to the margin of the miglity ocean of mystery and beauty, whose con- tents and treasures remain to be fully and clearly com- prehended. Then the tree of knowledge will no longer be separated from the tree of life ; both shall own the same root and blossom on'the same soil. The light which is to be will also reveal ^vhat the light which now is cannot do. The light of our sun reveals to us colour — material colour, and material shapes, but nothing more. The new light that is to supersede it will reveal not only MILLENNIAL LIGHT. 167 these, but also moral and spiritual character ; showing lis that holiness is essential beauty, the greatest purity the greatest brightness. It will reveal to us a glory in holy character far surpassing that possessed by sun, moon, or stars ; by flower, fruit, and all things beautiful on earth. "We shall then see that the highest beauty in this world is but a dim exponent of that excelling moral beauty to be disclosed in the ]N'ew Jerusalem. But this new and glorious light will also cast its rays over all the history of the past, and will emphatically fulfil the words of the Lord— '^ A\Tiat I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." At present how much in our life is there involved in mystery and darkness ! How many things have happened to us, the meaning of which we cannot comprehend ! That dark and freezing cloud, which now casts its shadow on your heart, and which you cannot imderstand, has its mission, and the new light will disclose it. That stroke which smote down yoiu' firstborn and fairest, has a meaning and an issue, though you could not understand it; and that blow which you cannot think of now without shedding tears of bitterness, A\all then be seen to have been but the touch of a Pather who loved— a stroke inflicted by the hand that was nailed to the cross for you. That " labyrinth, now inexplicable to you — that mystery now unfiithomable— those dealings of Providence which you cannot now comprehend, will then be seen distinctly by you to have had an aim and a bearing, which shall awaken in j-ou new songs of gratitude, and insjDire you with deeper thankfulness to Him who led you aU the way through the wilderness, and placed you there. Then shall you see all things to have been working toge- ther for your good, and that the darkest cloud had ever a smiling face behind it, and that the bitterest cup had in it a secret sweet. The great chain of mystery will be then lifted above the stream : every link will be lumi- nous, and you will be comdnced in glory of what you so much doubt or disbelieve on earth, viz. that you received not one stripe too many, endured not one pang too severe, were subjected to not one visitation that was not as essen- 168 APOCAXYPTIC SKETCHES. tial to yoiir ultimate happiness, as that Christ should have died on the cross, and washed and sealed you with his own precious blood. This new light will not only diiFusc splendour over the past, but I believe that it will place us in a position for solving mysteries, and eluci- dating truths, which we caniiot now comprehend. For instance, jou often dispute about the hannony that sub- sists, or ought to subsist, between predestination, or elec- tion, and the doctrine of free-will. You read plainly that we are chosen before the foundation of the world ; you read as j^lainly — '' "Why will ye not come unto me : why will ye die?" — ^you are satislicd from the one pas- sage of the sovereignty of God ; from the other, of the freedom of the human will, as well as our responsibility. You are staggered, and cannot reconcile them ; they appear to you altogether discordant. But, amid the light that shines in the IS'ew Jerusalem, both will be seen to be not only great truths, but the one shall be shown to be in perfect harmony with the other. Take another truth : salvation by grace, and yet the necessity for good works. You cannot comprehend 7iow how good works should have nothing to do with salvation, and yet that we should be called upon to be fruitful in ever}^ good work. You will tJw)i see that the two are essentially connected ; that the one is as indispensable as the other. Now we see truths only in fragments : then we shall see them as a complete whole and in full. JS^ow to us truth seems an apocrji^ha; then it will be an apocalypse. JVow we see the greatest truths surroimdcd by the greatest mysteries, as the loftiest mountains ever cast around them the broadest shadows ; fhe}i the sun will be ver- tical, and no truth shall have a shadow. All things that we now sec " through a glass darkly" shall then be seen ''face to face :" everything will be luminous in the New Jerusalem." The sovereign purposes of God, which neither you nor I can grasp now, we shall comprehend in some degree then : the Trinity we shall then in some degree unravel ; and, although it must for ever continue to be a truth above us, it will be infinitely more luminous anl transparent then than it is now. The atonement, MILLEXXIAL LIGHT. 169 the incarnation, the necessity for the death of onr Sa- viour, the introduction of evil, the influence of the Holy- Spirit, — these are all truths which are more or less wrapped up in mystery now ; but they shall all be robed in clearest light then; and in that clearest light all things shall be seen clearly. We shall then see that -in this light will be fulfiUed all the glorious promises which God has made. For instance, our Lord says himself, **I am the light of the world." He is so now really, but not universally : then he shall be so universally ; then shall be fulfilled that beautiful promise made in Isaiah — " Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people ; but the Lord shall arise upon thee ; and his glory shall be seen upon thee ; and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and Idngs to the brightness of thy rising." Then shall be fulfilled that promise — " To you that fear my name shall the Sun of Eighteousness arise, with heal- ing in his wings." Then that light which sparkled in types and glowed in promises — -which appeared in the cradle at Bethlehem — which shone on the cross, and illuminated the grave, shall no longer be restricted to any particular nook, portion, or region of the globe, but shall overspread and overflow with its radiant splendour the whole habitable world ; and there shall break upon the view a scene such as man in his hap- piest imagmings has never yet dreamt of: then shall be seen in that light the true unity of the Chiu'ch of Christ. It shall then be seen not to be what sectarians set it do^ni to be, nor what exclusionists pronounced it. It shall be seen to be not a material uniformity — not a ceremonial identity, but a great and hallowed likeness of each to each, and all to Christ : all being one in Christ, and, therefore, one vrith. each other. Then shall we recognise each other as we are. In the light which now is, we can see each other's coun- tenances, and judge each other's actions, although we often misinterpret and misapprehend them : but in t at light, I believe, hearts shall be visible, affections lumi- 170 Al'OC.VLVl'TIC SKr,TCH7',S. nous, and character sliall show, and -write, and record itself; and we shall knovr not eacli other's countenances only, but each other's thoughts and hearts even as we know ourselves. Then in that light all creation shall be made glad : there shall be no plaintive tone amid jdl its sounds ; no sob for the dead shall there break upon the car : all earth shall be paradise, all voices shall be jubilee, and, basking in a sunshine without cloud, and on an earth without decay, the world shall close, as the world commenced, mtli paradise. But we shall see in that light, what we now ought to see more — the pre- ciousness of man's soul. I was trying to teach this last Sabbath morning, from the text, " What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul. Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul r" How few of us feel this weighty truth as we ought to feel it ? The part that is " myself" — that part that lives for ever — is not what the eye can see, or the hand touch. That part of our being, whose happi- ness we • ought to study as our supreme object and primaiy aim, is the immortally precious soul, and yet it is now the least valued of all. That which ministers to its safety is least appreciated now, but then we shall see that one soul in glory far transcends a thousand stars, and outweighs, in its magnificence and preciousness, ten thousand worlds. Then we shall see that text luminous to a degree we never saw before — " AYliat shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" And then we shall Imow it — not by the soul's everlasting loss, but by its everlasting gain. This light, which shall make so many things plain, is a light that will be still mediatorial — for the text is remarkable: ^'The Lord God shall lighten it, and the Lamh shall be the light thereof." The literal translation is, ''The Lord God shall lighten it, and the Lamb shall be the Jam}) thereof;" meaning tliat Christ is the medium of transmission for all the light which illumines the New Jerusalem. And he alone shall be that medium ; mini- sters, sacraments, and ordinances, are the lights now, but these sliall all be swept away: all stars shall be "VIILLEXNIAL LIGHT. 171 merged into the bright Morning Star ; all suns into the Sun of Eightcousncss. Christ shall literally be ''the all in all," — the medium through which all light comes from God to us, and by which all praise rises from us to the ear of God, for ever and ever. In one brief sentence : — The light that shall then illuminate the jS^ew Jerusalem, shall be moral and spiritual light — the 23erfection of the light that now is ; and in that new and more glorious light, we shall see what is mystery to us now, and see more clearly things but dimly re- vealed to us now. Let me ask, therefore, in concluding my remarks upon this passage — Are you the chilcken of the light ? Are you walking in the light ? Are you transformed by the light into the likeness of God ? Is your heart in heaven ? Does your imagination unfurl its wings, and visit often that blessed and glorious scene, and evoke in your heart the aspiration of the Psalmist of old : *' Oh ! that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest?" Does the contemplation induce you to set your heart, not on things that are seen, but on those which are unseen ? Do you feel that all on earth upon which men trust is passing away ^ Do you not, from the spectacle of the o^'crthrow of dynasties, the downfal of thrones, the tremblings and convulsive throes of the nations — in a word, from the shaking and imcertainty of all that is around you, learn to lay hold upon things that will and must last for ever ? The true way, I believe, to dis- lodge "\^'rong principles and preferences, is to try to im- plant sound ones ; we shall never sit loose to this world, by being told that it is bad, or raise our affections above it, by being told that it is uuAvorthy of them. The proper way to dislodge the love of the world that now is, is to unfold and press upon our apprehension the glories of the world that will be. And just as the sun at noonday shining upon the grate, puts out the fire, and just as the sun at day-da-v^ii, shining in the sky, puts out the stars, so the splendour, and beauty, and magnificence of the heavenly Jerusalem will make so poor and dim all the glories of the world that now is, 172 APOCALYPTIC SKETCnES. that kings shall look on their crowns as pale and worth- less, and see beauty nowhere but in a crown of glory- that fadeth not away. Do you, dear brethren, endeavour not only to rest your affections upon tliat better and brighter scene, but do you endeavour to make it known also to others ? If we are li\4ng in the light ourselves, we shall try to illuminate others. In proportion „as. a man is a Christian, in the same proportion is he a mis- sionary. The intensest light casts its rays the farthest ; we are made Clifistians, that we may feel as stewards and ti-ustees ; we receive the unction of the saint, that we may engage in the duties, and undertake the re- sponsibilities of the servant. Depend upon it, that just in proportion as a man is illuminated with the heavenly light himself, in the same proportion will he ligliten others. The intensest luminary spreads its rays the farthest : the greatest Christian is always the greatest missionary. He who is the greatest receiver of light from God, will be the greatest reflector of that light amongst his fellow-men. Are you in the number of those who alone shall see and enter the IN'ew Jerusalem ? Are you amongst *' the pure in heart," for they alone shall see God ? Are you holy men, have you new hearts, that have been touched, and thereby transformed, by the Spirit of God ? Specu- lations about prophecy will not serve us. Satan knows more about the apocalj-pse than all the conimentators from the Christian era to this day. It is not an increase of intellectual light so much as it is a need of an in- crease of that new, transforming, illuminating, sancti- fying light, which comes from tlie Sun of Eighteous- ness, that Ave require. '' Except a man be born again (we are told) he cannot see the kingdom of God." And, my dear friends, it is not difficult to ascertain if you are destined to become citizens of the Kew Jerusalem. Let nic ask you what interest 3^ou feel in those foretastes of it to be had here below ? If the miUennium be a Sabbatli of a thousand years, they only to whom the Sabbaths on earth are sweet, will be litted for its en- jo}Tnents and employments. What, then, let me ask, is MILLEXl^IAL LIGHT. 178 the Sabbath to you? Is it the sweetest day of the seven ? Can you part with any day but not with the Sabbath ? "WTtien you are ill, do you take a day from Ccesar, or from Clirist, for the use of the means of re- covery? Let me ask, what day of the week comes round to you Avith the greatest delight, and occasions you the greatest happiness ? Do you love the house of God ? If the iS'ew Jerusalem is to be a city of per- petual song, thanksgiving, and praise, — if there will be perpetual progress there in the knowledge of God, of Christ, and of all things holy, and of all things mys- terious, do you now love the study of such themes, do you love the Bible which unveils them to you ? Do you prefer a day in God's house to a thousand within the gates of sin ? A\Tiat is the house of God to you ? — a happy place, whither you come with a glad and thankful heart, or a place to perform a melancholy duty to pacify your conscience, or rather to do penance in atonement for sin, than to partake of those spiritual pleasures and emplo}Tncnts which God has vouchsafed in it ? If you love the Sabbath in this world which passcth away, you will love the eternal Sabbath which will succeed the six thousand years of tliis world that are now drawing to a close. I believe that these six thousand years, according to the most ancient and best calculation, are very near theii' accomplishment. I believe that we are at the opening of the pouring out of the seventh vial, and at the commencement of scenes which will not last very long; but which shall be tem- pestuous and stormy beyond all parallel : the din, dis- cord, and confusion of which, however, shall be like the preparation of the instruments of a great concert for the harmony and jubilee that will prevail over all the earth. And if this be so, let us set our hearts on things above, let us sit loose to this world, let us so pass through the things that are seen and temporal, that Ave may direct our attention mainly to the things which are unseen and eternal. I need not remind you that many of the things to which we looked forward, as predicted, have actually taken place. I told you, not more than six t74 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. months ago, that Avhen the seventh vial was poured out, the whole continent of Europe woiikl be convulsed, shattered, and torn : I told you that, during that crisis, Babylon would come into remembrance before God, and her judgments begin to descend upon her ; and, strange enough, a few weeks ago, we were informed by reports in the newspapers, that the present pope would be the last occupant of the pontifical chair, and then the gra- tifying result would be, that there would be no sovereign pontiff for us to renew diplomatic relations with. And soon after this, he was actually made a prisoner in his palace, for refusing to declare war against Austria. These momentous events have already taken place ; and it is now not improbable that the usurped spiritual dominion of Babylon Avill also soon be broken up ; and when that is broken up, the Jews will then march forth to the land of their fiithers ; and though excluded (justly or unjustly) from the parliament of the nation, God's ancient chosen people will be invested with far nobler honours, and higher dignities, when they become visible members of the visible Church of the living God. Tliese are events we anticipate with joy. They are the biuxlen of a thousand prophecies — the aspii-ation of many hearts — the hope of the imiversal Churcli. We are upon the eve of a grand response. The spreading anarchy of nations is opening up a clearer and nearer view of that city whose gates are praise, and its walls salvation. It will soon emerge from the chaos in all its predicted beauty — the envy of those that are without, the admiration of those that are Avithin — the rosy eve of departing time — the auspicious twilight of opening eternity. Jerusalem, my happy home, Name ever dear tu me ; Wlien shall my labours have an end, In joy, and p-oace, and thee ? "When shall mine eyes thy heaven-built walls And pearly gates behold : Thy bulwarks with salvation strong And streets of shining gold I MILLEXXIAL LIGHT. 175 Apostles, martyrs, prophets, there Around my Saviour stand ; And soon my friends in Christ below, Will join the glorious baud. Jerusalem, our happy home, Our souls still long for thee ; Then shall our labours have an eud, When we thy joys shall see. LECTURE Xn. DAY WITHOUT ISTIGHT. '' And the nations of them lohkli are saved shall icalk in the light of it : and the kings of the earth do Iring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not he shut at all hj day : for there shall le no night there. And they shall Iring the glory and honour of the nations into it:'— li^\. XXI. 24—26. These words seem to indicate a national existence during the niillcnnial age. There is nothing necessarily sinful in those ties, and bonds, and affinities that make up what is called a nation. Eule for Christ and obe- dience in Christ — if perfectly developed — would be a noble and glorious spectacle. It may, perhaps, be tree that those divisions and intersections of the great family of man, which are found in tlie age that now is, may be of divine origin, and of a destiny no less divine. It may be that, instead of being dislocated and broken up in the dispensation to come, they may be only more thoroughly consolidated ; and being pervaded and cemented by love and truth, nations may endure in the after-ages of the earth ; and these shall be testimonies then that national existence is a holj^ and heavenly ordinance — to be puii- ficd and perfected, not dissolved with frameworks of merely earthly origin. If this shall be so, then the IS'ew Jerusalem shall be the great metropolis of the earth, reposing in the light and beauty of an unsetting sun, and the crowns and sceptres, and thrones of innumerable kings, reflecting the rays of the Shechinali, shtdl give the glory of all they are to Him, whose are their thrones, and for whom they rule. Laws shall then be leaves from the tree of life, DAY AVITHOUT NIGHT. 177 love shall be the secret and the source of allegiance, and perfect liberty and light, the possession and the enjoy- ment of all. But however possible such national existence may be, it is not necessarily employed in the words before us. The Greek word eOvoq means frequently a multitude, without any implied reference to organisation of any class or kind; thus, we read in the Iliad of Homer, eOvoq ETaipioVy a body, or number of comrades ; sOvog Xa(i)v, a multitude of men; £0vea jneXiaaatov, swarms of bees : and in harmony with this, we may render eOvoQ (Tw^ofXEvwv, multitudes or companies of the saved. The redeemed will not be a few, nor easily coimted; they will be '' a gi*eat multitude, which no man could number." " The saved" are those referred to in Acts ii. 47. ''The Lord added to the Church daily (rovg (Tw^Ojuevouc» the saved ones, literally) such as should be saved." They are saved from the curse and condemna- tion of sin, by the blood of Jesus ; and from the power, dominion, and tyranny of sin, by the Holy Spirit of Jesus ; from the penal consequences of sin, by the sacrifice of Christ ; and from the prevalence and predominance of sin, by the Spii'it of Christ ; and that, too, in the future age, perfect, finally, for ever. Their distinguishing possession is salvation — a salva- tion received in time and perfected in eternity — begun now, and consummated in the age to come. Its foim- tain is in God; ''in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel :" it is through Christ alone. " JS'either is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men wherebj^' Ave must be saved." It Avas announced in Paradise — prefigured in sacrifice — proclaimed in promises — pre-intimated in prophecies — pourtrayed in shadows, and types, and cere- monies; "but is noAV made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ," Avho w^as raised up its " Captain," and is exalted a Prince and a Saviour to bestow it. It comes in grace, and ends in glory ; begins in individual hearts, and terminates in multitudes of the SECOND SERIES. N 178 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. saved. It is described in Scrijitiire, and acknowledged by believers to be '* gi'eat," "glorious," ''to the utter- most," from " generation to generation;" having prophets for its inquirers, and angels for its students, and preachers for its advocates, and the Scrij^tures for its channel, and the Sacraments for its seals, and happiness for its issue. Saints are chosen and appointed to it before the foim- dation of the world, '' are kept through the power of God unto it — realise the assurance and earnest of it " — *' receive it as the end of their faith " — rejoice and glory in it ; and, finally, constitute together amid the light of the millemiial state, a great multitude of the saved with palms in their hands, saying, Salvation unto our God and to the Lamb. These companies of the saved will all walk, and thus make progress in the light of the iN'ew Jerusalem, guided by the uneri-ing beams of that gloiy which originally dwelt betAveen the cherubim, now no longer the monopoly of a few, but the possession and the privilege of a '' great multitude which no man can number." The Chiu'ch, which they compose, shall no more be local or national, but Catholic, in the strictest sense of that misused and perverted word. The whole earth shall be filled with the glory of God, and its hum- blest and its highest tenantry shall follow no longer the fitful flashes of human passion, or the meteor-lights of ill-regulated fancy, nor the guesses at truth of wavering reason, nor the dim lights of patristic or ecclesiastical tradition; but the pui^e and perfect guidance of the Lamb. Eveiy province of natiu-e, every path of the saved, every work of Providence, or product of grace, shall reflect the glory of God, and each inmate of that sacred and sublime metropolis shall walk, i. e. make progress in the light of it, rising evermore on untiring- wing to loftier heights of knowledge, and drinking ever fresh and ever multiplying delight from every new Apo- calypse of the glories and perfections of Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords. The kings of the earth, it is here stated, shall bring their glory and honour into it. So it was predicted, manj' hundred years before John, in Is. Ix. 1 1 : '* There- DAY WITUOUT KIGUT. 179 fore thy gates shall be open continually, they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that theii' kings may be brought. The glory of Lebanon shall come to thee, the iii'-tree, and the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I avlLL make the place of my feet glorious." Again, it is written, ''The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee ;" and again, "All they from Sheba shall come, they shall bring gold and incense;" and again it is written, ''Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings." In Ps. Ixxii. it is also written, " The kings of Tarshish and the isles shall bring presents : the Idngs of Sheba and Seba shall oJffer gifts. Yea, all things shall fall do^Ti before him, and all nations shall serve him." And in 1 Kings x. 24, we have a ty^ncal pictui-e^ of the splendour of the true Solomon, the king of peace ?* " And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart; and they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules; and the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore ti'ees that are in the vale, for abundance." This prediction of kings consecrating their glory in the millennial age, may refer to those ^^ho are now kings ; that is, who are so previous to the millennium, and who shaU then bring what is their present glory and honour into it. Some such reference seems to be indicated in 1 Cor. xy. 24: "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ; when he shall have put down aU rule, and authority, and power; for he must reign till he hath put all enemies imder his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death." "\7o must, of course, understand by the expression, " they shall bring their glory and honour into it" — not any earthly royalty, adding one ray to the splendour, or one atom to the magnificence of the ]S^ew Jerusalem, for this is imp >:,- N 2 180 ArocALYnic sketches. sible. They derive all tlieii- glory from it, and can add none to it. But in the same way as we give glory and honour to God, by acknowledging all we have to be the borrowed reflection of his bcneliccncc, and requiring to be devoted to him as its legitimate and proper use ; so these Idngs and nations shall sec all they are and possess in the light of the Kew Jerusalem, and shall trace on every honour, and blessing, and power, with which they have been endowed, the superscription of the Lamb, slain from tlie foundation of the world, and lift up to him alone ceaseless praise, as the author, and owner, and sovereign bestower of all. They will sing in their songs, " These crowns Avhich we wear derive all their lustre, and these sceptres which we wield their sway, and these thi'ones on which we sit their strength and stability, from Thee, who art the Prince of the kings of the earth. These flowers receive from Thee their exist- *ence, their fragrance from thy breath, and their tints from thy smiles ; and these gems are beautiful because thou lookest on them, and this scene is so glorious because thou art in it." All above, around, below, Avill be luminous with the light of the Lamb. These redeemed ones will sing with new voices David's song, in 1 Chron. xxix. 10 : " Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our Father, for ever and ever. Thine, 0 Lord, is the great- ness, and the power, and the glory, and the victoiy, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens, and in the earth, is thine ; thine is the kingdom, 0 Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reigncst over all ; and in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. ]!^ow there- fore, our God, Ave thank thee, and praise thy glorious name." It is also added in this beautiful vision of the future glory, " And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day," or as it is predicted in Isaiah, " Thy gates shall be open continually, they shall not be shut day nor night." According to the usage and idiom of ancient times, open gates were the recognised symbols of the existence DAY WITHOTTT NIGHT. 181 of national peace ; and shut gates, the established and felt evidence of the outbreak of war. Thus Ovid describes the heathen heaven as being apcrtia vahis, with open gates ; i.e. in a state of perpetual peace. 80 also Ca?sar says, portas dauserunt, they shut the gates, or declared war. This New Jerusalem, therefore, into which all kings bring their glory, will exist in perpetual peace : perfect peace within, and unbroken peace with- out. There will be no bulwarks, for there will be no possibility of assault. There will be soldiers, for swords will have been turned into ploughshares, and spears into pruning-hooks, and the nations will learn war no more. Thus perfect light and perpetual peace shall embosom the apocalyptic city, and gladden the risen and redeemed saints who constitute its inhabitants. It is also added, '^ There shall be no night there :" as the millemiium Avill be the Sabbath of the earth, it will be followed by no night. By referring to Genesis, we find these words at the close of the account of the creation of each day : " And the evening and the morning were the fii'st, second, thiiTl, fourth, fifth, sixth day." But in the account of the creation of the seventh day, it is not added at the close, '' The evening and the mroning were the seventh day." As if the seventh day were to be the complete tj-pe of the seventh millennary, and that millennary to merge without an intervening night into everlasting noon. The ne- gation, '*no night," seems at fii'st view a flaw, for, when we are weary and exhausted with the fatigues of the week-day work, we hail the approach of the shadows of even, as the precursor of repose and refreshing sleep, ''j^o night," now, would be to us all the exhaustion of energy, and health, and life : but a little reflection will show us that what would be a calamity in our present imperfect state, will be one of the greatest blessings of that new and glorious condition of which we have at present but a dim and distant prospect. jS"ow, night is associated with fatigue ; the body, worn out and wearj^ with the labours of the day, recruits its 182 APOCAXYPTIC SKETCHES. strengtli, and recovers its expended energies by the repose of night. The mind, too, just as susceptil)le of exhaustion as its earthly tabernacle, worn out by its excursions in the regions of thought, folds its A^Tiig, and is restored and refreshed while it sleeps beneath the soft broad shadows that envelop it. But in the New Jeru- salem these restorative processes will not be required. The resurrection body shall be capable of action without exhaustion, and of laboiu' without fatigue ; we shall run and not be weary, we shall walk and not faint. CoiTupt, it is raised incorruptible ; mortal, it is raised immortal. The spirit shall be willing, while the flesh shall not be weak ; our bodies shall be wings, not weights to the soul, and the mind itself, returned and restored, shall pui'sue its excursions into realms of beauty and of glory on untiring pinion, and with pui'ged ej^e ; reason will not weary in its pursuits, nor imagina- tion in its excm^sions, nor the heart in its throbbings : "they rest nof^ (and yet they rest), day and night, saying, Holy, holy, hoi 5', Lord God Almighty ! " jS'ight is now associated with insecurity. We adopt precautions against the thief and the robber, because it is dui*mg this season, when darkness conceals them that the evil disposed lie in wait for their prey. There, there shines pei^ietual light ; as there live none but holy ones there, no thief shall break through to steal, for its walls mil be salvation and its gates praise, and all wiU. enjoy the consciousness of perfect security beneath the outstretched wings of Him whose they are, and whom they serve. Height is also in this dispensation the symbol of igno- rance. It hides from the eye alike the pitfall, and the precii^ice, and the landscape. But in that dispensation it shall not be so. AVc shall know in whole, and not 'U part. The glass through which we now see darkly, ishall be broken : there shall be no cold shadow from above, nor mist or exhalation from below : our eyes shall be brighter, our whole soul readjusted ; all con- troversies shall be settled : there will be no dim medium, nor second-hand kno^^-ledge ; we shall have strength to DAT WITHOUT NIGHT. 183 look and patience to learn each, scene and Avonder that each successive hour brings within the horizon of our view. The Sun of Eightcousness shall no longer be horizontal, casting broad shadows, but vertical, and creating none. Our horizon shall widen as wo live ; past providence, ^vith its ups and downs, and laby- rinthine tiu-nings, shall be fully revealed to us ; and redemption with its glories and its wonders shaU spread all luminous before us, with scarcely one undeciphered mystery or unexplained hieroglyph. AYe shall then no longer see through a glass darkly. Those objects which it requires the microscope to make visible in our present state of imperfection and weak- ness, will then come clearly into oiu' vie\\^, and thus wonders, mysteries, and traces of wisdom, benevolence, and power, which are at present veiled from our eyes, shall then become luminous and ^^isible ; and in these unseen and unsounded depths, — the mere surface of which the most powerful microscopes have revealed, — we shall see such proofs of design, so distinct footprints of Deity, such marvels, that we shall feel that the sometimes alleged want of evidence of the existence of God was owing not to any deficiency in reality, but to our ignorance, and weakness, and prejudice, and passions. In what we now see of the minute, there is overwhelming proof of the fact and presence of Deity. In what we shall see when there will be no night, that evidence will be glorious beyond conception. jS^or will the telescope reveal less impressive proofs of the power, and greatness, and resources of Deity. Of these we have at present no weak conception ; and the loftier the height to which the latest telescope carries our vision, the more numerous and magnificent are the disclosures of the greatness of God. "The undevout astronomer is mad," is a line that has passed into an axiom, and is universally admitted to be so. If this be true of the astronomer on earth, how impossible will all unde- voutness bo, when his observatory shall be the walls of the Xew Jerusalem, and tlie light in wliich all things shine, the glory of God and of the Lamb: and the eye that 184 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. looks, as free from spook as is the heart from passion and the mind from prejudice. All creation will then lie in the light of revelation, and text of Scripture, and facts of nature, glorify to- gether " the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." The original harmony between God's two great oracles, suspended and interrupted by sin, shall be restored, and all things, made fearfully and wonderfully at first, and all truths inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, shall reveal their common birth, and accomplish their intended mission. In the words of a living and truly eloquent divine : — *' Although it be true, that night now discloses to us the wonders of the universe, so that to take from us darkness were to take the revelation of the magnificence of the creation, whence comes this but from the imper- fection of faculties — faculties which only enable us to discera certain bodies, and under certain circumstances, and which probably suffer far more to escape them than they bring to our notice ? AYe speak of the powers of vision ; and very amazing they are — giving us a kind of empire over the vast panorama, so that we gather in its beauties, and compel them, as through by enchantment, to paint themselves in miniature through the tiny lenses of the eye ; but, nevertheless, how feeble are they ! Bodies of less than a certain magnitude evade them. The microscope must be called in, though this only carries the vision one or two degrees further; whilst other bodies, ethereal, for examj^le, or those which move ■^Ndth extraordinary velocity, arc either altogether in- visible or only partially discerned. And is it not on account of this feebleness of power, that the eye seeks the shadows of night before it can survey the majestic troop of stars ? That troop is on its everlasting march, as well when the sun is higli on the firmament, as when he has gone down amid the clouds of the west ; and it is only because the eye has not strength to discern the less brilliant bodies in the presence of the great luminary of the heavens, that it must wait for night to disclose to it the peopled sea of immensity. I glory, then, once T1AY ■\VITnOUT ^"IGI1T. ISo more, in the predicted absence of night. Pe it so, that night is novr our instructor, and that a world of per- petual sunshine would be a world of gross ignorance ; I feel that night is to cease because we shall no longer need to be taught, because we shall be able to observe the universe illuminated, and not require as now to have it darkened for our gaze. It is like telling me of surprising increase of power ; I shall not need night as a season for repose ; I shall not need night as a medium of instruction; I shall be adapted in every faculty to an everlasting day — a day whose lustre shall not obscure the palest star, and yet shall paint the smallest flower, and throughout whose perpetual shining I shall have the universe laid open to me in its every section, in its every recess, presenting me with fresh wonders, and preparing me always to under- stand them." It is then, too, that all disputes on many interesting and important subjects shall be set at rest for ever. Of many a revealed truth we can only say now, ''It is ;" but we can neither comprehend nor say how it is. We now lean on the Omnipotence we cannot understand, and repose in the guidance of vrisdom we can neither fathom nor comprehend. When our present night shall be rolled away, we shall not indeed comprehend the infinite or understand the inscrutable, for the larger the circle of light in which we stand, the broader and denser the encompassing shadow ; but we shall see then what human eye has not yd seen, and hear what hvmian ear has not yet heard, and conceive what human heart has not yet conceived. Xow, " we know only in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. For noAV we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face : now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." I^ight is associated with sin. " They that be drunken," says the xipostle, "are drunk in the night." Again, " Cast off the works of darlmess, and put on the armour of light." Again, " Men love the darkness more than the light, because theii' deeds are CA-il;" but in the New 186 APOCALYrTTC SKETCHES. Jerusalem there shall be no night, because there shall bo no presence or possibility of sin. He who put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, is there : they whom he presents to himself, "a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle," are there : the pure in heart, the single of purpose, the loyal in allegiance, the sanctified, the holy, the undefiled, are there : there shall in nowise enter it anything that defiles ; there shall be no sin to tai^nish the beauty of that place, nor any passion to wound the peace of its inhabitants. Perfect holiness will be seen to be the perfect light. In this dispensation, night is associated with privation and solitude ; all the grandeur of creation, either in the fii-mamental ceiling over us, or in the green and beauti- ful earth beneath us, is as if it were not, in the darkness of night ; and the harmonies of natui-e are unheard by the ear of the sleeper ; and society is practically shut off from us ; and consciousness, recollections, and hope, except in shadowy dreams, are for the time extinguished; and privation of all that constitutes active enjoyment is thus the shadow that flits on the footsteps of night. But in the age to come, there will be no deprivation of society, for we shall come ''to an innumerable compan}'- of angels, and to the sjDirits of just men made perfect, and to the general assembly of the church of the firstborn, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to God, the Judge of all." i*^or will there be any deprivation of happiness where there is fulness of joy, and where tears and pains are exiles for ever and ever. There will bo no interruption of consciousness, for we shall see, and know, and perpetually worship ; nor any suspension of bliss, and his servants shall serve him ; and not one voice, but ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou- sands of thousands cry aloud, " Salvation to oiu' God, and to the Lamb for ever and ever." At present, night is associated with death : thus we read of the sleep of death. The Saviour, too, speaking of his own death, says, '' The night cometh." This is a world of death : the dead outnumber the li'V'ing. There are more graves than houses on the earth ; they that arc DAT WITHOUT KIGHT. 187 below the sod are more tlian they that walk above it. Death moves in the palace and in the hovel, in the country and in the city, in all seasons, and amid all circumstances. He withers the grass, and blasts the flower, and wastes the rock, and stills the heart. In this world, ripeness and decay come from the same sources; but in the New Jerusalem, there shall be no death. Flower, and fruit, and tree, shall bloom in amaranthine beauty; no caterpillar shall gnaw the flower, nor spider weave its web amid its trees. The loveliest thing shall be the longest ; its very streams shall flow with immortality. All hearts shall be boimding, and none breaking ; no disease shaU poison, nor death destroy. Chains, prisons, sick-beds, widowhood, and oiphanage, are words not written in the vocabulary of the blessed. The doors that shut the Cliristian in, will shut out all sin, imperfection, disease, death ; God himself shall be oiu' portion, incapable alike of change or decay. This happy state shall be the morning twilight of the everlast- ing noon: the millennium shall merge into the greater glory of the skies. There shall be no possibility of fall- ing; we shall have " meat that endm^eth to life eternal," '' raiment that moth shall not consume," a " treasui-e that thieves shall not steal," "a house not made with hands," ''a city that hath foundations," ''a crown of glory that fadeth not away." How consolatory is such a prospect in the midst of present painful suitering ! One w^ho has been ^' in hun- ger, in thirst, in nakedness, in peiil by land, in peril bj' sea, and in perils among strange brethi'en," seeing from afar the ncaring glories of this promised inheritance, exclaimed, — " I reckon that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed." This accurate, because inspired, arithmetician, had made the estimate in the exercise of 1 calculus which we are not so competent to go through ; and his corollary, if we may borrow an allusion from another branch of the same science, is the reckoning which we have just stated. The same Apostle says, " Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 188 ArocALYrxrc sketches. TTorketh out for ns a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory." He Imew his afflictions, as we believe them to haTC been, hea^y ; but, placed in the scales with the '' weight of glory," they seemed to him light. " Light affliction " is weighed against a *' weight of glorj^;" and ''light affliction, which is but for a mo- ment," against an ''eternal weight of glory;" and so rapidly and exceedingly does the latter preponderate, that he judges the former too light to be placed in the same scale with it. It is this same experienced Paul, too, who exclaims, "All things work for good to them that love God, and are the called according to his pur- pose." The highest wave lifts them only nearer to their rest ; the strongest tempest only wafts them more rapidly to their haven, and the sorest persecutions that light upon them serve but to quicken their pace to the IS^ew Jerusalem. Well may they exclaim, " AVhat shall we then say to these things : if God be for us, who can be against us ? He that spared not his own Son, but de- livered him up for us all, how shall he not also freely give us all things? AYho shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or per- secution, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? Kay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. . For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus." Bear up patiently, my brethren, in the beating storm, for tlie haven is near. In due time we shall reap, if we faint not. In the next place, set your affections on tliese bright things. We were made to hope. Our eyes are in our foreheads ; these glorious features, so magnificently de- lineated by the seer of Patmos, have transcendent excellences and irresistible attractions. Let us bring our hearts beneath them, let us fasten our eyes ■iq)0]i them, and doubt not at the same time your certainty of success, if you only seo^k them. In earthly things, the DAY AVITnOUT NIGHT. 189 battle is not always to the strong, nor the race to the swift. In this course, ''I run not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the aii\" Every day that closes, brings believers nearer to the millenniiini. The glorious apocalypse is now upon its way from above. All occurrences, and controversies, and strifes, and revo- lutions, and wars, are clearing the air for its apjjroach. The partition-wall between this dispensation and the next is growing thinner every day. I can see scattered rays of its beautj', and hear snatches of its songs : '' Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me." ''It is high time to awaken out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." There are some heve^ perhaps, who take no interest in these great and important truths. If you have pre- viously felt no interest in the things that belong to your 23resent peace, it is but natural to suppose you will feel little in the prospects which crown a life with which you have no sympathy. But great and solemn re- sponsibilities are on you. ''How shall j^ou escape if you neglect so great salvation ? He that despised Moses's law, died without mercy. Of how much sorer punish- ment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, w^ho hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace ? It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." The Bible says that we are lost and perishing, and that our restoration and reception to the marriage-supper of the Lamb is suspended on oui' faith in the Son of God. It does not disclose to us a heaven and hell to speculate on, but as the infinite and antagonistic extremes, to one of which we are rushing. It is this fact that throws over the Bible, the sanctuary, the ministry of the Gos- pel, so sacred, so awful an interest. It is this consider- ation that renders an assembled congregation so solemn a spectacle. Processes of couAdction, that end in con- version, or increased resistance, are going on. You are, my deal' hearers, under thu necessity cither of receiving 190 ArOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. or rejecting the Gospel. There is no middle or neutral coiu'se. The instant you loiow God's will, you must obey it or disobey it. From that pew you must answer, '' I -wdll," or "I will not." The lips may remain dimib, but the heart speaks, and says distinctly ''Yes," or *']Sro." This Gospel, too, which you hear, must prove to you the savour of life or the savour of death. Every moment a character is behig formed on which death will stamp immutability and immortality. Rains and suns do not more certainly add to the growth of the tree, than ceaseless influences add to our character. Every hour a hardenmg or softening process is going on : we are growing more susceptible of lofty impressions, or less so. God's truth's heal, or kill. Appeals augment or part with then- power — motives, their force — terrors, their di'cad — and hopes, their attraction ; and thus you are travelling to, or receding from, the marriage- supper of the Lamb. None are loaded with so terrible a guilt as those who know and reject the truth. On none does there hang a heavier accountability. '' They know theu' Lord's will, and do it not." In face of warnings, remonstrances, obstructions, crowding around them, they continue in rebellion against the Xing of kings. It is no excuse at aU, that yoiu' heart is not right. Surely it is no excuse in a disobedient child, for some act of contumacy, that his affections were not favour- ably disposed towards his j)arents ? If there be no duty unless there be a right disposition, all obligation is at once relaxed, and immunity to crime becomes the in- evitable result. Duty remains in all its force, imaffected by the liking or disliking of its subjects, " Thou shalt love," binds wherever it is heard, "llepent," ''Be- lieve," are obligatory on every human bemg. 'Not is it possible to denude ourselves of our responsibility, any more than of our immortality. Both cleave inseparable to us all, wc cannot run from either. If ^a'c could cancel all the recollections of the past, we could not thereby cancel our obligations. But, in truth, there is no excuse that will bear one DAY AVITHOIJT NIGHT. 19 i moment's analj^sis for rcvjecting the invitations of the Gospel of Chi-ist. Duty ceases where a valid excuse begins : both cannot co-exist. Be not deceived ; God is not mocked. Erethren, very soon other scenes than those you now witness will burst uj)on your sight. The rising dead, the descendmg Lord, the blazing earth, and the darkened and eclipsed sky, will strike every soul, and ''every eye shall see Him, and them that pierced Him." Ho not put off or put away these appeals — these near and sure realities — these personal and personally in- teresting facts. We are on the dark mountains, and our feet will either stumble on them, or be guided over them by the rod and staff of the Son of Jesse. Centiuies are crowding into days, and days into minutes, and all things ai'e ru^jhing to the last crisis. LECTIJEE XIII. THE PRAls'CHISE OF THE NEW JEEIJSAXEM. ** A7id there shall in no ivise enter into it [that is, the JVew Jenisalenij, anything that dejileth, neither what- soever worJceth ahomination, or maheth a lie : hut they which are ivritten in the LarnVs looh of lifeT — Hey. xxi. 27. \Ye liave seen a fcAv of the grand characteristics of the Apocah^tic ]S"ew Jerusalem. We have traced such of its features as are contained in the tAventy-first chapter, and are still to trace its more glorious features as they are embodied in the twenty-second. It is en- couraging to see that, amidst the most glowing pictures, full of poetry and beauty, there are interspersed those great spiritual, moral, practical truths, which come home constantly to our hearts. The jN'ew Jesusalem must be tenanted by a new people : the new song must be sung by those in whom all things have been made new by the Holy Spirit of God. AVe have here in this passage the counterpart of Avhat was stated in the eighth verse : *' But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, shall have their part in the lake which burnetii with lire." '' Anything that worketh abomina- tion" might be rendered, ''they who are guilty of idolatrj^," for the word ''abomination" in Scriptiu'e, very often means '' idolatry." On the other hand, those who shall enter the Kcw Jerusalem, and be its inhabit- ants, happy and holy for ever, arc those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life ; or, (as is further depicted in the thirteentJ.\ chapter) ''in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." FRAXCttlSE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. 193 iN'ow, without entering upon the special sins that are enumerated in this passage — sins the nature and e\'il of which we can easily comprehend if we have only learnt to repudiate their contamination — I proceed to observe, first of all, there is here stated a disqualification for the Ifew Jerusalem ; and, secondly, a qualification for it. First, then, there are those who are disfranchised, and never can be citizens of that glorious city. These are, '' The fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, mur- derers, whoremongers, sorcerers, liars, and idolaters." And secondly, there are those who are enfranchised and qualified citizens of the JS'ew Jerusalem ; and these are, '' Those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." In noticing, first of all, the disqualification, let me call your attention to this by no means unimportant fact, that this disqualification {s in no respect or degree circumstantial. It is not stated that the rich will be ad- mitted and the poor excluded — that nobles shall be there and plebeians shall not. These are but circumstantial distinctions ; and though when seen from the stand-point of this world, they seem to be important, and look mag- nificent and real, yet when viewed at the right angle, and seen in the light of the Kew Jerusalem, they become so dim and insignificant that they are lost amid its splen- dours : they then and there disappear like straw-built huts, before the influx of that mighty tide which bears upon its bosom only the pure and holy, and repudiates all contact with '' the fearful and unbelieving." In the second place, this disqualification is not denomi- national. It is not said that Churchmen only will be there, and Dissenters excluded ; nor is it said that Dis- senters only will be there, and Churchmen excluded. Xor is it said that Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Inde- pendents, Baptists, or Wesleyans, are there, or are not there. These distinctions are also to a great degree cir- cumstantial : they lie only on the surface : they look big only in the light of this world, and are magnified by the uncharitableness of our hearts. But in that better and brighter state, the name of Churchman or Dissenter will be utterly unlmown. Ecclesiastical distinctions, that SECOND SEIIIES. O 194 ArOCALITllC SKETCHES. have rent and torn society with their havoc, the great shibboleths that resounded on earth till they reverberated from sea to sea, will there be totally nnlmo vrn or joyfiiUy forgotten. The men who shall be excluded there are not Dissenters : the men who shall be admitted there are not Churchmen. These ecclesiastical distinctions shall be lost in the great first and last Xame ; the name that was pronounced in scorn at Antioch, shall be that name which shall be sounded in the Jubilee of the New Jerusalem ; and ''Christ" and ''Christians" shall be then all and in all. This disqualification is purely and entirely of a moral character. God looks within when he estimates a man, and not icithout. God does not look at what a man wears, or what he pretends, or what he professes ; but His omniscient eye sends its penetrating glance into tlic verj' nooks and secret recesses of his heart ; and as a man is and is seen to be in his hidden heart, so is he in the sight of God. Earthly distinctions will not survi-^'e the death of the body. Moral and spiritual distinctions shall eternally outlive its decay, and all others shall be lost in the brightness and reality of these. Riches cause responsibility, and so does rank; but neither of them constitute the qualification or disqualification under con- sideration. They who are excluded are they that are morally corrupt ; and they who are included (as we shall soon perceive) are they that are morally pure. God judges of the ti'ee by its fruits : the good tree is fitted to be transplanted to a more congenial soil : the bad tree, however abundant its leaves, or the tree whicli bears the Upas fruit of poison, can have no place in the second paradise — the garden of the Lord. The first remark which naturally occurs to us is — Why should moral de- ficiencies disqualify some for the Xew Jerusalem, and moral excellence qualify others ? Let me show how the immoral, such as idolaters, liars, and all other classes of sinners recapitulated here, whose various sins are simply the fruits of inward depravity, must necessarily be dis- qualified for admittance to the New Jerusalem. In the first place, sin is the seed of all the \vi^etchediiess that FRANCHISE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. 195 exists in hell. Hell is but that monosyllable — '*sin," repeated, re-echoed, reverberated for ever. Sin is the seed that produces all the misery — is the germ of all the agony and woe of those whose doom is among the regions of the lost. And to retain that germ which necessarily extinguishes happiness in the bosom, is thereby necessa- rily to be disqualified for that better, holier, and happier state, where happy hearts only ^dll beat, and holy hearts only live. Sinners must be disqualified, in the next place, because they are unfit for the joys, the songs and s^Tiipathies of those who dwell in the i^Tew Jerusalem. The man whose partialities are all depraved — ^Avhose feel- ings and afiections are of the earth, earthy — cannot symjiathise with pure thoughts, or take part in a holy choir, or unite in the anthem peal that rises from the company of the saints of God and the Lamb who sits upon the throne. How shall the idolater, the abomi- nable, the sorcerer, and depraved, join in the beautiful hymn — *' Thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof ; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation?" How shall they whose hearts are all discord, and incapable of any perception or appre- ciation of holy harmony say, " AYorthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honoui', and glory, and blessing?" The man who is unholy cannot join in this song. Such songs must be grating to his ear, they must only awaken agony in his heart. The moral character of such persons must be a moral disqualification, and thus unfit its subjects for singing the new song, or holding communion with the inhabitants of the I^ew Jerusalem. Can a civilised European feel any delight in the conversation of a bar- barian ? Can the wild New Zealander and the culti- vated Englislrman have any interchange of sentiment that is satisfactory to the latter ? We know it is impos- sible. There is in all the kingdoms of God a fitness between the place and the inhabitants : the JS'eiv Jeru- salem is suited for new men, and new men are adapted for the New Jerusalem. It is a prepared place for a o2 196 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. prepared people ; and imless we are so prepared, vrc cannot constitute a portion of its tenantry. Again, it is a law obvious in earthly things — if earthly analogies may be admitted — that there must be an adap- tation between the sphere for living and those who live in it. For instance, in this world, the eye of man is plainly fitted for the light. If light came with greater velocity than it does, man's eye could not bear it : if it were less than it is, it would not be sufficient. There is an obvious harmony between the natural eye and the light which streams from the sun, so exact, that it is evident the one must have been adjusted to the other. It is precisely so with the ear of man. It is made for our voice ; and the voices of others are of that pitch and tone which exactly fits them for the ordinarj- ear that listens. If our voices were much more powerful than they are, they would pain the ear : were they less so, they woald not be distinctly audible. There is thus an adaptation between our ear, and all the sounds and me- lodies and harmonies of the world around us. So much is this the fact, that if a man were lifted to another orb, where (as astronomers tell us) the air and composition of the planet are of a difierent density from that of this earth, he would require a difierent constitution and or- ganisation altogether to enable him to exist. This is not a mere conjecture, but a demonstrable truth, — that were we lifted to another world with our present senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touch, just as they have been adapted to this planet, and with our present circulation, we could not live in it ; the atmosphere would be too heavy, its density too great ; our destruction would be inevitable : our Avhole apparatus of physical sense and organisation must be altered, ere we could be inhabitants of Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon, or any other planet. What holds true in 2)liysical nature docs so also in spuitual things. There must be a fitness for the scene of the millennial joys — a change of heart, state, and cha- racter. We are to enter a new world, to breathe a new atmosphere, to hear new sounds, to come in contact with new objects, to behold intenser splendours, and brighter FHANCHISE OF THE NEW JEEIIS.iLEir. 197 visions of joy and glpry ; and we must be fitted for it by the Spirit of God, before we can enter or enjoy its hap- piness, or sing its songs, or breathe its air, or gaze iipon its glories. Therefore the analogies we have before us shoAV, that our spiritual natiu:e must be changed, or we shall be disqualified for inhabiting the new Jerusalem. But some, perhaps, will say, "Does not death effect this change ? If we be not fit now, will not death make us fit?" Mj dear brethren, there can be no greater misconception than this. Death will not operate any change in the spiritual and moral character of him who is its subject. Death transfers — it does not transform the soul. It presents a man before God just as he dies : it does not present him before God difi'erent from what it finds him. In other words, death does not form a new character, it merely fixes that which we have ac- quired upon earth. Do not, therefore, deceive yourselves with the delusion — for it is a gross delusion — that death wiU transform you, as by a magical touch, into the like- ness of God. As you are when death visits you in time, so will you be when you appear before God in eternity. If death finds you unsanctified — with hearts the scenes of coiTupt and confiicting passions, full of avarice, lust, evil, wickedness, then aU that death does is to usher you, so furnished, into the presence of your final Judge ; and the sentence of that Judge Avill be, " He that is un- just, let him be unjust still, and he that is unholy, let him be unholy stiU." I need not the additional element of material fire to give me a true conception of the fearful hell that will be youi' everlasting abode. Just withcbaw the attractions and counter excitements of this world — withdraw the siuTounding influences that make up the atmosphere of indirect Christian influence from the subjects of depravity, and I can well conceive what torments — what a hell, a man's passions — unbridled, unchecked — not qualified or mitigated by any restraining influence, wiU kindle and create within, above, below, and around him. We then conclude that death wiU not operate any change in our character ; this world is simply a process of preparation 198 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. for that which is to come. Onr character becomes here what it will for ever he. '' It is a solemn thing to die/ ' it has been well said : it is a more solemn thing to live. Temporal hues stamp on us an eternal cast : things that perish as they pass leave an eternal impress upon us behind them. It is said that not a cloud passes over this green earth which does not operate some change on its face. JS'ot an event we have heard of — not a company we mix with — ^not a book we read — ^not a sermon we hear, fails to leave on you an influence that shall become only more clear, vivid, and legible, through the cycles of an endless heaven, or the epochs of an everlasting hell. This world is but the preparation for that which is to come — the spring-time of eternity — the seed-time of the future harvest. As you sow now, so you shall reap for ever. Childhood is the disciple for boyhood — boyhood, the preparation for manhood — man's life does not close here : it is only a preparation for the world to come. Mind is then and there stereotj-ped — character is then made a fixture ; and as a man is found at his decease, so will he either be found disqualified for that citizenship, or, what is unspeakably blessed, qualified and fitted for it by God's Holy Spirit. We have in the Lcvitical economy this disqualilication spnbolised. The priest pronounced the leper to be unclean, and then he was excluded from the camp for ever. This was a typical exclusion for a typical disease, teaching a moral exclusion from that moral and spiritual economy shadowed forth by the New Jerusalem. Again, the same disqualification is pointed to by the ancient prophets. Isaiah says, '' It shall be called the way of holiness ; the unclean shall not pass over it;" and referring again to this epoch, it is Raid — ''Awake, awake; put on thy strength, 0 Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city : for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." Our Lord himself points to the same disqualification when he says, ''The Son of Miui shall send forth his angels, and they shaU gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity." And in the epistle to the FEANCHISE OP THE NEW JERUSALEM. 199 Galatians the Apostle tells us what are the grounds of disqualiiicatioii from the kingdom of God. He says: *' Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ido- latry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, enyyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like : of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." AYe thus see, then, that depraved or unsanctihed character is the only disqualification : nothing else can unfit for a residence in the 'New Jerusalem • this alone is ruin — this alone is indestructible — character, good or bad, is immortal. If you are disqualified, it is not God who has taken your title or your fitness from you : you have done it yourselves. God invites you to accept the glorious franchise ; he ofiers you the price of entrance to the ISTew Jerusalem — he ofi'ers you the Sa^dour's sacrifice and righteousness, and tells you that if you do perish, it is simply because you will not accept that which alone is the ground of your acceptance. Having looked at the disqualifications, and seen how Scriptural and natural — how coincident with all analog}^ they are, let us now turn to the more gratifying side of the picture — the obverse of the medal — and examine the franchise for the New Jerusalem. It is said, they are qualified for it whose names are recorded " in the Lamb's book of life." Who are they ? Has any one pierced the sky, and perused the pages of that mysterious volume ? Has any one obtained a tran- script, or published an earthly edition of that book ? Has any one been shown how we may read, or the process by which we can decipher, its heretofore hidden hieroglyphics ? Did Paul, when he was caught up into the third heavens, peruse it ? Can any one expound its contents, or publish one chapter of the mysterious record ? No ; none are able to do this. "We know not whose names are registered upon its pages; and it is well we do not. \Ye know not who are predestined to everlasting life, nor can we pronounce who are chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world. We 200 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. cannot decipher its chapters. It is folly to attempt it. It is mere pretence to say that we have heard even the echo of the utterance of our names read from it; and that man deceives himself, or may deceive himself, who says, '* I am one of the elect, and therefore shall never fall;" for he has not had the privilege accorded him, which is denied to all others, of reading the names enrolled in the Lamb's book of life. Then, how shall we ascertain who they are who are thus qualified ? I answer, In this way. The book of revelation below is all but a reprint of the Lamb's book of life above. God's ^viitten book is the nearest transcript of his unseen book. The difference only lies here : The Lamb's book of life contains the 7iames of the saved ; the book of revelation contains the character of the saved. And if you find your character coiTcspond with the character of the redeemed, as stereotyjjed in the Bible, you may rise from a knowledge of God's book without, to a knowledge of that ivithin ; and conclude that your name too is entered in the Lamb's book of life, because your character is legible as that of the saved in the book of revelation. If you can trace your character here, you need not doubt that your name is there : if you can catch the echo, no doubt you will hear the original. If you are amongst those who are described as the heirs of the kingdom of God, you need not scruple, resting on these clear, incontrovertible premises, to believe that your name will be pronounced before the assembled universe, and by Him whose pronunciation of it is to communicate to it a music which tongue cannot teU, nor hath it ever entered into the heart of man to conceive. Thus, therefore, we may come to a right con- clusion as to those who are in the Lamb's book of life, and who are not there. I may notice here, as under the previous division, that the learned, the noble, the rich, the great, are not, as such, necessarily there. IS'o man may say, '' I aiii a rich man, and therefore my name is in the Lamb's book of life;" or, I wear a crown now, and therefore I shall wear a cro'wn of glory." I have told you these are mere circumstantial distinctions, and perishable as the clouds FEANISOFECH THE NEW JERUSALEM. 201 that STvee]3 athwart the skies ; while moral distinctions will be alone abiding, like the bright stars which remain overhead beyond. It is not, then, the noble, the great, or the wise, as such, who are called. iN^or, secondly, is it all who are baptised ; because the baptised may not conclude, from the simple fact of their baptism, that their names are ^aitten in the Lamb's book of life. You may have been baptised by man, and yet be unbaptised by God ; you may have the baptism Avhich consists in being sprinkled, or, if you like, dipped, in water, — and 3^et be altogether destitute of that inner baptism which alone qualities for the kingdom of God. Your baptismal name may be in the registers of the Church below, and not in those of the Church above. It is possible to be a Jew outwardly, and not a Jew inwardly. It is possible to have the sign, and not the substance, of life. It is a miserable delusion to trust in the cleansing efficacy of the outAvard water, instead of making sui-e of the inward power of the Holy Spirit. — In the next place, all communicants are not in the Lamb's book of life ; all communicants may not conclude that theii' names are written in the Lamb's book of life. You may be recorded on the communion-roll ; your names may be mentioned by the minister as communicants : you may have satisfied man, but you may not have satisfied the Master ; you may have been admitted to the Church below, and yet be excluded from the Church above. You may not con- clude, that because you have been baptised, or are a communicant, or a seat-holder, or because you are a re- gular Avorshipper at the sanctuary, that you are all safe now, and that all Avill be happy with you throughout the ages of eternity. Those who are written in the book are not all those Avho CA'en take an interest in religion. Many AAdio helped to build the ark perished in the waters AA'hich bore it to Ararat. You can attend religious meetings, hold forth from their platforms, applaud the sentiments of the speakers; you may read religious ncAvspapers, contribute to the erection of churches and schools, and support the dissemination of the Gospel, and the circulation of the Bible — and this ye ought to 202 APOCALYrilC SKETCHES. do, and if God's people this ye will do — and yet do it all from corrupt motives, and for wrong ends ; and therefore you will not on this account have j^our names written in the Lamb's book of life. Who are they, then, whose names are inscribed upon it ? First, God hnoics : all things to Him are naked and open : " the Lord knoweth them that are his." You may be condemned by man, or canonised by man — you may be praised by ministers, or proscribed by synods — it matters not. God looks not at the anathema of the priest, or the excommunication of the sect, or the ex- clusion of the minister ; but to the heart — the inner man of the individual. And as a man is there, so God knows him to be. — But, in the second place, others may know if we are in the Lamb's book of life. AYe may misaj)prehend one another : we sometimes think fewer, and sometimes think more, of the members of our con- gregations are recorded there than are actually so. We often think the silent, unobtrusive man has no real reli- gion, because he makes no loud or ostentatious profession ; and we as often mistake the mere professor, and judge from his loud and showy professions that he is a sincere and thorough disciple of the lowly Jesus. But there are tests, as there are fruits, of character : we may know if our fellow-men have their names written in the Lamb's book of life, if they let their light so shine before men that others, seeing their good works, may glorify their Father, who is in heaven. The world, it is said, took notice of the disciples, " that they had been with Jesus." And let me ask you, dear brethi'cn, if, when you go out into the world, any one can infer from what you are, and do, and how you act, that you have been with Jesus ? Is there anything about you, or upon you, that woidd lead the man of the world to say, '^ This man is a Christian ?" And yet it ought to be so : not, however, as if it were your duty to stand forth and preach, or proclaim, I am a Christian, or publicly repeat the Creed or the Ten Commandments. But there is a something in the silence and meekness of indomitable Christian prin- ciple, whicli must make itself felt. It may be disliked. FRANCHISE OF THE XEW JEEUSALE:^!. 203 but it cannot bo denied. Yoii may be stoned and trodden down, as in bygone ages, while wc live in the midst of a world that knows us not ; and yet that world may see us the while, as lights shining in the midst of it, — pro- testing against its sins, exemplifying in our lives the Christian character, and pointing mankind to something better, and beyond all that siuTounds them in this lower Avorld. Eut you may know it yourselves. I said that God knows it : — the world, — that is, men in the world, your fellow-christians, — may know it ; but I say, in the next place, that you may know it yourselves. It is not so difficult a matter to know if a man be a Christian. If we think it is so, it probably all proceeds from our secret consciousness that we are not Christians ourselves. If we have put our trust and confidence in Christ, our names not only are, but are felt to be, written in the Lamb's book of life. You kiiow if Christian principle sustains you in trial, or sanctifies you day by day, or enables you to overcome temptation, and to sacrifice the highest gains rather than surrender your trust in Jesus, or forego your obedience to all his will, or your respect for all his commandments. A man may hiow whether he is a Christian or not. The man whose heart throbs with love for Christ, whose conscience is inlaid with Christ's principles — the man who can say, '' I count all things but loss, save living, real religion," — the man who would part with his fortune rather than his Bible — with his carriage rather than his conscience — with whom principle is supreme, and expediency subordinate, — who cleaves to God and to Christianity when his fortunes seem falling, and his star is either stained with blood or is hidden by darkness — the man who stands staunch for God, who walks with God, who trusts in God, and who hopes to be with God for ever — that man is a Cliristian, and he himself knows it ; and this knowledge is the spring of his sweetest joy and brightest hopes. He can say, *' I know in whom I have believed, and He is able" (as he is willing) '' to keep that which I have committed to him against that day." How Avorthless, when looked 204 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. at in the right light, and from the right point of view, is all that man pursues and prizes of this life ! How dim and fading is all the glory and magnificence of the world, in comparison with those moral and spiritual distinctions Avhich constitute men Christians, and Christians heirs of " that city T\diich hath foundations, Avhose builder and maker is God !" Eut, in the next place, the names which arc written in the Lamb's book of life are those who have been *' chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world," that they should be holy. They are those who are spoken of again as purchased by the precious blood of the Lamb without spot or blemish, — as inheritors of that Avhich has been prepared for them before the foundation of the world. By any examination that we can make of God's sealed book, we cannot tell Avhether we are chosen or not. I state election simply as a Scriptural charac- teristic. But we may know the following : — that the names in the Lamb's book of life are those who have fled to Christ for the forgiveness of all their sins, and who have sought their title to the New Jerusalem in Christ ; — those who say, " Lord Jesus, our hearts and consciences condemn ns ; but we know that all we owe to God has been paid by thee the spotless Lamb, and all we deserved of woe endured by thee, our precious sacri- fice. AYe know that in our stead, in our room, clothed with our responsibilities. Thou didst bear God's judg- ments, and exhausted the penalties of God's law, and didst bring in an everlasting righteousness. Wo rest on this great fact — hope in it — and lay the stress of our soul's expectations upon it; and we desire to love thy laws, and walk in thy ways, and to show forth our gra- titude in our life, and our peace in our death." Tlie man who can say this — not with his lips — that is easily done ; for many say prayers who never pray, and many pray who never say prayers ; for it is the throbbing heart that is the true petition at God's tln'one — he that cnn pray so, and that because he feels so, may be assured that his name is written in the Lamb's book of life, as if a ray shot from that mysterious page, and ^ith daguer- FEANCHISE OF THE NEW JEKUSAXEM. 205 reotype precision, inscribed his name in light letters on his brow, or on the surface of the earth. In the next place, they are recorded therein whose bodies are '' temples of the Holy Ghost." What a solemn expression is this ! I feel often anxious to clothe such sublime truths in different language from that in which you are accustomed to hear them ; because you have heard the beautiful metaphors of Scripture so long and so often, that you have ceased to feel their weighty im- port as you ought ; they go in at the one ear, and pass out at the other, leaving no impression behind. A Christian, then, is what? ''A temple of the Holy Ghost!" What a statement! Weigh the expression. If it be not true, then, it is the most terrible blasphemy. If it be true, how glorious, that my heart, with all its sins and infirmities, with all its alloy and corruptions, is a shrine of Deity — a consecrated fane of the Holy Spirit ! And yet, my dear friends, it is even so, if we are Christians : and he that cannot say that it is so, just says that he is no Christian. And what a beautiful and glorious temple is the true Christian's heart ! Yonder cathedi'al pile, with its tall spire tapering to the skies, its magnificent roof, its clustering columns, its glorious arches, and all its monuments of the resources of human skill, grow poor and contemptible and worthless, when contrasted with the magnificence and grandeur of the temple of the Holy Ghost who dwells within you, which God himself has consecrated by his august and mysterious presence. " Know ye not that our bodies are the tem- ples of the Holy Ghost." But let me give you another characteristic of those whose names are written in this book. They are they (and is not this very plain?) who keep Christ's com- mandments. Christ himself said, " Ye are my disciples if ye keep my commandments." " Hereby shall all men know if ye are my disciples, if ye love one anther." " If 3'e love me, keep my commandments." I told you on a previous occasion of the beautiful badge worn by the Clmstian. Common customs seem to call for a badge to distinguish the various orders and classes of 206 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. men. The priest has his shayen crown, the monk his ..owl, the noble his coronet, the queen her crown. And the Christian has his badge too. Christ himself has appointed a badge ; but what ? If Christ had been a mere earthly teacher — if he had been the mere founder of an academy, like Plato, or Socrates — or of an ecclcsi- astico-military company, like Ignatius Loyola — then he would have laid it doAvn that we should wear a cross, or crucifix or crown of thorns, or something of that kind. But he did not do so. He has given us a badge which cannot be taken from us by man or devil, whi(;h moth nor rust doth coiTupt, v\^hich thieves cannot break thi^ough or steal, — which time will not deface, nor eternity destroy. '* By this shall all men know if ye are my disciples, — if ye love one another." Here is the grand badge, then, of your Christianity ; herein is the evidence of your names being written in the Lamb's book of life. Do you love Christians ? Can you for- give Churchmen their churchmanship, and Dissenters their dissent? — the Baptist his antip»do-baptism, the AYesleyan his Arminianism, and the Calvanist his Cal- vanism ? — and feel that Christian love is the cement that binds Christian to Christian, and Christians to Christ; moulding men's character after Christ, and bringing the human will into harmony with the divine ? There is another evidence of our names being written in this book. The names of those are there, who cleave to God's word, and adopt it as their only rule of faith. This is a most important test. It may be that those who cling to tradition as having a co-partnership with God's revealed truth may be saved : there are grains of gold which the stream of tradition has carried doAvn from Calvary ; but they are few and far between, and there is sand and stone and much alloy mixed with them. The pure gold is the word of God. It may be that the man who holds tradition to be co-equal Avith revelation will be saved, because the human veil may not have wholly darkened the Divine gloiy, and the man who receives tlie Apocry])lia may not have ex- cluded by it all genuine truth from his mind ; but we FKANCIIIisE OF THE XEW JEIiUSALEM. 20, know that those who cleave to the Bible as their chart on earth, their guide to heaven, theii' lamp in life, and hope of gloiy — we know that such persons possess the strongest possible outward evidence that their names are written in the Lamb's book of life. And, lastly, let us notice, that those whose names are written there look for Christ's second advent. Prom the commencement of the jSTew Testament to its close, we are never, never, I think, so much as once warned to embrace salvation by the prospect and the fears of death ; but we are constantly (and it is most remark- able) admonished to be prepared for the second coming of our Saviour. ''Unto them that look for him will He come a second time without sin unto salvation. I do not mean that they only will be saved, as some have rashly and nnhappily sometimes taught ; but I believe that they will have more joy, as they now give evidence of much grace. We are taught not to look for our personal happiness by itself, but for a personal joy cotemporaneous with that Catholic happiness which all the redeemed shall share when Chiist comes a second time without sin unto salvation. Hear what the Apostle says : — '' For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men; teaching us that, denpng ungodliiiess and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing (or Epiphany) of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus." We are to look upon Christ as to come : we are to have the eye of faith riveted upon his cross, and the eye of hope riveted upon his crown : we are to xiew him in his soitow, and look for him in his joy — in his affliction, as in his triumph — as the sacrifice offered once for our sins, as well as our victorious king — as, in a word, our all and in all. And herein lay the mistake of the Jew : the Jew of old looked for Christ to come as a conqueror, and passed by the prophecies of his advent as a sufferer. He is still looking for Christ as a conqueror : and we tell him, that we too look for Christ as a king ; but we look at his 208 AJOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. crown through his cross ; we must take our stand upon Calvary, to gain a view of his throne in the l^cw Jeru- salem ; we must be members of his Spiritual Church, and be baptised and sealed with his Spirit, before we can hope to behold him when he shall come in the clouds, in the glor^' of the Father, with an innumerable company of angels. The Apostles, when they beheld their Master borne upon a cloud and ascending to heaven, were addressed : '* Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This same Jesus, which is taken up from 3'ou into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." How can I interpret this ? I must do it thus : That as Christ rose upon a cloud, and disappeared in the bright- ness of the shechinah or glory, so Christ shall come " with clouds ; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him ; and all kindreds of the earth" who rejected him ''shall wail because of him;" but unto us who look for him, he shall come a second time, without a sin offering, to everlasting salvation. If the sailor looks ^^^ith joy to the end of a long and dreary voyage — if the soldier, amid the din and shock of battle, anticipates his tranquil, happy home — if the orphan longs for his father, and the bride for her bridegroom, — then, may not believers, resting on the lledeemer's sacrifice, look forward with joy and hope and glowing expectation to the day when theii' Eedeemer shall come again and receive them, that where He is, there they may be also? So earnestly did the early Christian Church look for the Redeemer's second advent, that he no sooner had disappeared fi^om the earth and ascended to the Father, than the cry at the commencement of the Apocalypse, ''Come, Lord Jesus!" and which is re- peated at its conclusion, " Even so, come Lord Jesus !" was the aspiration of every heart. In one Avord, those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life are they who can say, " Thou wast slain for us, and we are redeemed by thy blood ;" and (if I may allude to what I have addressed to you at our Friday evening lectures) those whose names are re- FRANCHISE OF THE NEAV JERUSALEM. 209 corded in that book are those who are so beautifully- described in St. Paul's Epistle to the Eomans : " Who are in Clmst ; to whom there is no condemnation ;" and who ma}' say in truth, Avhether they are able to say it with assurance or not, — ''Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? Kay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." SECOND SERIES. LECTUEE XrV. THE BIYEE OE LIFE. " And he shelved me a pure river of ivater of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamir — Eey. xxii. 1. . All the imagciy in this passage is extremely pictu- resque, as well as expressive. Earthly things are plainly shadows — not hy accident, but by preadjustmcnt and design — of the heavenly ; and dim as they are since the introduction of sin, they afford us, notwithstanding, some faint idea of those bright and glorious things that lie folded up in the future unseen and eternal. The Arabs have an old traditional belief, that there is a per- petual fountain in heaven, and that all who are per- mitted to drink of the waters of the river that flows from it, drink in the elements of immortahty and per- fect happiness. This tradition is a remnant of ancient truth. This river may be here employed to denote that full and ceaseless supply of spu'itual life and joy and peace, which flows from the throne of God and the Lamb ; or it may be the sacred symbol, in this as in other parts of Scriptiu^e, of that Holy Spiiit who com- municates every blessing of which the believer, in heaven or earth, is the recipient. This last idea is confirmed by a reference to Ps. xlvi. in which we read of a river whose ''streams make glad the city of our God;" and again, in John vii. 37, '' This spake he of the Spirit;" and perhaps the same great truth may be embodied in that beautiful promise, '* They shall di'ink of the rivers of thy pleasure." The figiu'e here em- ployed is plainly fitted to suggest the idea of abundance. THE UIVER OF LIFE. 211 A cistern is limited in size, and is very soon exhausted of its waters ; it receives all, and originates none ; the largest fountain, hoAvever teeming, holds but little and may be emptied ; but here there is set before us a deep, clear, and glorious stream, its fountain above the skies, rolling onward silently to the main. In this dispen- sation we have springs and streamlets, then^ contents borrowed and easily exhausted ; but in that dispensation we have access to the river itself. Past generations, of every clime and age, have drunk of it, and have been refreshed ; and futui'e generations will continue to drink of it too. Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Peter, Paul, and Polycarp, Augustine, the AYaldenses and Paulikans, Luther, Knox, and Latimer, have all drunk of it, and derived from it refreshment and peace ; and yet it rolls with undiminished flood, and coimtless myriads arc wel- come to diink of it, and sure to be satisfied from it, still. As light may be divided into its colours, this river may be divided into its component streams. These streams are named in Gal. v. 22, 23 : " But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance;" and they deposit in their channels, as they run, far more precious things than the fabled sands of the ancient Pactolus. This river, too, is perfectly "pure." iN'othing in this dispensation is so. The trail of the serpent has polluted all : the pui-est gold has an alloy ; the brightest ii^on con- tracts rust ; the fakest landscape is not without defects ; the loveliest flower has blight on it, and the ripest fruit is first insect- stung ; and where all the exterior sparkles to the eye with glistening beauty, we have only to pene- trate within, and we shall find qnicksand upon quick- sand, and depth after depth, — in one word, '' the heart of' man deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." In these waters, however, there is no mixture of un- cleanness of any kind. The pure channel pours along a pui-e cuiTcnt, and the inhabitants of the I^ew Jemsalem drink of its unadulterated waters, which are lit up as they run mth the gloiy that shines from between the cherubim. Neither Abana nor Pharpar, nor the Tiber, r 2 212 APOCALYI'TIC SKETCUES. nor the Isis, pour into its flood one drop of their tainted waters. These celestial streams retain through endless generations their aboriginal excellence, and remain pure as theu" foimtain, perennial as the throne. This stream is also described as being "clear as crystal ;" a characteristic perfectly distinct from that on which we have just been speaking. Purity denotes its substance — clearness, its appearance. It is on the bosom of this river that we behold, as in a ghiss, the glory of the Lord. Milton admits this mirror-use of a river here referred to, when he describes Eve looking at herself in the crystalline streams of paradise — I laid me down On the green bank, to look into the clear Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky. As I bent down to look, just opposite, A shape within the watery gleam appeared, Bending to look at me : I started back ; It started back ; but pleased, I soon returned ; Pleased, it returned as soon; with answering look Of sympathy and love. This river, which broke forth so fair and beautiful in Paradise, now runs often underground, and is shaded and darkened by the existing scenes through which it flows. Put in the JSTew Jerusalem it will break forth from the Eock of Ages in more than its pristine beauty and puiity, and rush along like molten silver, evermore reflecting from its bosom " mercy and truth that have met together, and righteousness and peace that have kissed each other," — once more the perfect mirror of a holy God and a per- fect universe. It is also called the "water of life." Life is the great characteristic of that state — a life of holiness, and hap- piness, and joy. There will be none of the dead : all things will live ; a livmg people, a living glory, a living- home, a living God. Its tree is the tree of life, its river is the river of life, its book is the book of life ; and this river bears upon its bosom downwai'd from the throne, all that can make life happy and keep it so without end. 'No frosts shall bind it with their chain, no sultiy sun.s THE RIVER OF LIFE. 213 sliall deprive it of its freslmess, and every soul upon its banks shall sustain his immortal and happy life by drinking of it perpetually. We see from this passage that the Father and the Son have but one throne : the river is said to proceed from the throne " of God and of the Lamb." Our Lord him- self says, "I am set do^ni with my Father on his throne." The first and second persons in the Godhead have thus co-equal and co-ctemal dignity and glory. The evidence of the Deity of Jesus is strong as that of the existence of God. Our nature, too, is seated on the thi^one, as a fii^st-fruit and earnest of what shall be ; having been carried from the grave wherein sin had laid it, to such dignity and glory and perfection, by our Head and Representative. It is interesting also to observe that He who sits with the Father on the throne is designated there by the same epithet, bearing which he suffered here — " the Lamb." And so he will remain for ever. In his designation he is ''the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." In his manifestation, " Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." In his humiliation, ''he was led as a lamb to the slaughter;" and in his exaltation, the character that clave to him so closely in the past will not be renounced by him at any time in the futui'e, for he is stiU " the Lamb on the throne." It wiU also be perceived here, that the river, or the Spirit of God, as we have ah^ady sho^vn, proceeds from the Father and the Son : " AU things that the Father hath are mine ; " " Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into yoiu' hearts, cr^dng, Abba, Father." The language of this Apocalyptic text has for its parallel the evangelical promise in John xiv. 26, — " But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." And also in John xvi. 7, — " I teU you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away ; for, if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." This river, there- fore, in this its glorious procession, reveals at once the will 214 APOCALYPTIC SK:ETCirES. of the Father and the work of the Son. — ^We also leani from this passage, that the Holy Spirit is the gift of the enthroned Lamb. It is thus we read, " The Holy Spuit was not yet given because Clirist was not yet glorified." The gift of the Spirit is a royal act ; this river is a royal river, its gift is one of Christ's crowns : if he had not been crucified, no Spirit could have been promised ; if he were not throned, no Spirit could be actually given. It is a stream fi*om this river that we now need ; for though Christ be manifested love and fulness of light, yet so opposed are we to all that is holy, pure, and good, that we are still ready to exclaim, " I!^ot this man, but Ba- rabbas." But when the Holy Spiiit " takes of the things that are Christ's, and shows them imto us," we then see and appreciate their excellence. In this dispensation the Spirit excites a new character within us ; in the coming dispensation, he will sustain that character. We see in this Apocalyptic portrait the harmony and unity of the whole Trinity. The Father is here repre- sented as the fountain-head of all love and life and hap- piness ; the Son, as the golden channel through which all must flow ; and the Spirit, as the river of life that roUs down that channel from the throne. God the Father is set before us as sovereign love, God the Son as redeeming love, and God the Holy Spiiit as sanctifying and effica- cious love : and thus we see that every blessing upon earth is a Trinity blessing. Pardon is sovereign from the Father, is purchased by the Lamb, is sealed and sent by the Spirit. There are three that bear record in heaven — the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and all Chris- tianity is but the manifestation of a Triune Jehovah. If God be notliino; more than one, a child can compass the thought But seraphs fail to unravel the wondrous unity of three. One verily He is, for there can be but One who is Almighty ; Yet the oracles of nature and religion proclaim him tlii-ee in one. And where were the value to thy soul, O miserable denizen of earth ! Of the idle pageant of the cross, where hung no sacrifice for thee? Where the worth to thine impotent head of that storied Bethesda, All numbed and palsied as it is by the scorpion stings of siu ? No ; thy trinity ()f nature, enchained by treble death. Helplessly craveth of its God Himself for three salvations : THE EIVEll OF LIFE. 215 The soul to be reconciled in love, the mind to be glorified in light, While the poor dying body leapeth into life. And if, indeed, for us all the costly ransom hath been paid, Bethink thee, could less than Deity have owned so vast a treasure ? Could a man contend with God, and stand against the bosses of His buckler, Eendering the balance for guilt, atonement to the uttermost ? That this great truth, a Triune Jehovah, is shrouded in mystery, no one can deny. But surely we do not profess to disbelieve a fact — a phenomenon — an occur- rence in the world all the sides of which we cannot see at once. Even so we should here be humble in our ig- norance, and lean on the truth we cannot comprehend, and glory in Him whose greatness is incomprehensible. "We learn from this passage the stability and perma- nence of millennial blessings. This river shall only cease to run when Christ abdicates his throne, but "Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever:" earthly kings are forsaken of their subjects — their thrones melt away"'beneath them — and dignities, and ranks, and titles disappear like snow-flakes on the tempestuous torrents of revolution ; but this throne is not convulsed by the agita- tions of earth ; it controls all, and is controlled by none ; it is far above the tide-mark. God is an everlasting king, and his kingdom a kingdom that cannot be moved. It is by this river we rise to and reach the fountain. The Spirit will be the Great Teacher then as now ; the persons of the glorious Trinity will never abdicate their functions ; and therefore we may expect that the Spirit will ever open up to our minds new and glorious mys- teries, and ever extend the focus of our vision with the enlargement of our horizon. We shall depend on 1 ather, Son, and Holy Spirit, as much and as truly in the future as in time past. Glorified creatures wiU be creatures still; dependency will be then, as now, our element, even as independence is now felt to be a curso and a calamity, just in the ratio of its attainment. The blessings and glories of the millcmiial kingdom will come to us through Christ. The Lamb will still be the key-note of our harmony, the burden of our gratitude, the medium of our joys, the connecting link 216 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. between a holy God and a happy universe : it will be true then, as it is true now : " Ko man cometh unto the Father but by me. The highest honour conferred on a subject in ancient times, was to be allowed to eat at the king's table : thus David refers to this practice in 1 Sam. xx. AYe shall be children enjojdng the hospitality of our hea- venly Father — we shall be subjects seated at the table of the King of kings, glorious in his glory. We learn from this passage, that the whole Trinity will be then, as now, communicative : the river proceeds fi'om the thi^one of God and of the Lamb. All the joys of those around that throne, as well as those tasted by us who serve at his footstool, are the efflux of Triune love. To give, is the joy of Deity ; selfish monopoly is the canker, as it is the curse, of man. Hence it is written, "It is more blessed to give than to receive:" for thus we act more godlike. Man's greatest enjoy- ment is not merely benevolence, but beneficence: the joy of the imiverse is realised in ministry ; he is greatest of all, who is servant of all, and the deepest happiness suiTounds sacrifice as with a halo. Let us see in this passage the unity of the Church of Chiist, both now and then. This river, like a sparkling chain, connects in one all its parts ; it refreshes, first, the saints in glory, and, next, the saints on earth. One drinks where there is no intermingling taint, and the other where all around is imperfect and impure. Yoiu' departed infants, and yoiu' parents who have preceded you, and are now within the veil, di'iak of the same living stream that you drink of, only a little higher up and nearer the fount — amid greater light and less shadow. And in this vision we see also the real and only element of true unity and union among be- lievers upon earth. It is not uniformity of size or thought, but unity of faith, of sentiment, of joy, of life, of hope. Uniforaiity exists in the lower creation, unity in diversity of development in the higher. There is unifonnity in a street with continuous brick buildings all of one shape and size ; there is unity in tlie vaiicd archi- THE MTEU OP LIFE. 217 tectiire of Bruges or Antwerp. It is one Spirit that makes one body. It is the pervading vitality of the Spirit of God that creates rehitionship, and makes of tvrain one. It is the spirit of adoption that makes us sons. It is drinking of this river that makes Jew and Gentile, Greek and Barbarian, one. In the absence of this grand element, all outward coloui'ing, all obligation of ritual, rubric, litiu^gy, and ecclesiastical government, are but masks concealing internal antagonisms, diver- sities, and disputes. The most splcnded forms are hollow hypocrisies, or the trappings of death, in the absence of his throne-river. A stream from it will make the most rugged external forms and ordinances fair and beautiful. Let us learn, in the next place, what constitutes a Christian's happiness : it wiU be nothing in the millen- nium but what is kno^vn now : it wiU be different in degree, but the same in kind. The fountain is the same. Its waters they are that flow aroimd the footstool, and make glad the tabernacles of the city of our God. Our entrance into the immediate presence of God is not a total change of element, but only an entrance from one degree into a higher. Let us learn, in the next place, that the true end of a visible Church, in all its ordinances, is to convey this living water to the souls of its people. It should be written upon its very lintels and doorposts, " There is a river whose streams make glad the city of our God ; and its ministers should stand and pcq^etually cry — " Ho ! every one that thii^stcth come ye to the waters;" and they alone who diink of this water below, shall drink of it above. " He that belie veth on the Son hath ever- lasting life." The fellowship that ^vill last for ever, is a fellowship begun below. We have the earnest now of what we shall be. Do we feel the necessity of the pre- sence and power of this Divine Teacher ? Do we wait on a ministry that glorifies the Spirit ? Do we place ourselves amid the means that derive aU their efhcacy from Him ? Do we ever pray Him to come from the four winds and breathe (m us : Were there more of 218 APOCALVI'T.IC SXETfI[7-:S. fervent prayer among the hearers, and more spiritual preacliing among- ministers, there would be fuller and more frequent real revivals of true religion. Revelation is complete, but religion is only in its infancy. The fii'st was finished when the Apocalypse was written; and the latter will make progress, "not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." Do we defer to that Spirit, and sacredly follow his moni- tions ? He speaks to us from the depths of conscience, from the pages of the Bible, from the sanctuary, from revolution, affliction, the sick-bed, the grave, from every point of the compass ; '' If any man thirst, let him come and take of the water of life freely." In all parts of the year in which we live, are heard voices and thunderings j^remonitory of that vast sj^iritual revolution which is at our doors. The chaos is now rolling and fermenting on the eve of a new genesis. Natiu-e (as naiura means) groans and travails, about to come to the birth. Blessed be God, that we know that, while all things disintegrated and disorganised are dashed against each other by the tempest that beats upon them, the Eock of Ages remains. LECTUEE XV. THE TEEE OF LITE. ** In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, ivvs there the tree of life, which hear tioelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month ; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.''^ — — Eev. xxii. 2. The first mention of the tree of life in the word of God occurs in Gen. ii. 2 : " Out of the ground the Lord made every tree to grow that was pleasant to the sight and good for food : the tree of life also in the midst of the garden." Its use, in theimfallen and sinless world, is also subsequently described, or rather implied, in these words : '^ Lest he put forth his hand and take of the tree of life, and eat and live for ever ; therefore the Lord God sent him forth." We read also, that the cherubim and the flaming sword were appointed '' to keep the way of the tree of life." Thus things continued, as far as we can ascertain, till the deluge. ITan was kept within sight of Eden, and the flaming cherubim, and the tree of life, visible to all that looked, as if to teach him, that having lost the original righteousness which entitled him in his unfallen condition to gather the fruit of that glorious tree, he must now be provided with a righteous- ness at least as perfect as that which he had lost, before his access could be restored, and thus only could he recover the condition of joy, and freedom, and life which were forfeited. The second paradise, we are sure is the counterpart of the first, only faii-er and more beautiful by far; the second Adam, who is the Lord from heaven, and his 220 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. ransomed and spotless bride, shall re-enter and d^^ell in that predicted and nearing paradise, in which blight, and death, and decay, shall be strangers for ever. The tree in the midst of it shall not be the monopoly of a few, but the privilege and possession of all — the sacrament of our immortality — the symbol of onr dependence — the evidence of onr creatnreship, and the testimony to a witnessing and surrounding imi verse, that God alone is the fountain of all being, the source of all happiness, and that on Him the universe depends. The word translated '^ the tree of life," is literally " a word of life :" the word is $uXov, and seems to be associated in Scripture with the cross of Christ, for it is the same word which is used in Acts v. 30, ''whom ye slew and hanged on a tree ;" and also in 1 Pet. ii. 24, '* He bare our sins in his own bodj' on a tree." May not this apo- calyptic symbol convey to us some grand exhibition of the great doctrine of the atonement, as the standing characteristic of the age to come — the prominent and central thing in the midst of it ? May it not mean that the atonement shall be, and be seen to be, in heaven, ■what it has been felt to be by believers on earth, the soui'ce of all spiritual life ? Thus the instniment of death becomes the source of life — the emblem of shame, that of honour : and Paul may sing in glory, what he so heroically proclaims in grace — '' God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." The fruit of this tree is declared to be produced every month. The trees of the earth at present bear fruit once a year ; this tree shall boar its fruit once a-month. This remarkable characteristic may perhaps denote the infinite and imccasing abundance of all that is good and happj', which shall be rerdised in the N'ew Jerusalem by tlie people of God, and the utter absence of all the effects and influences of vicissitude, of season, and clime, and change, whieli are so destructive in this world. Certainly there will be enough of the elements of life and happiness for the 144,000, the apocalyptic symbol of the redeemed — the bride of the Lamb. It is for THE THEE OE LIFE. 221 this consecrated band that it bears its fruit ; it is for them the cross was raised on earth ; and it is for their sakes and use that it shall be transferred to glory, and shine there in richer lustre. This tree A\ill not, indeed, give life, but it will pei-petuate itj it will not create life, but it will maintain it. The word "fruit" is derived from the Latin friwr, to enjoy, and means here the blessings and enjoyments of the Gospel reaped in the future, when things now seen and temporal shall have passed away. *' iS^o con- demnation," " no more curse," "no night," "no tears," "nothing that defileth," — the absence of all evil, the enjoj-ment of all good, the banishment of all sin, and the universally felt and recognised presence of God him- self,— are some of the fruits that grow upon this tree, and are accessible to the hands, and constitute the en- joyments, of the people of God. The leaves also of this tree are said to be " for the healing of the nations" of the earth. The Greek word OEpaTTHa^ which is here translated "healing," ought properly to be rendered " service : " latrtc means medical treatment, but Q^pairlia means strictly "care" — Latin cura — cui-e and care being closely related — service, at- tention. Hence, in ITatt. xxiv. 45, we find that the word here used is translated "household :" "Who then is a faithful and ^vise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household?" — ettI r-qq OEpaTrsiaq. The promise, therefore, implies that the leaves of this tree will be in glorious contrast with the fig-leaves which Adam formed into a raiment for himself in order to hide his sin, but which, in his and all other cases, perished in the using. The leaves of this tree shall possess everlasting verdure, fi\agrance, and beauty ; and be e\'idence to all the millennial company that there is nothing in creation which sm has blasted which God has not retouched, restored, and beautified. The leaves of trees are useless to man now ; the fruit alone is of s'ervico to him: but in that better state nothing shall be supernumerary, nothing useless ; there shall be nothing that does not serve; aU shall be precious in 222 APOCALYrTIC SKETCHES. itself, and practically minister to the joys of the people of God. This tree is placed on the street, the TrXareta, or market-place — or, as it might be rendered, the forum, the palace of the people, the Louvre of the citizens. IS'o interdict shall surround it, nor flaming sword bid away from it. The faces of the chenibim shall shine for us, and not against us ; and love, not the wrath, of Deity shall be projected over the length and breadth of a reclaimed world ; and the fruit of this tree shall be reached and enjoyed by all. Here, blessings which are accessible to all are not accepted by all ; but there the Gospel shall be catholic in the strict sense of that epithet. We learn from these promises the commu- nicated virtue of all things in the paradise of God. Nothing there grows, or lives, or moves for itself; everything is ministry, every being has his mission : the Lamb himself is the glorious temple, and the pre- cious stones which form the walls of the city reflect the splendours they receive from the shechinah. The throne of God and of the Lamb ever more dissolves itself into a ministering river, and that river refreshes all that live beside its channel, and reflects all bright things. If this tree of life be, as some regard it, the symbol of Jesus Christ himself, then it sets forth him as the origin and fountain of life to all living beings. ^'In him is life," says the Evangelist. Every creature now receives life from him — alike the meanest reptile and the mightiest angel; but especially may we suppose tliat this tree represents the Lord of glory, as the great fountain of spiritual life to his believing people. The life of justification is not the least important blessing that Ave receive from him. Ecing justified by faith, we live ; yet not we, but Christ livetli in us. ** Wlioso eateth my flesh hath everlasting life," In him, too, we derive a life of holiness. Because he is the Holy One, we are saints. He makes us holy upon earth, tliat is, like himself; and presents us spotless to himself, when we shall sec him as he is. God's life in the heart now THE TKEE OF LIFE. 223 effloresces into holiness of character then, so that the outward man becomes the reflection and exponent of the inward soul ! Christ also is the fountain of our life of happiness. "1 sat down under his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." He will open to us visions of happiness and joy, such as angels have never seen. The air we breathe and the waters Ave drink shall be happiness. — He is the fountain also of a life of dignity and royalty. We shall be Idngs and priests unto God. We shall wear, not the perishable crowns that are found in human palaces, but crowns of glory that fade not away. He also will be to us the source of progressive life. This is the essential characteristic of real life. All living things grow ; and surely that Divine life shall not be an exception. Endless ages will add to, not diminish or dilute, the happiness of the people of God. May we seek more sincerely and heartily a place in that glorious land, a worshipping-place in that august temple — the meanest seat, if there be such where all is magnificent — before the throne of God and the Lamb ; and so sit securely and sweetly beneath the shadow, and eat of the pleasant fruit, of the tree of life LECTIJEE XVI. NO MOEE CUKSE. *' And there shall he no more curse : hut the throne of God and of the Lamh shall he in it ; and his servants shall serve himr — Eev. xxii. 3. The fii'st question that may be asked after reading these words is this, ''T^liat is the curse?" The answer to this question is found in these words, Gen. iii. 16 — 19 : "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception; in sorrow thou shait bring forth cliildi'en : and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I com- manded thee, saving. Thou slialt not eat of it : cui'sed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the daj's of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread, till thou retium unto the ground : for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and imto dust shalt thou return." A curse, likewise coextensive with the crime, was pronounced upon the serpent, coiTcsponding to its nature as the instrument of Satan in seducing our first parents. Some seem to think that a change actually occurred in the physical organisation and outward aspect of the serpent ; that once it stood upriglit, as it were, upon its feet ; or, if without feet, perfectly erect, and was the most beautiful as well as glorious creature in the brute creation. It is certainly plain, from fossil remains, and geological strata formed prior to the creation of man, that NO MORE CUESE. 225 there appears no trace of the sei-pent ; and in all the ver- tebrated animals found in these strata prior to the crea- tion of man, none are found without feet ; the serpent, therefore, without feet, is an anomaly; its existence therefore was plainly coeval with that of man, and thus it may be presumed from science alone, that it lost its beauty and its perfection at the fall of man. Certainly, the instincts of man attest his sense of a curse haWng scathed the ser|)ent, or a controversy of some sort between him and it. We look upon a serpent with a horror and dislike with which we do not regard the tiger, the lion, or the elephant ; as if the original enmity, the conse- quence of the curse, still pei^petuates its poison, and proves the truth of Scriptiu^e in its account of the fall of man, of the suffering that followed, and of the explana- tion of its origin. There is every reason to believe, too, that all tlie rest of the brutes of the field, the bii'ds of the air, £md the fishes of the sea, underwent a total change, not of shape or plumage, perhaps, but of disposition, at the fall. Is it possible to believe that the whole brute creation was originally constituted as w^e now find it ? that creatui'es called into being by Benevolence, and beautified with all the resources of Infinite wisdom, devoured each other in Paradise? that man's eyes, in innocence, were f'orced to gaze on bloodshed, and witness the horrors of a battle-field ; and his ears to hear, amid the melody of brooks and the music of winds, the cries of creation groaning in pain and seeking to be delivered ? God made them all beautiful, peaceful, and happy ; sin altered their very natiu'e, and modified, it is probable, even their physical organisation : and the predictions of the future pai-adise imply the disasti'ous change that passed upon every thing connected with the first : " The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox;" the curse shall be rolled away, the incubus of evil shall be withdrawn, and all things restored to their inistine perfection. It may here be asked, however, if it was reasonable or just to curse the animals because man had sinned ? If God has recorded it as fact, we may be perfectly satisfied it is alike rea- SFXOND SERIES, Q 226 ATOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. sonablc and just. But tlic reason seems plain : the crea- tures were made for man, to beautify his home, to minister to liis wants, and to obey his royal behests. Man's sin spread its eclipse over all the earth, and turned the obedient bii^ds of the aii', the submissive beasts of the earth, and the fishes of the sea, into enemies, that fly from him in terror, or turn upon him in fury. The lord of creation fell, and all his vassals fell in him and with him. In that part of the curse which especially relates to man, the woman is first singled out as its subject ; first in the transgiTssion, she was doomed to be first also in suftcring. Her sorrow is described in Scripture as the keenest which human nature feels — a soitow that brings her sometimes to the grave, and leaves only the mother- less memento. The next pimishment denounced upon the woman is her dependence on man, or the surrender of her individual freedom, in order to accomplish the ends of her existence upon earth. The whole history of our race is the clear, and often the painful evidence of this. True it is, this subjection is illuminated where Chris- tianity prevails by compensatory glories ; and the loss of liberty is forgotten in her inheritance of love, so that, inferior as she is by natui-e, she rises to an equality by grace. But this blessing is not of nature, but from the Gospel ; and Avoman, in Christian lands, does not present the complete fulfilment of the curse denounced originally upon her. In heathen lands the curse is visibly struck into her experience ; for there she has neither the dignity of woman, nor the protection of the slave, nor the joys of the mother. Woman remains in India just as she was left at the fall — the inheritor of a corroding and con- suming ciu'se, which cleaves to her like life itscK. The next portion of the curse fell upon the ground : it was once created beautiful, prolific, and good ; but when sin fell upon it, like a blot radiating from the centre to the circumference, the curse of barrenness followed imme- diately. It is now sown thick with graves. The cj-jn-ess grows where the tree of life stood ; and melanclioly requiems and moaning and groans have taken the place KO MORE CUHSE. 227 of its prlmecval jubilee. The rose that Eve carried forth from Paradise withered in her hand, and turned to cor- ruption ; and the sun that rose so beautifully that morn- ing set in storms. The rolling tlumder and the rending lightnings, still leave "vnTcks behind them. The yawn- ing earth occasionally gulps down great capitals, and buries a mighty population in a common tomb. The roaring flood sweeps away com, and cattle, and villages, and all man's husbandly, to the main ; and the unsatiated sea still buries proud navies in its waters, and roars for yet nobler ^dctims ; and hailstones descend like destroying angels from the sky, and blast the choicest fruits of the soil ; and famine, and pestilence, and plague, still indi- cate their common parentage — the curse. These groans of creation are the echoes of the judgment pronounced in Eden — these seared and blasted deserts are made so by the sirocco of sin ; the infected house proves the presence of the infected tenant ; disorders in the estate give e\'i- dence of moral disease in the owner of it. The world lost its beauty when man parted with his innocence : thorns sprang from sin-seeds, and earth grew barren because her lord had become guilty ; and we have only to see disorder in the elements, to be satisfied that there is a difference between man and God. Earth becomes rebel- lious, selfish, avaricious — must be ploughed and torn by instruments of iron, and watered with the tears of man's eyes, and fertilised with the sweat of man's brow, before it will yield him any sustenance. Of itself, it produces only weeds that are worthless, or fruits that are poisonous, and always insects that eat up what we sow — as if nature were indignant with man, and desirous of avenging her wrongs upon him. Man rose agauist God, and that ia- stant all creation rose against man. And " we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain toge- ther until now." See the slave in. the mine, the hus- bandman in the fields, the sailor on the ocean, the soldier in battle, and the labourer in the workshop, in order to perceive the rebound of man's sin in paradise ; and where there is less physical, there is more mental wear and tear ; and where wealth is the greatest, it is only the Q 2 228 APOCALYrTIC SE:ETCnES. glittering mask that conceals the agony within. The ciu^se cleaves close to the human heart — corrosive, con- suming, defying all antidote but one ; sometimes covered, sometimes gilded, but never extirpated, except in the experience of the child of God. In the day thou eatcst thou shalt die ; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," is a no less obvious result of the primeval ciu^se. Disease, consumption, fever, grey hairs, and death, constitute the long, dark procession fi'om the gates of Paradise, and disappear only in the receptacle which none can stave of£ — the grave. Infants and aged patriarchs die ; kings on their thi'ones, and judges on their tribunals, die; and no sanctuary or altar-horns can protect from the stroke of death. !N'o beauty or birth can bid away the king of terrors; the Methuselah of a thousand years, and the infant of yesterday, must die. Adam bore patiently the calamities of the tall till he saw for the lu'st time death, in the cold limbs and pallid face of Abel. Death is the image of sin, the portrait of our guilt, the wages of iniquity. Banishment from Eden was also a portion of the primeval cui'se, for it is written, " He drove out the man." Eden lost its attractions, for man had lost his susceptibility of them. The tree of knowledge waved its branches fi^om afar, but it was as the memorial only of our crime. The tree of life lost not its magnificence and glory, but man had no access to it. He who lived the one day beneath the wing of angels, wandered the next day under a roofless world; beginning that distance from God, the utmost aphelion of Avhich is hell. — The cui-se fell on man's intellect also. Once his soaring thoughts reached the presence of the seraphim ; and ever as they rose in the heights, or descended in the depths, he saw in the one the image, and in the other the footpiints of Deity. This great intellect is now darkened, distorted, enfeebled; and its powers fre- quently lavished on ignoble and unworthy objects. Has not genius frequently aided the assassin, and become the ally of the robber ? Has it not carried ambition to NO MOEE CUKSE. 229 thrones througli a sea of blood, and avarice to fortune through all kinds of tortuous and wicked courses ; mani • festing- itself as the drudge of sin, the hack of Satan, the pioneer of accumulated eyil ? In poetr j, which ought to sing only the good, the beautiful, the true, how much of evil has genius manifested ! If Milton has celebrated in song the glories and also the exiles of Eden, has not Shelley gilded with its charms what he had depravity to imagine, — souls without hope, and a world without God ? If Cowper has covered with new beauty domestic life and real religion and Christian worth, has not Byron withered with infidel sarcasm whatever of divine holiness or human happiness he was permitted to touch ? 'Nov has science escaped the universal curse. Has not Geology emerged at times from its subterranean researches, and shouted in triumph, " iS^o God?" Has not Astronomy risen on outspread pinion, and, after visiting suns and systems, alighted on the earth, and told mankind that in the vestiges of creation there is no vestige of a Creator ? Have not Yolney and others visited the east and the west, and opened the sarcophagi of ancient kings, and explored pyramidal chambers, and traced the Kile, and crossed the Jordan, and sailed upon the sea of Galilee, and walked in Gethsemane, and stood on Ararat, Zion, and Calvary, — and denounced the everlasting Gospel as a fable ? Have not naturalists gazed upon the light of morn beautiful as an infant, and on the shadows of evening melloAved like age, and on the buds of spring, and on the falling leaves of autumn, and on the drifted snow, and on the driving showers, and alleged that they saw nothing higher than the balancing of the aii', the motion of the earth, the evaporation of the waters ? But this, the curse on man's mind, as well as every other vestige of its presence, shall be no more at all. The vast universe shaU yet glow with Deity; creation shall be seen to be the chamber of His presence, the dweUing-place of His power, the receptacle of His designs, the autograph of our Father; and asti'onomy, and liter;iture, and geology, and chcmistiy, and poetty, shall hear with arrested ears and delighted hearts, the Q 2 230 A.POCALTPTIC SKETCITES. '' Lord walking in the garden" of creation ''in the cool of the day." Isaiah Ix. shall become actual : — ''Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people : but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see : all they gather themselves toge- ther, they come to thee : thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and How together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged ; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah ; all they from Sheba shall come : they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord. iUl the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee : the rams of Kebaioth shall minister unto thee : they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. Who are tliese that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows ? Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tar- shish fii'st, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God : and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and theii' kings shall minister unto thee : for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my ftivour have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy gates shall be open con- tinually ; they shall not be shut day nor night ; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. For the nation and king- dom that will not bcyvc thee shall perish ; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary ; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee ; NO MORE CURSE. 231 and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves do^Ti at the soles of thy feet ; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. "Whereas then hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man -went through thee, I -will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings : and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Sa\doiu', and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron : I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righte- ousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for bright- ness shall the moon give light unto thee : but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down ; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself : for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteousness : they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation : I the Lord will hasten it in his time." The curse, too, has fallen on man's heart and con- science. How great must be that depravity which ren- ders the motives, the hopes, and fears of eternity abso- lutely inefficacious till they are applied by God himself ! It must be an all but infinite curse that needs an Om- nipotent hand in order to remove it. Fallen man has worshipped the things he made — turned his very vices into gods ; and architecture has raised a Pantheon for theii' reception, and poets have sung their depravity as sublime heroism. What a concentration of the cui^se Avas there in that one man, Yoltaire ! — a man to whom the love of man and the fear of God were a nullity ; whose joy consisted in tearing from the human heart its best hopes, and fi'om the social system its only cement ; who 232 APOCALYPTIC SKETCKES. gloried only in wreck : whose favourite weapons were sarcasm and lies. Experience, in liis case, coniinns the Divine testimony, '^ The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Inspiration has asked and answered the question, ^' Whence come wars and fightings among you ? Come they not hence, even from your lusts that war in your members?" Lands intersected by a narrow path abhor each other. Moun- tains interposed make enemies of nations, who had else, like kincbed drops, been mingled into one. — The curse, too, as we have akeady seen, lies sore and hea^y on man's body. We need not enumerate the diseases " that flesh is heir to," or prove that these are the offspring of the curse. This body is now as often a hindi-ance as it is a help to the soul. Often is it a strong obstruction to communion with God : and by all of us it is felt to be the battle-field between heaven and hell. This curse, however, shall be lifted away : " This mortal shall put on immortality." " One Lord, one Father : error has no place ; That creeping pestilence is driven away." The curse shall be lifted away from all places on which it now lies : it shall be no more on Ebal, nor on Jeru- salem, nor upon Sinai. 'No Balak shall say, '' Come, curse me, Israel;" it shall no more be said, '*If any man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be anathema ;" nor, " if any man preach any other gospel, let him be anathema." The ofi'ence shall be impossible, and the curse unknown ! It shall no more be written, ' ' Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketli fiesh his arm, and whose heart de- parteth from the Lord." Dent, xxviii. 16 — 19, shall be repealed; it shall no more be said, " Depart, ye cursed," for there shall be no more utter destruction. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, " Holiness unto the Lord;" and in that day there shall be ''no more the Canaanite in tlic house of the Lord." There shall be no more Papal curse, which has so often been thund(!red from the seven hills, and terrified the nations, and made Christians wonder that a church professing KO MOEE CFESE. 233 Christianity could deal so little in blessing, and delight so much in cursing. The Poxtificale Eo^rAiS'r^M, the compendium of these curses, shall have perished with the proud ecclesiastics that composed it. Nor shall there be any more Protestant curses ; for those proscriptions and exclusions, and sectarian denunciations, and excommu- nication of brother by brother, are only the curses of the Popedom diluted by the atmosphere into which they have been brought. Let us then hail that blessed day when there shall be no more curse, above, below, or around, in heaven or earth, on body or soul. Let us begin now to sing by anticipation — " There is a land of pure delight, Where saints immortal reign, Eternal day excludes the niglit, And pleasures banish pain. "There everlasting spring abides, And never- with'ring flowers ; Death like a narrow sea divides This heavenly land from oui's." Creation, at that day, shall lay aside the ashen gar- ments which it has worn for many thousand years, and put on its Easter robes. It, too, has its TraXiyyEviaia : like some mu'se of a royal child which it has reared, she shall be remembered and raised to dignity when he mounts his throne. The first Adam lost the garden, and inhe- rited the wilderness. The Second Adam took up the battle just where the first left off; and in the wilderness fought the foe, and won back Paradise for man ; and a foretaste and earnest of final victory was presented in his wonderful works. Each miracle was a germ of Paradise, and triumphant evidence that all creation was soft and pliant in his hand. Each miracle was a foretoken, and forelight, and firstfi'uit of the restoration of all creation. AYhen he healed the sick, that cure was a forelight of the sickless state. "When he raised the dead, that act was a foretoken of the first resurrection. When he calmed the storm, there was seen a firstfruit of that everlasting calm which his priestly hand shall' wave over all creation. 234 APOCALYnic sketches. That pierced hand of the Babe of Bethlehem shall seize the sceptre of the universe, and lay its touch upon the ocean's main ; and His word, lil^e a resistless spell, shall go down to nature's depths, and up to nature's heights, and hallow all space to be a temple of Deity. Earth shall become a glorious Gerizzim ; there shall no more be in it the common or the unclean : there shall be no more curse, for Chiist was made a cui'se for us. But it is added, " The throne of God shall be in it." This presence of the throne of God is evidence that there shall be no more curse. If in the camp of Israel an accursed thing were present, the visible token of the presence of God was withdi'awn, as may be seen by re- ferring to Exod. xxxiii. 7. In this kingdom of emerg- ing glory and beauty, there Avill be found nothing to which the curse can cleave ; there will be none to merit or to fulminate anathemas there. The throne of the Popedom may be set in curses, but the throne of God and of the Lamb is embosomed in benedictions. In that land there will be no thi'one, as far as a throne is the symbol of despotism. The cruel tyi-anny of Nero, the ambitious and restless throne of the Macedonian or the Swede, the merciless sceptre or the iron crown of Na- poleon, shall neither be felt nor recollected there. The sceptre of the Lord's kingdom is a sceptre of righteous- ness ; justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne. — Nor will there be there any Pontifical throne ; there shall be none '' sitting in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God ;" stealing rays of glory from God, and arrogating infallibility for man; fulminating the seven thunders, forging decretals, or evangelising with the sword. Crozier, tiara, and pon- tifical throne, have pcrislicd in the flames that have consumed great Babylon. — Nor wiU there be any Satanici throne : the prince of the power of the air rules now in the childiX'U of disobedience; but at that day his head shall be bruised, and his doom shall be the irre- trievable perdition of the bottomless abyss. Yet there will 1)0 a throne — for order, law, and love arc the aim and the happiness of the millennial and the everlasting KO MORE CTTRSE. 235 state. There shall be "liberty, equality, fraternity," and yet a throne, yea, because a throne and these graces shall live and flourish in common, with innumerable others, because fed and refreshed by the li^dng waters that flow from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It is, as I have said, the throne of God and of the Lamb ; sovereignty is thus associated with sacrifice — and the crown of glory with the cross of the sufferer — and the throne on which Christ sits, with the Calvary on which Christ hung between two thieves. — We read in the 'New Testament, of the Throne of Grace : it is the same throne, approached now by faith, but then by sight, — seen now through a dimmer medium, but beheld then in the bright splendours of unutterable glory. AYe read also of the throne of justice, of which righteousness and judgment are pronounced the habitation. Taithful and just is God to forgive us here, and faithful and just will God be to glorify us there. We read too of the thi'one of holiness : God sitteth on the throne of holiness, and angels prostrate before him cry continually, "Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Hosts." All within that throne is holiness, and therefore all around that tlii^one is happi- ness.— The throne of glory is the last and cro-\vning epithet of that seat on which God and the Lamb sit. Glory is the intermingled attributes of Deity. Thus Moses said, " Show me thy glory ;" and the Lord passed by and said, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and ti-uth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, trans- gression, and sin." Christ is the concentrated bright- ness of that glory, and this throne is the radiating centre of all the beams of beauty and felicity that fiU upon the redeemed tenantry of the universe. Who can doubt the essential Deity of the Lord Jesus ? ^Yho can be ashamed of Him who sits upon the throne ? AYho can tremble for the safety of the Church that has such a Defender? "WTio can be afraid of God, who knows that he is the Lamb ? Can any one sirJi under tribula- tion, who knows that that tribulation comes doA^^m from the throne of God and of the Lamb ? The Pather, Son, 236 APOCAXYPTIC SKETCHES. and Holy Ghost are seated on that tlii'one. The absolute God is the hidden and mj'sterions ore which we can neither see nor use. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost upon the throne — the Father electing, the Son redeeming, the Holy Ghost sanctifjdng — the Father condemning sin, the Son expiating sin, the Holy Ghost extirpating sin — is that same gold in glorious currency. This same throne is described in Eev. iv. 3 : " There was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald :" and also in Eev.v. 6 : " And I be- held, and, lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the foiu' living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain." The first mention of the rainbow occurs in Gen. ix. 12 : " And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and cveiy li^dug creature that is with you, for perpetual generations : I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth : and the bow shtdl be in the cloud ; and I will look upon it, that I juaj remember the ever- lasting covenant between God and every living crea- ture." The bow was, therefore, a proof to all genera- tions, that God will send no similar flood to depopulate the earth. Pronounced after sacrifice, it was the pledge of future blessings. So, the atonement of Jesus is our great sacrifice; and, "no condemnation to them that are in Chiist Jesus," is the promise that follows after it. The rainbow was the pledge also of the immutability of the covenant with N"oah : this rainbow round about tlie throne of the Lamb is the pledge of the immutability and perpetuity of the blessing inherited by the j)cople of God. The rainbow proves the presence of the sun : there can be no rainbow Avhere there is no sunshine. The rainbow round the throne, therefore, proves the presence, as it is the refraction and reflection, of the glory of Jesus. The rainbow is declared to be "round about the throne." In this world, the rainbow appears less than a semicircle, and only on ascending a lofty mountain does the semicircle approximate to completion. In the New Jerusalem, we shall stand upon a loftier NO MOEE CUESE. 237 height than man ever rose to. Our horizon shall bo vastly enlarged, our vision pui^ifiecl and expanded, and things that are now seen incomplete shall be beheld in absolute perfection, and truths that are now seen in fragments shall then be seen as whole. Thus, on all sides of the great central object in the millennial state, shall be hung this beautiful bow, as if to intimate that the mercy of a covenant God brought us there, and that the power of a covenant God keeps us there ; while its predominating tinge shall be seen to be, not the azure of the sai^phire, nor the blaze of the diamond, but the soft and sober tints of the emerald. Those around the throne are variously represented. In one place they are described as seated : this denotes repose, reception to special favour, and participation of festive joy : as it is written, '' AEany shall come from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the south, and sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God." In another place they are repre- sented as standing, to denote their readiness for service, and their delight to execute the will and carry the em- bassy of the Eternal. In other parts they are repre- sented as falling do-\vn before the throne, to denote worship, abasement, reverence. They cast their crowns before the throne of Him from whom they received them. In that blessed state we shall see Christ as He is : the hope of Job, '^n my flesh shall I see God;" and the hope of Da^dd, ^'I shall be satisfied;" the hope of Isaiah, '' ^Ve shall see the King in his beauty;" and of John, " AVe shall be like Him," will then and there be perfectly realised. Our state shall also be that of great dignity. We shall shine forth in the kingdom of our Pather ; our raiment like the snow, and our crowns of gold ; and all reproach shall be rolled away from them who have been constituted kings and priests to our God and his Christ. We shall also be in a state of perfect security. The light shall never be shaded ; that foun- tain shall never be dry; ''ever ^dth the Lord" shall be always realised. Oui' inheritance ^viU be ''incor- 238 ATOCALYrXIC SKETCHES. n.iptible and imdcfilcd, and tliat fadcth not away." These words — " This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent," shall be pronounced with a new emphasis. That state shall be characterised by perfect unity. All ftdse centres of union shall be scattered ; all shibboleths of sect and system shall be utterly extinguished ; and the throne of God and of the Lamb, the centre of the created universe, shall be the centre of God's redeemed people ; and around it never ending concentric zones of wor- shippers shall gaze, and wonder, and worship, per- petually,. There will be ''many mansions," but one house — many streams, but one river — many branches, but one tree — many worshippers, but one God and the Lamb. Then, too, shall Ps. Ixvii. cease to be prayer, and become fulfilment: ''God's way will be known upon the earth, and his saving health among all nations. The people will praise him, yea, all the people will praise him. The nations will be glad and sing for joy ; for God will judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. The earth shall yield her in- crease, and God, even our own God, will bless us." Ps. Ixxii. shall cease to be promise, and become per- formance. "The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by rigliteousncss. . . . They shall fear Him. as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, and as showers that water the earth. He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." " The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents : the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him : all nations shall servo him." " His name shall endure for ever : his name shall be continued as long as the sun : and men shall be blessed in him : all nations shall call him blessed:" and " the whole earth shall be filled with his glory." The vision of Daniel shall then be fulfilled : "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man NO MOEE CURSE. 239 came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting king- dom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." This is that city for which Abraham looked : that king- dom which cannot be moved ; which was lost in Adam ; and is re-established in Cluist; which Alexander and Napoleon tried in vain to rear from the ruins of the fall: which cometh down from heaven prepared as a bride for the bridegroom. '' We then receiving a king- dom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with godly fear." Let us sit loose to earthly things ; let us set oui' affections upon things that are above. Even now let us begin to lay aside the sackcloth of the fall, and to put on our coronation robes. lECTUEE XVII. EECOGITITIOX m THE AGE TO COME. *' Tliere shall he no nights — Eev. xxii. 5. This text occurs in the i^revions chapter ; and in dis- cussing it in a previous Lecture, I viewed it as a predic- tion of the perfection of that state to which the Church is progressively approaching. -On this occasion, I am anxious to look at the prediction in another of its aspects, and to answer, in tliis light, the question, Shall the saved, in their resurrection bodies, and amid millennial light, recognise each other just as clearly and distinctly as they do now ? The reunion of all the people of God, before the throne of God and of the Lamb, is an admitted fact. The millen- nium is, in short, the retidezvous of all the people of God, — the '^rest that remaineth" for them, — the hour of ^' the manifestation of the sons of God." "I go," says the Saviour, ''to prepare a place for you; and I will come again, and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." And again, he prays — " Father, I will that those thou hast given me be with me, that they may behold my glory." "We are to be gathered together unto him, and to be presented " a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." The resurrection, whether it respects the lost, or the people of God, is not a re-creation of humanity, or the restoration of mankind in the mass, but the resurrection, or rising again, in piuity, in beauty, and in glory, of all that was deposited in the grave. The same body that fell, shall rise : this mortal shall put on immortality — this corruptible, incorruptibility: all that constitutes RECOGNITION IN THE AGE TO COME. 241 me, be it moral, mental, or physical, shall rise again at the last day. And just as the bod}' which Jesus laid in the tomb was the same body with which he rose from the dead, so shall it be with ours. Now, if all our faculties be raised, memory will be restored and resuscitated with the rest. Its essential function is recollection, its aspect is retrospective. It deals only with the past : it is a storehouse of facts. It in the future there be no recollection of the past, we shall have no memory, and shall thus be raised with mutilated powers ; or some wave of Lethe, of which we have no intimation in the oracles of truth, shall have washed away and expunged all our reminiscences of departed scenes. But there is abundant evidence that there wiU be remembrance, and therefore memory, in the age to come. Gratitude, which will then be so deeply felt and vividly expressed, implies recollection of benefits re- ceived. The parable of the Eich Man and Lazarus in- dicates that memory will have its part and its power in the pimishment of the lost : it is surely not um-easonable to siy^pose that it will have a share in contributing to the joys and felicities of the blessed. The words of oui* Lord adcbessed to his own, '^ I was hungry, and ye gave me meat — thirsty, and ye gave me drink," is an appeal to ilio memories of his own. Shall we recollect the ti'uths that first kindled in our hearts the joys of heaven, and have no recollection of the instrument, however humble, that conveyed them to our hearts, and interested us in them ? Can we have walked together to the house of God, and taken sweet counsel together ; and yet have no recollection of voices that were familiar to us as house- hold words, and features with which we were intimately acquainted as with our own ? If, then, we recollect in the future dispensation those we knew and loved in the • present, shall we be prevented from seeing them ? Will any change in them, or in us, prevent us from recog- nising them ? Shall the future be merely successive tiers of separate cells — piles of solitary prisons — a scene of isolation and solitude ? Will memory preserve the shadows of the dead, but our eyes fail to recognise them SECOND SEKIES. E 242 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. when living? Are we not told that death shall be destroyed ? But if those bonds which were broken at death arc not restored again in the realms of life, death is not annihihited ; one of its deepest wounds survives ; its heaviest blow is felt throughout the successive cycles of a futurity to come. But this cannot be. I look on the future as the restoration of scattered families, of sus- pended friendships, of broken circles ; the reanimation of departed images ; the apocalypse of faces we gazed upon below, when channelled hj floods of tears, then bright and radiant with joy, where tears are no more shed. It was not good to be alone in the first paradise, — surely it cannot be better to be alone in the second. ]^ight shall be rolled away, alike from the memories, the horizon, and the days of the blest. But there are express instances in Scripture, that prove the conviction of the saints of God that they shall rise again and recognise each other in the regions of the blest. Thus in Gen. xxxvii. 35, it is related of the patriarch Jacob, that he refused to be comforted, and said, " For I will go do^n into the grave unto my son, mourning." The Hebrew word is not that which is strictly translated '' the grave," but sheol, which means the place of departed spiiits. That it could not be the literal grave which the patriarch meant, is obvious from the fact that he knew his son was not buried, but devoured, as he was told, by an evil beast ; and besides, the cessation of his sorrow, which he expected, must have been by the veiy nature of his hope contingent on his restoration to the presence of his son, which he so ardently desired. In 2 Sam. xii. 22, we read, David said, '' "V\^iilc the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept : for I said, A^^lo can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live ? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast ? Can I bring him back again ? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." If the expected consolation of David arose from the prospect of his being buried in the earth Avith the' body of his child, we ab- surdly suppose his extracting consolation from what was essentially and wholly the cause of his distress. What KECOGNITION IJST THE AGE TO COME. 243 was the spiing of David's sorrow? Plainly, separation from this child. AYhat could comfort him under such sorrow ? Clearly, reunion with, and recognition of, his child. David cherished the hope, and has furnished, in his language, satisfactory evidence that he, too, believed that the nightless land would be the land of reunion, restoratioji, recognition . Again, we read in Jcr. xxxi. 15 : " Thus saith the Lord, A Yoicc was heard in Eamah, lamentation, and bitter weeping ; Eachel weeping for her chilcben refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord : Eefrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears : for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy." This prophecy is declared to have been fulfilled in the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem, and in the weeping of Eachel for her off- spring. The dead infants are represented by the prophet as captives in the realms of death : theii' resurrection is set forth as the restoration to their bereaved mothers ; and this hope, which implies their mutual recognition, is declared to be theii' sustaining comfort. In Matt. viii. 11, we read, "Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." What is here the distinguishing element of the happiness pro- mised by our Lord ? Surely it is the enjojonent of the presence, and the recognition of the persons, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If we fail to know them, we shall have no proof that the promise is fulfilled, nor any in- crease of satisfaction and delight from the fact that such will bo our sublime companionship. Can we for one moment suppose that Abraham will be seated with his son amid the brightness of unclouded glory, and yet fail to recognise him ? or that Isaac will be seated in the presence of his father, and the father of the faitliful, and regard him merely as a stranger ? In Matt. xvii. 1, it is written, ''And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringcth them up into an high mountain apart, and was 244 ArOCALTPTIC SKETCHES. ti'ansfigured before tliem, and liis face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light ; and behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking vdtla. him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here ; if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." Plainly, Moses and Elias knew each other ; the disciples, as i)lainly, knew and distinguished them as pointed out to them: and thus the essential identity of their persons in the resuiTcction state with their persons in their earthly state is clearly indicated. In Matt. xix. 28, it is written, "And Jesus said unto them, Yerily I say unto you, that ye which have fol- lowed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." "We cannot conceive any fulfilment of this promise, ex- cept in the Apostle recognising the tribes, and the tribes the Apostles, and the Apostles each other, in the age to come. In Matt. XXV. 40, we find these words: "And the king shall answer and say unto them, Yerily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethi^en, ye have done it unto me." These words suppose the actual presence of all the recipients of the bounties bestowed in the name of Christ by the saints of God. They also imply the recognition of them as such recipients in the past ; and the judgment is the manifesta- tion and the evidence of such deeds before an assembled world. In Luke xvi. 9, we read, "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations." Riches are here called the mammon of unrighteousness, from the manner in which they are too frequently em- ployed; and the exhortation of our Lord impresses the duty of consecrating to holy and beneficent ends those elements of power wliicli are too frequentl)^ prostituted to the worst of purposes : and the words of our Lord plainly imply that the objects of the compassion and the l)encficence of the people of God — the naked they clothed, and the RECOGNITION IN THE AGE TO COME. 245 himgiy tlicy fed, and the ignorant they taught the lessons of the Gospel — having preceded them to glory, will stand at the gates of the IN'ew Jerusalem and welcome them within, honouring them as the instruments of good, wliilc they give all the glory "imto Him that loved them and washed them in His hlood, and made them kings and priests unto God." In Luke xvi. 22, wo read as follows : " And it came to pass that the hcggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom : the rich man also died and was buried ; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in tor- ments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." From this it is plain that the rich man recog- nised in the light of the other world the poor beggar whose person he recollected to have often seen at his gates ; and felt fulfilled ia his bitter experience that awful prediction of our Lord, '^ There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out." In Col. i. 28, we read, "^ATiom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." These words repre- sent the minister of the Gospel as presenting the members of his flock at the Judgment-day, as ti^ophies of the grace of God, and evidences of the fiuthfulness and efficiency of his instrumentality in building up the temple of the Lord ; and this view is confirmed by the words of Paul in 1 Thess. ii. 19 : '* For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Clnist at his coming?" — language which certainly implies that the minister will recognise the flock, and the flock the minister. In 1 Thess. iv. 13, we read these beautiful and consolatory words : '^ But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them vrhich are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hop.' : for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the A\-ord of the Lord, That we which are alive and remain unto the comijig of the 246 ArocAiATTic sketches. Lord sliall not preycnt them which are asleep ; for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together -\yiih. them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be ^Yith. the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." The subject on which comfort is here required, is the death or removal of beloved friends and relatives. The consolation specially announced is not the resurrection, but the re-union of departed friends, and the restoration of suspended or interrupted intercourse. The Apostle proceeds upon the supposition that the resurrection is an admitted fact ; and shows that there will be superadded to that resurrection this special consolation, viz. the recognition of our risen relatives and friends. "Were some beloved relative, or child, or parent, about to depart to a distant land, would it be sufficient comfort to tell you that you also would be carried there in due time, but to a different part of that beautiful land ; so that while jo\i would be a^^^are that jomt beloved ones were on its face, yet you could neither see nor hold communion with them ? This would be disj^ersion, not gathering together. There would be no comfort in this. The real comfort would be the prospect of re-imion; and the summons not to sorrow, and the promise that you would be taken there, would all imply the restora- tion of the fellowship, and the recognition of the persons of those you loved below. Lishop Mant says, " When we reflect on the pleasure imparted to our minds of being admitted, after long separation, to the societj^ of those we have known and loved from earl}- years, and from the special delight we experience in renewing, in communion with them, old but dormant affection, retracing in converse events and scenes gone by — a delight which the fonnation of no new acquaintance is capable of conferring — it is probable that among future associations, as constituents of tlio liappiiicss of the blest, those they have formerly loved RECOGNITION- IN THE AGE TO COME. 247 and chcrislied will be comprGliendcd." The uniyersnlity of this hope in every age of the world is presumptive evidence in its fiivoiu\ It is no objection, that, every seven years, every con- stituent part of the human body is dislodged and changed. Great transformations pass on mind and body together in the lapse of years ; but there are certain fixed j^oints in the one, and permanent features in the organisation of the other, which are ineffaceable by change, by climate, or by age. Yon meet a person you have not seen for twenty years ; you fail, at fii^st, to recognise him : you gaze a little longer ; the veil of the stranger passes off like a cloud, and you recognise the companion of yoiu' earlier days. Peter, John, and Luke, will be as marked in glory as they were in grace : the distinctive idiosyn- cracy of each was not destroyed by inspiration, and it will not be extinguished in glorification. J^or can we listen to the objection, that our certainty of missing before the throne some whom we expected to find there, will, if earthlj'- recollections be retained, mar the perfect felicity of the blest. Such an objection is purely speculative ; natural enough, but not suitable for our minds to entertain. This only we know, — that our vnlh and convictions shall be brought so entirely into unison with God's glory, and purposes, and will, that no fact, recollected or seen, will diminish our joy, or create a momentary i)ang. "\Ye see Christians in this world acquicse in the will of God when that will is singularly painful. This is an earnest and approximation here to what will bo hereafter : our conclusion in the ^STew Jeru- salem "v^-ill be, " He hath done all things well." "What delight ^-ill it be to meet Adam and Eve, l^ooh and Abraham, the good and the great, the pure of heart, and the holy of purpose, and converse with them on scenes and transactions in which they played, all so momentous, and many so brilliant a part; when the chasms of history shall be filled up, and its perplexities unravelled, and its difficulties explained, and night rolled away from the long and then luminous chain that extends from the first man to his last descendant 248 ArOCALYTTTC SKETCnES. upon earth, and from our first com-iction to our final Such a prospect should influence us in the formation of our fiiendships upon earth. AYe ought to seek the circle of our friends in the circle of Christians. We should found oiu' friendsliip, not mainly on identity of taste or pursuit, but mainly on Christian character. Baxter says : " The expectation of loving my fiicnds hereafter, principally kindles my love to them on earth. If I thought I should neyer know them, and conse- quently never love them, after this life is ended, I should number them with temporal things, and love them as such ; but I now converse with pious friends, in a firm persuasion that I shall converse with them for ever. I take comfort in the loss of the dead or absent, believing I shall shortly meet them in heaven." This expectation should also influence yet nearer and dearer relationships. '' Be not ye imequally yoked with rmbelievers," is an exhortation that extends its echoes far beyond the gi^ave. To such your adieu at death is an eternal one ; no present rank is an equivalent for such a calamity, — no advancement of worldly interest can .prove a compensation for the blasting of bright hopes, and the poisoning of mental peace, still less for the agony of endless separation. This prospect should make Christians laboiu' for the conversion of their immediate relatives, ''warning eveiy man, and teaching every man, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." Next to the salva- tion of our own souls is the duty of saving the souls of our relatives; and if we are the saints of God, we shall feel this duty to be pleasure and privilege together. How fitted is this prospect to help us to live in con- cord, imity, and peace, with all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth ! The expectation of meeting in the future those we disputed with on earth, should lead us to feel less bitterness and alienation of spirit, and to speak in less acrimonious and unbrothcrlyv words ; to attach less weiglit to minor difterences, and RECOGXITION IN THE AGE TO COME. 249 to give "sveiglitier expression to our common love, and life, and truth. It is " the night " that blinds our eyes to the excellences of a brother, distorts his faults, and dims our perception of our own ; and when that night shall be rolled a^Yay, we shall see with amazement, if not with regret, how hollow and insignificant were the questions about which we spoke so often unadvisedly with oiu* lips, and how weighty were the truths and bonds which we valued highly in our hearts, but sinfully f^iiled to express and glory in, in our intercoui'se with each other. It becomes us, in such prospects, to wean om^ affec- tions more and more from things now seen. ^ We love the town, the village, the city, in which dear Mends dwell for the sake of the inhabitants. These are day after day being separated the one from the other, and aU from us: they precede us, to take possession of the *'rest," and to j)reoccupy the ISTew Jerusalem." Hence each spot los^s daily its charm, each early home every year its attractions : the present becomes more blank, the future grows in our estimate, as it is peopled with the objects of our love. Let our heart and our treasure be in heaven. " j^ow are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is ; and every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as He is pure." " A few short years of evil past, We reach the happy sliore, Where death-divided friends at last Shall meet to part no more." LECTUEE XYIII. rMTITFTJL AK-D TETJE SATTN'GS. " And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true : and the Lord God of the holy proi^hets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things ivhich must shortly he doneP — Rev. xxii. 6. This books closes, as it began, mth solemn attestations to the tiTith and grandeur of the theme with which it is replete. The iirst ten verses embody the a1J:estation and evidence of its inspiration ; from the tenth to the six- teenth verse, we are presented with encouragement to study and to understand it ; and in the remainder of the chapter, the Apocalj^Dse, and, perhaps, the whole J^ew Testament, is guarded from subtraction, addition, or mu- tilation. In this verse, it is plainly the same angel that speaks, who make the revelations that precede. If it should be asked why angels are employed in so great and responsible an office, we answer, God works by means and ministers in this dispensation. The laws of creation — ^\-inds, and rains, and sunbeams — as well as the angels whom he commissions from his throne, arc the agents of his purposes, as well as ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation. An angel was employed to smite the hosts of Sennacherib ; and another was commissioned to breathe in the face of the first-born of Pharaoh ; and on this occasion, another angel is commissioned to talk with John and show him the things which must shortly come to pass. In any case, God can work with, or without, or above, or against means. Eut he is not less glorious in power when ho is pleased to work by means. FAITHFUL ANT) TEUE SAYINGS. 251 The testimony which is here cnimciatcd — \iz. " These saying's are faithful and true," — is given, no doubt, lest the very magnificence and splendour of the vision of the ]N"ew Jerusalem, and the gloiy in which it lies, should appear too dazzling to the ordinaiy eye, and provoke sceptical rejection where cordial acceptance was designed by the Spirit of God, or lest it should appear too good to . be thought true. Chiist himself is called '' Eaithful and True;" the Gospel also is elsewhere called the "faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance." Christ is the Gospel personated, and the Gospel is Clmst unfolded. The heathen oracles of old were full of equivocation and falsehood; they gave forth their responses only to deceive : but these sayings are true as Christianity itself, and worthy of acceptance as the oracles that contain them. Are not these sayings faithful ? — " Unto Him that loved us, and washed us in his blood, and made us kings and priests unto God, even the Father, be glory !" No less faithful and true is the sapng, " Ee faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Faith- ful, also, and worthy of adoption as our song, is this saying : " Great and maiTellous are thy works. Lord God Almighty : just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. AYlio shall not fear thee, and glorify thy name ? For thou only art holy." And again : " Blessed are the dead from henceforth w^hich die in the Lord ; for they rest from theii' labours, and their works do follow them." The present condition of the seven chui^hes of Asia an- swering to the prediction pronounced many years before ; the reward, or punishment, alighting upon each as God Jiad declared it ; the woes enunciated in the seven trumpets, let loose fi'om the seals, and poured out from the vials, have all fiillen at the appointed time, and proved to the most incredulous, that the sayings of God are faithful and true. And ever as the proj)hecies efiioresce into pcrfonnances, the evidence of the faithful- ness and truth of these sayings becomes more and more vivid. The rush of time, wliich wastes and weakens all earthly things, brightens and brings out the sayings of thi^; book. Man's works die : God's words endui'e for 252 A.POCALTPTIC SKETCHES. ever. All man calls great, perislies : all that God pro- nounces true, 'abides. We must build little on the one, — we may rear the superstructure of our eternal hopes upon the other. "WTiat is true of the sayings of this book, is no less true of the whole word of God. The state of the descendants of Shem, Ham, Japhet, and Ish- mael, as verified by facts obvious to the world, — the molten bricks and desolate ruins of Eabylon, where the nettle and the brier grow undisturbed, and the cry of the screech-owl and j:he Avild beast is heard, — Tjre, with its rocks, on which the fishennen spread their nets, — Jeni- salem, in which every nation except the Jew has a home, — the Jews themselves, trembling and scorned fugitives in all lands — are the fulfilment of prophecy, the performance of promises, the evidence that God's sapugs are faitliful and true. How satisfying is this fact ! We rest our knowledge of the unseen, oui' hopes of the future, our acceptance with God, our sense of safety, not upon the wavering results of conjecture, probability, or human syllogisms, but upon the everlasting word, the faithful and true sayings of God. Our religion is not a result which man reasons out, but a revelation which God makes known. It is not a discoveiy made by man, which man can expand, but a revelation that comes down from heaven, which man can neither add to nor may subtract from. Let us be thankful for that blessed book, which contains these sayings of God, — that book which has changed the aspect of the world, and left upon the cuLTcnt of the ages impressions that can only be efii'aced by the last flame. It is still the breath of the good, the joy of the pious, the hope of the desponding. It has , exalted the poor, broken the shackles of the slave, dotted the wicle earth with temples like the sky with stia's, arched the tombs of the dead with the rainbow of hope, and made the paths of the pious Kving more smooth and beautiful. It has turned the war-whoop of the savage into the voice of psalms, and supplanted the clang of battle and the confused noise of war by the chimes of mercy and of peace. Each of these sayings is a precious pearl, and the liibleis the sea whose floor is covered with FAITHFUL AND TRUE SATIXGS, 253 tliem ; and he that dives deepest and oftenest, brings up the greatest number to the light of day. It is added : ^' The Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass." The Lord God of the pro- phets is none else than the Lord Jesus Christ, as is plain fi'om the 16th verse of this same chapter: ^'1, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the chiu'ches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star." And were there no other evidence, this alone would prove the supreme divinity of Him who is throughout the Apocaly[)se the object of ceaseless praises, the burden of a thousand songs, the focus of uncreated glory. But he is not only the author, but the subject also of all proj^hecy. Moses spake of him ; Isaiah predicted him ; and all prophets, from the beginning to the end, derive their light from that Sun of whom they spake. And whether they delineate the Man of Sorrows, or the Prophet, or the Mightj^ God, or the King of kings, Jesus is stiU the object and the subject of all. This angel sent by Jesus was evidently one of the most exalted of the heavenly hierarchy, as John is repre- sented, in one of the verses that follow, to have been so overpowered by the glory of his person, that he fell down to worship him. Indeed, if that angel had been possessed of no lustre of his o^ti, the message which he came to deliver would have clothed him -^vdth supernatural glory. It is also stated that the message was sent by Jesus to show imto his servants the things that must shortly be dbue. Like the whole 13ible, this book was not sent to the priest, or the Church, or the minister, to be doled out at their discretion to the people; but it is addressed directly to the laity, or the servants of God. The Bible is tlieir lamp, and charter, and sword : it is their privilege to hear Christ speak in the Scriptures in his o\n\ blessed voice, and not in spent echoes, diluted and confused by man. The things here specially made known, are declared to be those '' that must sliortly come to pass." Each age has its peculiiu- events ; and each generation of the servants 254 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. of God, the special things for which they are to look. In the first century, the things that were shortly to come to pass, were the destruction of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the apostles, the spread of Christianity, the rise and development of the Apostasy, and the escape of the true church into the ^-ildemess, where she was to be, '' time, times, and half a time." ]^ext, history of the ^-itnesses. their duties and trials, and encouragements and ultimate deliverance. Afterwards, the Eeformation, with its re- appearing sun, and its attendant stars, and its glorious results ; and after this, the pouring out of the vials, ex- tending from the French Eevolution of the eighteenth century onward to the seventh ^dal, the first sprinklings of which seem to have fallen on the nations of Eiu'ope, and the fii'st response to which are the revolutions which now convulse it to its centre. Plainly, therefore, it is the office of the Spirit of God to reveal, not only things past, and obligations present, but things also to come. In fact, the Holy Sjjirit is expressly promised in the Gospel according to St. John, (xvi. 13,) in these words : " Allien he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you unto all truth ; for he shall not speak of himself, but what- soever he shall hear, that shall he speak ; and he wiU show you things to come." The Sun of Eighteousness shines on the past, the present, and the futuiT, and makes all luminous to his people. We are to gather facts from the past; duties, privileges, responsibilities from the present ; joys, consolations, and hopes from the future. It is natural to desire to know something of the nature of the things to come : it is Scriptural to gratify this desire as far as God has revealed it. We feel, and see, and hear iTiin in creation, sin in the world, weakness in the Church, strength and progress in Antichrist. Is it not natural to ask, Is creation to wear its weeds of sorrow for ever ? Is sin still to mar what was holy and beautiful ? Is the Churcli to be for ever weak, and i\jiticlirist to grow still strong? '' Secret things," you say, '* belong unto the Lord." Trulj^ so; but "things revealed belong to us and our children." If voices come sounding from the future, is it not our duty to listen to them ? If the hand FAITUITL AKD TliVE SAYINGS. 255 of God has di-a^Ti aside a portion of the mystic Tcil that has ciu'tained tilings to come from our view, is it not our privilege to look and learn? If sagacious politicians guess what shall be, and curious crowds receive their conjectiuTs with respect, and often vrith. awe, shall we not accept those ^'faithful and true sayings," significant of things to come, which God has caused to be written for our learning, on v>"hom the ends of the world have come ? AVhat the Lord God of the holy prophets saw it to be for his glory to reveal, the most gifted of his ser- vants must not think it inconsistent with his duty to stud}', or beyond his reach to understand. "Behold, I come quickly," is one of the savings announced in this verse : accumulating ages serve only to charge this word "quicldy" with accumulating interests. '^I come quicldy" has an emphasis to-day which will increase with to-morrow, until it ceases to be prophecy, and is seen actualised in the sight of all mankind. This advent of our Lord is constantly set before us as the great hope of his Church: he shall "come in his own glory;" and again, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in gioiy." "Behold, he Cometh with clouds;" as " a thief in the night," so softly; "as the lightning from the east," so brilliantly; "in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of his Son," so awfully; " to be glorified in his saints, to bo admired in them that believe," so joyfully; and "every eye shall see him, and they that pierced him." But may we not ask, "Wlio mnj abide the day of his coming ? who shall stand when he appeareth ? " "Who? let me ask: Shall the iiifidel? His is not want of light in the head, but want of love in the heart. "He that believeth not is condemned already." Such a one will himself admit, that if these sayings be faithful and true, he caimot stand. Shall the worldling, he who lives for the world, and in, and of the world, to increase his wealth, — who exists as a mere pin or wheel in the "money-power;" — a member of the aristocracy of mammon — the friend of the world, and therefore the enemy of God ? Shall the profligate sinner, 256 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. '' whose god is his belly, whose glory is his shame, who minds earthly things" — whose passion is the "lust of the eye" — whose gloiy is "the pride of life" — whose element is " the lust of the ilesh ? " Such shall not enter into the kingdom of God. Shall the hypocrite ? lie who has stood the scrutiny and earned the plaudits of man- kind— whose form of godliness has had ciuTency on earth as if it were the power — who has had a name to live by and has lived by it though he be dead — he has abeady received his reward. Our Lord has pronounced the woe which he has provoked : " these " shall crj- to the rocks, Hide us," and they shall perish as chaif before the wliiii- wind: "the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous ; for the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous ; but the way of the ungodly shall perish." Is the promise of His coming music to your heart ? Ho the signs and portents of approaching events which cast their shadows before, lead you to lift up your heads under the blessed assurance that "yoiu* redemption di-aweth nigh?" "Blessed is he," it is added, "who keepeth the savings of the prophecy of this book." Such keep them in their memory ; sanctified by the Spirit of God, it becomes the storehouse of Divine truths, the safe- guard of precious sapngs. They keep them also in their hearts. " I have hid thy word in my heart, that I offend not thee." They keep them, too, as a precious treasure, as "apples of gold in network of silver," de- fending them against all who would rob them of that which is to them more precious than gold. These are blessed in their souls. Peace is within them, and hope before them ; and the blessing that maketh rich upon all they touch. They are blessed in theii' trials, for all things work together for good to tlrem; and " theii' light afHictions, Avhich are but for a moment, work out for them a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory ; while they look not at the things which are seen, but at the things whicli are unseen." They are blessed also in their mercies, for God himself has promised, "I will bless thy bread." They are blessed in their labour, FAITHFUL AXD TRUE SAYINGS. 257 i\)r it is promised, '^Tlioii shalt eat of the fiii t of tliy labour." The blessing is on them in time of trouble, for tliey possess their souls in patience, and are kept from , despair. It rests upon them also in the more perilous times of prosperity, for they are kept from presumption and forgetting- God. Deut. xxviii. 1 — 15, is all realised in tlicir experience. '' And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God A\-ill set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And aU these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou -shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face : they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing U]Don thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto : and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveththee. The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasures, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the w^ork of thine hand ; and thou shalt lend imto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail \ and thou shalt be above only, and SECOND SERIES. S 258 ArocALYrxic sketches. thou slialt not be beneath ; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I com- mand thee this day to observe and to do them : and thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I com- mand thee this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. Eut it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord tliy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee." May this be our blessing also ! LECTTJEE XIX. EOMISH "WOESHIP. " And I John saiv all these things, and heard them ; and ivhcn I had heard and seen, I fell down to ivorship before the feet of the angel ivhich showed me these things. Then saiih he unto me. See thou do it not, for I am thij fellow -servant, and of thy brethren the 2)rophets, and of them ivhich keep the sayings of this boohP — Rev. xxii. 8, 9. Tnis angel must have been clothed with unearthly- glory. The beams and coruscations which radiated from him so dazzled and bewildered the seer, that he concluded it was the same being who appeared in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, oui' High Priest and Saviour, and accordingly fell down to worship him. It is evident he did not give the adoration, but it is just as evident that he intended to do so. Some think that this, like many other acts recorded in the Apocalypse, was purely symbolic, and that John personated another on this occa- sion. It may be so. We have an instance of this in Kev. X. 4 : ''I was about to write, and he said unto me, Write them not ;" in which scene, as I have shown in previous lectures, John represented Luther at the era of the lleformation. So in Acts x. 9 — 15, we find Peter used to personate the Jew: ''Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour, and he became very hungiy and would have eaten ; but while they made ready he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet, knit at the four comers, and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creepuig things, and fowls of 260 APOCiLYPTIC SKETCnES. tlie air. And there came a voice to him — llisc, Peter, kill and cat. But Peter said, Not so. Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or nnclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, AVhat God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." But in whatever light "we may regard this scene in the Apoca- lyptic di'ama, we gather this conclusion, that it is un- lawful to give religious worship to saint or angel, or any other creature in heaven or earth, however exalted ; and that the Church of Pome sins grievously, if not fatally, in giving it. The Council of Trent has come to a conclusion opposite to that of Scripture ; for it has decided that '' it is good and useful to invoke in prayer the saints reigning with Christ, and to have recourse to their prayers and aid :" a decision which is repeated in the Creed of Pope Pius IV. and carried out in all its details in the practical worship of the Eoman Catholic communion. If praying to saints or angels he so useful as the Council of Trent alleges, it is, to say the very least, exceedingly strange that the Apostles never discovered it, and that the Old and Kew Testament give nothing like a hint either on the useful- ness, the principle, or the expediency of it. Eoman Catholics however allege that Scripture sanctions this practice. Let us weigh with respect and candour the evidences which they quote. Luke xv. 10, is a favourite appeal, '^ Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." But this does not, surely, prove that angels hear us when we pray : or, if they Imow what is trans- acted upon earth, it does not prove that they acquire Buch knowledge directly by the inherent excellency of their nature. On the contrary, a comprehensive view of the language of our Lord in this beautiful chapter proves the fact to be just the reverse of that winch tlic Pomanist assumes. The shepherd tcJh his friends and neighbours, who are otherwise ignorant, ''Pejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost." The woman "calls her friends and neighbours together, saj^ng," (what was news to them), *' Pejoice with me, for I have EOMisH wonsmp. 261 found the piece -which I had lost." '^Likewise," adds oiir Lord, that is, after the same manner, God tells the angels that a lost sinner is found, and a hardened sinner ro^^enteth; and they, receiving the intelligence, rejoice. Eey. V, 8, is also quoted by Eomish divines, as evidence confirmatoiy of the worship of angels: ''And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four- and- twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odoiu-s, which are the jDrayers of saints." First, Let it be observed, that if these be angels, and if it can be proved that they here offer unto God the prayers of his people upon earth, which they address to God, this would not prove that it is lawful for us to pray to them. It is plainly, however, a vision of the chiu'ch or congregation of the saints in glory, and not of angels ; for angels cannot sing the new song which these li\dng ones are declared to sing, " Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindi'ed, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests ; and we shall reign on the earth." The prayers, in fact, which they offer are their own prayers; they are de- scribed as " the prayers of saints," or, literall 5^ translated, prayers of holy ones, i.e. of themselves, the holy ones before the Lamb. Eev. viii. 3, is another alleged evidence of the lawful- ness of angel worship : ''And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer ; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne." The whole scene, and the imagery witli which it is clothed, proves that this angel was the Angel of the .Covenant, and not a creature. The imagery is that of Christ, the High Priest of his people. The high, priest alone had a golden censer, and this would prove that Christ is the personage here referred to. The high priest alone could officiate at the golden altar, as the angel does here ; and the work assigned him, ^dz., to offer up the praj'er of all saints in heaven and earth, is confessedly such as Omnipotence alone can do. * 262 APOCALYPTIC SKETCnES. In Heb. i. 14, it is -written, ''Arc they not all minis- tering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heii's of salvation ? This proves that angels minister to ns, but does not furnish the least evidence that we ought to pray to them. In Ps. xci. 11, it is ^mtten, '' He shall give his angels charge concerning thee ;" but he who is thus guarded does not pray to the angel, but, on the contrary, is represented in verse 15 as praymg exclusively to God : " lie shall call upon me, and I will deliver him." Gen. xlviii. 15, is quoted as a proof that the Patriarch supplicated an angel : " And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed mc all my life long luito this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads;" but the most ordinary reader must perceive that *'the angel" is simply the expletive of ''the God which fed me ;" and this explanation is contii'medby a reference to Hos. xii. 2 : " The Lord hath a controversy with Judah, and wiU punish Jacob according to his Avays, ac- cording to liis doings Avill he recompense him. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power mth God : yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept and made supplication unto him ; he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with U8, even the Lord God of Hosts, the Lord is his me- morial.''' This proves that the angel was the Angel of the Covenant — Jehovah, the Lord God of the projihets. . Kumb. xxii. 31, is also quoted by the Romish Church as sanctioning the invocation of angels. " And the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing iii the ^^^ay, and his sword drawn in his hand ; and he bowed down his head and fell tiat on his face." If this be an instance of the worship the vindica- tion of which is quoted, Balaam is surely not a happy precedent ! But the truth is, bad as Balaam was, there is no proof here that he worshipped the angel who ap- peared to him ; for bowing and prostrating were acts of (^astern liomnge totally disconnected Avith anything like reli^ous worship. ROMISH woRsnir. 263 Another passage quoted in favour of this worship is Josh. V. 13 : '' And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, he- hold, there stood a man over against him, with his sword drawn in his hand ; and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him. Art thou for us, or for our adversaries ? And he said, N^ay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant ? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. " This was plainly and undeniably religious worship ; but the cii'cumstances in which it was given, prove tliat it was offered, not to a human, but to a Divine being. The Captain of the Lord's host is the same who is else- where called the Captain of om- salvation : the leader of the Israelites — for such this angel was — is declared by the Apostle in 1 Cor. x. 9, to have been Christ : '' Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. ' ' And the peculiar language, " Loose thy shoe from off' thy foot," is the same language which was addressed to Moses from the buining bush, by him who is expressly called Jehovah. IS^ot one, there- fore, of the passages alleged, proves that the worship rendered by the Church of Home to saints and angels has any warrant or precedent in the word of God. The presumptive disproofs of the propriety of the worship of the Church of Eome are as numerous as they are conclusive. One flashes from the face of the decalogue itself : ^' I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Eg}-pt, out of the house of bondage : thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth ; thou shalt not bow do^^ii thyself to them nor serve them." It may be asked how the Eoman Catholic Church continues to escape the force of so decided a prohibition. 264 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. She meets it in her worship by keeping it from the eyes .of the people, and in her popnhir teaching by banishing it from the schools and catechisms of the young. It is also written, Matt. iv. 10, ''Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve ;" on which the Komanist remarks, that only modifies serve, but not iC'orsJup. If so, Satan would have said, Wor- ship God and me, but serve God alone : what Satan re- quired was worship — what the Saviour reprobated in his answer was the worship of any creature, which was what he demanded. If the Pope's explanation of the answer were the right one, Satan might well reply, This is no reason at all for your not worshipping me. In Col. ii. 18, we read, " Let no man beguile you of your reward, in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, inti^uding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fieshly mind: not holding the Head." Thus, under the pretext of hu- mility, was originally introduced, and is still upheld, the worship of angels: a worship which, the Apostle alleges, involves the not holding of the headship of Christ. These last words have been frequently quoted most absurdly to x^rove, that Clnist is the head of visible churches, bishops, or synods, and that these are the members of his body, which transmit his life and his will to the remotest extremes of those ecclesiastical sys- tems to which they profess to belong. But in this passage Christ is represented as the head of the spii^itual church, ''the elect according to grace," and them alone; so much so that each saint, as a living member of the body of Christ, derives life and energy from Christ his glorious head : and so intimate is that union and com- munion, that to interpose angel or saint by way of mediator between the believer and his Lord, is to cut off the connexion that subsists between them, and to plant an obstructing element in tliat channel along which life and holiness and happiness perpetually flow. In Acts x. 25, we have this practice reprobated in the strongest terTus by an Apostle who, as Romanists allege, was the first Pope or bishop of Home : " And as EOMisn woEsnip. 265 Peter was coming- in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up ; I myself also am a man." In Acts xiv. 13, a similar attempt is reprobated by two Apostles in the strongest manner : '' Then the priest of Jupiter which was before their citj^, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacri- fice with the people; which when the Apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of, they rent their clothes and ran in among the people, ciying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things ? We also are men mth like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein." And if we require a prohibition of such worship, sti'ong as language could convey, we have only to refer to the text. The Romanist alleges that John thought the angel was Clmst ; but if he was rebuked for attempting to worship Christ under the appearance of an angel, much more may we suppose would he have been rebuked for worshipping an angel as such. It is also alleged by the champions of angel worship, that this angel refused what was really due to him out of reverence to Christ ; an explanation which implies the absurd supposition that the angel passed a compliment to the Saviour, and repudiated the offer fi'om courtesy, and for no other rea- son. Another explanation has been given, to the effect that the angel refused it from the beloved disciple, but would have accepted it from any other Apostle ; but the reason assigned by the angel is applicable to any and every Apostle. Bellarmine gives the boldest solution of aU, namely, '* If St. John thought him to be an angel, and yet worshipped him, why are we rej)roached for doing what John did ? Do Protestants know better than St. John whether angels are to be worshipped ?" (De Sant. lib. i. c. 14. p. 406.) We answer, John did not worship him : and we too ask a question. Do Pomanists know better, than the angels who expressly forbade it? The last and most summaiy treatment of the text is contained in one of the popular Roman Catholic cate- 266 ArOCALTTTIC SKETCITES. cliisms, where, among reasons assigned for the worship of angels, the words are given, '' I fell do^^vn at his feet to adore before him," and the succeeding words, " See thou do it not," are wholly omitted. AVe cannot but notice, in reverting to this prohibion, that the sin rashly and ignorantly attempted, is t^'ice forbidden in terms of great vehemence, and on the groimd that the loftiest angel is but a fellow-creature -with man, and that the worship of God only, and none besides, is the duty of his rational offspring. In fact, the Eomish worship, as it would be easy to show fi'oni their most popular de- votional works, is plainly the same as that which is reprobated by the Apostle in Eom. i. 21 : '' Because that Avhcn they knew God, they glorified him not as God, and changed the glory of the incoiTuptible God into an image made like to coiTuptible man, and changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than (or, as it should be translated, ' additional to,' the preposition being iraoa) the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." One great safeguard from such anticliristian worship is the free and imrestricted circulation of holy Scrip- ture. Idolatry can never stand in its light : the worship of the creature can have no place where the word of God is well known : nearness to Christ will j)revent anything like undue homage to the creature. It is at a distance from or in the absence of the sun, in deep ravines and sequestered valleys rarely touched by his rays, that rank and noxious vegetation abounds : just in proportion as we retreat from a realising sense of the presence and glory of Deity, do we approximate to an idolatrous Avorship of created beings. From the commencement of Scriptiu'c to its close, prayer is alwaj's assumed to be dii^ect address to God ; as in that beautiful prescription, ''When ye pray, say. Our Father." A right apprehension of God in his paternal rela- tionship to us as our Father in Jesus Christ, and of our pri\*ilegc to approach him as such, would prevent the veiy possibilitj' of saint or angel worship. Wlicn we EOMisn ^YOEsnir. 267 think of God only as a tyrant, we become alarmed, and our tciTor projects a worship that needs the inter- position of creatures to give us any hope of accej)lance. He is not, howerer, a remote and a hostile avenger, but a near and dear Father. Therefore we will arise and go, not to sauit, or angel, or cherubim, but to Him who is better than all the host of heaven, our Father ; and when he sees us even a great way off, he will meet us and embrace us and welcome us home. Eut there is no room for the intervention of angels in our approach to God. Sin made a chasm between a holy heaven and a fallen earth : Christ the living way, — God and man the perfect Mediator, — spans and unites together the oppos- ing sides of that terrible gulf. As God, he reaches the Father, being one with the Father, and can neither admit nor requii^e any one between liim and his Father. As man, he reaches the lowest of our race, is one with man, so that none can interpose between Him and us ; from the depth, therefore, into which sin has precipi- tated us, to the height to which grace may lift us, Ave need none, and can receive none, additional to Him who is all and in all — by whom the guiltiest may go to the Father, and without whom the holiest cannot see liim. Our Saviour is not an imperfect Saviour; he is ''able to save to the uttermost aU that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us." '' Through him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father," and ''boldness to enter into the holiest." He too is the Husband of his church. She is his beloved bride : her application to any other for the blessings she needs, would imply disunion and strife, not sym- pathy and love. Christ, too, has issued his reiterated commands, "Come unto w^," "Ask in my name;" and the Apostle tells us, " We have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry," not "Ave ]\Iaria," but "Abba, Father." The appearance of the sun puts out the stars : the presence of the queen in the audience chamber arrests all eyes. " A\Tieuever two or three are met iu my name, there am I in the midst of them." He 268 apoCaltptic sketches. is not absent ; why seek to others ? He is not distant ; why beg the introduction of others ? How can any one angel hear ten thousand times ten thousand Roman Catholics, as in the Missal, confessing at the same hoiu:, " I confess to blessed Mary, and to Michael the ai^h- angel ?" How can they be sure that Michael is not en- gaged in some absorbing ministry, or that Mary is not employed is worshipping before the throne ? or, if per- fectly disengaged, how can one creature, however exalted, attend to the many wants of many men in many places of the world ? But such worship is below the dignity of man, fallen and sinful as he is. He has none but God above him, and none but God is worthy of the worship of his heart. AMien we give religious honour to an angel or a saint, we advance the creature we worship above his proper level, and debase ourselves below ours. Contact with the creature lowers ; communion with God ennobles. Let us not live in candlelight, if we have access to sun- shine. The greatest perfection of religion is nearness to God; and the greatest barrier to the enjojanent of it is the acceptance of a creature in his room. "Lord, to whom can we go but unto thee r " Thou hast the words of everlasting life." " There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved." " I am the way, the truth, and the life : no man cometh to the Father but by me." I cannot accept the broken cistern, while I am bidden to the fountain; I cannot take the twinkling taper, while the Sun of llighteousness shines in the firmament. Saints and angels must all take their stand at the bottom of the mount, while, like Abraham and Mos(^s, I go up and commune witli God alone. Like the ascending eagle, I must rivet my eye on no other luminary than the sun. HaA'ing tlius sliown the imscriptural nature of any worshi}) rendered to angels or saints, or any created being, I now proceed to show — First, the object of true worship. Second, the nature of the worship. Third, the place of worship. And lastly, the times of worship. The object of worship is God the Father, Son, and Holy Gliost. There is, however, a strong tendency in all EOMisH woEsmp. 269 our minds to give shape to Deity, and to seek, or con- ceive, or make, a visible and tangible form in which to adore him. We are prone to feel, as if to pray to the unseen God is to pray to nothing — as if in an exhausted receiver, in which we could neither breathe, nor spread the wing, nor soar. So felt the Indiim when he said, ''How shall I serve God without an image? Wliere shall I put the flowers? Where shall I burn the in- cense?" The difference we are to make is between an idea, and a conception of God. I .have an idea of elec- tricity, but I have no conception of it as a shape. Thus I can form an idea of God, but I cannot and may not cherish a conception of liim. In the language of the Confession of Faith, " There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection ; a most pure spirit, in^^isible, without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most "v\dse, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the coimsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory : most losing, gracious, merciful, long-saffcring, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin ; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and withal most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty." But it may be asked. Is not God manifest in the flesh ? Tmly so, but not to the eye, but to the mind ; not to the sight, but to faith ; in the Bible, not in the world. Gather into one focus all the scattered rays of the Son of God as these shine in the sacred page, and j-ou will find a height and depth, a breadth and length, embracing the immense, and stretching into the everlasting, which the pen of in- spiration, not the pencil of man, could pourtray. Moses makes a stroke, Malachi narrates a fact, Isaiah predicts a feature, the Baptist describes a condition ; John declares his Deity in the Apocalypse, and his humanity in the Gospel ; and it is the combination and concentration of all, that constitute the Christ. Hence, supposing pic- tures of tlie Saviour, such as those of Rubens at Ant- werp, and Vandyck at Malincs, and other acknowledged 270 ArOCALlTIC SKETCHES. masterpieces, to be perfectly consistent with the Second Commandment, they are all gi'icYons failures and ble- mishes, in my view. They are embodiments of human suffering, but not portraits of Christ ; they ai^e conjec- tural fragments of agonised humanity, not authentic exhibitions of the Savioiu' of sinners. They paint one crucified, but so were the thicyes — they paint outward suiferings, but not his inward agony — the accursed tree, but not the curse of the law — Christ bearing a cross, but not the sins of the world. As an ear, a lip, an eye, even when accurate, are not pictures of me, so these portraits of Christ, even if pictorially true, are but fragments ; the inner, not the outer man, is the Christ of God. His greatest sufferings were invisible, his greatest agony was ATithin. God manifest in soul and body and spiiit is my Lord; and his Spirit alone has faithfully pourtrayed him. But the great number of pretended pictures of the Saviour are so bad, that one feels rising within him all the iconoclastic passions of John Knox, when doomed to look at them ; and when once a church has given way by admitting such portraits in its interior, holy coats, and crowns of thorn, and true wood of the cross, and nails, and reeds, and holy sponges, follow in succession ; and, instead of nourishing devotion, we shall only increase the profits of vendors of old stores ; and a crucifix will soon attract the glory of the cross — sense will take the iiilace of faith, and a sensuous and superstitious worship will bo stdjstituted for true devotion, and a men^trieious drapery for th(! beauty of holiness. Let spiritual Avorship be our ascending incense, a holy life our sacn^d vestment, and sincerity and candoi^ir the golden mitre on our brow. The ol)ject of our worship is tlie Omnipresent, the Unseen, the rather who speaks to us by his Son. "Where is he ? It may rather be asked, Wliore is he not? "0 Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising : thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou comjiasseth my path, and my lying down, and art acfpiaintcd A^'ith all my ways ; for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, 0 Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Tliou hast beset me behind # KOMISH WOIISHIP. 271 and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such know- ledge is too wonderful for me ; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go fi^om thy Spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there : if I make my bed in hell, be- hold, thou art there. If I take the AA'ings of the morn- ing, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ; even there shall thy hand lead me, ancl thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me : even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the dark- ness hideth not from thee ; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." Ps. cxxxix. is an imperfect exhibition of His Omnipre- sence ; he is in the flowers of summer and the fi-uits of autumn", in the snows of winter, in our joys and our griefs, our foils and victories, in the highways of the universe, and in the hidden by-paths of individual expe- rience, covering creation with new glories, and renewing its tints on the petal of the minutest flower. He is neither the philosopher's idol, sculptured by intellect, nor the artist's sentimental leau ideal, nor the Stoic's granite god, nor the Epicui^an's sensuous idol, nor the llomanist's lladonna ; but oiu" God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being ; to know whom in Christ Jesus is to have everlasting life. With respect to the nature of the worship, we observe that in the JS'cw Testament there is prescribed no abso- '}ute form universally binding on true worshippers. The nearest approach to such prescription is the Lord's prayer ; yet in Matt. \i. 9, and in Luke xi. 2, the intro- duction to it is varied by Him that taught it : in the former it is written, " Alter this manner pray ye:" in the latter it is written, " "When ye pray, say." In one of the earliest Christian writers, Justin Martyr, who died A.D. 165, extemporaneous prayer seems to Ido re- fen^ed to as the then nature, and the shape of public Chi'istian worsliip. He says, '' The presiding minister off'ers up prayer and thanksgiving, ocr>7 ^vvajiiQ avT(^, i.e. as well as he was able, or, as explained by Tcr- tullian, ex ^roj^rio ingenio. In the third, fourth, and 272 APOCALTTTIC SKETCHES. #- fifth centuries, the Lord's Prayer was universally used as part of the public worship of the Church ; and, as far as we can collect, the only fixed and stated cxin-essions that were used in public worship, from the very earliest period of the Christian era, were Hosanna, Halleluiah, Kvpie eXeaaov, GloriaDeo in excclsis. Pax vobiscum, and Amen. This last word, according to Justin Martyr, was pronounced by the whole congregation at the close of the minister's extemporaneous prayer. In the praises of the Chiu'ch, the Psalms exclusively were used in the first three centuries, and these were chanted. Chanting, I may add, is the adaptation of man's music to God's word ; whereas singing from a metrical version is the adaptation of God's word to man's music. The pre- ponderance of the Psalms, and the partial use of suitable devotional h^mms, would seem to be the most reasonable usage. Organs or instruments of music in the public worship of God were not introduced till nine centuries after the bii'th of Clirist ; and if you were to read the fer\dd protests made by the monks against theii- intro- duction, you woidd suppose you were listening to fierce Puritans or excited Covenanters. At praise, the early Christians always stood ; at prayer, they stood on Sun- days, and knelt on other days. And here I may sug- gest a primitive practice for the special benefit of the Tractarian di\ines, who seem to have overlooked it; namely, that the hearers were in the habit of testifj-ing their approbation of the preacher's sentiment by accla- mation and stamping of their feet. During Chrysostom's delivery of liis liomilies in the foiu'th century, the audience tossed up their plumes and shouted, " Well done !" Pomp and splendour seem foreign to the genius of the Christian worship. These tend to darken and diminish tlie real ])eauty of evangelical worship, whicli, like that of the Church itself, should be witliin, and not without. God looks at the heart rather than the ceremony ; he accepts the worsliipper before he will receive the wor- ship : the most fragrant incense may conceal a carnal heart, and the most splendid temple may be but a mausoleum of the dead, and the richest outward orna- * EOMISH WOESIIIP. 273 ment may be only tlic embroidery of tlie sbroud. "WTien such ornament is carried, to excess, tbe worshipper fcomes to be more delighted with the form than with the substance, and to look at the worship instead of Him worshipped. The ancient worship that was ac- cepted in the temple of old was from an altar of unhewn stone. The great requirement of worship is, *' in spirit and in truth." God permits us to bow the knee, or to lift the eye, or to adopt a form, but he insists on '' in spirit and truth." He says, ^'My son, give me" — not tlune eye, thy knee, but — 'Hhy heart." "Worship is not a performance for a man to be charmed with, or the eye and ear to admire, but the expression of deep wants, the cry of broken hearts, the adoration of humble spiiits. Toothing in the language of prayer should attract attention to it ; there should be nothing in the music to make it take the place of the praise. Music may be carried as a clotliing of devotion to the highest pitch : painting and poetry are intended to produce im- pression on the mind from without ; music is designed to be the expression of the feelings of the overloaded heart from within. This, however, must be our regu- lating recollection in all our worship — viz. ''in truth." It must not be offered for parade, or ostentation, or eclat ; nor to oblige God, or merit favoiu's at his hand : but in truth, and from deep feeling, inspii'cd by the Spirit, and presented through the Saviour, and accepted of the Father. Let us now look at the place of worship. It ought, say' the Romanists, to have a roof at the right angle, a crncilix on the altar, and the bones of some saint beneath it. In the Tablet newspaper there was inserted an advertisement, the other day, from one who has dis- covered tlie skidl of Thomas a Becket, for a reliquarry of gold in which to deposit it. How much wiser the Pope seems to be than God ! Of Moses it is written, God buried him, and ** no man knoweth of his sepulchre to this day." The Pope would have placed his remains in a consecrated urn, as they wish to do with the pseudo- SECOND SERIES. T 274 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. skull of the refractoiy Thomas of Canterbury. A human skull without brains is a meet type of the system which sets such value on it. The earliest name given to the place of public worship was KvpiaKov. The early Chi'istians boasted they had neither temple nor altar, and therefore refused to apply the word vaog to the place of Chi'istian worship. Their place of meeting was often an ujDper room, a crypt, a catacomb, or desert. As their temples grew in splendour, their worship decreased in purity ; till we come to the eleventh and twelfth cen- turies, when the noblest cathedi-als of England were built, and the sacerdotal despotism of Hildebrand, the fierce fanaticism of the Crusades, and a cruel midnight superstition, stained the whole of Europe. In very early centuries, the communion table and the pulpit were placed in the East, — some think, in contrast to the Jewish temple, whose holy of holies was in the west. A place of Christian worship ought to be chaste, beau- tiful and fairly proportioned ; but let the idea of God's presence, not the magnificence of the decorations, be depended on for impression. If I want to feel the most overpowering religious impression from aught beneath and short of God, let me gaze on that high roof, the stany sky, or kneel on some rock while the tempest roars among the hills, and the thunder echoes, and the lightning Avrites God's glory on the concave of the sky. 80 shall I worship in God's own -cathedral, and with God's own ritual. The noblest temple is built up of living stones. The holiest place on this side of God's throne, is where two or three are met together in the name of Jesus. There is no spot in the universe where God hears not the voice of the humble, be it the pub- lican's first cry, or the penitent's only prayer, or the crimuial's last breath ; in the deepest mine or sub- teiTanean cave, or silent crypt, God hears his sons; on on the alpine-pcak, on the sea-shore, in the desert, in the silent glen, in height and in depth, there is con- secrated ground if there be the true worshij)per. The voice of Shadrach, Mcschach, and Abcdncgo, rose from the fiery fui-nacc, imd entered the ears of the Lord of ROMISH woEsnip. 275 hosts. The cry of conscious want soars faster than angels can flj', and higher than archangel can soar. The still small voice of true devotion from the chancel of a holy heart is heard in heaven, more distinctly than the crash of the avalanche or the voice of the seven thunders. The times of worship it is unnecessary to enlarge on. The Sabbath was long the only, and has always been the chief day, for the exercises of devotion and the Christian instruction of the people. In conclusion, worship is not a form, or extem- poraneous prayer — it is not a litiu'gy, nor the want of one — nor standing, nor kneeling — nor cathedral, nor church, nor chapel. And he is destitute of taste who does not admire the cathedi^al, but he is destitute of Christianity who thinks there is no worship out of it. IS^or is it of Gerizzim, nor Calvary, nor Zion ; it is the worship of the only God, in the Spii'it, and through Christ. Let us have no creed but truth, no service but love ; let God be seen and felt, within us and by us ; let him be the iUpha and the Omega of oui* life ; to him let us give the undivided homage of the soul ; and having worshipped imperfectly below, we shall be admitted to worship perfectly and perpetually above. LECTUEE XX. APOC-iLTPTIC SATrSTGS. " And lie saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of tlie prO' pliecy of this hooh : for the time is at hand." — Hey. xxii. 10.. The coimuand, " Seal not," is equivalent to, rroclaim — as of instant and extraordinary importance, as entitled to special and universal attention, on all occasions and to all men. The solemn issues in which these sajings shall terminate, and as they are appended here, arc alone evidence of the duty of publishing abroad, pressing home, and attentively pondering, the sayings of this book. These " saj^iigs," unlike those of man, are of so precious a description, and so replete with practical dii'ection, en- coiu-agement, warning, that it becomes more and more the duty, as it will be the joy of the minister of Christ, to unfold and enforce them as the time draws nigh. The cross of Christ, the consolations of the Gospel, the great- ness of a Savioiu-'s love, the fulness of his gracious pro- mises, the duties of the living, the blessedness of the dead, the responsibility of nations, the nearness of the judgment, and the dawn of the approaching sun, ai-e the substance, and the burden, and the sweet music to man's heart, of manj^ of the sayings of this book. We are called upon not to seal, but boldly to proclaim these sayings, as far as they relate to- us as a nation. God speaks to nations, and they must listen. Britain was " the tenth part of the city," or tliat one of the ten kingdoms, whicli ''fell," i. e. separated from the Papacy at the lleformation. This Hilling was its rise. AYe do not applaud the morality of the great persons, or the APOCALYPTIC SAYINGS. 277 purity of their designs, by whose indirect and under- signed instrumentality this glorious result was preci- pitated. The licentious purposes of Henry YIII. and his quarrels with the reigning pontiff, not certainly on the score of evangelical religion, were not sanctioned, any more than the sanguinary proscription of Mary; but overruled by the providence of God to the elevation of Britain as the Pharos of Europe, the grand national wit- ness for Christ, the central missionary of the whole earth. Her retaining this position has been, and will be, her safety and her duty. Her glory has brightened as her j)rotest has become pure ; and her separation from the Apostasy has been felt in her experience, and proved in her imii vailed annals, to be separation from misfortune, degradation, and decay. But, alas ! one cannot but notice the accumulating signs of approaching surrender of this high and holy position. Good and patriotic men, pained at the calamities of Ireland, and believing that quiet and order are to be secui^ed only through the medium of the priesthood of the vast majority of that people, and by seeming the goodwill of the sovereign pontiff, propose to grant endowments for the one, and to open up diplomatic intercoiu^se with ^e other. Step by step we have been verging to this crowning sin diu'ing many years that are past ; and though each step has plunged us into more terrible disasters, yet is the infatuated policy still pur- sued, of attempting to propitiate, by partial concessions, a system whose whole historj^ proves it incapable of satis- faction, till absolute supremacy ,has been secured for its ambitious hierarchy. Each precedent has cried to us at the beginning of the next. Do it not — the very next year has witnessed it done with greater daring. It is our duty to tolerate, but not to endow and thus nationally recog- nise, the iintichristian System. If we shall establish the Papal Church, against which God has spoken so much in his word, in any portion of these realms, or by anj grant from our property, we shall then have left our position of strength and safety made good at the glorious Eeforma- tion, and have partaken of the sins, and so begun to receive of the plagues, that are in store for Babylon. 278 ArOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. And I believe, that as soon as wc shall have identified oiu'selyes as a nation with the mystery of iniquity, the shield over us will be withdi^awn, and we shall be sucked into the revolutionary vortex, and share in the ruin with which the ploughshare tears up the continent of Europe. One only wonders that sagacious statesmen, who may not be able to see sacrifice of principle in the endowment of the Papacy, do not foresee how certain of failure such policy must be, and thus how inexpedient the measure is. Eome will be satisfied with nothing short of supremacy, — she docs not disguise it. She takes every inch that is given her as an instalment ; and every new position which our latitudinarianism or hollow expediency yields her, she turns into a platform on which she stands more pro- minently, and thunders with greater plausibility for yet greater concessions. Her conduct is perfectly consistent with her character ; and her policy has been as wise, or rather subtle, as it has been, unhappily, successful. The Pope claims to be above Queen Victoria ; the tiara never yet suffered itself to be merged in the shadow of the mightiest crown. Papal bulls will attempt again to do what they have done before — supersede the laws of Britain, and a Camaiilla of Cardinals ^tate statutes to the Parliament of our country. These sayings are also fraught with insti'uction to the Church as well as to the country. If the Church liad maintained its pimty, and done its duty, our country had now been placed in a fixr nobler and more imposing atti- tude. Put in the Cliurch of England the Tractarian party have surrendered every inch of ground on which we could successfully do battle with Pome. They have done more to give predirje and popularity to the Pomish Apos- tasy during the last ten years, than all the political enactments of Parliament. They have betrayed the citadel, corrupted the faith, and poisoned the springs and streams of the spiritual well-being of thousands ; and instead of being excommunicated, as they ouglit to have been, they luive been complimented, flattered, and conciliated, till they stood upon the very verge of ascen- dancy. I blame the Cliiu'ch more than tlic State — and ArOCALYPTIC SAYINGS. 279 the ecclesiastical rulers for more than our senators — for the humbled position which we now occupy, and the sad prospects that are too plainly before us, with reference to the future condition of Popery in Ireland. One cannot fail to see also the progress and growth of a tendency, both in England and Scotland, to identify the claims of the ti^ue and spiiitual Chm^h with those of the visible ecclesiastical corporation to which that name is usually given. Christ is not the head of any one visible Church, or of the whole visible Chuix-h, in the sense in which he is the head of his body, the Church of the first- born. Yet upon this confusion of things perfectly dis- tinct, by good and able men under temporary delusion, conti^oversies have been kindled, separations created, and occasionally excommunications fulminated worthy of the times of Hildebrand himself. Wherever this confusion prevails, it is only the piety of the individuals, not cer- tainly the principles they avow which restrains them from developing their Chiu'ch into an Apostasy. These '' sayings" are also addressed to Romanists and Tractarians, of every shade and shape. '' If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall di'ink of the wine of the wrath of God, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, and the smoke of their tonnent asccndeth up for ever." '' Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plag-ues : for her sins have reached unto heaven." This cry has peculiar emphasis now; it is emphatically the warning cry of the age. It is thim- dered in oiu' ears fi'om every nation on the continent of Europe. It is the saying we do well to hear. ISIay God grant that eveiy one that listens to it may hear it, and act upon it. These sayings in the Apocalypse are addi^essed to indi- viduals also ; to you — to me — to us all. Are we sealed by the Spirit of God ? Can we say, " Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood?" Are we clothed with white robes? have we washed them and made them white in the blood of the Lamb ? Have we 280 ArOCALTPTIC SKETCHES. been taught the new song? Are vre redeemed from among men, being the fii\st fruits unto God and to the Lamb ? Do we follow the Lamb whithersoeYer he goeth ? Do we fear God, and give glory to him ? Shall we be among the dead who die in the Lord, and who rest from theu' labours ? Are we the sons of God, and do we know that when He shall appear we shall be like him ? Do we look for his appearing ? Have we the wedding garment ? Are we among those who are persuaded of the promises, and have embraced them; and confessed that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, desiring a better country, that is, an heayenly ? " The time," it is added, " is at hand." What time ? The time of the judgments so often predicted in the word of God as the characteristics of the last day; when " there shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." If the storm show itself in the distance, and the first mutterings of the thunder are audible, it is a warning to seek shelter. The sounds of the coming storm are echoed from every capital of Europe, and abeady intimate to us the instant necessity of escaping for safety to the only asylum, the Lord Jesus Christ. Under the shadow of that great Hock, and amid the secuiities of that everlasting Eefuge, we may hide our- selves till the judgment be overpast. "V^'lioever grasps the horns of that altar, and none else, shall never be mov^. Nothing that can come shall separate such an one from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. The time of separation is at hand. Parties are be- coming more sharp in their outline, as well as more decided in their action. Christ's true followers ai^e emerging into greater light, and the adherents of Antichrist are growing more bold and scornful. The world is getting ready for its doom and the church for her gloiy. Who is on the Lord's side ? sounds from the sky ;' and the response is echoed from every quarter of the earth. Each soldier is falling into his rank ; each battalion is taking up its position ; each principle is putting forth its polarity ; and all the stir and agita- APOCALTrXIC SAYINGS. 281 tion of the oarth is only tlic rai^id preparation for the crisis that comes with increasing speed npon mankind. The time of trial is at hand ; testing times jolainly draw near. The eve of the last conflict will try every man's principles : wealth, preferment, and raiJ^:, will probably be ofl'ered to compromise ; poverty, contempt, and neglect, may once more be the lot of the people of God. Ships that have long moved majestically, with sti-eaming pennants, will foimder in the storm, — much that has been received as precious will be discovered to be vile ; much worthless cuiTcncy will be exposed, and perish like di'oss in the crucible ; but yet the fine gold will come out brighter and more resplendent with the reflected image of Him whose superscription is stamped upon it. _ ^ _ " The time of great and pernicious delusions is at hand. Lo here ! and, Lo there ! will be sounded again in the streets of every city. Kew and plausible systems of theology wiU be eloquently ]3ressed on the accept- ance of Mankind. Great eternal truths will be diluted or explained away. Indifference will be called large- ness of heart ; latitudinarianism will be popular under the name of Cliristian liberality. Hatred to the great Apostasy will be branded as fierceness ; and attachment to Protestant truth will be denounced as bigotiy. Com- promise will be called charity, and concession true pru- dence. Even now it is attempted to show that the Church of Eome is not the countei-jDart of the Anti- chiistian Apostasy so frequently and fully pourtrayed in the Scriptures ; and under the shelter of this protection, extended to her from a quarter whence it was least to be expected, that gigantic conspiracy against the rights and privileges of man and the glory of God puts forth her claims at the present moment Avith imparallcled au- dacity, and multiplies her cathedrals, chui^ches, and chapels, with a liberalitj^ that seems to have no limits. The time of disorganisation is at hand, prosecuted under the pretext of a new and purer organisation. The vessel of human society creaks and strains in the tempest. Its bolts and joints are torn asunder, its 282 ArOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. cohesion gives way, each fragnieiit becomes more and more isolated ; we , are unqnestionably amid the rapids, and there is only one pilot that can guide us to a haven — the King of glory. The time of wars and rumours of wars is at hand. "What has been the history of the last nine months .^ "WTiat, at this moment, arc thv; prospects of Paris, of Yienna, of Berlin ? "Wliy do the old casements of the world rattle so audibly ? — why do the gates of palaces creak upon their hinges ? — why does confusion fall so frequently on councillors and statesmen ? It is the forethro-\\Ti waves of the ncaring storm, — it is the sound of approaching footsteps; it is the voice, ''Once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven." It is the cry, " The time is at hand !" The aberration in the system reveals the approach of a new star, and that the Bright and Morning Star. "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain : let aU the inhabitants of the land tremble : for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand ; a day of dark- ness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains." Joel ii. 1, 2. '' The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord : the mightj' man shall cry there bittcrty. That flay is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and dis- tress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of dark- ness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord." Zcph. i. 14 — 17. " Immcdiatclj^ after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken : and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall sec the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Matt. xxiv. 29. "For your- APOCALTrXIC SAY.TXGS. 283 solves Imow perfectly that the day of the Lord so Cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety ; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." 1 Thess. v. 2, 3. "And to you who are troubled, rest T,\ith us ; when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that "know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2. Thess. i. 7. Awful eclipse! the night of nature, the cloud of darlmcss, that shall disclose, on its breaking, unearthly splendour. This, too, wiU be the time of the restoration of Israel. They will hear from the heavens the summons of their great Deliverer, " Strike your tents and march home- ward." The empty channel of the Euphi^ates will be their pathway, and resuscitated Jerusalem their resting- place. '' Seal not," then, but enunciate with greater energy and boldness, " the sayings of this book." Urge on every man not to shut his eyes to adamantine facts, to nearing immortality, to awful responsibilities. Unveil the Apocalj^tic porti'ait of Antichrist : warn the nations of theii' peril, the Church of her duty, all men of their transgressions. Eeiterate and repeat what the real Church is ; not an earthly sect, but a heavenly society; not an ecclesiastical corporation, but the body of Christ; not a synod of contentious divines, but a company of redeemed saints. Above all, seal not the sayings that relate to Jesus as the refuge of sinners, the hope of saints ; " Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world;" "Look unto Jesus;" "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Let your anchorage- ground be under the shelter of the Eock of ages ; set yoiu' affections upon things that are above. Watch! the time is at hand ! lECTiniE XXI. THE ETEENITY OP SPZRITTJAL CHAEACTEE. '* He that is unjust, let liim he unjust still : and he which is jiltliy, let him lefUhy still : and he that is righteous j let him he righteous still : and he that is holy, let him he holy still." — -Eev. xxii. 11. Tavo great classes are here recognised as standing on tlie threshold of the age to come ; and these alone. There is no mention of any intennediate class beheld by the seer, or hinted even most remotely in the sacred narrativoi The whole poxDiilation of the earth is, there and then, divided into two great classes — disguised and intermingled frequently on earth, but separate and perfectly distinct before -the Lord. The featui'es, too, by which they are characterised, are purely moral and spiiitual. 'No con- ventional distinction survives the grave, or rises either with the first or the last resurrection. There is no men- tion here of rich and poor, of noble and commoner, of king and subject; for these, which are the glittering and tinsel distinctions of the age that now is, have perished from existence, as earthly, temporary, artificial. jN"or is there any recognition of denominational peculiarity on the millennial jjlatform. One would suppose, from read- ing what is here narrated, that Episcopacy, Presbytery, Independency, Apostolical Succession, Erastianism, and Non-intrusion, had never occiuTcd in the language, or entered into the minds, of any portion of the human family. Kot a hint is there given of the existence of sect or system : like thin clouds these petty things arc dissolved — like dew drops shed down in the coldness of the night, they have evaporated before the first raj' of tlio THE ETERNITY OF SPIEITUAL CUAEACTEE. 285 rising Siin of Righteonsness. Moral and spiritual ele- ments alone — these only are weighty, and will endure for ever. Let us then examine the epithets that are here given, and the fixity of them in the world to come. "Unjust," docs not mean simply dishonourable conduct in the dealings of the world, nor deliberate purpose not to pay every one his due, nor merely stealing, robbing, and housebreaking: these are crimes of which human laws take cognizance, and which are branded as hateful in the sight of mankind. The highest injustice is that which is committed against the Most High. It is injus- tice to refuse what he demands ; to fail or falter in loving God with aU the heart ; to refuse to respond to his com- mand, " Give me thy heart ;" or to withhold from him, for one moment, one atom of the honour and worship that are eternally his due. Thus you may give every one on earth what you owe him, and emerge triumphantly from every investigation, and gather edat, and your name b*e pronounced witli eulogy from every class of society, and yet all the while be imjust, criminally unjust, to the highest Creditor, to whom you owe, not fifty, but five himdrcd pence. — The next class is described by the epi- thet "filthy," than which no word can be more expres- sive of a hateful state before God. Thus it occurs in Job XV. 14 — 16: "AVliatis man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous ? Eehold, he putteth no ti^ust in his saints ; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, which diinketh iniquity like water?" In Ps. xiv. 3, in that passage quoted by the Apostle, it is said of mankind, " They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy." Thus, too. Lot vexed his righteous soul with the filthy conversation of the wicked. Thus, too, the Apostle says, " Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthincss of the flesh and spuit." This is one of those harmonics between the moral and material worlds, which, because of the insen- sibility of our minds, we are at present barely able to detect. AVere oiu' spiiitual eye clear with light, we should see in sin all the repulsiveness and oftencc which 286 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. the natural eye sees in tlie most polluted things of tlie world: yet, conversation and allusions, too justly entitled to this epithet, are tolerated by many, and are the delight of coarse and unsanctified minds. Strange it is, also, a man whose language and life are essentially '' filthy," who has ruined unsuspecting innocence, and polluted domestic vii^tue, pretends to be, and is even held to be, a ** man of honour." Tell him of the wi'ongs he has done, and the miserable fool will glory in them. Say some- thing which he calls reflecting on his honour, and he will challenge you to fight a duel. The decision of the future is the fixture and per]3etuity of the tastes and the passions, and impure sympathies and desires, that have been generated in the present. Let the unjust and the filthy, be unjust and filthy still. Let the passions kindled in time, biu'n and blaze for ever. Let the habits of the present life, in which they sought their satisfaction, be the spiings of the miseries which shall torment them for ever. Whatever be the material ele- ments of the future misery of the lost — and these we neither deny nor dispute — it must still be obvious that the main agony is a moral one ; that the nature which is stung and wounded, is the soul ; that the scourges of it are scorpion passions — which, created here, will be con- tinued there, and with increased intensity and fury ; and, having no objects wherewith to satiate them, their ex- plosions, and collisions, and pining after rest, will be the constant facts and the terrible torments of the lost. That remorse which you feel at intervals, gnawing the heart as you recollect some great sin — that revenge, that wrath, that hatred, which some of you feel — that fierce lust — that burning shame — that sense of rejected mercy and forfeited liappiness, which are occasionally expe- rienced now — shall be then felt in all their bitterness ; and the subjects of tliese terrific passions, throAvn together with no mitigating infiiience amidst tliem, and no rcstram- ing law over tliom, will kindle and keep up a hell, whose agony is feebly described by the fire which is not quenched, and by the av' orm which dietli not. Thus, the seeds of hell arc sown now. As we sow so shall we THE ETEIilsITY OF sriMTUAL CnARACTEll. 287 reap. There is an eternal echo to every e\il action ; and conscience, like a whispering gallery, will send it back multiplied for ever in crashes of thunder, in reverbera- tions of remorse, and righteous retribution. The most silent sin you perpetrate in secrecy now, will make itself heard hereafter. Each parting sin gives up a ghost which will haunt you for ever. The state of the lost is just the reproduction for ever of the state of sinners now. The fire which burns perpetually is kindled here. The worm that gnaws and never dies, is quickened here. Hell is not a creature of God ; it is that dead and deep, and ever-moaning sea of ill, which is fed by rills of evil from individual souls that have their origin and impulse in time. The desires that will never be sated nor cease their frenzy, are nourished and fed here. The drunkard, the voluptuary, the unclean, the imjust, the filthy, feel now in their individual bosoms the presages and the pre- parations of that di-eariness of soul, that dismal sense of woe, that weight of wrath, which will He upon them a cold and leaden weight for ever. That sin which delights the senses now, is a seed of future agony and remorse, which the stir and amusements of the world will fail to hide for ever. Just as solitary confinement is the most tenible punishment, and the reign of terror the result of the destruction of law ; so in the realms of ruin, there will be no curb, nor palliative, nor coimteracting element, but each will feel the concentrated essence of solitude and the surrounding miseiy of spirits like liis own. AYe pass over, right gladly, to the obverse of the pic- ture, or the description of the '' righteous " that are to be righteous still, and the '' holy" that are to be holy still. There is a twofold righteousness to be possessed by man, and both descending from above ; A^iz. imputed and im- parted, external and internal : the fii'st the act of Christ ; the second the work of the Spirit : the one our perfect title, and the other its accompanying fitness. These two great doctrinal truths are never separated in the practical experience of the people of God. They are twin gi\aces. God has formed, and man may not sever them. There never occurs an instance, in our experience in the church, 288 APOOAXTPTTC SKETCHES. of a justified man, wlio is not also more or less, though always progressively so, sanctified. God never justifies any whom he does not sanctify through the truth, and by the Spirit of truth. He never enfranchises any whom He docs not qualify for the city of God. The one is the inseparable companion of the other, and the twain are incapable of dislocation. So truly is this the fact, that we are taught to believe that sanctiiication of the heart and nature is the truest and most unequivocal proof of the prior existence of justification also. The change of cha- racter alw^ays follows a change of state. He whose posi- tion is altered by Christ Jesus, in relation to God, feels also his nature, and sympathies, and feelings, altered by the Holy Spiiit of God. ^* Through the obedience of one, many are made righteous," is the description of justification. "The Lord our righteousness," is that alone in w^hich we can stand or appear before God. By this alone our state is changed. The other epithet, '' Holy," which describes a cha- racter, is the special inspii\ation and creation of the Holy Spirit of God. "We are His w^orkmanship, created unto good works." " He works within us to will and do of his good pleasure." "Without holiness none shall see the Lord." This noble element is the air, the light, the beauty of the child of God. His taste, his principles, his sjmipathies, are all upon its side. His song is, " Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of hosts." It is not outward appearance, but inward purity. It is not cleaning the outside, and leaving the inside untouched. It is not the adjusting of the robe, but the regeneration of the heart. The future state will be the impress of power stamped upon this ; and superadded to that im- press there w^ll be the impulse of endless development, expansion, progress ; and at each stage of this develop- ment will be tasted the richest joys of the saved. In holy character, I believe, are mines of precious wealth, springs of refreshment, elements of }oj, out of which holy and happy men are built up for ever. So truly is this the case, that no material beauty, or wealth, or outwtu'd cuTumstunces, can constitute happiness now, THE ETEJiNITY OL' Si'ilUTUAL CUAllACTEii. 289 if' there be within the possessor, disquiet, cnvj, malice, avarice, and ill-will. On the other hand let there be a cold climate, and an ungenial soil, and no hostile feel- ings, or jealous competitorshij), or envious emotions — but love in all hearts, and worship, and peace, — and there, in spite of every undesu^able physical element, there will prevail substantial happiness and joy. I can conceive a millennium without sunshine, or clusters of flowers, or walls of jasper, or floors of emerald, or foun- tains of water, or palms, or ever- sounding harmonies ; but I cannot conceive the very possibility of a millen- nium without holiness, and goodness, .and purity, and truth, and Christ in the midst, the living fountain of them all. The first may be, and I believe will be. The last must be. Spiritual and moral excellence can erect a paradise in the Sahara : whereas moral turpitude would exhale a very pandemonium in '^Ai'aby the blest.'; Holiness is not a mere preparation for heaven — it is heaven — it is of the essence of salvation — it is hap- piness— it is joy. How unfounded is the charge we sometimes hear adduced against the distinctive and blessed doctrine of justification by faith alone in the righteousness of Christ, that it leads to immortality ! The word of God, and every faithful expounder of it, insist as strongly on fitness for the presence of God, as on a title to the rewards of glory. Forgiveness of sin, through the shed blood and perfect sacrifice of the Son of Man, is not a substitute for holiness, but the removal of an obstruction to its growth, development, and pro- gress. We insist on holin«ss of natiu-e, not simply as evidence of faith, but as the essence of the happiness into which believers will be admitted. The unsanctified are not in the number of the justified. The new state into which reconciliation brings us is the birth-place of a new heart. Forgiven much, we love much ; for love is the fulfilling of the law — the genn of holiness — the nutriment of it — the spring of its highest attainments. We have an ear open to all the commands of God ; and the higliest requirements fall gently on the heart of him SECOND SERIES. U 290 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. ■who has been taught to love God as his great benefactor, his reconciled Father. How intimate is the connexion thai subsists between time and eternity ! The one is the efflorescence of the other. Time is the twilight of an everlasting noon to come, or of an eyerlasting night to fall. As the one is, the other will be. Influences which are received every- day by all of us, gentle in theu' approach, but mighty in their action, are leaving effects behind which will be felt for ever. Death, which ends time and begins eternity, is not the arrest or alteration of our course, but the continutmce of it. The body is di'opped as the tent is struck; or buiied, and the spirit pursues its journej^, gazing into that unsounded futurity that stretches far and wide before it. If our character be righteous and holy now, it will advance in the same direction for ever — blooming in greater beauty — exhal- ing richer fragrance. The pilot who has steered it safely through the rapids of time, will conduct it to the peaceful haven of eternity, and perfect it there. He who is Priest, and Prophet, and King, will guide us from grace to glory, and make us like Himself, for avc shall see him as he is. How great is the importance which this consideration stamps on all we say and do now ! We are building up an immortal nature — we are accepting impulses before which we shall move for ever — we are imbibing influences and hues fixed as our being. Por heaven or hell — for happiness or misery — all things are preparing us, and every step is taking us. Every analogy or experience we become acquainted with, teaches this lesson. Aabit is the act of yesterday, added to the act of to-day — an accumulating force gradually building up a character which will cndui'e for ever. Youth makes manhood, and manhood old age; and we can read the earlier in the later, the young man in the old. The same law of continuity runs beyond the world ; and in the joys of the saved, or in the miseries of the lost, we may read the character ac- quired and exhibited here. The one is the n^jn^oduction of the other for ever and ever. What we shall be is \ THE ETEENITY OF SriEITUAL CnAE.VCTER. ^91 just what we are ; and the difference is purely in degree. If holiness be the very essence of heaven — the sub- stance of Christian character the only fitness for the presence of God — how earnestly should we desire it ! — how fervently pray for it ! \Yhat should we not be ready to surrender and sacrifice, in order to have our very hearts inlaid with that holiness without which none shall see the Lord ! Ey this test we may try all the emplojmients and pleasures of life. "What influence do they leave on us ? What improvement do they pro- duce ? "What is the nature and amount of the impres- sion they leave behind ? Thus we shall look on this world in the light of the upper, and render it sub- servient to higher and more enduring things. u2 LECTUEE XXII. THE JUDGMENT. " And, IcJiold, I come quicldy ; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his ivorh shall he.^^ — PtEV. XXI 1. 12. This announcement is tlic same as that described under the scYcnth trumpet in EoYclations xi. 18 : ^'And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great." AYe have also delineated another division of the same great event, depicted under the striking simile Bev. xx. 11 : "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away." This last occurs at the end of the miUcnnium, when the whole family of Adam are gathered together, and the last awful doom is pronounced upon the guilty. An allusion to this solemn ordeal is also contained in 2 Cor. V. 10 : "For we must all appear before the judg- ment-seat of Christ ; that every one may receive 'the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, ■whether it be good or bad." This last is likewise re- ferred to in Rom. ii. 6 — 10 : "Who wiU render to every man according to his deeds, &c. — to the Jew first," because he had greater privileges, and therefore greater responsibility, "and also to the Gentile." It is again written, " For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels ; and then he shall reward every miui according to his works." THE JUDGMENT. 293 These are some of the prominent passages that indicate the first and last judgment of the quick and dead. That there Tvdll be a judgment-day, may be concluded even from the light of nature. The existence of God ne- cessarily implies it : for the creation of the world implies the government of the world ; and that government, law ; and if there be law there must be trial, and that trial fol- lowed by reward or penalty, or it is no law at all. It is evident to every man, that in this world the good occasionally suffer, and the wicked triumph. In this dispensation, it is no less clear that this is perfectly incompatible with justice, if there be not a day to come when all wrongs shall be righted, and when all that is beautiful and holy shall have its necessar}^ reward. AYe might therefore conclude, from natural reasoning alone, that there will be a day of judgment. Again, in every bosom in this assembly there is an inferior court or tri- bunal ; and often without any outward accuser or counsel to defend, or instant judge to condemn, there is felt within a deep and corroding sense of guilt, an awful pre- sentiment of demerit, an incipient sense of the woe pro- nounced at the judgment hereafter. You have thus in man's conscience an inferior tribunal, whose judgments and decisions are the reverberations of that proclaimed or pre-felt in the higher coui't, telling us, in tones that we may somewhat muffle, and by sensibility tl;at we may deaden by the opiates of the world, that there is a Judge in the future who will '' give to every man according as his work shall be." But I need not use arguments drawn from nature, and man's natui\al conscience, to convince you of this truth ; to you who are believers in the Bible, I must use an argument far more decisive, as well as welcome, than any other: ''Thus saith the Lord," is an instant and conclusive answer to cvorj' objection. It is because of this, that when I am endeavouring to substantiate a doc- trine, I have a shrinking fear lest I should appear to make an attempt at provii}(j the truth of it. If it be jdainly declared in Scripture, it is akeady proved : it is the minister's duty, indeed, to unfold a truth clearly 294 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. enunciated, and to show that it is a note from the great harmony of Divine rcvehition ; but he is never required to prove that what G od has stated is true. It is absurd to attempt it ; it is supererogation ; it is folly. It is wi'itten, "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ," and this alone decides the question. God has bowed the heavens to announce it, and so ends the con- troversy. As far as the fact is concerned, never shall we know, indeed, what perfect peace is in the possession of the knowledge of the Gospel, until we can sit down like little children, reposing in unquestioning secimty and confidence upon the simple 'icorcl of God. The sun may grow weary, and the moon falter in her silvery way — the stars rush out, — ^heaven and earth may pass away ; but not one jot or tittle of God's word shall pass, until all be fulfilled. This judgment-day, so clearly enunciated in the text, is no less plamly alluded to in jjarts of the Old Testa- ment. It is declared, that " God shall bring every work into judgment, ^vith every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. That deed which you do in a sequestered nook, Avhere no eye can sec, and no ear hear, God's bright eye is fixed on, and God's riglit hand will bring into judgment ; — that thought of impurity or deceit, which flits across your mmd with the speed of the liglitning's flash, and which has passed from your recol- lection, was not only seen by God, but noted down by Him ; and you will read it at the judgment- day, either in flame-letters, with horror and dismay, when it cannot be forgiven, or in grateful and adoring ecstasy, with these precious words written across the record, ''the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." IS'o thought, however foul, — no deed, however secret, escapes His cognizance. How striking are the words, " Thou know- cst our thouglits afar oft'!" God knows the dim and shadowy conception, as it looms into view, before Ave have clearly comprehended it ourselves, or moulded it into a tangible shape. All naiiom will be there, not one exempt. ''When the Son of man sliall come in his glory, and all the holy THE JUI)GME^^T. ..295 angels witli him, then shall he sit upon the thi'one of his glory ; and before him shall be gathered all nations, ^^ bond and free, black and white. We read of the results of that judgment, that the unbelievers '' shall be cast into a lake of fii-e," and suffer irretrievable ruin, but *'the righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." '' It is God that justifieth : who is he that condemneth?" AYe therefore maintain, not by a dubious process of reasoning, but by the distinct word of God, that there will be a judgment- day ; that it will extend to every thought and every action ; that all na- tions will be gathered to it. It is the great assize, the dawn of ^oom. AYe must now inquire, Who is to be the Judge ? "We read that this judgment will be exercised by the Lord Jesus Christ, for '' the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son." '^ It is he (Christ) who is ordained of God to be Judge of quick and dead." ''We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christy Thus, he who wiU be our Judge is our Ee- deemer: the Lamb that pleads our cause before the thi'one -v^ill pronounce the doom of righteous retribu- tion : His first advent was announced by angels, and His second coming, we read, will be with them too, ''When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him." How impressive will the spectacle be to man! The pillar of fire, which was splendour to Israel, but darkness to Egj^pt, is a striking tj-pe of this scene, as beheld by opposite parties. How terrible will be Chiist's appearing to unbelievers, who have said, " We will not have this man to reign over us !" — to the sceptic, who has scoffed at the Gospel, and repudiated it ! How di-eadful " I am Jesus," to the sinner who has defied it! But "to them that look for him shall he appear without sin (or a sin-offering) unto salvation." If I address any one who are in error — fatal error ! — about the Deity of our Lord, not believing Him to be, as I know He is, God, let me remind you, that if there be a work that demands the interposition of God, it is the final judgment. If the Judge be one " from whose 296 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. face the earth and the heaven fled away," who can this be but God ? AVhere can you expect to find the Deity, if not upon the throne of judgment, where a sentence is to be pronounced, carrying the issues of an eternity of happiness to some, and of everlasting woe to others ? If God be not there, where can he be ? He must be '' verj' God of very God," from the fact that he has to deal with every thought and every action of each indi- vidual inhabitant of this globe, from Adam downwards. Can any being, not possessed of omniscience (the attri- bute of Deity alone), exercise the solemn prerogative of Universal Judge, which needs infinite knowledge, and exercises universal scmtiny ? Can we be -('frong in giving to such an one the attribute of Deity ? ISTo doubt he is man, — no doubt he is also God. Such is stated to be the ofiice of Christ. Is it possible that a created being can occupy such a position ? All men will hear these words — ^' Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment!" — the instant they are uttered from that tlirone ; and this command will be obeyed as quickly by the king as \)j the beggar. Greatness will not exempt the mighty, nor obscurity veil the little. Each grave will give up its dead. In those graves that are the iinsoundcd depths of the sea — of those whose inmates have for winding-sheets the untrodden' sands — in village churchyards, where the green sod is the only covering, or in cathcdi^al aisles, and beneath monuments of bronze, and stone altars — in the silent ui'ns of the ancient dead — in pp^amidal chambers — in subten-anean cemeteries — wherever, in short, is dead dust, that voice will be heard, and all will arise and msh to the judgment-seat. And what an array of faces, gazing into eternity, wiU be there ! Sodom and Gomor- rah, Babylon, and Jerusalem, Rome, will pour forth their myriads for the last assize. Waterloo, Marengo, and Austerlitz — Pharsalia, Marathon, and Thermopyla) — and Paris, and ]]erlin, and Yienua, will start to life, and their dead cast off the shrouds of death, and march to the judgment-seat. And thou, too, my brother, my sister, and /, too, shall be there. "We must meet again ; THE JUDGMENT. 297 yoii, to answer for the use you have made of the appeals you have heard ; and I, to answer for the honesty and faithfulness which I have preached to you. Oh! what happiness, if I should meet there thousands to whom the Gospel, as delivered from my lips, has been the savour of life ! And, on the other hand, how unspeak- ably di^eadful, if I should see there those with whom I have taken sweet counsel, but who have had the name of Christianity without its power ; and be constrained to hear that awiiil farewell, which will be the knell of a separation to last throughout eternity! What a separ- ation ! what a loss ! a lost soul! we can scarcely conceive of its awfiil import : and yet nothing is more common ; not because there is not efficacy in a Saviour's blood, or welcome in God, but because men are determined to gratify theii' lusts, and expend them on a world that is quickly passing away. Did we not read the other day of a gi'eat leader in the political world, (whether right or wi^ong in politics, it is not for the pulpit to pronounce,) who last Sunday was in as good health as any of us to-day, full of hope, of promise, of rcno\^Ti? He walked out on his journey perfectly well ; in one instant his body was a cold, un- tenanted ruin, and his soul stood before the judgment- seat of God. It is not he, or she, but ^^ we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." A lost soul ! I have no words of my own with which to describe it : a loss that can never be repaired. My money, my estate, I may lose and retrieve ; but if I lose my soul there is 7io reparation. If I lose my sight, I may get some compensation by a more keen and deli- cate sense of touch ; but if I lose my soul, there is no compensation. A lost soul! Eobert Hall alone could and did describe it. '' What, if it be lawful to indulge such a thought, what would be the funeral obsequies of a lost soul? ^Tiere shall we find the tears fit to be wept at such a spectacle ? or, could we realise the calamity in all its extent, what tokens of commiseration and concern would be deemed equal to the occasion? Would it 298 APOCALTrxic sketches. suffice for the sun to yeil his light, and the moon her brightness ; to coyer the ocean with mourning, and the heavens with sackcloth ? or, were the whole fabric of nature to become animated and vocal, would it be pos- sible for her to utter a groan too deep, or a cry too piercing, to express the extent and magnitude of such a catastrophe ? " And yet it is true of every unre- generate man, that " except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish." Such will be the assembly at the judgment- seat of Christ ; all that have lived, breathed, and played their part on the stage of this world, shall be there ; and Christ says, "My reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Observe the term, " my rewardP Great difficulty has been found in explaining this expression. By Boman Catholic divines, and those Avhose doctrines have that tendency, it has been stated, that it teaches that in certain suffering there is an expiatory power ; that cer- tain deeds are meritorious and gain a reward, and that all Christ does for us is to help us to do good works. I feel that the reasons that lead me to conclude there can be no merit in anything man can do, are irresistible. I owe to God all that I can do, as my Creator ; but more particularly as my Eedeemer he claims my ^perfect obedience. I owe to God to love him with all my soul, and mind, and strength. If I have loved him without suspension, served him without faltering, and in every thought and action sought his glory, I have simply done my duty. To pay what we owe is not the merit, but duty. But our purest thoughts are tainted, according to God's own statement ; the truest act of beneficence is mixed ^vith sin ; the nightshade of death mingles with the most beautiful boucpiet we can offer ; our holiest deeds arc but splendid sins ; and when we come to die, we can onlj'- bring our good deeds and our bad deeds to Jesus, and say, " 0 Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, take away our sins." Again : what- ever sympathy we feel with the holy and beautiful, whatever loyalty and dcvotedness to God, whatever grace and love arc in our hearts, they are the inspiration THE JUDGMENT. 299 of God, and therefore cannot be any merit of onrs ; our sins are our own, and they shame us ; our good deeds are not our own, therefore they cannot honour us ; we must bring both to the throne of grace, to be forgiven or restored. Again : any action, to be meritorious, must not only be done hj man and of himself, it must also not be due before it is performed ; it must be done by man alone, so as to profit God. Eut when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants, our goodness extendeth not to Him. In one word, the sentiment which has stood the test of a thousand years, is still true — " Ey the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight." Seeing, then, the judgment-day is a great and coming reality, and that you and I must render our account to God, may I not reasonably ask, A\Tiat are the hopes on which you build ? What is yoiu- standing ?* AVhat pre- paration are we making for it now ? Oiu' life hangs upon a hair, so does His coming. The last great earth- quake has begim, and its vibrations are felt from Paris to Frankfort, from Prankfort to IN'aples : whatever be the issue, they are sounds fi'om the skies, reverberating upon the earth in solemn tones, '' Prepare to meet thy God." If He who is to come quickly, come and find us absorbed in the things of the world, and careless about the things of eternity, what an awful scene, what a dreaiy prospect for us ! I am speaking the true word of God, when, in the prospect of the judgment- seat, I ask you to turn from all you have done and suffered as the groimd of acceptance, for your good deeds can avail you nothing to '' the blood that cleanscth from all sin ;" and to do all that is holy, and benevolent, and generous, bemg taught by the Holj^ Spirit, as the evidence and result of your acceptance. Thus, families so feeling and united and affectionate here, instead of being severed at the last day, the one to stand at the right hand and the other at the left of the throne, shall be made yet more united, affectionate, and beautiful, ever rejoicing before the thi'one of God and the Lamb. LECTUEE XXIII. THE GEE AT WHITE THEONE. ** Behold, I come quiclchj : and my reward is ivith me, to give every man according as his worlc shall le^ — Eev. xxii. 12. *^And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from ichose face the earth and- the heaven fled away ; and there lo as found no inlace for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the hooh were opened : and another hooh icas opened, which is the hooh of life : and the dead loere judged out of those things ivhich were ivritten in the hooh, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead ichich icere in it ; and death and hell delivered up the dead ivhich tvere in them : and they were Judged every man accord^ ing to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosO' ever ivas not found written in the hook of life was cast into the lake of fire.'" — Eev. xx. 11 — 15. I THINK I do not misapprencnd tlie meanini^ of the passages I have read, when I assume, that the 12th verse of chapter xxii. describes the judgment of the sauits of God, and of these alone ; and that chapter xx. 10 describes the judgment of unbelievers, or those who are found not to be the peoi)le of God. The first passage describes the destiny of those who are in the Lamb's book of life. The second contains the doom of those whose names were not found in the Lamb's book of life. The first is a statement of the rewards of the righteous ; the second, of the judgments on the unrighteous. In my last discourse upon the former, I showed you that we THE GIIEAT WHITE THUONE. 301 have many premonitory warnings of a future judgment ; that the certainty of a future judgment arises from the existence of a God, the existence of a law, the necessity of obedience to that law — rewards, penalties, decisions. I showed you that we have another premonition or j)re- intimation of a judgment, in the existence of conscience. It is the inferior cornet that points upward to a superior one, by its yery existence ; and, as it reasons of right- eousness, temperance, and judgment, it warns us of that day when these things shall be taken open and exact cognizance of. The judgment-day is clearly predicted in the Old-Testament Scriptures. "He cometh to judge the earth." "He shall judge the world in righteous- ness." The day is fixed : " For that he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness." He will take cognizance in that day of all the actions of men: he will bring every work into judgment, and every secret thing, whether it be good or bad. That judgment shall be imiversal : " Before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another." We read that believers shall stand in the judgment, to receive rewards, in the language of the first text, according to their works ; and that those who are not found in the Lamb's book of life shall also re- ceive judgment, and be rewarded according to their works. This judgment shall be administered by Chiist. "The Pather judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son." Again : "To the Son he hath given authority to be the juoge of quick and dead." Again, in Acts : " Christ, who is ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead." Again, in 2 Cor. : "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." I have ai'gued from this, that Christ is God ; for if God be not on the throne of judgment, where can he then be ? If there be a thi'one that demands the presence of a God, it is that throne. If there be a scnitiuy that necessitates the exercise of omniscience, it' is the scrutiny of that day. If the sentence then to be pronounced is to carr}^ glorious prospects in the one direction for ever, atid consuming and unending judgments in the other, it 302 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. seems absolutely required by the momentous nature of the sentence, tliat a God should pronounce it. Christ is God, and " we believe that He will come to be our judge." I have described the persons to be judged. These are said, in chapter xx., to be '' small and great." "We must all — you and I, whatever be our countrj-, our circumstances, our rank, our character, our condition — we must all appear to receive sentence according to the deeds done in our body. But we now come to con- sider the expression, " to reward every man according to his works." Some persons belonging to the Eomish communion have built upon this idea, that there is ab- solute merit inherent in oui' works ; that all that Christ does for us is to help us to do good works, which, without him, we could not do; and that those good works will be the grounds of our acquittal at the judg- ment-seat of Clirist. But this is impossible. We owe to God every feeling of love, of purity, of loyalty, of holiness, which we ever felt ; and therefore there can be no merit in aught we feel or do. When a man pays his debts, he does his duty merely, he does not create a fund of merit, or lay his creditor under obligations. Our purest thoughts, however, are tainted, and our best deeds mingled with alloy, and both need to be forgiven ; and therefore, they cannot, surely, deserve to be re- warded. Besides, whatever love we cherish — whatever sympathy with the true, the beautiful, and the holy, we feel — whatever loyalty ^ve reciprocate — whatever de- votedness to God we show in our life, our conversation, and our conduct in the Avorld, are all, not self-originated, but the inspirations of the Spirit of God. The fountain is not our own, and therefore its streams can have no merit. Our sins are our own, and they shame us : our virtues are not oiu' own, and therefore they cannot purchase for us. We must bring all, our best and our worst things, to the throne of the heavenly grace, and ask frank forgiveness for tlnun all, and acceptance for ourselves, only through the blood of Jesus. But, you say, still the word " reward " carries in popular ap- prehension the idea of merit. It has suggested to TnE GREAT WHITE THEONE. 303 many that idea ; does it really mean so ? I answer, If happiness bo the just and adequate reward of good works, then, of course, good works are properly meritorious in the sight of God. Eut if I show you that the Avord ''reward" in Scripture is used, not in its strict sense, but in its loose or popular sense, then you will conclude with me, that it is not necessary to attach the idea of essential merit to the use of it by the Spirit of God. The word luy, for instance, is used in Scripture, not in the sense of giving money as an equivalent ; as in the following quotation : '' Ho ! every one that thii^steth, come ye to the waters ; yea, come, hmj wine and milk witlwut money and ivitlwut price'^ The merely popular and forensic use of the word means, to give so much money for so much goods ; but it is obviously used by the Spirit of God to denote, more sensibly, the excellency of the things we receive ; and in order to detach from it the idea of equivalent, there are ever superadded to the words, " without money and without price." We find the word " reward " used in the same way : thus it is said of ^Nebuchadnezzar and his aimy, that '' Egypt shall be theii' reward." Again : ''Ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance." But it is plain, from this last pas- sage, that if heaven be an "inheritance," it cannot be a " reward " in the strict and literal sense of that term. "We read in the final sentence, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inlierit the kingdom:" now this word inherit disposes of all idea of personal desert. For instance : a nobleman dies; his son is a profligate, but still he inherits his father's coronet, not because of anything he has done or deserved, nor by anything he has undone, but simply because he is the son, and therefore the legal heir of his father. So we receive heaven as the sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ, and not as the reward of any merit or excellence of oiu^s. And so, in this passage, reward does not necessarily imply receiving that which our virtues have earned, or our merit procured. Other passages of Scriptui^e justify this interpretation, and show that no idea of merit is iinplied. Scripture says, <'By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified." And again, " A 304 APOaiLlTTIC SKETCHES. man is not justijSLed by the Avorks of the law, but by the faith of Christ." And again, "Bj grace are ye saved thi'ough faith, and that not of yoiu^selves, it is the gift of God ; not of works, lest any man shoidd boast." And again, " Who hath saved us and called us, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace." And again, " Being justified by His grace, we are made heirs of God according to the hope of eternal life." Thus, these and kindred passages clearly prove that there can be nothing of merit in us, entitling us to the joy and felicity of everlasting life. And yet, while Scripture thus distinctly puts good works away from any share in our title, and separates from them everything like merit, in the judgment of God, it insists upon them, through all its books, in the most eloquent and earnest terms. Thus, " "We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works;" again, '* thoroughly furnished unto all good works;" again, ''rich in good works ;" again, ''careful to maintain good works ;" again, " prepai'ed unto every good work ;" so that we cannot fail to see perfectly con- sistent, what at first seems a contradiction — good works depreciated on the one page, and inculcated on the next ; dispensed with in one view, insisted upon in another ; declared to be nothing in one chapter, and pronounced to be essential in the next. How do we explain this ? The answer is plain : the exclusion of good works from one great doctrine of the Gospel, does not imply the extinction of good works in the Christian character. The exclusion of all good works from our title to heaven, does not imply the extinction of all necessity for good works in our character and qualification for heaven. In other words, in the matter of justification, our own works must all be pronomiccd as filthy rags, utterly un- availing ; whereas, in the matter of sanctification, they are the evidence of our growing fitness for the kingdom of heaven. It is as essential that the Spiiit of God should make me fit for the company in which I am to spend eternity, as that the Son of God should impute to me His righteousness, and wash me from my sins, to entitle me to dwell in the presence of God and of the THE GEE AT WHITE THHOjS^E. 305 Lamb for ever. And, therefore, just with the same earnestness with which the inspired writers insist upon the absolute exclusion of all our good deeds from the matter of our justification, they insist upon the con- tinual practice of all good works, as the exponent and evidence of our fitness or qualification for heaven. Some, however, have thought that there is one passage at least, in one of the Gospels, which seems contradictory to the view which I have endeavoiuTd to prove — namely, that ^'hich describes the young man who came to our Lord, and asked the question, " Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said unto him, ''A^Tiy callest thou me good ? there is none good," in that abso- lute sense in which the Jews used it, "there is none good but God ;" (and therefore, Jesus said. Your address- ing to me the ej)ithet good, is truly attributing to me the character of God.) " Thou knowest the commandments, Do not kill ; Do not steal ; Do not bear false witness ; Honour thy father and thy mother." And he said, " All these- thmgs have I kept from my j'outh up." Perhaps he did not know his o^wn heart well enough ; but our Lord took him at his word: he said, ''I will not now dispute that you have observed all these from your youth. ' And Jesus beholding him, loved him, and said unto him. Yet one thing thou lackest : go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come, take up the cross and follow me.' You have observed most strictly the six commandments of the Decalogue which refer to your conduct towards yoiu* neighbour : How do you treat the first foiu" ? Here is the turning point, where you are called upon to show your love to God. The whole law is summed up in two commandments ; first, ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength ; ' the next is, ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' Tlie last you have done perfectly, you say : you are now called upon to show youi' obedience to the fii-st. If you have succeeded in the first as you have triumphed in the last, you are a perfect character, and SECOND SERIES. X 306 APOCALYPTIC SJiJETCHES. have a perfect title to the kingdom of heaven." *' And when the young man heard that saying, he went away grieved, for he had great possessions." He could not sacrifice all for Christ's sake. In other words, he showed by this preference of the luirighteous mammon to the good God, that he had broken the law in the first and weightiest commandment, and therefore he could not deserve heaven by his own doings. Our Lord tested, in order to humble, the young man. It is, then, the Scriptiu-al doctrine, that whilst there is nothing of merit in the works performed by us, yet the rewards of glory will have a reference to those good works as done by believers. For it certainly cannot be without meaning, that we find almost every reference to the judgment- day implying the reward of works, and almost every statement of the apportionments of that day meted out according to the nature, the amount, the cha- racter, and the extent of those works. See that very beautiful passage, — *'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inheiit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda- tion of the world : for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I Avas a stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer and say unto him. Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee?" and so on. ''And these shall go into everlasting life." We have next the statement in my text, that, " He shall reward every man according to his works." We also know the declaration of our Lord, that every one shall be rewarded according to his works. Then, we read in 2 Jolm ii. 8, ''Look to yoiu^sclves, that ye receive a full reward." Again, in Matt. x. 40, there is a clear intimation of the dificrence of reward : ''He that reccivcth you recciveth me ; and he that receiveth me reccivcth Him that sent me. He that receiveth a i;)rophet in the name of a proimct, shall receive a pro- j^het's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shair receive a rigliteous man's reward. And A\'hosoever shall ffive to drink imto THE GliKAT WHITE THEOA^E. 807 oue of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no A\-ise lose his reward." Kow notice the gradations : first, the reception of Christ is spoken of as being followed by the great reward; next, the reception of a prophet is followed by the enjoyment of a prophet's reward ; then the reception to hospitality and homage of a righteous man is followed by a righteous man's reward; andlastlj^, the gift of a cup of cold water, given in the right sjDiiit, and with the right motive, shall not be without its cor- responding reward. Thus, there are degrees and grades of glory indicated here — there are diversities of reward : ''one star differing from another star in glory;" each vessel full, but each vessel of capacity larger or less than the other. JS'ow it seems to me that there is nothing legal in coming to the conclusion that the rewards of heaven will be proportioned to our attainments upon earth. True, love is the great motive constraining us to whatever things are pure and just and lovely; but be- cause it is the great motive, it is not the exclusive one. Our Lord looks for the noblest allegiance and sacrifice as the fruits of love, but he fosters and stimulates the pro- duction of those fruits by the prospects of reward according to the attainments we have made. Union to Christ's body as a living member is our safety; but the place which we are to occupy in that body, a hand or a foot, is a place for which we depend, in some degree, upon the progress and perfection to which we have risen by grace. 80, there are degrees of suifering among the damned ; for the servant beaten with few stripes is the figure employed to denote a less degree of sufli'ering ; and one beaten with many stripes, is the figurative expression for a greater degree of suifering. In like manner, we conclude there are different degrees of joy, felicity, and reward among the saved ; and these are degrees of enjoy- ment differing according to the capacity of each vessel, and the fitness of each character for it. Having closed my remarks upon this verse, I proceed to the consideration of that which contains a full de- scrip tiou of that dread judgment which is to take place at X 2 308 APOCALITTIC SXETCHES. the close of the millenriial dispensation. First, it is plain that the great TfUite throne is the judgment only oP the lost, and has nothing to do, as far as I can gather, -wdth the saved. We read here, that when Satan was bound for a thousand years, and his rule among the nations ter- minated, the New Jerusalem came down from heaven, the bride made herself ready for the Bridegroom — during which millennium all this takes place. "We read that at the very commencement of the millennium the dead in Christ shall rise. " I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus," {souls being used in Scripture as persons — " wherein eight souls," i.e. eight persons, " were saved by water") — I saw the souls, i.e. the persons, ^' of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God ; and they reigned and lived with Christ a thousand years. Eut the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first rcsuiTCction," or, as it is literally translated, ''The resiuTection, that (great one), the first. JS'ow, then, we have set before us, fii'st, Christ's glorious ap- proach : we have then the resurrection of the pious dead, and the perfecting of the pious living, constituting toge- ther the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem, the perfect church, the bride adorned for the Bridegroom. We have next described, at the close of the millennium, the last assize: ''I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away ; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; and the books were opened : and another book was opened, which is the book of life : and the dead were judged out of the things that were written in the Ijpoks, according to their works;" — that is, 1 conceive, the depraved according to the degrees of their depravity ; just as the reward men- tioned in chap, xxii., on which I have been commenting, signifies the admission of the pious into different degrees of glory according to their attainments below. '' And deatli and hell were cast into the lake of fire :" and then it is added, that " whosoever was not found written in the THE GEEAT WHITE THEOKE. 309 book of life, was cast into the lake of fire." Do you no- tice that there is not one word here intimating the pre- sence of a single child of God as a subject of judgment, or the reward of one s^Diritual person ? There is no ex- pression in the whole of this remarkable passage, which indicates that a justified and sanctified one was there : there is not the least hint, even the most meagre, of the reward of heaven, of admission into glory, or of the re- ccj^tion of the inheritance. It speaks only of the de- praved : it relates enthely to the lost : it describes only their doom ; and therefore, I believe that this is the last condemnation of the lost before an assembled universe, that it may be seen and felt through the whole intelligent creation of God, that nothing was left undone to recover them that Omnipotence could do, and that all their guilt was spontaneous, and all their responsibility theii^ own ; and the conviction that it is so will rest for ever upon themselves. I cannot, therefore, see that this judgment- thi'one has anything to do with the people of God. In the next place, this last judgment- throne will not be set for trial. There are very great popular miscon- ceptions in this day. IMany have an idea that there is to be a hearing of witnesses, the weighing of testimony, the judicial discussion of facts, and that the sentence wiU be judicially pronounced accordingly. I do not believe that this is to be the character of the last judgment. The in- stant a saint dies, that instant a blessing is pronounced upon his soul, and it blooms into a crown of glory and of beauty around his brow. The instant that a sinner dies, the brand is stamped upon his soul, and its corrosive punishment begins, and continues for ever. Our sentence is fixed at death, iiTCvocably : the present is the time of probation ; but the instant that we die, there takes place the fixture of character : " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he which is righteous, let him be righteous still ; and he that is holy, let him be holy still." Holi- ness culminates in eternal hapx^iness ; sin sinks in eternal and illimitable misery. Therefore, this great white tlii'one is not for trying, for testing, for examining, for hearing 310 APOCALYTTIC SKETCHES, ■witnesses, but simply for proclaiming before an assembled universe the justice, the love, the fciithfulness, the mercy of God, in the condemnation of the lost, — who were not murdered by others, but remain suicides themselves, — as well as His love. His mercy. His fiiithfulness, His truth, in the acquittal of the righteous, who were pardoned, not from anything in themselves, but only through the finished work of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In the next place, we read that at this great assize there will be set a great white thi'one. I do not know that this is to be a literal thi'one ; I do not know that these books will be literal books. I think it is the imagery of an earthly assize, employed to set forth the majesty of the last judgment. The thrones of iniquity are all over- turned, and this is raised triumphantly upon their ruins. The thrones of kings arc all dissolved and swept away, and this throne alone remains. The throne of grace has passed aw^ay. Sinners are not invited to this thi'one for mercy and for grace, but are commanded to attend to re- ceive a righteous retribution. This throne is called the great white throne, because it is connected with the great God ; a great judgment, a great eternity, and great re- sults. It is spoken of as a ivhite throne, as if to teach us that from it every sin shall be reflected, and on it every sinner shall read the righteousness of his own destruction. There is no rainbow round that, as there was round a previous throne described in the Apocalypse ; there is no beseeching Father upon it, saying, *' Be ye reconciled to me ;" but whatever character death has left, and judgment finds, eternity shall fix irreversibly for ever. AVc read, next, of Him that sat on it. I showed you in a previous discourse that this is Christ : '' The Father judge th no man ; he hath committed all judgment unto the Son." AVhat a change is here ! He that hung upon the cross in shame, shall sit upon that throne in glory. He who was spit upon and buff'eted, and of wiiom a whole city cried, '^ Away Avith him ; away wdth him !" cometli in the clouds, " and every eye sliall see him, and they that pierced him, and all ilesh shall wail because of him." THE GEEAT WIHTE THRONE. 311 "We read, in the next place, that " from his face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was fonnd no place for them." I do not think that this means that the earth and heaven were annihilated, for we read that a new heaven and a new earth had snperseded, or taken the place of, the former heaven and the former earth ; and, therefore, there was not a cessation of heaven and earth, strictly and materially so called. It seems to me that the expression is fignrative ; for we read in another chapter of this book, that "when the seventh trumpet sounded, the heaven departed as a scroll, and every mountain and island were removed out of their places." I showed you that this was not the extinction of this economy : it coidd not be so, for this economy still survives — and, according to the Apocalyptic narrative, survives the incidents de- scribed in that chapter. So we read again, that " every island fled away, and the mountains were not found;" and yet we read of the earth existing afterwards. I think, therefore, that the meaning of this passage is, that a great moral change will take place amongst the popu- lation that surround the throne ; that all social, political, and mundane distinctions shall cease ; that whatever was conventional, in the way of distinction, between man and man — palaces, and haUs, and thrones, and sceptres, and coronets, and money; all human glory, and all human wisdom ; all the heights of ambition, all the depths of depression — all shall be expunged and swept away ; and man shall stand before that throne, shivering in the pros- pect of a terrible retribution, with nothing upon him but his great and awful responsibility before God. At that throne " were gathered small and great." The servant was there, and his master too : the subject was there, and tbe sovereign that governed him too. The meanest slave and the mightiest monarch shall be there : the greatest king shall leap from his tomb as quickly and as obediently as the poorest peasant who was buried by the wayside. Obscurity shall not veil the little ; great- ness shall not exempt the noble. The small and the great shall be there. In the next place, ** books were opened." These 312 ArOCALTPTIC SKETCHES. books, as I have said, are not literal books ; but tliey may be regarded as samples or types of great and pro- fitable realities. There may be no literal volume, but yet all the past transactions of seven thousand years shall be brought as vividly before the eyes of the assem- bled multitude, as if read by them, or pronounced in their hearing. The fii-st book we may suppose to be opened will be the book of Providence; the first leaf in that book will be our birth. Bom in a land of Bibles, of jnous ptu-ents ; having received Christian education; placed within reach of holy influences ; having sat for years imder the teaching of a pious and devoted minister; had great talents, splendid opportunities; read good books; in short, having everything done for us that a gracious God could possibly do, — shall all be set against oiu' names in this dread book. And recorded also in it will bo the opportunities we have lost, the sins we have done, and the mercies we have trodden under foot, the grace we have undervalued ; and all these shall start in flames, and flash in the face of every guilty cii- minal, the prospect of a speedy, eternal, and righteous condemnation. The next book which we may conceive to be opened at that day, will be the book of Conscience. That book receives every day a fresh impression in its successive leaves. In the case of the young, only a few of its leaves have been turned ; in the case of those who have one foot in the grave and the other on its margin, all its leaves have been nearly turned over : and as each leaf is laid at night with the rest, and sealed, it has engraved upon that closed page the deeds that have been done in the day, the thoughts that have been tliought, the afl'ec- tions and feelings that liave been felt, whetlier they liave been good or evil. You can silence it now ; you can almost drive it into quiet now ; and, if you fiiil to drive it, you can drug it into quiet : but at that day each leaf Avill be unrolled in succession ; the opiate stupor in which we now keep it will then be dissolved: there will be no opera to excite you, no playhouse to charm THE OEEAT WHITE THEONE. 313 aTTay tlie corrosive thoughts that conscience sometimes creates within you : and I believe the most awful spec- tacle in God's mighty universe will be, the conscience of a lost soul unlblded and laid bare in that terrible light that has no shadow, and before that dread tribunal at which there is no forgiveness, and from wdiich there is no appeal. My dear brethren, never triflle with con- science ; when it rebukes you, it is a tone from the very lips of God; when it tells you, *' Do it not," it is the echo of God's command in heaven — " Do it not." With all its disease, its weakness, and its susceptibility of stupor, conscience is still a living power ; and many a one in this assembly knows that many a time he has lain down in his bed, and conscience corroded within him has created a fever that no drug, or opiates or phy- sicians in the world could remove. Eetter have cholera, and typhus fever, and earth's worst torments, than the corrosive sore of a guilty conscience, uncleansed, unfor- given, unsanctiiied, unsealed by God. The next book that will be opened at that day will be the book of God's Law. ''They," says the Apostle, " that were under the law shall be tried by the law." And what docs the la-^ say ? " The soul that simieth, it shall die." My dear friends, this is not an obsolete truth. It is not the temporary law of a pro- visional economy that has passed away ; it is as true at this moment as that there is a God in heaven, that '' the soul that sinneth, it shall die." '' The wages of sin is death." Christ does not desti^oy the truth of this sen- timent ; on the contraiy, he treats it as unchangeable ; he takes your place, and suffers and dies for j^ou, and delivers you from the curse, in order that, justified by him, you may have peace and happiness with God, while the rescripts of Sinai remain. That law, then, that many have thought to be justified by — that law that many said they could keep, in all its requirements, from their youth upward — will judge them at the last day. The book of the Law of Nature will also be opened. I believe the heathen wiU be tried, not by a (^^spd 314 ArOCALTrTIC SaEXCHES. wliich they never lieard, nor by a law which they do not know, "but by that law which is in their con-- sciences, either accusing or else excusing them." I dare not pronounce that all the heathen will be lost : I have no business to pronounce the doom of any nation, or tribe, or kindred, or tongue whatever. The pulpit is not the great white throne, it is the porch of the throne of grace. "We are here, not to determine men's destiny hereafter, but to preach salvation to men's souls now. " j^ow is the accepted time, and the day of salvation." But I have no reason to conclude that all the heathen will be lost ; I have no right to conclude anything upon the subject. Our business is to go and preach the Gos- pel to every nation under heaven : this is our duty ; and God will settle, on principles of everlasting truth and goodness, wisely, and mercifully, and well, their eternal destiny. The heathen, then, I say, will see the book of nature opened, and by it they will be tried ; and the Apostle says, that when tried by it they cannot stand. "Whether there be any plan by which the provisions of the Gospel may reach them, I cannot say. There will be opened, too, the book of the Gosj^el : and T believe that this book, n(?xt to that of conscience, will be the most awful that is opened in the hearing of the lost. They Avill hear, standing before the judgment-throne, the echoes of those invitations which were addressed to them, but which they wilfully and criminally spurned away. They will then have their miseries increased by the recollection of that faithful sermon preached on one occasion ; that startling appeal preached on another ; that solemn warning which they despised ; that earnest and pressing invitation that was addressed to them without producing any effect ; they will hear — and here will be the most awful foretaste of the ciu'se — they will hear those words from Him that sits upon the throne, "0 Jerusalem! Jerusalem!" professing Church of the Most High, '' how often would I have gathered thy children as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" And the recollection of this *' would not" will bo the first pang of that worm that THE GEEAT WHITE THEONE. 315 never dies — the first spark of that fire that is never quenched, for ever and ever. My dear friends, if you hear the Gospel in this place, and are resolved not to accept it and love it, pray leave this scene of respon- sibility ; pray do not continue here any longer. It is the most awful position that human beings can occupy, to hear God speaking by his word and by his ministers, to hear of their responsibilities and duties, of God's offered mercy and ready pardon, and yet turn their backs upon him that speaks to them : " "We vrill not have Thee to reign over us." My dear friends, there is no such thing as escaping from the house of God this evening neutral. You cannot divest yourselves of the responsibilities you have incurred by being here this night, any more than you can divest yourselves of your immortality. What you have heard to-night must rise to acquit you or judge jou. at the last day. You need to be stirred up. There is nothing, my dear friends, so true as this fact, that habit accustoms us to everything. Persons who have been ill for twenty years, sometimes become so accustomed to pain as to grow almost insen- sible to it. Persons may get so accustomed to darkness, that they do not feel their bereavement. "While most men, if placed beside a waterfall, woidd be kept awake all night, those that have slept beside it for years will sleep sweetly aU night long. And many sit under the Gospel, and hear great and all-important and eternal truths, and will go away, just as many of you will go away to-night, criticising the sermon, commending or caricatui^ing the preacher, but untouched, unmoved by truths that, however simply expressed, ought to electrify their very natures, and make men's hearts thrill alternately with fear, and joy, and hope. Let me tell you, that when this book of the Gospel is opened, it will remind many — alas, too many ! of lost opportunities, of despised mercies; and that terrible word, ''Ye will not," shall be heard and re-echoed for ever. Every wicked act that a wdcked man does, pro- jects a shadow that extends into an eternal hell. Hell will belike the whispering-gallery of eternity: words 316 APOCALTTTIC SKETCHES. of ■\;\dckedncss and deeds of darkness said and done licro, shall be echoed and re-echoed in crashes of thunder for ever. I need not a material fire, or a liring wonn, to be the misery of the lost. Gnilt, left alone, would people infinitude with spectres, and create endless torment. Solitary punishment in this ^^'"orld is foimd to prove to the criminal an intolerable pimishment : it has been known to deprive him of mind, and leave him a piteous maniac. Try, if possible, to conceive what that tremendous solitude must be, where the soul shall be turned in upon itself to recollect nothing but its sins, and to have nothing before it but despair, with no sound of mercy to break upon it, no rainbow of coming escape to gii'dle it with glorious hope. But, my dear friends, I forget we are not now before the great white thi^one ; we are here at the foot of God's throne of grace. Come, then, and let us " go boldly to the throne of the heavenly grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." i And this leads me to notice that there is another book opened there — the Book of Zife. K'ow this might seem at first to imply, that God's people wiU be there, and not the guilty only : but if we look at what is said of it, we shall see that they will not be there. This book was opened, not to ascertain the names of those that were in it, but the names of those who were not in it ; for it is not said, ^'Whosoever was found written in it was saved," but '^AVhosoever was not found wiitten in the book of life was lost ; " they shall be excluded, because they have unfitted themselves for its eternal and glo- rious reward. And we read that at that day '' the sea shall give up the dead that are in it." I think it is a fact knoA^Ti to every classic scholar, that the ancient Greeks and llomans looked U23on drowning as the most awful of all deaths : we notice in Horace, and many of the Latin poets, refer- ence to drowned men, and they always sjDcak of them as of men who had no Ivope of ever being admitted to the Elysian plains. They believed that drowning was a spe- cial judgment of God, and that those who were drowned THE CHEAT WHITE THEONE. 317 ■woiild never rise again or live again. Here it is stated, that " the sea gave up the dead that were in it." They that were a thousand fathoms deep shall hear amid the chimes of the ocean's waves this voice, "Aiise, ye dead, and come to judgment." They whose requiem has been the sound of the sea waves — they whose bodies have been devoured by its fierce and untamed tenantry, shall rise again, and particle shall come to particle, and limb to Imib, and the body that sank shall be the very body that shall rise and join the soul, and stand before that throne. "And death and hell gave up the dead that were in them." Death is represented as the keeper of his pri- soners : hell is a wrong translation : the word is Hades ; which means separation from the body, when the Spirit of God docs not state whether the separated soul has gone to heaven or hell ; i. e, it remains, in happiness or misery, separate from the body, w^aiting for its fuU hap- piness or its full misery, when it shall be rejoined to the body. It says that Death gave up his dead ; and so Hades, or the j)lace of separate spii'its (not a third place, but heaven or hell, where souls are without the body, ) gave up the dead that were in it ; and when this was done. Hades, or the state of separation of soid and body, is ex- tinguished for ever, and Dcatff^ the last enemy, is cast into Gehenna, or the lake of fire. Thus earth shall close, as earth began — v^Ith paradise : thus man shall be cherished of God at the close, as he was cherished of God at the beginning : thus, man shall have dominion over all, for Christ shall reign until he has put all things under his footstool ; and the end comcth, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God and the Father; and absolute Deity, as distinguished from Christ, shall be all in all. My dear friend, will you be at the first judgment, to receive the reward of the righteous, or at the last, to hear the curse of the lost ? I say it solemnly — I say it with every recollection of the sovereignty of God and the help- lessness of man, — It rests with you. Tnie, jow cannot change your heart — true, you cannot grasp the Saviour 318 ArOCALYPTiC SivETCUES. in your oayii strength : but this you can do, — you can pray to the Saviour — you can appeal to him. ''Fear not him that can kill the body, but fear Him that can kill both body and soul in hell." But I will not appeal to you on such motives. Let me tell you, the great God has suffered that we might 'be saved; He hung upon a cross and bled for us that we might not die. Can you fail to love Him who so loved you ? Ai'e you not pre- pared to say — not from the fear of the penalties of the damned, nor from the prospects of the joys of the blessed, but because God so loved me that He retrieved me fi'om my sin, snatched me as a brand from the burn- ing, and made me a son and a joint- heir with Clmst — I do feel, and I ^ill feel, and, by the grace of God, I will show, that I cannot but love Him who so loved me, and that no sacrifice can be too great to testify my loyalty, devotedness, and love to Him, who is all my righteous- ness, my salvation, and all my desire. LECTURE XXiy. THE DIYIXITY OF CUEIST. *' lam Alpha and Omega, the leginning and the end, the first and the last J' — E.£V. xxii, 13. I HATE only one object in selecting this text as the subject of discourse, and that is to show Christians the reasons on which they conclude that He Avho assumes these attributes is God ; and to lead those, if any such should be present, who do not see that it is so, at least to pause — and if to pause, it may be to come to a better and a truer conclusion. I hold that the words here used, *' I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last," are an assumption of Deity ; and it seems to me plain that He who said so, either right- fully claims the attributes of God, or was guilty of blas- phemy. In taking this, I shall have little in the way of argument to adduce ; it will be simply texts. I do not suppose that Clmstians need to be convinced ; they feel that Christ is God ; but they will need to be re- minded of the grounds on which so important a truth in our creed reposes. "I am Alpha and Omega, the fii'st and the last, the beginning and the end ; " that is, "I am God over all, blessed for evermore." Let me now ask your attention, then, to the following simple statement and comparison of texts, and see if our blessed Loi'd be not distinctly declared in Scripture to be, what we believe him to be, " God over all, blessed for evermore." We read in Isaiah xl. 3, '' The voice of one crpng in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord." The word "Lord," there, is Jehovah ; in the coriTsponding passage in the Gospel of Matthew (iii. 3,) it is said of 320 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. St. Jolin Baptist, '' This is lie of whom it was spoken by the prophet Esaias, saying, The yoice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." Xow, recollect that the being of whom it is predicted in the prophecy that He should have His way prepared is called Jehovah; the whole passage, the relative position, and name and personal dignity, are ascribed and applied to Christ in the Gospel. Either the evangelist misquoted and misinterpreted the prophecy, which we cannot admit, or he believed, what Isaiah proclaims, that Jesus Christ is Jehovah the Lord of hosts. Again, in Ps. xxiv. 10 : '' AMio is this King of gloiy ? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." Compare with this 1 Cor. iii. 9 : '' They crucified the Lord of glory." In the Psalm we have the distinct statement, that the Lord of hosts, i.e. Jehovah, the name that a Jew would give to none but to essential godhead, is the King of glory ; and in the Epistle to the Corinthians we have the Apostle expressly declaring that this King of glory, or Jehovah, is the Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah xliv. G : "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts ; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." Then read the words of my text perfectly parallel to it, ''I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning aird the end, the first and the last." AVe thus see the Lord Jesus Christ in the Apoca- lypse assuming that he is the same as the Lord of hosts, — the same attributes, the same dignity, the same glory, are His ; I must, therefore, conclude, either that Jesus assumed to be what he was not — and if so, all Christianity falls to pieces like a rope of sand, without cohesion or consistency — or else that he is the Lord of hosts, and that he proclaimed himself rightfully, and, to us, most pre- ciously to be so. Maiichi iii. 1: ''Behold, I will^send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me : and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his tem])le, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in." Luke ii. 27 : " Chiist came by the Spuit," who iuspii'ud THE DIVINITY OF CHEIST. 321 the prophecy, " into the temple :" ''the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple :" and Simeon, who Avas waiting- for the consolation of Israel, i.e. look- ing for it according to the prophecy, said, ''Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Simeon and Anna had read the promise in Malachi; they be- lieved, and knew, as every Jew knew, that that promise referred to Deity ; they took that promise, turned it into prayer, and applied it to Jesus Christ; and we have Simeon and Anna, as well as the Apostles, testifjTiig that Jesus Christ is the J-iOrd of hosts. In Joel ii. 32 — 27 : "And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered:" the word "to call on" there, is "to invoke," " to call on in worship." In 1 Cor. i. 2 : " Grrace be to all them that call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." In Ps. cii. 25: " Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth : and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure : yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment ; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed : but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." Such is the language applied in that Psalm to Jehovah : then the Apostle Paul, in Heb. i. 10 — 12, thus applies these the works of Deity, and of Deity alone, to our Lord Jesus Christ: — "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever:" "Thou Lord," addressing Christ, " in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest ; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment ; and as a vestui-e shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed : but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." Again, in Ps. Ixxviii. 56 : "They tempted and pro- voked" (in the Avilderness) "the most high God." In 1 Cor. X. 9 : " jS'cither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents." Do you not see that the Being Avho was tempted in the desert Y 322 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. was the most high God ? and do you not see also that the Apostle Paul declares that that most high God was the Lord Jesus Christ, whom they tempted in the wilder- ness ? Again, in Isaiah vi. we have the record of that sublime and glorious vision in which the prophet saw *' the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his ti'ain filled the temple : above it stood the seraphim, and each had six wings : and one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy Lord of hosts : the whole earth is full of his glorj'." Now, notice how the evangelist Jolm views these very words, which he quotes from Isaiah — words that involve the worship and the praise of the Su- preme Jehovah, and which he refers to Jesus Christ, where he says, "Therefore they could not believe, be- cause that Esaias said again. He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart ; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be con- verted, and I should heal them." "What am I then to conclude from this, but that if the evangelist be, Avhat we believe him to be, an infallible commentator upon infal- lible prophecy ; he sees in that prophecy a glorious mani- festation of the Lord Jesus, and in his Gospel thus distinctly and unequivocally pronounces Jesus to be God ? 1 must again conclude, either that the evangelist John erred, as I said of the evangelist Matthew, and that therefore their writings are not inspired, or that Jesus Christ is God, what they do not hesitate distinctly to declare. Again, in Isa. viii. 13 : " Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your di'cad. And he shall bo for a sanctuary ; but for a stone of stumbling and rock of offence." Now compare with this passage 1 Pet. ii. 7 : ",The stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence ;" quoting the veiy words which refer to the Supreme God, and applying them to Jesus Christ. Again : Isa. xliii. 11 : ''I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Saviour." Compare with 2 Pet. iii. 18 : *' Put grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Chiist." God says, "I THE DIYINITY OF CHRIST. 323 am, and beside me there is no Saviour ;" Christ says that he is the Sa\dour, and, by fair and honest inference, "I am that I am." Again : Kev. xxii. 6 : *' The Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things that must shortly be done :" and in V. 16 : " I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches." The same sender ; and therefore the Lorc^God that sent his angel is Jesus Christ our Saviour. John iii. 29 : ''He that hath the bride is the bridegroom." Isa. liv. 5 : " Thy Maker is thy hus- band ; the Lord of hosts is his name." After comparing these passages, let me quote two or three more as in themselves express and decided proofs of this point. I am not supposing that any Christian in this assembly believes that Christ is not God — far from it. Kor am I endeavouring to convince a Christian mind that Christ is God : I might as well try to convince him that the Father is God ; but I am showing him that the great truth he holds so dear is not picked up merely as an in- cidental expression here and there, but that it spreads thi'ough, and pervades, and gives its tone, its life, its energy, to every doctrine of Christianity, to every text in the word of God. And if there should be those present who impugn this doctrine, or believe it not to be true, from my heart I pity them : they are in a worse condition than the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai : the only wonder to me is that they do not tremble : they have got indeed a clearer revelation of a holy law, but they have no greater strength to obey it : they have got a clearer in- timation of what God requires, and they have no increased power to comply with it. The first passage to which I wiU refer you is John XX. 28 : '' Then answered Thomas and said" (to Jesus), *' My Lord and my God." Jesus accepted it, he acqui- esced in it as his true and proper attribute ; an angel re- pudiated, and Peter and Paul de^Drecated similar worship offered to them. Rom. ix. 5 : ''Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." Again, Tit. ii. 13, this passage stands in our version: "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious Y 2 o24 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." But this is, as every scholar loiows, utterly incorrect : the right rendering is, " Looking for that blessed hope^ the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ our great God and Sa^dour." So Jude 4 : '^ Denying the only Lord God our Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. v. 19 : " God, in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." 2 Tim. iv. 1 : ''I charge thee before God and the Lord' Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead." 2 Cor. v. 20 : " We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did be- seech you by us : we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Again, 1 John v. 20 : "AYe are in him that is true, ev^ in his Son Jesus Christ. This " (this last-mentioned person, ovroq) " is the true God, and eternal life." And what makes it more remarkable is, that immediately after the Apostle has said in such un- equivocal, terms that Jesus Christ is ''the true God, and eternal life," he adds the caution, " Little children, keep yourselves from idols." One would have supposed that there was a direct sanction for idolatry conveyed in these words, if Christ were not, as declared to be, the true God, and eternal life. Col. ii. 8 : ''In Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bodily." An infinite capa- city can alone comprehend the infinite fulness. Isa. ix. 6 : *'Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God." John iii. 16 : "God so loved," &c. Eph. v. 25 : "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it." If Clirist were not God, this would be blasphemy. Eph. iv. 32 : "Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Col. iii. 13 : " Eorbcaring one another, and forgiving one another : even as Chi'ist for- gave you, so also do ye." "Who can forgive sins but God only r" In the one passage it is God who forgives us, in the other it is Christ : the terms therefore are con- vertible, and Christ is God. John vi. 38 : "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." Matt. viii. 2 : " There came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou THE DITIFITT OP CHRIST. 325 canst make me clean. Jesus pnt forth liis hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean." His will and the will of the Father were one. John i. 8 : " JS'o man hath seen the Father at any time." John xiy. 8 : '' Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not knoAvn me, Philip ? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Again, Jude 24 : '' jN'ow unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the pre- sence of his glory." Eph. y. 27 : " That he might pre- sent us to himself a glorious chm^ch :" and therefore it is Chi^ist who is spoken of in both passages. Eph. iii. 2 : ^* The dispensation 'of the grace of God which was given ; how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery." Gal. i. 1 2 : ''I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it ; but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Kings viii. 39 : '' Thou, even thou only, knowestthe hearts of the children of men." Kev. ii. 23 : " All the churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and the hearts." 2 Pet. ii. 4 : " Exceeding great and precious x^romises, that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature. Heb. iii. 14 : " We are made partakers of Christ," the Divine nature, " if we hold the beginning of our confidence," i. e. in his pro- mises, '' steadfast unto the end." Paul says, in Heb. vi. : '' God sware by himself, because he could swear by no greater." Compare with this Isa. xlv. 23 : "I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not re- turn, '' That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." Then, llom. xiv. 10 : '' AYe shall all stand before the judgment scat of Christ. For it is wiitten, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." Showing that it is Christ who swears, and swears by himself, because he could swear by no greater. Psalm Ixviii. 18 : '^ Thou hast ascended up on high, thou hast led captivity captive : thou hast received gifts for men ; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God 326 APOCAXYPTIC SKETCHES. miglit dwell among them." Eph. iv. 8: ''"Wlien he" (speaking of Chi'ist) '^ ascended up on high, he led cap- tivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." Zech. xii. 10 : *' In that day, saith the Lord, they shall look on me whom they have pierced." John xix. 27 : " They shall look on him"(«.^. Christ) " whom they have pierced." Phil. i. 10 : " That ye may be sincere and without offence, till the day of Christ. 2 Pet. iii. 12 : '^ Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God." Isa. xl. 10 : " Behold, Jehovah shall come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him : behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." Eev. xxii. 12 : ''Be- hold, •! come quickly, and my reward is with me." John i. 3 : '' All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made." I ani aware that Socinians treat that chapter in a most unceremonious way : they see that, if it be true, it plainly proves the Deity of Christ ; and therefore they slice it out. The Roman Catholic lays God's words upon the Church's ti'adition, and cuts, and squares, and shortens, and lengthens it according to the standard which he has laid down The Socinian, or, as he is called, the Unitarian, or Arian (differing in degrees, but agreeing in one great point), again adapts God's word to his own reason : — wherever his own reason understands, there he says God's word is to be held true ; wherever his reason fails to comprehend, there he says God's word is wrong : that is to say, they measure the infinite by the finite. They say that because they cannot fathom the depths of the infinite, and span the breadth of the eternal, that therefore the infinite and the eternal do not exist. Can anything be more absurd ? Let them take care lest they come, as I shall show you they do come, under the guilt of one or other of these two parties, in the sentence at the close of this book — " If any man shaU add unto these things, God shaU add unto him the plagues that are wi'itten in this book : and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life." I do not speak of these parties in language fitted at all THE DITINITT OP CHEIST. 327 to irritate them. I do not mean it to be so ; I wish only to speak faithfully the truth : and it is because I love their souls, and would do them good, that I speak the truth, and the whole truth ; and when one speaks the truth, it need not be prefaced by an apology : it does not require it : falsehood may require the introduction of an apology ; tn.ith needs to be, and must be, stated in aU its grandeur and simplicity, and we must then leave the issue to God. But those Socinians who take this part of Scripture to be anything worth, say that in this passage which states that the worlds were made by him, the word signifies not literal worlds, but dispensations ; the dispensations were made by him. But it happens that the word used is not oiKovo/iia, dispensation, but Koa/uLog, which is applied always to the material word. But, sup- pose the meaning of it to be, that the dispensations of the law of Levi, and of the Gospel, were by Christ, would this make Christ not appear to be God ? It seems to me that by making Christ the author of the Gospel, you make him greater, if possible, than if you concede that he was the author of creation. You lift him from the throne of the Creator, only to place him on the yet higher, if possible, throne of the Eedeemer. And if you say that he made the dispensations, that he is the Author of aU their blessings, it is only to arrive at the same great re- sult, which is inevitable, as it seems to me, that Christ Jesus is '' God over aU, blessed for ever more." There is another passage which appears to me explicit upon this point. Phil. ii. 5 : Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but took upon him the form of a servant." The word used is fiop(l>ri, "■ form." Did Christ actually assume the form of a servant. He teUs us that he did so. Well, then, if he took the form of a servant — and that means that he did really and truly become so — then we must conclude that in the previous clause, "the form of God," implies that he was really and truly God. In other passages Di^ine power is ascribed to Chi'ist. Who can it be but God of whom the Apostle writes, Phil. 328 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. iii. 21 : ^' ^Tio shall change onr vile hodj, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself." Christ is here spoken of as the author of the resurrection — as the regenerator of this mortal frame — as making it like his own glorious body. Eternity is as- cribed to Christ : " Glorify me," he says to his Father, " with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Divine honour and worship are ascribed to Christ : " That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. And again : " Let all the angels of God worship him." In Acts vii. 29 : *'They stoned Stephen, calling upon" (invocating in worship) " Jesus Christ, and saying. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Now then, is it possible to come to any other conclu- sion from this simple comparison of Scripture than this, that the ancient, the Apostolic doctrine, 1;Jie doctrine of our eyangelical church, is the declaration of the Bible, that Jesus Christ is God over all, blessed for ever more ? But, I say, if there be any truth in the great doctrines of Chiistianity, it follows that Christ is God. Grant me the atonement, and I can prove that Christ is God. Grant me the propitiation for sins, and it follows that Christ must be God. God is infinitely holj^, man is infinitely sinful ; the two parties are rent and torn asunder : who shall unite the infinitely remote holy God, and the infi- nitely lost unholy creature ? Can a Socinian Christ do it ? will a mere arm of flesh be able to do it ? It is a chasm which the wings of human love cannot cross ; which the feet of human devotedness cannot wade. God alone can span the tremendous chasm, and bring God and man into one, so of twain making one. Again, if you grant me the atonement, he who makes the atonement must be able to make reparation for the violation of that law which we have broken. If God should show mercy without an atonement, then where would be his justice, his holiness, or his truth ? And he who makes repara- tion must be able to fathom the depths of the fall, the intensity of the guilt, the terrible natui*e of the crime. THE DIvmiTY OF CHRIST. 329 But who has a right idea of sin but God ? and none but he who by his omniscience knows what sin is, can by his omnipotence give an adequate atonement or reparation. I notice in the next place, that he who made the atone- ment must be able, not only to atone for sin, but also to alter the moral condition of the sinner. It is not enough that I should be forgiven by Christ if he were able to do so, but I must also be renewed by Christ. He who ex- piates the guilt of my sin must also be able to extirpate the power of sin within me : but none but God can change my heart, and none but God can forgive my sins. Jesus Christ, therefore, must be God. But if we observe the transcendent nature of the blessing bequeathed to us in Christ's blood, we shall find that if Christ be not God, the whole Gospel is suited to make me love him, and idola- ti'ously worship him, and tiaist in him as God. Suppose, for instance, a son has played the prodigal, and has left his father's roof, his inheritance, all he had, and all he hoped for. The father refuses to have anything to do with him : the servant in the father's house raises by intense labour, and at the greatest personal sacrifice, eveiy penny that he can command, and goes and pays the debt which the son has incurred, and for which he lies in ^^rison, and thereby extricates him : on whom vrill the son's gratitude concentrate ? 'Not certainly on his father, for his father left him to die in prison, but upon the servant ; and that servant will have all the gratitude and love and reverence of that son. If our Lord Jesus Christ has come from heaven, and if he has died for me, drunk my bitter cup, exhausted my woe, expiated my sin, taken upon himself the pangs and agonies that would have consumed and corroded my heart for ever : then I must look upon him as my greatest benefactor, and love, revere, and adore him with my whole heart ; and, if he be not God, he must occupy the place which God claims, and I must love him with aU my heart, and with all my mind, and with all my soul, and with all my strength. Grant me the atonement, and I contend that none but God in our nature was at Hberty to make the atonement. Suppose Christ were a mere creature, a high, holy, pure, and perfect 330 ArocALYrxic SKExcnES. creature, by all the laws of God's moral government, so tar as we know them, it would have been wrong to make such a holy and innocent creature suffer for those who were sinful and guilty. What is the law of the universe ? It is that ''holiness is happiness;" and it is so in evel-y instance. But if a holy creature had been made a victim, the law would have been reversed, for there would have occurred the spectacle of this holy creature made an un- happy sufferer. And, in the next place, no creature is at liberty to give his life as a sacrifice. The creature who would submit to be sacrificed for others unbidden, as bidden he could not be, would be a suicide. IVTy life is not my own. I have no power to lay it down nor to take it up. It is forfeited by sin, and I can only give 'it up when God requires it : I cannot voluntarily surrender it. I hold, therefore, that none but God in our nature could make the atonement, because none but God could be the innocent substituted for the guilty. And none but God in our nature could make the atonement, because none but he could voluntarily lay his life down, and take it voluntarily again. And, in the next place, we infer from all that I have quoted, that if Christ be not God, the whole language of the ^cw Testament is fitted to make men idolaters. Just look at it in this broad, popular, comprehensive light. Read such texts as I have read — in which he is spoken of as giving pastors to the church, redeeming it by his blood, purifying it by his spirit, presenting the church to himself : his name is wonderful, as the object of our trust, as the ground of our salvation, our all and in all, in whom we are to glory, and in liim alone — if Christ be not God, the whole tenor of this language is fitted to mislead, and to make men worship the creature instead of the Creator. Eut we know, my dear friends, and rejoice to know, that Christ is indeed God over all, blessed for evermore. If He be not God, we have no glorious sacrifice, no atoning ransom, we have only a second edition of Sinai — Sinai in greater brilliancy, its thunders with greater power, its lightnings with greater force. But what I THE DrV^INITY OF CHRIST. 331 need is not to liave a holier law than that which the ten commandments contain, for the law I have is beyond my reach. I see that my nature cannot obey it, and if you give me a purer law, you only plunge me in deeper despaii'. If a man has lost the use of his limbs, and is lying by the wayside, what is the use of going to that lame man, and saying to him. That is the road to London ? What he wants fii'st is the use of his limbs, and then he will ask the way to London. What is the use of saying to a dead man. Here is bread to eat, or wine with which to be refreshed, when he has no power to taste them ? What he needs fii'st is life. And what we need is a remedy, then direction : a cure, then guidance : an atonement made by God in our nature, then a law given by God on Sinai as the standard of our obedience, the schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, the rule of our life and conduct in the world. But, if Christ be God, as I think I have shown him to be, then what a glorious being is He ! In every tear He shed were the bright beams of the ancient Shechinah. In every agony of that man of sorrows was emitted the glory of God. In every act was the exaltation of a law, in every agony the exhaustion of a curse : His humanity giving all suitableness. His divinity all sufficiency, made him thus our perfect Saviour, our glorious ransom, the foundation of our hopes, our all and in aU. A divine Christ is the central sun of Christianity : quench it, and all is ''confusion worse confounded." How solemn, then, is our conviction that that condemned malefactor at Pilate's bar was the mighty God who will summon Pilate to his. That babe in the manger was the object of adoring cherubim : He that said, " The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head," was He who stretched out the firmament, lit it up with all its lamps, spread the earth beneath your feet, covered it with all its verdure. That dead Christ was the Prince of Life. That lowly Saviour was the Son of God, the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person. He must be God, " Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, 332 APOCALYPTIC SKETCnES. the first and the last," before I can trust him. I have often told yon that, fallen as they are, our souls are mighty in their ruins. Any one that sees a mined soul can see it is no common ruin : it is not the ruin of a little or an insignificant being, it is the ruin of the most glorious production of the wisdom, the beneficence, and the omnipotence of God. And the soul of man I feel to be so great, even in its ruins, that I would not tnist the greatest creature in the universe with it. I would not risk it in an angel's hand, or beneath the shadow of an archangel's wing. I must have God to take my soul into his keeping, or none else shall touch it. There is nothing above man but God, and there is none that man may trust in but God. And he that trusts in Jesus, trusts in the Rock of Ages, and shall never be disappointed. How awful is the lot of those who despise this Saviour ! How awful the sin of those who turn a care- less ear to His calls! "If ihej perished under Moses' law who disregarded it, how much more shall we ?" And now, if I address any Unitarians, (and I know, by the notes I have received, that such do come here,) let me beseech you, take the texts I have quoted, and ponder them. Do not be ashamed to lay aside your old convictions. I have laid aside some convictions twice over. And what is an honest man ? One who stands with his mind open to Scripture, reason, argument, fact. Do not look over your shoulder to see if your present po- sition will be consistent with the j)ast. We have nothing to do with consistency, we have only to be honest, we have simply to do what God bids, what argument demon- strates, what fact concludes. I call upon you to weigh these things : and if you can re-plj to them, or show me that they do not bear out the conclusion to which I have come, I will renounce Trinitarianism and become a Socinian. I do not think it is possible. I know it is impossible. I know that the Deity of Jesus is a fact, I feel it a conviction rivetted in my soul, that Chiist is God : and without that conviction I should be plunged into the depths of a cold, a freezing, a withering Atheism. But do not say, Do you not hold tliree Gods? I hold no THE DIYINITY OF CHEIST. 333 sucli thing. I believe that the Pather is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet there is but one living and true God. You ask me, perhaps, to explain it. There the Socinian breaks out : I cannot explain all things. There is a height, above -which reason's -s^dng will not spread ; there is a horizon 'where I must stop, look, and adore, and receive as an obedient pupil, not reject as a philosophic questionist. And ought you not to expect it to be so ? "What is the Bible but a picture of Deity ? But a picture of the Deity surely will have some infinite lines in it. And can we expect that Ave, who are possessed of finite minds, shall be able to comprehend what is infinite ? The thought is a con- tradiction. So much is this the fact, that if the Bible did not contain many things which transcend the grasp of my mind, I should say it was a very strong presump- tion that the Bible was not from God. True, much of it is such as we can comprehend, but there is also much which we cannot comprehend. I believe that eternity will be a constant extension of our horizon. You know that when you stand upon the deck of a ship at sea, or uj)on a hill, there is a certain space called the horizon, which is the limit of your vision, but if you go to the range of that vision, you will see that its outermost circle is the centre of another beyond, and so on in infinitum* Like as amid alps piled on alps, one peak rising above another, you fancy that if you can climb this one, you can reach the mountain top, but you find that the higher you climb, the more remains to be climbed. Socinianism is unphilosophical and iiTational : it is worse, it is un- scriptural, it is soul destroying. A Socinian may be saved, but it must be in spite of his Socinianism, not by it. There may be some chinks and crannies, even in a Socinian' s creed, through which the light of God's truth may enter, and carry salvation to the poor soul that lies under its dark and freezing incubus. My dear friends, again I say. Weigh these things. Look at them honestly and fairly, and I am sure you will come to the conclu- sion to which I have come, that the arm of the lledeemer is the arm of the living God, that the rock we trust on 334 APOCALYrTIC SKETCHES. is Deity, and the hdpe which dheers us is the hope of glory. And you, my dear friends, members of my own congregation and of other Christian bodies, be able or seek to be able always to give a reason for the faith that is in you. You see that your creed is neither flimsy nor lightly based. Accept the Bible, and you see how natu- rally it follows that Christ is God. Eeject the Deity of the one, and you must reject the inspii'ation of the other. Let me ask you in conclusion, ai'e you trusting in Jesus ? Are you leaning on Him ? Ai'c you saying at this veiy moment, from the depths of your heart. My Lord and my God, I lean on thee, I look to thee, I have no help, no hope, no refuge in the universe but in thee, my Lord, my Sa\dour, my all ; and when heart and Jdesh shall faint and fail, oh be thou. Lamb of God, the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Amen. LECTURE XXy. THE BLESSED ONES. *^ Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city^ — Eev. xxii. 14. In the edition or translation of the ISTew Testament adopted by the Chm'ch of Eome these words are given, not as I have read them, in our authorised translation. In what is called the ilhenish IS'ew Testament, that is, a translation from a translation, which is the standard of faith and authority and practice, as far as it goes, in the Church of Home, the 14th Terse reads unexpectedly in such a quarter thus, '' Blessed are they that have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." And in looking at some various readings of the IN'ew Testament text, I find that in one or two ancient MSS. this very reading which the Church of Eome has adopted occurs, and Jerome, a Latin father, a verj- bitter and acrimonious writer, but a very learned and accomplished scholar, translated the Greek IS^ew Testament into Latin, or rather corrected the old Italic version that existed before his time, and he has rendered the text from the MS. he used, just as I have now read it in your hearing, and very beautiful it is, if it be right reading : '' Blessed are they that have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, for they shall have right to the tree of life, and shall enter in through the gates into the city." We cannot fail to see that this very text in the bosom of the Eoman Catholic Bible condemns the tenets of the Eoman Catholic Church!" How little 33 G APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. docs she rest upon the blood of the Lamb ! how much upon the intercession of Mary, the absolution of the Chui'ch, and the merits, the excellences, and the virtues of pseudo-saints ! But, beautiful as this reading is, I do not think it is the true one ; and we must not hesitate to say so : we must not bend texts to our theology, but we must bend our theology to texts. We must not read God's word in the light of our creed, but we must read our creed in the light of God's word. And what is plainly the word of God, and demonstrated by unequi- vocal evidence to be so, that we must receive, whether we can make it dovetail with our notions or not : whe- ther we receive it as a hamionising element into our creed or not, is of no consequence, if it is truth : because it is from the Fountain of Truth, it is in harmony with all other truth ; and, if it do not sound to us as if it were so, it is from the deafness of our ear, and not from the dissonance of God's truths. I prefer, therefore, the reading of our authorised version, because it occurs in every ancient MS. of any weight or authority whatever ; and, moreover, I believe as it stands in oiu' Bible it is in I)erfcct harmony with the rest of the word of God. The word ''right " may startle some : it is the trans- lation of the Greek word E^ovaiaj which means, liberty, authority. It is the very same word that occurs in that beautiful passage, " To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." It does not mean ''merit," it means liberty or authority. Heie it does not imply that they have a right to the tree of life because they do the commandments of Jesus ; but it teaches that their doing the commandments is the evidence of their belonging to Jesus, and therefore, as the result of this characteristic, they are made fit for, and have an entrance abundantly administered into the gates of the city of our God. You must often have noticed, in reading God's word, how completely precept and privilege, doctrine and duty, are interwoven like woof and warp into one glorious textui'c. God's word is not written as if it were composed by men who had a scheme to support ; the very fact that you find startling TKE liLESSED OXES. 337 texts that seem to fly ia the face of your creed, is just presumptive evidence that holy men wrote as they were inspired by God, not in order to keep all continuously in harmony with a pre-arranged and preconceived creed, which they had constructed in their own minds. You will find then, I say, this — that the promise and the precept are continually interchanged, and occasionally change places. Is there a promise of a crown? it is added, '' Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Have we free justification through the blood of Jesus ? it is added, ^' Shall we go on in sin that grace may abound ? God forbid." Are we saved by grace ? it is the reward of the inheritance : it is given for faithful continuance in well-doing. The reward that crowns the duty, is constantly associated with the privilege which sustains and animates us in the discharge of that duty. In Christ is the Christian's title ; like Christ is the Christian's character; resting on the sacrifice of Christ in our position, doing Christ's com- mandments, is our constant duty ; and character is inseparable from the state ; holiness is inseparable from forgiveness ; sanctification is inseparable from justifica- tion : wherever there are forgiven men, there there are holy men : wherever there are accepted men, there there are those who do God's commandments and have a right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city. jN'ow, who are those that do God's commandments ? — for the whole meaning and application of the text lies in answer to this question. They are exclusively for- given, justified, and accepted men. '' By nature there is none that doeth good ; all have sinned, and come short of the gloiy of God." They are ignorant of the purity of God's law, and we are by nature disinclined to the duty prescribed by God's law ; and therefore they who do this law, who obey His commandments, ai^e first sons, then they are servants ; theii^ persons are accepted first, their oftcrings are welcome next. They are de- livered fii'st from the curse of a law that condemns them, and then they accept the guidance of a law that SECOND si:ini:s. Z 338 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. acquits and welcomes and directs them. They are emancipated from the curse of the law, in order to be introduced into a nearer, clearer, and more growing obedience to the duties of the law. And obedience to the commandments of God is the evidence and action of aU the people of God. They see God's law in a new light, they do it with a new delight; and the new obedience, and the new heart, and the justified person, are all one and the same in Jesus Christ. l^ow it may be asked, in the next place, If they are Chi'istians who do God's commandments, and none else, what are the commandments of Christ ? "When we read the word commandments, we are apt to leap to the con- clusion that this means the Ten commandments, or the two epitomes of the commandments which I read this morning, and which are perfect exliibitions of all the commandments of God. But these commandments spe- cified here are not specially the commandments of God the Eather, or of the Triune Jehovah, but they are espe- cially and distinctively the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. He introduces himself in verse 13, saying, '^I am AljDha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." Then John, listening to the music of these accents pealed from the upper sanctuary, adds, *' Blessed are they that do His commandments " — the commandments of the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. A\Tiat, then, are his commandments ? I will give you the very first ; and how full of all that can touch and attract the human heart is that commandment of his ! *' Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." " Look unto me, all the ends of the earth, and be ye saved." And how precious is this fact, that He makes our safety to be our duty, our salvation to be our instant obligation ; and that He makes our disregard of salvation not merely the rejection of our own mercy, but also disobedience to his own royal and conclusive command ! It is thus that the cross is inseparable from the sceptre ; and he that refuses to be saved, not merely rejects the mercy that can forgive him THE BLESSED ONES. 339 but disobeys the royal command of Him wbo would redeem him. " Por this is His commandment, that ye believe on Jesus Christ whom He hath sent." And, my dear friends, is not that the character of all the com- mandments of God ? God never commands his creatures as an arbitrary tyrant, to gratify himself. Whatever he commands them to do is necessary to their own hap- piness and holiness, and progress to heaven. ]S"ever forget, then, that when God commands you to be holy, it is really his commanding you to be happy. "When God bids you accept grace, that is offered in his Son, he commands you to accept that savlation which will make you happy and blessed for ever. But there are other commandments of the Alpha and Omega: here, for instance, is a veiy precious one : " Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all else shall be added." Seek this first in your heatt; seek it first in your family. When you go to listen to a minister, seek first an evangelical minister ; an eloquent or learned one next. Be less anxious that he is a man of talent ; be more anxious that he is a child of God ; for I solemnly believe that the dry, closely-compacted and soldered essays that are sometimes delivered from the pulpit, and fired, as it were, from the cannon's mouth, to hit in some direction, are not what God will bless : what he will bless is living truth coming from living hearts, spoken to the people, — the minister appealing to them in piercing tones ; not because it is a duty, or in order to make the people cry, " How beautiful !" or '' How logical!" but in order to make them cry out in the agony of their hearts, " Men and brethren, what must we do to be saved?" You are to seek God and his righteousness first, not only in selecting a minister, but in selecting a school. Do not send your children to a school because it is cheap, or because they will be taught the most elegant accomplishments ; because they will be taught to play mth great grace upon the piano, or be- cause they wiU be taught to dance with great beauty, and to conciliate the applause and admu-ation of others. Make sure, first, of having a Christian teacher, and then 340 APOCALYrTIC SKETCHES. settle, in any degree or proportion that 3'ou like, the accomplishraents that are to follow. " Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all else shall be added." And so in youi' reading, seek books first that will make yon wise, and holy, and happy, and then enjoyment and pleasure will be added. But let me give you another commandment : "Do this in remembrance of me." "^\Tio said that? He that bore the ciu'se in his own body on the tree ; He that emptied the cup of its bitterness, and filled it with ex- haustless gweetness. He says to you, " Do this in re- membrance of me;" and next Lord's day I invite you to do so. Hid I not tell you in the morning what I look upon as the most melancholy feature in this con- gregation ? that when the table of the Lord is spread, and the professed people of God gather round it, two- tMrds of the congregation turn their backs and retire : and, as I told you, the footfall of the retiring crowd seems to whisper, nay, to thimder, in my heart, "We are outcasts, we have no right to our leather's board, we are not fitted for heaven ; we are not fitted for His table here, and, of course, not fitted for His judg- ment-throne hereafter; therefore we turn our backs upon His table, and plunge into the world and the world's revelry." What is that table? is it a table ai'ound which the thimders roll, and the lightnings of Sinai flash ? from which a man may pray to be hidden, lest he be consumed ? The communion table is a festival : it is a feast, not a fast : it is the memorial of love that died for us : it does not speak of judgments ready to consume and crush us : it is spread for the hungry and the thirsty; for the faint, and the fearful, and the weary, and the expecting : the least grace, the least faith. He will no more reject, than He will quench the smoking flax, and break the bruised reed. The only qualification for that table is just this : '' I am lost, and Christ is my Saviour ; I desire to run from myself, and be found in Him ; and in life and in death to do His commandments, and through His blood to look for ad- mission into the gates of the city, and a right to the THE ELESSED o:n"es. 341 tree of life." Then, my dear friends, if you arc leaving out one commandment, you are not doing the command' ments of Clmst. Here is another command : ''Go into all the world, and j^reach the Gospel to every creature." ''Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." "Be mercifu], as He is merciful." "Love your ene- mies, pray for them that curse you, and do good to them which despitefuUy use you and persecute you." Such are some of the commandments of Christ ; blessed are they that do them. The blessing is in the obedi- ence, the reward is in the bosom of the worker ; and it will be felt to be the sweeter, even where the duty is the most arduous and difficult. These commandments are to be done in o2)position to our own will. The fii'st lesson a Christian has to learn is, to do always, not what he likes best, but what he ought to do ; not what he would, but what he should do ; and when you re- ceive commandments from your blessed Master, you must be prepared to hush all joiw passions, to subdue all your prejudices, and gird your loins for unfaltering obedience to Him, in spite of protesting passions and rebellious prejudices ; and do simply, wJiatever be the consequence, and however man may construe it, what- ever you feel to be your duty, and the commandment of God. — But you are to do them, not only in opposition to your own will, when it rebels, but in opposition to the will, the pr£>judices, and the opinions of other men. Many adopt as a lule the tradition of the elders. Many persons say, If I do this, what will this man say ? If I do tliis, that man will say tliis ; and if I do not do it, this one will say something else. My dear friends, if you let in such a method of reasoning, there will be no end to your troubles and difficulties. If you look behind you to see who is watching, or before to see who is obstructing, your course will be zigzag, and full of bends, and turns, and crooked shifts. But if you have a single eye, and simplicit)^ of pui-pose, and a heart sanctified by the Spiiit of God, jowv course wiU be on- 342 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. ward straight like an arrow, and the end of that course will be the tree of life, and an entrance into the city of our God. But let me notice, as another department of my sub- ject, that in order to do such commandments, we must clearly, fully, and distinctly understand them. Where are these commandments to be found ? They are to be found in that book which has become with many an obsolete book — but, I trust, with increasing numbers the man of their counsel — the word of God. He who opens that book, and searches it as the Saviour pre- scribes, will soon know of the doctrines and the duties, whether they be of Christ : and when we have recourse to that word, we must take care lest we lose its prac- tical excellence in admiration of its poetic beauty; or lest we be so charmed and captivated with its persuasive eloquence, and its glorious poetry, that we come to read it as poets or critics, instead of accepting it as Christians. It is my own lot — and a painful experience it is to me — to feel the difficulty of getting rid of the minister, in reading the Scriptures, and of retaining only the Chris- tian: while I study God's word, the constant temptation comes into my mind, as I open it, How shall I expound this ? By what means shall I illustrate that ? Ajid I have often to say, to the pulpit, and the minister, and the people. Stand aside, get thee behind me, and let me alone ; that I may listen to God, as a poor dying sinner needing teaching from his Holy Spirit. My dear friends, we ought at such times to get rid of all that is national or official, and retain behind only our personal responsi- bility in the sight of God. Leave, then, all that is beau- tiful in the poetry of Scripture, all that is persuasive m its eloquence ; cross the threshold, enter the sacred edifice, and worship there. Regard the Bible as an ocean whose floor is covered with the most precious gems, where the man that dives oftcnest and deepest will bring up the richest treasures and the most pre- cious possessions. Remember, that book was written and is preserved, not to conciliate their prejudices, or to arrest your admiration, but with infinitely loftier ends — THE BLESSED ONES. 343 to enligliteii your mind, to reach your heart, to touch your conscience, and to make you wiser, and holier, and happier, and better. The man who takes the Bible as a book for criticism, instead of a pharmacopoeia for pre- scriptions, acts like a man who receives a prescription from a physician while he is ill, and instead of present- ing it to the chemist, getting it made up, and taking it, iii'st of all discusses the grammar of the prescription and the construction of the Latin in which it is written ; and when he gets the medicine, puts it in a crucible on the fire, or cuts it with a knife, in order to try its com- position ; and so wastes his time, and gives strength to his disease, by making experiments on its nature instead of trying its ejffects by taking it as it was prescribed. Thus you are not to treat God's word. Do not spend your time in cavilling at this, or applauding that, or wondering at something else, but read it as men who regard it as a pharmacopoeia that God has written ; treat it like the tree of life; gather those precious leaves which are for the healing, and eat of its pre- cious fniit which is for the food and nutriment of the nations. Having ascertained, then, what God's commandments are, let us receive them with perfect submission : re- collect that the Bible is not a compendium of texts for discussion, or a bundle of theories for analysis, or dog- mas for testing; but a presentation of doctrines for simple, childlike, unquestioning submission. When I hear a minister read a text, and say, I am about to prove this, I could wish I were a hundred miles away. What ! prove what God has said ? If God has said it, there is an end to all demonstration. But if he says, I ^vill try to unfold its meaning, to bring before you its perfect harmony with the rest of the Bible and with the context, to explain their meaning, to break up its mystery, and to pour upon your hearts its blessed truths, I can understand that. If I find a truth impressed with Christ's imprimatur, I have nothing to do but to take its simple testimony, and act upon it as if it were one of the pillars that sustain the universe ; for these 344 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. may pass away, but not one jot or one tittle of God's word shall pass away till all be fulfilled. And, in the third place, we are to receiye and do these commandments "wdth impartiality. There is a good deal of the old Pharisaism in every character. They made the rigid observance of one commandment an atonement for the violation of all the rest. "When a Pharisee wished special licence to violate the seventh command- ment, he paid special attention and obedience to the sixth ; or when he wished to violate specially the sixth, he was sure to be found magnifying beyond all limits the fifth. And there is still, with many, the idea that they may indulge in this sin, provided they be rid of that ; and that they may do what this man does, because they do something that this man does not. AVherever there is such reasoning there is want of grace, and want of thorough consistency of thought, character and conduct. Because, if you violate one commandment, how can you keep any one ? The same voice which sounds from Sinai, ^' Thou shalt not commit adultery," is the same which addresses, in the same tones, "Thou shalt not steal." If 3'ou \T.olate one commandment, what reason is there, except 3'our own superstition, for your keeping any commandment of God at all ? You must not, therefore, select one commandment for special observance, and subject another to your own passion, or convenience, or caprice. You must hear God's voice in all ; you must see God's hand in all ; you must read God's superscription in all ; and you must do all — not, indeed, to be justified by doing them, for that is deadly poison, but — because your hearts have been changed, and your natures renewed, and you do, as your plea- sure and delight, the will of your Father which is in heaven. In the next place, we must do His commandments when we cannot see the end or meaning of those we are called upon to do. Many times are we called upon, in the course of God's providence, to do something, or to suffer something, the meaning, the mystery, and the issue of which we cannot exactly see. Let us make THE BLESSED Ol^TES. 345 sure it is God's will, and tlien unquestioning obedience is still our best and our wisest course. Be humble in your ignorance, trustful in your love: weakness can lean on the Omnipotence it cannot comprehend; and He who prescribes the duty will be our support, when we cannot understand its mysteries or see its issue. Let us be assured that He that knows all perfectly will order all wisely, and that " in keeping his commandments there is great reward." In the next place, we must do His commandments resolutely. Christ's commandments are in one respect easy, and in another difficult. They are easy to a Chris- tian, they are unspeakably difficult to an unconverted man. Here is the difference between Christianity and anti-chiistianity. Anti-chiistianity is delightful to the natural man, but hateful to the Christian. Christianity is delightful to the Christian, but hateful to the natural man. Now, in order to do Chiist's commandments reso- lutely, we must first be sons: even when we are so, we shall be called upon sometimes to bear what feels heavy, and to go through what seems severe, and to obey what appears a hard command. But has Christ deceived us ? He has not told us that all we shall meet in life ^vill be sweet and pleasant : on the contrary, he has said, *' Through my tribulation ye must enter into the kingdom of heaven.'' " Let any man that will come after me take up his cross and follow me." " In the world ye shall have tribulation." And, in the last place, we must do his command- ments, not in our own strength, but in reliance on divine strength. And this strange paradox, which the natural mind cannot comprehend, Christians have felt to be gloriously true : " WlTen I am weak then am I strong." Never is the Christian so near victory, as when he has the consciousness within him that he can do nothing : never is he so strong as Avhen he says, ''By the grace of God I* am what I am ;" never is he so capable of heroic sacrifice and of noble daring, of mighty and resplendent acts, as when he can say, "I can do all things," not stopping here, but adding, *' thi^ough Christ which 346 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. strcngtheneth me.'* Mj clear friends, I do not ask you to make bricks witlioiit giving you straw : I ask you to obey the commandments of Christ in the strength of Christ, obedience to whom is perfect happiness — happi- ness which is only the dawn of a nobler still. The darkest night shall have its sky illumined with it, as with unutterable glory ; and when you are alone, you shall feel that troops of angels wait upon you continually, and minister to your wants. But it is here said, that those who do his command- ments— and I beg of you not to forget that I am speak- ing of Clmstians, when I speak of doing His command- ments— that they have present happiness. It is not said. Blessed shall theij he, but Blessed are they. In the beautiful language of Deuteronomy, ^' Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, and the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store." (xxviii. 4, 5.) "Why is there happiness and blessedness in keeping and doing God's commandments ? Because Christians are justified men. And they that love to do Christ's commandments are brought within the orbit of their natural attraction. The natural man has broken loose from the attraction of the great Sun, and rolls through infinite space, dashing against successive objects, unfruitful, miserable, unhappy : but when God's hand is laid upon him, and the stray star is brought back to its orbit, and comes under the attraction of the great centi'al Sun, basking in its light and bathed in its splendour, then the creature is snatched fi'om the experience of woe, and placed within the sphere of attrac- tion and happiness, and blessednjess, or obedience to the command of God. And you t:how, and experience teaches us, that there is no blessedness or happiness anywhere else. Some have tried to find happiness in wealth: we have aU, I dare say, had a turn of that passion ; it is the popular passion. They go out tb Can- ton, and to India, and to the ends of the earth, all of them seeking happiness, — not always in duty, but in money — as their idol and theii' god. And they return home, THE BLESSED ONES. 347 and find their predecessors, some of them grown rich, and yet not happy — others of them returned poor, and yet not happy ; and they their successors have the same experience to read over again, and to discover that all the wealth of the Indies, and of Peru, is but a broken cistern that can hold no water. I solemnly believe, my dear friends, that there is no such thing as real happii- ness to be had at any point in that pecuniary prospect that our imagination sets before us. I am quite sure that we are not a whit happier with 200/. a-year than we were with 150/., and we are not one whit happier with 500/. than we were with 200/. ; and if Ave were to double that sum we should not be a whit the happier still. Por what was regarded as a perfect luxiuy when we had 150/. a-year, comes to be an absolute necessity with 500/. a-year. Thus it is that luxuries in the distance become necessities in possession, and our happiness is still a matter of procrastination and postponement — not yet, but to be. My dear friends, happiness is within, it is not from without ; and you may depend upon it that increase of knowledge and increase of wealth is not increase of happiness. If we can only realise, and pray as Agar j)rayed, " 0 God, give me not riches, lest I forget thee ; give me not poverty, lest I steal. Give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me." The shoe is best, not when it is too large, or when it pinches, but just when it fits. We are strongest and ablest to walk, not when we have too many sticks, nor too short a stick, but a stick suited to our hand, and able to bear us. It is best when we have what a Chris- tian asks : and have you ever thought of that prayer, '' Give us this day our daily bread ?" That is all we have need to ask, and to ask for more is to look beyond to-day. Others have tried to find happiness, not in wealth, but in philosophy, in study, in literatui'e, in seclusion from the world, in escape from duty, rather than in mingling with and perfoiTaing it. Others have tried to find it in gaiety, in splendid parties, in the sound of the pipe and the tabret and the dance. Have they found it ? I believe (though I have had no expe- 348 ArOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. rience), knowing human nature, and from what others have said, that when the smile has been npon the face, and the footstep has indicated, mii'th and liilarity, there has been an aching void of dissatisfaction, and misery, and envy, and jealousy, and chagrin witliin, and that all the sjdendonr of the exterior is but the gilded covering that conceals the hollowness and bitter- ness and sorrow that are within. Solomon drank of every cistern, smelled every flower, gathered eveiy blossom, learned all knowledge, understood all science, practised all sin, and gratified all lust ; and he came to this conclusion, from personal and painful experience, ''All is vanity and vexation of spirit." But he came to a better conclusion than that : " Fear God, and keep his commandments ; for this is the whole duty of man." Elessodness, or happiness, is to be found where it is stated in the text : it is to be found, according to history, according to the experience of the aged, . accord- ing to the conclusions of Scripture, in doing the com- mandments of God. And when we know that the curse is removed, that hell is closed, that heaven is opened, that the suspended sword is sheathed — that God is our Father, then we begin to be happy. "WTien we feel that our passions are subdued : that there is living water coming forth where was the gall of bitterness before : that there is the service of God where was the slavery of Satan : that there is Avithin us the music of heaven for the discords of the damned : that we have the feel- ings and affection of sons, and not the crouching craven terror of slaves ; when our whole heart is thus regene- rated, and our whole man reformed, and God's command- ments become alike our duty and our delight, then we know, we feel, indeed, what true haj^piness is. And if, instead of ^-isiting the east and the west, the north and the south, to secure what you have not, you were simply to become Christians where you are, I believe you would feel liappy just where you are. People of the living God, let your Christianity be seated in every counting- house, let it serve in every shop, let it speak behind every desk, tread upon every exchange, touch the THE BLESSED ONES. 349 eccptre, speak in the senate, be heard in the republican congress, and in the royal cabinet — let Clii-istianity inspire all, and gild all, and animate all, — and yon Avill find a new halo begin to surround humanity, and the heart that was breaking shall bound Avith joy, and men shall feci that there is blessedness only in the shadow of the tree of life, and in drinking of that river that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Eut the chief blessedness, let me add briefly in conclu- sion, of a Christian is in prospective, it is in reversion : _" He shall have a right to the tree of life, and to enter in through the gates into the city:" — the city which Abraham looked for — the city which is so graphically described in chap xxi. of this book, and on which I have already spoken — that city that was built by God, and beautified and illumined and made ready for you — the city (for all other cities have the dry-rot in their walls, and decay in all their elements, and graves in all their acres), that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Such persons shall be admitted through its gates ; they have not an access to make, they have no approach to excavate, no obstiiiction to remove, for the gates are opened, the gates of glory into which the King of Glory has entered : all they have to do is to follow Christ who precedes them, their works following them, and so dwell for ever in the presence of God and of the Lamb. I have explained the tree of life in another ser- mon,— or literally icoocl of life ; its leaves for the healing, and its fruit for the food of the nations, or those who ap- proach tliat tree to eat its leaves, and participate in its fruit— which gives them life, and is the sacrament of immortality : we receive eternal life here, and we enjoy it there. There Avas a tree of life in Eden, which was designed to teach oar first parents that their life was not an original one, but a derived one ; and so we shall feel in heaven that our life is not an original life, but one de- rived from God, and from whom, therefore, it perpetually flows. Such is the exposition of the beautiful passage I have read to you ; such is the blessedness of those who are 350 APOCALTl'TIC SKETCHES. justified by Christ ; such is the rcTvard of them that do the commandments of God ; such are the persons whom I invite to the communion table next Lord's day : all that can say, AYe lean upon the Sav-iour for acceptance with God, we desii'e to do his will, and follow in his footprints till we appear before God. AVe have no wish but his will ; we have no deske that we would cherish which can clash with his commandment ; we desire to be found in him, and to be seen serving him our whole life, and to be with him when time shall be no more. LECTIIEE XXYI. THE INYITATIOT^. " The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come* And let him that is athirst come : and u'hosoever will, let him talce of the loater of life freely r — Eey. xxii. 17. I PASS by the 15tli verse in the course of my exposi- tion of the successive verses of this chapter, because the main sentiment in it is illustrated in the last verse of chap. xxi. I also pass the 16th verse, because the chief truth illustrated in it seems to be proclaimed almost in the same terms in the previous verses of the same chapter : and this evening I adopt for exposition the most beautiful words contained, perhaps, in the Apocalj'pse ; the most precious invitation addressed to sinners in any part of the Gospel — addressed directly by Him who is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, and who is here represented in this His glorious character, suspending for a little the picture of the future glory, in order to appeal to the hearts of them that read, and to the ears of them that hear : '' The Spirit and the Bride say. Come. And let him that heareth say. Come. And let him that is athirst come : and whosoever wiU, let him take of the water of life freely." AYe are all, without exception, if I may believe the express statements of Scripture, or regard the experience of humanity, athirst. These words are not addressed to saints as such, who thirst for the living water of the Gospel, but imto aU of every class, tribe, and tongue, and cast of mankind, who are without Chi'iiyt, and need to be saved. It assumes, whut all who know humanity will 352 APocALYriic sketches. readily admit, that every man, without exception, is, more or less, athirst. True, it is not for the living waters of the river of life, because they do not really — saints only so thirst ; but there is in every man's bosom, from the time that sin first dried up the pristine streams that flowed through man's unfallcn and holy heart, a burning and a parched sense of want — an aching void, that claims to be supplied from some great source, to ease his wants, and neutralise the bitterness of his lost condition. Eveiy one has within him an inward and an aching void — a deep sense of misery, dissatisfaction, and disquiet — created by the departure of that li^^g God whom he offended in paradise, which is to be removed only by His retimi, and the reflux of that river of life that proceedeth from the throne of God and of the Lamb. I speak to every man in this assembly, when I ask you this ques- tion. Have you not a sense of something wanting still to make you perfectly happy? Is there not occasionally experienced within you some feeling which is to your soul what hunger is to the body — what fever is to the animal economy — what thii'st is to your every-day sensa- tions } a consciousness of want — a feeling of loss — an aching and an irritating chasm which you cannot fill or destroy, and which, nevertheless, you are ever trying to fill from such broken cisterns as you dig out of the world ? Tliis being the state and experience of all mankind, we thus see what is the great object of all their toiling, their striving, and their laboiu'ing under the sun. It is to satisfy this thii\st, which eveiy one feels more or less, that every man is running with untiring feet, and toiling with unceasing hand, if peradvcnture he may reach something at last which he hopes will remove this aching sense, and enable him to feel perfect peace in the retrospect of the past, and a no less perfect repose in the prospect of the sure and solemn future. That stream of living beings that runs like a torrent every day along the Strand and Cheapside, is humanity di'iven by this inner sense of want, here and there and everywhere, in search of some- thing to remove it. The ambitious man excavates thrones, THE INVITATION. 353 and soars amid the stars, seeking some fountain at which he may diink and slake it there ; and the avaricious man sails to California, or digs mines wherever he can find accessible an acre of the earth ; or waits for hours and days on the exchange, and watches the ups and downs of the stocks, and all the movements of the money market, if peradventure he may increase his capital, and add to his income, and reach that point in pecuniary resources which will enable him, as he anticipates, to defy the world, and feel independent of its favour or frown. Every man, in short, whatever be his condition, his profession, his employment in the world, feels that there is a want within him ; and he labours night and noon to remove it, and so fill the aching chasm, and quench the biuTiing and the fevered thirst. My dear friends, it is the great evidence of our fall, that we seek to satisfy the soul with things seen ; it is the great demonstration of our aljoriginal grandeur, that there is nothing in the universe but Grod that can satisfy that soul. It is the evidence, I say, of the tenible eclipse that has passed upon us, that we try to fill the infinite vacuity from broken cisterns : it is the evidence of the vastncss of that soul, that there is nothing in the heights, nothing in the depths, nothing in pleasure, nothing in possession, that can fill it and make it rest. It is written on crowns and coronets, on thrones, on aU that is great, magnificent, and sjDlendid, ''Whoso drink- eth of this water shall thii^st again j" but it is heard in the chimes of the waves of the river that flows fr^om the throne of God and of the Lamb, that was first unsealed on Calvary, ''But he that di'inketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but it shaU be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." "0 Lord, evermore give us this water." The only element that can satisfy this thirst is a supply from that river, the virtues, the excellences, the source, and the issue of which I endeavoured to describe when I preached to you from the fij'st verse of this chapter: "He showed me" ■ — for we cannot see without showing ; all that we can see with the outwai'd eye is the outside of the Gospel, SECOND SERIES. A A 354 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. the channel of Christianity ; it needs him that inspii^ed the Bible to ojoen up and show ns the river within : — " He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." I need not tell you that living water is used throughout the Bible as the great symbol of the blessings of the Gospel; and if I translated sjTnbolic language into plain prosaic language, it would be this — that man has within him a want which nothing but Chiistianity can meet, and truly and perfectly remove. In order to convey these and kindi'cd great truths more vividly, God is i)leased to use symbolic language ; and I need not say that such language is consecrated by the habits and usages of all nations. There is something, certainly, in an expressive s}Tnbol, that comes home to man's heart with very great power, and not only conveys more vividly a great truth, but opens up that mysterious and inner harmony between things physical and things spiritual, which the blunted ear of common humanity cannot hear, but which the ear that is cii'cumciscd by the Spirit of God hears, and hears music in. And God varies the imagery in which he speaks to man for the following piu'pose. Almost every man, except the most prosaic of men, has some incident in life that makes some figure extremely eloquent and expressive to him. Some one has been a traveller in distant lands ; he has been almost starved. The picture most eloquent to that man is a picture of the Gospel under the symbol of bread. Another has been in a storm, expecting a watery grave every moment ; a vessel hove in sight, and that vessel saved him, and carried him to a haven. How full of beauty must be, to that man's heart, salvation ! Christ the author of it, the ark of salvation that preserves His people ! And so I might go over every symbol in the Gospel, and show that each is thus suited to meet a peculiar idiosyncrasy ; so that no man will be able to allege at the judgment- seat, that he missed the end of the Gospel by being ignorant and unacquainted with the mode, or symbol, or imagery in which that Gospel was conceived. THE iNYiTxyno:^^. 355 "We find the figure in the text alluded to in such pas- sages as these: — Isa. xxxy'. ''In the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shaU become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.'" Isar xli. 18, we read: "I will open rivers in high places, and foimtains in the midst of the valleys : I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dryland springs of water." In Isa. Iv. 1, we have that beautiful invitation, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; yea, come, buy ^vine and milk without money, and without price." Again, in the Gospel of John, Ave have the same beautiful idea set forth : ''If thou kneAVest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." AU these are images em- ployed by various penmen, borrowed from rivers, or fountains, or springs, to convey some deep sense of the mighty blessings of the Gospel of Jesus, and to teach aU humanity, athirst as it is, that there is but one fountain that can satisfy it — the fountain of living water. And yet, strange to say, the prophet says, men "have com- mitted two great evils ; they have forsaken the fountain of living water, and have hewn out to themselves broken cisterns." How expressive is that ! They have for- saken the fountain that is unsealed, that gushes forth at their very doors, and have not gone to other cisterns that they found equally open; but rather than take God's living water freely, they have laboured A\ith i)ick- axes and hammers, and hewn out cisterns which they fiind, one after another in painful succession, to be *' broken cisterns that can hold no water." Kow, having explained to you in a former discourse the nature of that river, and the character of that water, I vriU dwell this evening, as God may enable me, not upon the nature of the blessings of the Gospel, but upon the duty and the privilege, the instant duty and the in- stant privilege, of coming and accepting the blessings that are fi^eely offered. If there be one idea that is more than another impressed in my text, it is the invitation, A A 2 356 AJOCALYPriC SXETCnES. " The Spirit and tlic bride say, Come ;" that is one in- yitation; "and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that is athirst come ; and whosoerer will, let him take of the water of life freely." You see, then, that the main drift of the text is to urge -and impress the duty — I will not say the duty, tliough it is a duty ; I will say the privilege, the unspeakable privilege — of at once coming to the fountain imsealed by Him that filled it ; and of diinking at that fountain those truths, those hopes, those promises, those blessings, that forgiveness, that peace, that joy, which ^vill enable you to look dov^Ti upon the grandeur and magnificence of the world as pale, and mean, and worthless, and to thirst again only for God, the living God. The invitation, then, is, Come ; the entreaty is, Eelieve and accept the Gospel. Let me just descend to the lowest ground on which it is possible to address you this evening. I have addressed those that profess to be the people of God, who sur- rounded the communion-table to-day. I would address this evening many who are either strangers to the Gospel in fact, or who feel in their own inmost consciences that they are indeed truly so. In speaking, then, to the great mass of those that arc before me, I have this to state. That your own solemn convictions — your deliberate conclusions — your sober and inmost judgment, are all on the side of the Gospel of Christ Jesus. There is not a man in this assembly, the most thoughtless, the most ungodly, who, as far as his own solemn deliberate judgment is concerned, does not believe that Christianity is true, and that I beg him to do what is clear duty when I bid him become a Christian. True, your heart may rebel, 3'our lusts may protest, your will will not bow, — all this I admit ; but in your judgment, your cahn deliberate judgment, you have made up your mind that Christianity is true. In- fidelity, or the deliberate rejection of the Gospel, is not a thing reached in a moment : it is generally a vast petri- faction of wickedness, and scorn, and atheistic contempt. The man who has come to the conviction that this Gospel is a lie, is a man who has come to it along a tortuous, THE INTITATIOX. 357 dark, and miry course : it is as much the conclusion of an unsanctilieri. heart and a corrupt lite, as of a pre- judiced and prepossessed judgment. Eut every man in. this audience, I solemnly bclieye, explain it as you like, whatever be his prest^nt life, his character, has at bottom a belief — that sometimes bursts forth with intolerable force, and reasons of righteousness and temperance and judgment — that this book called the Bible, keep it down as he may, is God's book; and this religion called Chris- tianity, hold it at arm's length as he can, has God for its author. You know quite well — and now let your own con- sciences respond to what I say — that j'our best judgment never applauded you after the practice of a deliberate sin, or your escape from the hearing of the Gospel, or your rejection of the Bible, the sanctuary — God. You know it is so. You know that in your calmest, most deliberate, most unsophisticated moments, the conviction was clear as a sunbeam though it may have been cold as an icicle, that Christianity is true : it has subdued your intellect, though it has not yet sanctified your heart ; and the painful position in which a man who has this conviction mthin him is placed, is this, that he lias incurred all the responsibilities of the Gospel, and he has reached the enjoyment of none of its joys and blessings. I look upon that man as the most pitiable of all men, who has strong purposes to become a Christian to-day, and as strong counterpiu'poses to have nothing to do with Christianity to-morrow. They are the bor- derers between heaven and hell, feeling now the torture of the one, captivated anon by the sunshine of the other ; they have neither God's peace nor the devil's quiet ; they have neither the opiate that the world can give them, nor the perfect peace in which God will keep them whose minds arc staid on Him. Thus, then, your own dehberate judgments perfectly concur with me. When I invite you to believe, I have the support of your judg- ments : there is not a young man in this assembly at this moment, whose judgment does not say, " That preacher is right ; and what he asks me to do is good, and what 358 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. he asserts is true ; " but tlien— there is this obstruction, and there is that difficulty ; and in some way you get rid of the thought as soon as you get out of the house of God ; you flee to something else that will comfort you in the rejection of the Gospel of Christ. But I have not only your judgment plainly with me, when I urge you to come and accept the Gospel ; I have •with me, on the whole, your consciences. You know very well, that many a time when you have gone to your home after some bacchanalian excess — many a time when you have left the playhouse jaded "svith its excitement, or reached your closet from the opera with its tones still sounding in the chamber of your souls, not fit to read and still less to pray, and you have lain down upon your bed, you have felt within a throbbing pulse that seemed to have some connexion with some higher power ; you have had deep and terrible misgivings that made you feel, All is not as it should be ; and This sort of life will not do. Has not a stern judge "\\T.thin you reasoned in awful tones of righteousness and temperance and judgment, and called upon you with imperious accents to cease to do evil and leam to do well ? Your conscience, you know, has cried to you in its agony, Drink of that water : your passions and your lusts have risen up, and cried, Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than the waters of Israel ? But still, this very stiTiggle shows, that if the truth has its foes, it has also its allies wdthin you ; and those calls within, so deep, so solemn, so piercing, are evidences that God has not yet utterly forsaken you, — that his great hand is yet upon you — that His mercy is near — that He will not yet let you sink into the depths of hell without some tremendous opposition, that will either revolutionise your present coiu'se, or leave you without excuse for ever. My dear friends, when you have had time to think in your own quiet chamber, has not some- times a mysterious spirit started up from the depths of conscience like a spectre from the grave, and spoken to you great, deep, and solemn tniths ? And how great was the difficulty you felt in getting rid of these truths ! What manoiuviing to keep them down ! what management to THE INYITATIO]!?. 359 silence their voices ! I believe it costs a man ten times more trouble to get to bell, than it ever cost the greatest saint to go to glory. There is not upon earth a more troublesome or a more wearisome, wearing toil, than that of trying to keep a Kve conscience quiet. Yet you never succeed. You may stun it, you may stupify it, you may drug it; you may give it a momentary opiate. You may apply counter-irritation, by turning all youi' thoughts to an object of another description, but extinguish it you never can. ^Tien you come to die, you will feel it quick with life and eloquent with truth. I believe no man dies without a deep presentiment that he is going to heaven, or to everlasting ruin, because at that solemn hour the veil is partially rent, the imagery that dazzled is faded, and the gilded glory of time is worn off; things seen -have lost their beauty, and are felt to be but vanity, and the great sea of eternity rushing in reveals its over- powering grandeur. I appeal to you. Is it not the fact, that not only your best judgment in your most solemn moments, but even your conscience, is on the side of truth, and sustains me when I say. Come and chink of the water of life freely ? But I have another assistant within you ; I do not therefore speak altogether to mere sources of antagonism when I speak to natural men : there are many friends in the bosom of every one, to back me when I beg you to . believe in Jesus. Has there not been at times in you all a sense of the need of forgiveness ? ^^Tiy, there is no man in this assembly — not the youngest, I believe, here — who has not recollections and sensations of the miseiy of sin ; for no man ever commits a sin that does not per- petuate itself. All sin, the instant it is perpetrated, awakens in the soul echoes that do not sleep. Have you not in your solemn moments had resuscitated a recollec- tion of some great, palpable, and startling sin — some sin that lies heavy upon your soul, like a piece of lead upon the heart ? and ever as you recollect its facts, does there not creep over your spirit a cold, freezing, chilling shadow, that forces you to feel all is not right with you ; so much so that you would give the whole world if you 360 ArocALTrxic sketches. could catch any scapegoat in the nni verse that would bear that sm away, or aught that would neutralise its poison ? Hence it is that so many, at such a season, run, not to the true remedy, but to the nearest. It is this that explains, for instance, the fact that the celebrated Schlegel, tlie most elegant and accomplished writer, perhaps, of the last century, lived a sceptic and died a Papist. AVhy so ? "Wlien he came to lie clown upon his last sick-bed, the sense of his sin, the noise of his convictions, and his en- lightened mind, made him feel that something was needed in order to give him peace ^ith God, and the prospect of happiness. He did not know of the peace of the Gospel ; the Eomish priest was the nearest, his remedies were the most plausible ; he came and pronounced his absolution over him, and Schlegel felt peace — peace, when there was no peace at all. Am I not right, then, my dear friends, — I appeal to yourselves wlien I ask j^ou if there arc not those moments in jonv experience, in which you have a sense of sin cleaving to your conscience, so corrosive, that you would give the whole world if you could get rid of it ? So far I have a response in yourselves to my appeal : it is a voice chiming in with mine, and bidding you come where my sins have been forgiven, and where yours too may be blotted out ; where the greatest sinner has a welcome, and the greatest sin has instant forgiveness. That voice within you bids you Aj with all the speed of thought, to lay the heavy load of guilt upon the blessed Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world. But I have another feeling that aids me, in the bosom of every man ; namely, the need of consolation which every man is conscious that he feels. You have found scheme after scheme for happiness miscarry, disappoint- ment in quarters where you least expected it, sorrow and scorn and rejection where you anticipated a cordial welcome. You have tried literary pursuits, to give you comfort, and they have failed — you have tried wine and the card table, and these have not comforted you — you have turned to excitement, and pleasure, and gaml^ling, and racing, and hunting, and these liave not satisfied you ; you have tried all schemes and plans, and, lili:e Solomon, THE IXYITATION. '861 your experiment drives you to the deliberate conclusion — " All is vanity and vexation of spirit ;" and you want still comfort — you want still something that will be a balm to your bleeding spiiit — that will heal your broken heart — that will give you ''beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." My dear friends, there is but one remedy; the prescription which the Spirit of God alone has WTitten, and which the Son of God alone has made up. The thing that will heal you is a leaf from the tree of life ; the balm that will comfort 3'ou is the balm of Gilead. My amazement is, not that I hear of disappointed men committing suicide : the wonder to me is, that natural men do not more frequently do so. I say, there is something so crushing in the great reverses that occur every chy, — there must be so terrible an anxiety when a man's all is in his trade, or on the sea, and at the mercy of wind and wave, or so situated that a single oscillation in the market may leave him penniless to-day, who had thousands the day before, — and when, in addition to all this, he has nothing to look to above and beyond, and nothing to tinist to when all is swept away, — that I am not sui-prised that numbers feel am-thing better than the terrible and desperate solitude which such losses must create in their hearts. I have, therefore, in yoiu^ felt need of comfort, a voice pleading for you, and urging you, in the language of my text, to come. Are there not moments when you take a verj^ correct and almost Scrip- tural view of the precariousness and shortness of this present life — when you look at it just as it is, leaving all prejudice, excitement, and sympathy with things ex- ternal, where they should be ? Our life, should it be the longest, is very soon run out. But life does not always unwind itself gradually: the spring sometimes snaps, and life uncoils itself at once : many that rise beautiful like the sun in their race, are eclipsed at noon : many a one that comes forth strong and able, and full of promise and of great age, is cut down like a tree, ''no sooner blown than blasted." If this life were all — if I had nothing to hope for beyond it, — I should pronounce the 362 • APOCALTPTIC SKETCHES. God that created me a cruel being ; and feel that man had been made ten thousand times more wretched than the lowest of the beasts of the field. If I had no clear IDrospect beyond me of immortality and glory — no clear conviction that I have a home beyond the skies, and a father in that home, where near and dear ones have pre- occupied seats of glory, I should curse the day when I was born ; I should regard existence as absolute calamity, and I should pronounce life itself, like the toils of life, to be vanity and vexation of spirit. Does not this conviction flash through your minds at intervals, — that there must be something more substantial than this Hfe, something better than this world, something more worthy of man ? and is not this a call to hear the invitation addressed in my text, " Come — and let him that is athirst come ?" I have thus noticed such auxiliaries and sympathies as lie within you : let me now mention other voices which call upon you to come and drink of the water of life freely. God the Father in heaven bids you come. I do not believe that the Gospel is only addressed to the elect, as such ; I believe it is to be carried to every man's door, and that to every man under heaven it may be said, ^' Believe thou in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." I believe that it is true of every man that hears the Gospel, that if he perish within the sound of it, he perishes a suicide, an eternal suicide ; he plunges into perdition just because he would not believe God and escape into the city of refuge. God the Father asks you to come: he beseeches you to come. 'Naj, my dear friends, I believe, that if it be possible to save eveiy soul in this assembly, God will save every soul. But it is possible only in one way, and that is the way chalked out in the Gospel ; and it is impossible for us to be saved ill spite of our own consent. God never drags — ^he draws men to heaven : he never brings j^ou there against your will — he makes you willing ; we are first made willing. He says to every man, " lletum unto me, and I will have mercy upon thee." Just try to realise this, — that the great God that made that sky, and sprinkled it Avith all those orbs, some of them millions of times greater THE INTITATION. 363 than our ovm — that God wlio has merely*to speak the word this night, and every heart in this assembly mil be still — that God who coald crush you, instead of seeking to conciliate you — that God Avho might sweep you from the earth, and fill your place -^dth holy and adoring and happy beings — who might demand, instead of begging for, admission into every heart — in whom we live and move, and have our being, — beseeches you; and beseeches you to be what ? To be happy — to be saved. He cries from heaven, and bids his ministers cry upon earth — *' "WTiosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely." And God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, bids you also come. He came into the world, not to condemn, but to save mankind. Just read that beauti- ful biography — that holy and perfect biography. Is there in it one instance of that Saviour repelling a single sinner that came to him ? is there an instance of his re- jecting the entreaty of a single broken heart ? is there an instance of his ever quenching the smoking flax, or break- ing even a bmised reed ? My dear friends, I conceive that the great cause why numbers of us live without the Gospel, is that we misapprehend the very nature of the Gospel : it is not something that you have to do, but everything that you have to receive. It is not a process that you have to elaborate, the issue of which is to be heaven ; but it is a prize that you have only to stretch out your hand and take, and be holy and happy for ever. If I understand Christianity, it is not the minister standing upon Sinai, and saying, ''Do this, or thou shalt perish;" but the Lord of Glory, from his cross and from His throne, say- ing to every one here, "Here is to thee the price of heaven, the key of paradise, the unsearchable riches, instant pardon, if thou wilt only be at the trouble to take it." Such is the evangelical message. But it is added, in my text, that not only the Father and the Son invite you, but it is added here, that " the Spirit and Bride say. Come." The Spiiit says. Come ; the Holy Sjjirit of God speaks to every man, and says, " Come." Have you read the Bible ? it is full of invi- tations. He acts in providence, which is full of wai-n- 364 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. ings. He ttaclies the minister of the Gospel, whose cry continually is, '' Come." It is the Spirit of God that touches your conscience, and makes it throb : it is the Spirit of God that makes you feel that aching vacuity, that irritating chasm within, in order that you may think of, and long for, and seek after liAdng Avaters to satisfy you : it is the Spirit of God that reasons within you of righteousness, and temperance, and judgment. It is the Triune Jehovah that cries from his throne, " A^liosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely." And as the ambassador from God, " we beseech you, in Christ's stead, as though God did beseech you by u.s. Be ye reconciled to God." But not onlj does the spirit bid you come, but it is added also, "the Bride says Come.-" Most persons who have sought to explain this text, though it may seem almost too bold and daring to say so — but we must read God's word in the light in which it was written, not in the light of hbj man, however wise, eloquent, or learned — have interpreted the bride to mean the chm'ch upon earth, inviting you to come by her ministers, her ordinances, her means of grace, and all the instrumental- ities consecrated by Christ in the visible church. I do not think that this is so. 'We ought to be textual in our ex- X)ositions, while we are faithful in our exhortations. I believe the Bride is not the church upon earth, but the church in heaven — the redeemed, the ransomed, who are about the throne of the Kedeemer. Wefmd throughout the whole book of Eevelation that this is the meaning of the term : * ' The Bride makes herself ready. ' ' The true Church comes down from heaven like a bride adorned for the bride- groom. It is that compnnj' called iiT one part, " the hun- dred and forty and fom- thousand standing on Mount Zion ; " in another part, ''the two witnesses; " in another part, " the woman hid in the wilderness for a time, times, and half a time ; " called in another part, " the dead that die in the Lord ; " and in another part, " his servants that serve him day and night without ceasing ; " and now passed into heaven. Our blessed Ecdcemer saj?., God the rather, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bid 3'ou come ; and the Bride — who has passed through your THE INVITATION". 365 trials, tasted your sorrows, is experimentally acquainted with all the springs of your bitterness, has felt all your ups and downs, and has conquered all, and more than conquered all, and is crowned as the conclusion of all- adds her voice to the voice of her blessed Lord the Bride- groom, and cries from her innumerable thrones in heaven, to this conflicting, doubting, hesitating remnant upon earth, '' Come, oh come ; and let him that is athn^st come and take the water of life freely." In this, my dear friends, we have presented a touch- ing and beautiful view of what sympathy we have in heaven, lloman Catholics say that saints in heaven know what is doing upon earth. Perhaps they clo. They say too, that, in consequence, 'we should worship them, which we ought not to do : " 'W'orship God." But this I do think is intimated here, that saints in gloiyare intensely interested in the successive destinies of saints and simiers upon earth. And it is not unreasonable nor unscriptural to suppose, that if you have dear and near relatives — fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, babes— who have been snatched from your circle upon earth, in order to hasten on comx)leteness in glory, and who now con- stitute parts of the number whose name is the Bride, — a son who has left thee, and over whose dust thou didst weep so bitterly — that son, now in the realms of the blest, leans down, and looks, and says in the voice of the Bride to thee, " My father, oh take of that living water : if you knew its sweetness, its fi-eslmess, its preciousness, you would drink and be happy, as I am happy too." And, mother in Israel, that babe whom you clasped so tenderly — that babe over whose agonies you hung many a weary night, with all a mother s anguish, and prayed, '' ^ly Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me " — that babe who has preceded you to glory, and who now worships around the throne, with a palm in its hand and a crown on its brow — that babe leans from the higher firmament, and looks to thee its mother, and cries, '' Mother, come and drink of this water freely. I drink of it just as it flows from the throne : thou mayestdiink a little further down of the same hallowed stream ; and, 366 ^rociLmic sketciles. drinking of that stream, we shall be united in faith, until we are united in fact ; and if we hare lost the re- lationship of men, we may still enjoy the communion of saints." And that daughter that bloomed too beautiful for earth, and was cut down by the scythes of the des- troyer— na}", not so — that was gathered like a fair flower fitted for planting by the hand of God — that sister addresses her sister, and says, " Come : I am one of the Bride that saith. Come; and let him that is athirst come and take of the water of life freely." And, young man in this assembly, that mother who nursed thee on her knee — who tended thy cradle in a far-distant home, amid those grey hills and desert moors — amid whose prayers thou earnest to this great metropolis — from whom, like myself, thou hast derived thy first, and deepest, and holiest impressions — that mother belongs to that happy number ; she too forms a portion of the Bride, and she looks down, it may be, and knows tlice, and sees thee in thy wanderings, thy struggles, and thy griefs, and cries, *' lly son, my son ! 0 Absolom, my son, my son ! oh come and di'ink of this living water ; drink of it freely without money and without price; turn from these broken cisterns, and, drinking of it, on earth anticipate the time when thou shalt be holy and happy with me." Beautiful thought! the discipline of the church is temporary — the communion of the saints is eternal ! The saints on earth and the saints in glory are but one living and true- church; and the voices of them in glory come doAvn from the skies, too musical for me to utter, and too deep for language to express — and mingle with those of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and His ministers on earth say unto eacli, " Come : and whosoever will, let him drink of the water of life freely." lielieve not those who say that river is not for thee ; believe not those who say thou art not welcome : all heaven waits to welcome you ; there is nothing to repel j'ou but your own prejudices and passions. " Let him that is athirst come, and take of the water of life freely." Come, then, my dear brethren, let us listen to that voice. It may be the last time you may hear it. And THE INYITATIO]^. 3G7 if it be true — I wonder if it be ! — [i^ be true that a father, a mother, a wife, a husband, ^* sister, a son, a child, is actually seeing and knowing us, with what in- tensity of feeling do they watch and await the struggle that is passing in some bosom at this moment, waiting and wondering if that struggle will issue in diinking of that water of life freely ! On, may this be its issue ! And if it be so, what a happy meeting shall we have in that place, where there shall be no more separation — where we shall drink of that river as it breaks forth in piQity and splendour fi'om the thi'one of God and of the Lamb ! LECTURE XXYII. THE PEEFECT BOOZ. ** For I testify unto every man that liearetli the words of the prophecy of this looh, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add tmto him the plagues that are ivritten in this loohT — Eey. xxii. 18. Last Sunday evening I addressed you on the text that follows naturally in order, verse 17, and I then showed you the fulness of the salvation which is pro- vided in the Saviour, and the ^Derfect welcome with which you are invited to partake of it. I endeavoured to sliow you that great truth — which, indeed, you scarcely needed to he shown, because in your own ex- perience and impulses and feelings you have sufficient evidence of it — namely, t^iat all flesh is athirst, that every man in the world, whatever he his profession, his age, his circumstances, or his condition of life, is athirst: that there is in man's heart a depth that nothing but the watws of the sanctuary can fill — a want that nothing but the Gospel can satisfy — an aching chasm that he has tried to remove by going to broken cisterns which he has laboriously digged, and, disappointed, has digged again and again ; yet he feels, when he comes to the close of his pilgrimage on earrn, that this text is the true inscription for everj^thing upon earth : ** If any man drink of this water, he shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that Christ shall give him, shall never thirst, but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." I showed you then, that to such as these the invitation is addressed, " Come." The Holy Spirit bids you come THE PERFECT BOOK. 369 the Bride, the church in glory, that comes down, when complete, as a bride ready for the bridegroom, bends down and bids you come. ''And let him that hearcth say. Come," — that is, exemplify the missionary spirit. Many Christians are disposed to cherish much of the essence of Romanism, in looking to the minister as pray- ing for them, and spreading the Gospel also for them : in short, they wish to do everything by proxy, and to do nothing themsclyes. The minister is your leader, not substitute. The moment that anj man becomes a Chris- tian, that moment he feels that he has a mission. There is no such thing as a selfish monopoly in the experience of a Christian. The moment he becomes a saint, that instant he feels the obligations and responsibilities of a servant. And, therefore, ''he that heareth" — the word here is used in Scripture in the sense of hearing and accepting — "he that heareth says, Come." Since I addressed you, have you done so ? Masters, have j^ou said so, when you had opportunity, to your servants ? Fathers, have you said so, when you had opportunity, to your children r Employers, are you prepared to wear out the last sinew, and to take away and wear down the last atom of existence in the physical strength of the emploj-ed; and yet, whilst this is going on, have you not even whispered, " Come : let him that is athirst come ; and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely ?" I now come to a solemn warning, as important as it is solemn. I testify to every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book : "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him all the plagues that are written in this book." This pri- marily applies to the Apocalypse ; but almost every divine who has looked at the text and offered an ana- lysis of it, admits, what I think they rightly admit, that the text is a close to the whole of the Scriptures of of truth ; that as the Apocalypse is placed, not only in the providence of God, but, I believe, in the express arrangement of God, at the end of tlie K'ew Testament, so this solemn warning against addition to it implies SECOND SERIES. B B 370 ArOCALYPTlC SKETCHES. and inYolves a no less solemn protest against any addi- tion to that Book, which is perfect and sufficient for the salvation of us all. I need not tell you, that in almost every age of the Christian church there has heen a tendency in some '^men of corrupt minds," as well as in a few good men of weak minds, to add to the word of God. At the close even of the second century we read of other Gospels — literally and truly so. I dare say some of you have read of such names as '' the Gospel of the Infancy," " the Gospel of Nicodemus," and others assuming to be revelations of the mind and the will of God, which it was attempted to add to the sacred canon. You have also, I dare say, heard sceptics remark, that our four Gospels were selected from a number. Yf ere it so, I venture to assert that the best e\idence of the absurdity of the additions, and the clearest evidence of the inspiration of the originals, would just be to read them. Those men who make the remark, have never read them. These false gospels were not heard of till the close of the second or begin- ning of the third centuiy : they were never quoted by a Avi'iter previous to that period. They were never quoted by the enemies of Christianity ; and they con- tain so many specimens of nonsense and extravagance, that if they had been in existence, or had been received by Christians, the bitter and sagacious enemies of the Gospel would have rejoiced to lay hold of them, quote them, and circulate them. If you examine them, j^ou will find they contain anachronisms and absurdities so many and plain, that the very reading of them will pro- duce a smile. But, I repeat it, the best proof that the Bible is inspired, and of its superiority to all human writings, is just the study of the Bible. Let any man read the First and Second Epistles to the Corinthituis by St. Paul, and the Epistle to the Corinthians by Cle- ment, a writer subsequent to the days of Paul, and sup- posed to have been a fellow-labourer of Paul — let any man, I say, jnst read tlie Pauline Epistles, and then those of the primitive fatlicr, and lie will need nothing more to convince him that Cod inspired the one, and THE PERFECT BOOK 37l that the unaided genius of man composed and indited the other. I may give you one very striking specimen of contrast in style between an inspired Apostle and an early father. You have all heard of the name of Igna- tius ; many of his writings are disputed, or disposed of as spurious, but there is one sentiment of his veiy frequently quoted : ''Do nothing without the bishop. The Presbyters are in the room, of the Apostles ; and the bishop, of Jesus Christ." I think I quote correctly his words. Having thus read what Ignatius writes about ministers, let us turn to the words of St. Paul on the same subject : '' AYho is Paul, or who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed?" Do you observe the contrast? "With Paul, the minister is comparatively nothing, Christ is aU : with Ignatius, the minister is almost God, and Christ is lost in his greater or equal glory. Ignatius substantially writes, that Jolin must increase, but Christ must decrease : Paul writes, that John must decrease, that Christ may increase, and Christ be all in all. Such is a specimen of additions to the word of God : additions that need l)iit the influence of common sense, not any higher or stronger one, to be seen and admitted to be the folly of man, professing, blasphemously, if not ignorantly, to be the workmanship of God. Another class of additions to this book which are con- demned in the solemn warning I have read, are all pre- tensions to prophecy, all predictions of events that are future, under the pretence that the parties predicting are inspired by the Spirit of God to do so. Such prophets and prophetesses, I need not tell you, have existed from the days of Simon Magus down to the days of Joan of Ai'C, Joanna Southcote, and the Mormon prophet. These parties professed to have a mission directly from above ; and to be able, not only to pronounce wliat is truth now, extrinsic to the Bible, but also to be able to predict what shall take place in the future, beyond the horizon of man's view and the cognisance of man's mind. Such parties we at once denounce as either deluders or deluded. There is no evidence that a pro- phet exists in the church to whom God reveals things to B B 2 372 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. come, or that sucli shall be in this dispensation. If such a one were to appear, we should at once, without testing his credentials, say. You are adding to what God has given ; and, on the authority of the God who inspired the Bible, we can have nothing whatever to do with you. This, however, we are to distinguish : it is one thing to form an estimate, more or less pro- bable, of things to come, from reading and soberly inter- preting the prophecies of God; and it is quite another thing to assimie to be a prophet, and to predict, on the pretended strength of insjnration from on high, things that are yet in the future. The first is a solcnm duty ; for ^' blessed is he that readeth, and they that understand, the prophecy of this book :" the last is deliberate wick- edness; for ''if any man add to the things which are written in this book, to him shall be added the curses that are contained in this book." To a third class of additions to God's perfect word I have called your attention sometimes before — the addi- tion which the great Western Apostasy has made, of the books called the Apocr;^^^ha. You need not be told, I am sui'C, because most of you are aware, that the books of the Apocry[)ha, as they are called — the book of Eccle- siasticus, for. instance, the book of Tobit, and the two books of Maccabees, and some others, constituting what is called the Apocrypha, the meaning of which is ''hid- den," as distinguished from Apocalypse, which means " revealed," — were received by the Council of Trent, the sectarian synod which met about the year 1564, and de- clared to be just as inspired as the prophecies of Isaiah, or the Gospel according to St. John. jS'ow, I conceive that the Church of Home, from and after that council, became fully developed as the great predicted Apostasy ; and this is my great charge against that church. If the Church of Home were like tlie Greek Church — a cliurch that has erred, but is reformable — then I could tliink of it with l(^ss hatred of the dishonour it does to God, and brighter hopes of its restoration. But, if I understand my Bible, that church is marked out as tlie irrecoverable and hopeless Apostasy, doomed to destruction, not des- THE PEEFECT BOOK. 373 tined to Eeformation. And I believe that one of the gravest sins that that communion has committed, and one of the springs of those grievous heresies by which she is defiled, is her tampering with that blessed word. For whenever a church tries or desires to add a corrup- tion to God's word, sooner or l^er she receives into her heart a curse from God's throne. That church has added what is called the Apocrypha. 'Now, is there any evi- dence that these books arc part of the word of God ? I believe, on this day •'' many devoted men are calling the attention of their flocks to the great principles of con- trast between the Apostasy and the Gospel of Jesus ; and perhaps I may contribute to enlighten your minds, in these days when one needs to see one's standing clear and to feel one's footing firmly, if I show you, by a very brief recapitulation, that there is not the shadow of a shade- of ground for incorporating these Apocryphal books with the word of God. First of all, these books were not written in Hebrew, like the rest of the Old Testament Scripture. One would say that this was, at the outset, a presumption against their being canonical. In the second place, these books are never once quoted by our Lord, although he has quoted most of the other books of the Old Tes- tament. In the thii'd place, they are not once quoted by an Apostle. In the fourth place (and mark this), they were never accepted by the Jews as part and parcel of the word of God. ISTow, I lay much stress upon this. The Jews committed great and grievous sins ; but they were faithful in one thing : they kept in its integrity, its purity, its simplicity, God's most holy word. They ex- plained it away by their ti^aditions, they neglected it, they misunderstood it, I admit ; but they never added to or subtracted from it. They were raised up for the special mission of being the custodes, or guardians of the word of God ; and that mission they discharged faith- fully to the very letter. If the Jews had originally received into their hands the Apocryphal books as Scrip- * Novembers. 374 ArOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. ture, and had willinglj- and "svickedly excluded them at a subsequent date, would not our Lord, when he accused them of not reading Scripture, of misinterpreting Scrip- ture, of making void Scri^Dture, have accused them also of leaving out five or six whole books from the sacred canon itself? But he* did not cb so, and therefore it is evident that the Jews justly repudiated them. They are not re- ceived hj the majority of the Christian fathers, and only one or two books are alluded to by one or two fathers. These fathers give whole catalogues of what arc called the canonical books ; and not in one instance, during the first four centuiies, do they receive the Apocrypha as part and parcel of the word of God. And at no general council previous to the year 15G4 were these books de- clared to be canonical. And what is strange enough, and what I wonder how Pope Pius IX. (who probably, as prospects indicate, will close the Popedom, ) can get over, is this fact : that Gregory the Great, the most distin- guished Pope, perhaps, in the line, positively declares the Second Book of IMaccabees not to be inspired. I wonder how any one can advocate and defend the imity of a church, whose Pope in the sixth centiuy declares the Second Book of Maccabees to be uninspired, and whose Pope in the nineteenth century swears that it is inspired. This is a specimen of the unity that subsists in that chiu'ch ; and this I may say, in passing — it will be time enough for us to answer the charges made by the Chiu'ch of Eomc, of our disunion, when she has sho-wn that she has even the shadow of unity herself. I might also mention another disproof of the inspira- tion of these books. They authorise the practice of lying ; they approve the crime of suicide. It is said in one part, that some one fell upon his sword, " thus pre- ferring to die a noble death" (suicide), ''than to fall into the hands of his enemies." They also justify lying, transmigration of souls, and prayers for the dead. But perhaps the most triumi^hant disproof of their inspira- tion is the closing sentence of the ]\[accabces. ''And if I have done well," says the writer, "and as is fitting the story, it is as I have desired : but if slenderly and THE PEEFECT BOOK. 375 mcanty, it is that whicli I could attain unto." (2 Mace. XV. 38.) Can you conceive an inspired writer seeking forgiveness for his errors, or begging his reader to over- look his mistakes ? Why, the very close of the book itself is evidence that the writer of it never pretended to be inspii'cd, and, I am sure, would look with amazement at the decision of the Council of Trent, pronouncing that to be inspired which he knew to be the concoction of liis own imaided mind. Such, then, is another specimen of addition to this book ; and such additions, I believe, bring the body which is guilty of them under the terrible curse. And who does not know, by reading the 17th and other chapters of the Apocalj^pse, how completely Babylon is brought under the curses of this book ? And one of her crimes, I doubt not, in the judgment of God, is her adding to the things that are written in this book. But there is another plan of adding to them : it is not neces- sary to fulfil the crime mentioned in the text, to add other lool^s ; it is said, add other things to the things that are contained in this bool^ For instance, those teachers mentioned in the chapter we have this evening read, who said that cu'cumcision was essential to our acceptance before God, were guilty of this sin. The distinction is this : — If any chiu'ch shall say, This rite or ceremonj^ is proper for decency, for order, for convenience, I think it is duty instantly to acquiesce : but if any chui^ch in the universe, presbytery, synod, or prelate, or pope, or general council, were to say that circumcision, or any such thing, instead of being merely a subordinate rite, or discipline, or ceremony, was essential to the salvation of the soul, such church or individual would be adding to the things that are written in this book ; and it would be my duty to protest against the addition, and the party so adding would be laid under that terrible curse de- nounced againsfr'those who add to it. Such addition, for instance, is made where transubstantiation is added to the Lord's Supper — the mass added to transubstantiation — and the worship of tlie Yirgin Mary to that of God — the mediation of angels or archangels to that of Christ — 376 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. the altar added to the communion-tahle, or, to use the more technical language, the communion-table developed into the altar; the simple sacrament ceasing to be a sacrament, and becoming a sacrifice; marriage ''honour- able in all," pronounced to be dishonourable in some; and Peter, declared to be worthy of blame, pronounced by a general council to be absolutely infallible, with all his successors : — these are the additions of man to the things of God. This is not development ; for there is no development recognised in Scripture except this, — the development of Christian principles in Christian practice, and holy men into servants and missionaries of the Lord. But it is argued, as you will often hear, by those who add, and confess that they add, to the things that are written in this book — for the Church of Home makes no secret of it — that the Bible is an insufficient book. In fact, a great characteristic of that church is finding fault with God's word, and trying to mend it by the additions of men. She admits that she adds to the things written in this book ; and the remark made by many of her advocates and apologists, — for the Chiu'ch of Rome has not only advocates within her pale, but apologists without, and where we shoidd least wish to fuid them, — is. Surely it is less dangerous to believe too much, than to believe too little. She says, We believe all that you Protestants believe, and we just believe a little more ; and if you are safe in receiving a portion, we are yet more safe ; for it is better to believe too much with us, than to believe too little with you. My answer to such reasoning as this is. Excuses may be very injurious in this as in other matters. Is it not very injurious to eat too much, at least as injurious as to eat too little? I appeal to those who are merchants, whether it would not as much, derange your accounts, if in your summing up you were to say that four and four make nine, as if you were to say that four and four make, seven ! It is perfectly plain, therefore, that 3'ou may err in excess with as great detriment to the sum total or result, as you may in deficiency. And if it be mere excess of doctrine whicli the Church of Pvome adds, it may be just THE PERFECT BOOK. 377 as perilous and miscliievons as if she believed too little. But alas ! alas ! lier additions are not simj^le additions ! "Would to God tliat they were ! If they were the mere rubbish of Eome added to the gem of God's truth, it might be that the superincumbent rubbish would blow off, or might be swept away; or chinks and crannies might occur in it, through which some bright beams of' the inner glory might penetrate, and rereal to us the pearl of inestimable price that is hid within. But it is not so : it is not the mere addition of other doctiines, but it is the addition of doctrines that neutralise, destroy, and utterly subvert the great truths that she has already received. And therefore we say her additions are not mere excess, but they are additions of that which destroys and neutralises what God has said. My dear friends, we must take nothing that the chui'ch decides, or the minister proclaims, as being a completing of, or an addition to what God has perfectly, conclusively, and finally said. When you are to hear God's voice, all the voices of science, geology, astronomy, literature, reason, every voice in the universe must be still, that you may hear no voice but God's. Eecognise nothing as Divine but what comes from his throne. And when the minister preaches his sermon, it must not be the selecting of a text on which to hang, as on a peg, a human discourse ; nor must it be an adding to the text something in order to make it complete, to make it tell ; but if the minister's sermon be what it ought to be, the text will be the key-note, and all his illustrations will be the hamionies that play and revolve around it. The text must be the great original voice, and the minister's sermon the well-defined and articulate echoes of that great original, commending not themselves by their music, but commending the original to the hearts of all that hear. And hence what we say from this pulpit must not be additions to God's word, but expan- sions of it ; not making the book more plain, or the Bible more perfect, but trying if pcradventure we may cast into youi' minds sonie new light-beam, and diive from your judgment some oppressive and dark prejudice. 378 ArocALTnic sketckes. "We have a striking- B^^ocimcn of a warning almost tlio same as that contained in my text, given by the Apostle Paul, in Gal. i. 8 ; and it shoTvs the hai'mony between the epistles of the 'New Testament and this precious book. ''If we," he says, "or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you, let him be acciu'sed." It seems as if John and Paul had been consulting together. ]S'o, it does not seem so ; it proves that John and Paul drew their inspii-ation from the same fountain, when they breathed that inspiration in the same senti- ment, only in varied language. " If we, or an angel from heaven, preach any' other Gospel than that you have received, let him be anathema!" The Apostle supposes that there may be great eloquence in commend- ing an addition to God's word, in advocating this other Gospel ; for an angel's tongue is the symbol used by Paul for high eloquence. It may be the most gifted and eloquent minister that ever spoke : he may array his thoughts in the most gorgeous terms ; he may make his ideas brilliant and vivid like sparks from an an^dl ; he may speak with power that shall wrap you in undis- turbed and riveted attention ; and yet he may use all this eloquence, and exhibit all this splendour, not to make j'ou love God's book more, but to make you feel the necessity of something additional to that book — another Gospel in order to make it perfect. But the Apostle supposes not only that there may be great elo- quence, but that there may be also great moral excellence. He does not say, If we, or a demon emerging from the dcj^ths of hell : but he supposes a heavenly hicrarch to be just come down from the unutterable glory, present- ing a splendour that man's unp urged eye can scarcely look on ; and he says this : If that angel were to preach to you anything additional to this book as essen- tial to its perfection, he not only would incur a curse from God, but jou would be warranted in saying, " Let him be accursed." But the Apostle supposes more ; ho supposes there may be great official rank preaching another Gospel, and trying to add to the tilings that are WTitten in this book : for he says, If we : wc the Apostle, THE PEKFECT BOOK. 379 the recent convert at Damascns — we who were in the third heaven — w^e who saw visions too bright for human pencil to depict, and too glowing for human language to express — if we, an Apostle, were to preach any other Gospel, let us be anathema. If the Apostle puts the hypothesis, '' If ice preach another gospel," may not I without uncharitableness vary the expression and say, " If an Apostle's successor preach another Gospel, let him be anathema?" I care not who he is — I care not what may be his rank, whether the humblest presbyter or the highest prelate ; I receive his word only so far as it is the counterpart of my Lord's ; and I accept what he says only so far as he can demonstrate it to be borne out and sustained by that Eook, which is the balance • which has no crookedness, the test that never fails, the standard to which you must ever appeal. But the Apostle supposes something more in that passage: he assumes that you, the laity, know the things that are written in this book. And he assumes yet more — that the laity are capable of Imowing, and searching, and determining, Avhether the minister preaches what is written in this book. I do not say that by that word is meant ail the baptised — I could not commit the matter to them : or that by that word are meant aU communi- cants— I cannot commit the matter to them; I mean God's own people ; God's redeemed, sanctified, holy, regenerated ones : they know the things that are written in this book; they are competent to say whether a minister preaches the things that are written in this book ; they wiU not be led away, though delusions come just of the Idnd aUuded to by the Apostle ; — and such delusions we may expect, so dark and tenible that they will almost deceive the very elect : yet them they cannot deceive. And, therefore, "■ If we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you, let him be anathema :" " And if any man add unto the things that are written in this book, God shaU add unto him the plagues that are written in this book." IJut perhaps you ask, Why is it tliat the Bible cannot be jidded to ? I liold, that it follows from the veiy 380 ArocALTPirc sketches. nature of the book that it cannot be added to : and I make a distinction between two words ; and if you re- collect the distinction, I think it will be a great guide to you. The distinction lies between a revelation and a discovery. The distinction between the two is very great. A revelation is something that God makes to man: a discovery is sometliiug that man makes for himself. For instance, Columbus made a discovery of America ; God made a revelation of heaven. What man makes, man can add to ; and hence a child now knows more about America than Columbus knew : but what God reveals, God alone can add to. America we can visit; we can measure it, we can examine it, we can analyse it more by \-isiting and travelling it more; but this revelation comes from a land which human foot has never trodden, and descends from a height to which an angel's wing never soared ; it is an emanation from a source which is infinite. Man's discovery may be im- proved and added to by man's researches ; God's revela- tion came down from heaven, like the bride for the bridegroom, perfect in all its glory. Thus, then, by keeping this distinction before you, you can see that addition is impossible ; at least impos- sible to one that knows its nature and its character. If any man, therefore, should come to joii now, and pro- fess that he had received some book from God, some inspii'ation from the Almighty, to make known things that are not in the Bible, you are not to be at the trouble to examine him. For instance, I have read of the book of Mormon, an extravagant and absurd book got up in America : this is a book that I would not be at the trouble of examining : the moment it is brought before me, I must say, I can have nothing to do with it ; it is adding to what God has pronounced to be perfect ; I M'ill not trouble myself to analyse it : I repudiate and reject it, the moment it is proffered me as a book from God, and as adding to the perfection of holy writ. But if another man comes to me and saj's, I have discovered in the liible a truth which I tliink you have not ; or, I have discovered in the Eible a doctrine wliich 1 tliiiik THE PEEFECT BOOK. 381 for centuries has been missed by laborioiis, pious, talented men ; however improbable this must seem, yet I might naturally and scriptiu^ally suppose that God may have here vouchsafed greater light to greater painstaking and more patient prayer ; and I might think it possible that ho should have discovered these truths which I have overlooked. IS'ay, while the saving vital truths of Cluistianity are plain, and are not to be neutralised or superseded, I do not know but there may be depths and heights in this glorious volume to w^hich we have never yet risen, and which will only be evolved in the course of more patient, xDrayerfiil, and devoted inquiry. But if any person comes to me with such a proposition, I do not treat him as I should treat another bringing the book of 3k[ormon. I should say to him. You are taking the right course, you are acting upon right principles : produce a proof of what you say is new from the book of God : I can meet you there : I am bound to meet you and to deal with you, and either to disprove your asser- tion, and show you are not right by this book, or to hear the proofs you are able to adduce in order to prove that they are written in this book ; and if you show youi' doctrine to be in this book, then it is my duty to receive it as the word of God. Thus, when a person comes with additions to it professedly from God, I recol- lect my text, and I recollect what Paul says : " God, who at sundry times, and in divers mamiers, spake in time past unto our fathers by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken imto us by his Son," — the final and conclusive speaking : and just as we have a perfect atonement, so, I believe, Ave have a perfect Eible. Kow, all this teaches some lessons ; one or two of which I will touch upon this evening, reserving the others for next Lord's-day evening. Firsts that the Bible is the great foundation of our creed, the exclusive source of our theology, the great fountain-head of all our hope in the prospect of eternity. The Bible is the common anchorage-ground of all true Christians: as long as we ride there, so long we are safe. But the instant we leave that anchorage-ground, 382 APOC-iLYrxic sketches. the noblest vessels mil make sliipwi'eck ; the Isis and the Tiber cannot be substitutes for it ; they are full of reefs, and quicksands, and shoals, and many a fair ship has there made shipwreck : the only sea in which you can sail securely, the only anchorage-ground on which we can ride sweetly under the shadow of the Most High, is the word of God, and the word of God alone. I3c thankful, most thankful, that the I3ible is a written book ; printed or -wiittcn is one and the same things. If the Bible had not been written, if its sentiments had been left to oral tradition or to oral ti^ansmission, I be- lieve Christianity by this time would have become a caricature, — the Bible would have been developed into the Bre^iar)^, and the Apostolic Church merged in the Great Apostasy. But the Bible remains still; it is a stereotjiDC ; it is a great immutable and everlasting fix- ture ; its foundation is firmer and deeper than that of the pyramids of Egypt : time cannot waste it, the sands of the desert cannot engulf it. It is that glorious moun- tain which stands firm when all around it oscillates and shakes. And those controversies which you hear among true Christians are not the thunders from within the mountain ; they are all outside the mountain : and when you hear them, do not suppose that Christianity is about to crumble into chaos. I believe that all the controversies and the disputes that take place now, are merely the adjusting and righting of all confusions, disagreements, and misconceptions, preparatory to that day when tlic Bride shall be perfect and ready, and ''the Lord shall come down from heaven, even in like manner as we have seen him go into heaven." When, therefore, you see controversies, when you hear of disputes, do not suppose that Cluistianity is in peril. If a person who had never seen a mountain — and some such may be present — were to go into the Highlands, and see one of these great mountains with a cloud resting on its summit, he Avould tliink, as he saw it, that the clouds must be part of tbc mountain ; and wlien tlie wind swept it away, he miglit suppose that a part of tlie mountain had been swept away. But it is not so ; the cloud has been merely THE PERFECT BOOK. 383 dissolyecl, and the -w^atcrs run down the monntain sides, to water the parched heath-bell, and to feed the streams that rush onward to the main. The mountain is not made nor marred by the clond : it remains ; the clond only is gone. So it is with all disputes and conti^oversies : the fume and smoke of discussions are not part of the book ; they are outside the book. And when they are over, it is not a part of the book which is gone, but only the clouds which obscu^d and darkened it. Be thankful, in the next place, let me say, that the Bible is accessible to you. I think it is one of our greatest mercies, that there is no book so cheap as the Bible, and no book that every man may obtain so easily. My calm and deliberate conviction is, that the Bible in the pew is the best antidote to all heresy in the pulpit ; and that if every hearer had a Bible, it would be a better guarantee for pure and evangelical religion from the pulpit, than all the presbyteries, general assemblies, bishops, and archbishops in Christendom. Let the peojde have the Bible in their hands, and the knowledge of it in their hearts ; and when the minister tries to preach an- other Gospel, he will find he has other materials to deal with than he supposed. In the next place, let me bid you be thankful, most thankful, for the translation of the Bible. It was Avritten originally in Hebrew and in Greek ; it is trans- lated in the form in which vre have it, and I do believe — I say it with the greatest consideration — that the nearest approach to a miracle in modern times is the authorised translation of the Scriptures. It has its flaws, and its imperfections, but its perfections are inimitable and un- speakable. There is something in its verv^ language fidl of majesty, associated as it is with our earliest and fondest recollections and sympathies. And if those parts of it, let me add, which are mistranslated were altered, it would only make more clearly — not more certainly — seen its suj^port of evangelical Christianity. For instance, there is a passage in Titus, which I have before men- tioned, '' looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appealing of the great God and our Sa\iour Jesus Chi'ist," 384 ArOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. which properly translated would be, " the glorions ap- pearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great God and Saviour:" and there arc five other passages where the same expression occurs, and where it ought to be rendered in the same way. Our translation is an admii'ablc one, its enemies being judges : and I have here a list of passages from the Eoman Catholic yersion (published by Hichardson, with notes by Dr. Challoner, 1847), in which, where their version differs from ours in certain expres- sions in the text, notes ai'e introMiced substantially from this very version of ours, which they continually condemn and repudiate. For instance. Matt. v. 18, in the Douay version it is, '' Amen, I say unto you ;" in the note upon it, it is, ^'i.e. assuredly, in very truth ;" the Protestant Bible has embodied in its translation what they have put into a note, ''For verily I say unto you." In Matt. vi. 11: ''Give us this day our supersubstantial bread." The note that they add says, " Supersubstantial bread." In St. Luke, the same word is rendered " diiily bread." The Protestant Eible has it, " Give us this d% oiu' daily bread." I might go over the whole Xew Testiynent and show you this. The following arc a few specimens which might be greatly extended : — Matt. X. 16. Douay. — " Be ye tlierefoi'e wise as serpents, and simple as doves." Note — ^'Simple, that is harmless, Y>hun." &c. Protestant Bible. — " And harmless as doves.'' Matt. xi. 6. D. — "And blessed is he that shall not be scandalised in me." N. — " Scandalised in me. That is, shall not take occasion of scandal or offence." P. B. — " Shall not be offended in me." IMatt. xviii. 6, 7, 8. Z>. — fi. " But he that shall scandalise one of these little ones.'* 7. " Woe unto the world because oi scandals." 8. " And if thy hand or tliy foot scandalise thee," N. — " Scandalise, that is, m«.se to offend.'' P. B. — 6. " But whoso shall offend, one of these little ones," &c. 7. " Woe unto the world because of offences." 8. " Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee." THE TEIU^KCT LOOK. 385 Matt. XX. 15. D. — "Is it not lawful for me to do ichat I icill ] Is thy evo evil," &e. * * N. — " Wliat I icill ; viz. ^rith my oicn, and in matters that de- pend on my own bounty." F. B. — ''Is it not lawful for me to do ichat I v:ill icilh mine oicn ? " Matt. xxvi. 17, Mark xiv. 1, Acts xii. 3. Z>. — "And on the first day of the azifmes the principles came to Jesus, saying," &c. N. — ^'Azymes. Feast of ike unleavened bread." P. B. — " JSow, the first day of the feast of tcnleavened bread, the disciples," &c. Luke xxiii. 54, John xix. 14. D. — "' And it was the day of the parascue, and the Sabbath drew near." N. — "That is, the eve, or day o^ 2-)rcparation for the Sabbath." P. B. — " And that day was the prejjaration, and the Sabbath drew on." John iii. 18. X>. — " He that believeth in him is not judged.''^ N. — "Is not judged ; that is, is not condemned." P. B. — " He that believeth in him is not condemned.''* John iii. 19. D. — "And this is the judgment : because," &c. N. — " The judgment ; that is, the cause of his condemnation.''* P. B. — " And this is the condemnation,^* &c. John xiv, 16. D. — " And he shall send you another Paracltte.'* N. — '^ Paraclete ; that is, a Comforter.*' P. B. — " And he shall give you another Comforter.''* Acts ii. 24. D. — " Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the sorrous of hell." N. — " Having loosed the sorrous, kc. Having overcome the grievous pains of death.'*'* P. B. — " Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death.** * It may be seen in tlie Hammersmith Discussion with what indigna- nation Mr. French receives the bare idea of Christ having suffered in hell, and accuses Protestant writers of blasphemy for mentioning such an idea. It is t!ie Roman Catholic liiblc I hit so teaches. It sayj, " loosed /^e sorroar* o//i£tl," while we say, " pains . — " So you also, forasmuch as you are zealous of spiri's." N. — " Of spirits. Of spiritual gifts." P. B — " Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts:' 2 Cor. viii. 2. !>' — "And their very deep poverty hath abounded unto the riches of their simplicity .'' N. — ^'■Simplicity ; that is, sincere loxinty and charity:' P. B. — "And their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality :' 2 Cor. xi. 28. D. — "]\Ty daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches." N' — " My daily instance. The labours that come in, and xness tcpon me every day:' P' B. — " That u-hich conieth upon me daily, the care," &c. 2 Cor. xii. 9. ^- — " For power is made p^erfect in infirmity:^ ^•—-'''' Power is made perfect. The strength and power of God more perfectly shines forth in our xveakiiess and infix-mity." P' B. — •' For my strength is made perfect in iceahness." Ephes. i. 14. ^ — " ^'^'ho is the pledge of our inheritance, for the redemption of acquisition unto the praise of his glory." J^* — ^^Acquisition ; i.e. a purchased possession:' P' B. — <• The redemption of the purchased possession, unto," &c. Ephes. iii. 15. J^- — " ^f whom cdl paternity in heaven and earth is named." N. — All paternity; or, the whole family, Trnrpid." P' B. — « Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Philip, ii. , 7 I>.—G. « Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery himf.elf to be equal to God" 7. " But debased himself, taking the form," &c. N.—''- Debased himself, (exinanivit,) made himself of no account." P- B. — " But made himself of no reputation." Thess. iii. 1, J^- — '■' That the word of God may run, and may be glorified " ^.— " May run, tliat is, may spread itself, and' have free course." ^' , T;" '^^^^^ ^^® ^^'°^^ °^ ^o'^ ^"»y ^lave free, course, and be glorified." APOCALYrXlC SKETCnES. 2 Tim. i. 10. D. — "But now is made manifest hy the illuminaiion of our Savioui' Jesus Christ." N. — " Bij the illumination ; that is, by the bright coining and appcarinrj of our tSaviour." P. B. — •' But is now made manifest hy the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ." Hebrews i. 3. Z>. — " Who being the splendour of his glory and the figure of his substance." N. — " The figure (xapaKTtjp}; that is, the exj^ress image, a,nd most perfect resemblance." P. B. — " Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person." Hebrews i. 3. D — " MaJdng purgation of sins." N, — " Mailing purgation ; that is, having purged away our sins by his passion." P. B. — " When he had hy himself purged our sins." Hebrews ii. IG. D. — " For nowhere doth he tale hold of the angels : but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold." N. — " That is, he never tool- upon him the nature of angels, but that of the seed of Abraham." P. B. — " He tool not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham." Hebrews vi. 1. J). — " Wherefore, leaving the ivord of the heginning of Christ." N. — " 21ie word of the beginning. The first rudiments of the Christian doctrine." P. B. — " Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ." Hebrews xi. 29 D. — " From whence also he received him for vl parable." N. — " Parable, that is, Si figure of Christ." P. B. — " From whence also he received him in a figure.^* Hebrews xi. 1.0. I>. — " By faith he that is called Abraham." N. — "Or, Abraham beinr/ called." P. ii.— " Jiy faith, Abraham, nhcn he ivas called," &C. Tni; PKTn'KC'T hook. Hebrews x. 18. D. — " There is no more an oblation for si/i." A\ — " There is no more occasion for a sin offerhigj- P. B. — " 'Jhere is no more offenng for sin." Hebrews viii. 13. D. — " Now in saying a neic, he hath made the former old." N. — " A ne^v, simply, covenant." P. B. — " In that he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old." Hebrews viii. 2. D. — " A min'ster of the Holies." N. — " That is, the sanctuary." P. B. — " A minister of tho sanctuary." Jude 6. J). — "And the angels who kept not their ]~jrinclpaliti/." N. — "Principality; that is, the state in uhick they tvcre first created.'" P. B. — " And the angels which kept 7iot their first estate." Jude 8. D- — "And despise dominion, and blaspheme majesty." N. — " Blaspheme majesty, i.e. speak evil of them that are in dirjnity." P. B. — "Despise dominion, and speaTc evil of dlynitics." Jude 9. I). — " But said, The Lord command thee." N.—" Or. rehul-e thee." P. -B.— " The Lord rebuke thee." 1 John iii. 4. D. — " And sin is iniquity." iN^- — " Iniquity, (avo^ia.) transgression of the lazv.'* P. B. — " For sin is the transgression of the laio." 3 John 4, 5. D — " I have no greater grace than this." N — " That is, nothing that gives me greater ^oy.'* P. B. — " 1 have no greater ^o?/." 2 Peter ii. 1. -^- — " Who shall bring in st:cts of perdition.''' •iV- — "That is heresies destructive of .salvation.''* P' B. — '• Shall bring in darniiablc //i.re^J:s '' 390 APOCALYniC SKETCHES. 2 Peter ii. 11. ■D- — " VVh'^reas anj^els, thouQ;h they are greater in strength and power, bear not an execrable jud()ment against,'' &c. N. — " That is, they use no railing nor cursing sentence." P. B. — " Bring not railing accusation against, ' &c. James i. 18. D. — " For of his own will hath he begotten us by the V.'ord of truth, that we might be some beginning of his creatui-es." N. — " Beginning, i. c. a bind of first-fruits of his creatures.' P. B. — " That we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures." Rev. xxi. 17. D. — '' And he measures the wall thereof, a hundred nnd forty cubits, tlte measure of a man^'' &c. N. — '• z.e., according to the measure of 7ncn ; this seems to be the true meaning of the words." P. B. — " And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty cubits, according to the measure of a man.^' It Avill thus be seen that the note in the Eomish version is just our Protestant translation. Be thankful for our translation, which was begun by Tyndal, and finished in the reign of James I. in 1611 ; and, lastly, give that holy book supremacy in every-day life, and character, aud conduct. Build upon no man's word : he that builds his creed on God's word will feel his footing sure when the world is convulsed around him. One text from the Bible outweighs a thousand fathers ; and one " Thus saith the Lord" is more conclusive to my mind than all the decisions of all the councils in Christendom. AYith the Bible, you can never be made slaves ; Avithout the Bible, you will not long remain freemen. With the Bible, our privileges, our freedom, our faith, our hope, must rise or fall together. Re-collect, my dear friends, these things were written, this book Yas inspired, that, believing, ye might have life through his name. They were not written for our curiosity or for our delight, but " for our learning." When the manna fell about the camp of the Israelites, they did not gather it as naturalists, to classify it, but as liungry men, to live upon it. AVhen tlie Israelites looked to Iho sor|->ent of brass, they did not look upon it THE PEllFKCT HOOK. 391 wilii mere curiosity, anxious to test the metal ; but they looked upon it as dying men, to be healed . by it. My dear brethren, take care of reading the Bible as critics, as geologists, as controversialists, as philosophers. It is your Father's great voice ; listen to it. It is your Father's blessed prescription; take it to your hearts. It is not something to be cavilled at, to be analysed, to be disputed, but it is truth to be admitted into the mind, grace to bo received into the heart ; and if you will open that blessed book, and pray to Him that inspired it to teach you its meaning and rivet its truth upon your hearts, then you will find it is not only the plainest book, but the best book. You will bless God throughout eternity that you took '' that lamp from off the everlasting throne," which opened to you the way of salvation, and gave you a re- sponse to the question, ''What must I do to be saved?" which no other oracle can give : "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt bo saved." LECTUBE XXVni, THE ADTEXT. " He that testijieth these thi}igs, Saith, surely/ I come quicMy. Amen. Uven so, come, Lord Jesus'' — Key. xxii. 20. I HATE explained in previous lectures the manifold and attractive glories of the heavenly Jerusalem ; and I have shown j'ou the characteristics of those who shall be excluded from, and the characteristics of them who shall be admitted within, the gates of the city — enjoj' its sor- rowless and its nightlcss state, and so be for ever with the Lord. In this chapter I have dwelt also upon addi- tional warnings or testimonies that are added, imder the inspiration of the Spirit of God, by John the Evangelist. I have shown yoii the invitation addressed to all in verse 17. The Holy Spirit of God, — the bride — the redeemed church that is now waiting in heaven to be complete by the accession of the saints that are now on earth — say, ''Come; and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him come." That is. Let every man say to another, Come : and thus it is a great mis- take that only the ministers of the Gospel are to be the preachers of that Gospel. It is the great law of the Christian economy, that eveiy heart that receives the truth is to seek to communicate that truth. There is no fear of the ministerial oiSce being entered on by too many, or of too much zc'al in this blessed vocation : the risk is all in the opposite direction. The Spirit says. Come ; the church says, Come ; and let every one that heareth, say. Come : let every one that has felt the preciousness and the sweetness of these living waters, THE ADVKXT. 303 proclaim to those who arc ignorant of them, " Come and drink and be satisfied, all." *'And let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely." There is no restriction, no limit ; there is no man in this vast assembly who is not at this moment welcome to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no man at this moment between whom and that blessed Lord there is any obstructing element, except that man's unbelief and unwillingness to go to Jesus. There is no curse upon you, like a vast load pressing 3'ou to hell, when you w^ould spread your wings and soar to heaven. There is none that you will have to blame if you are lost. This, as I have often told you, will bo the corroding and terrible agony of the lost : *'I did it all mvself; I am a suicide, self-ruined: God did nothing of it; I did it all myself." '' Who- soever is athirst," then, '' let him come and take of the water of life freely." — I then showed you the guards that are placed upon this book, and, indirectly, upon the whole word of God. " If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book ; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this jirophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book." And then, to close all, that glorious Kedeemer, " who testifieth these things, saith, " Surely I come quickly :" and then it is added, " Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." It is most remarkable, that the book opens with this, and closes with it. " Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him." We too shall see him. There is not an individual in this assembly who shall not gaze ujDon the Lord of glory, no longer hanging in agony upon the cross, but throned in ineffable grandeur upon the throne of his glory : " And they also that pierced him ; and all kincbeds of the earth shall wail because of him." And the booli con- cludes with the same, as if that warning were of special moment, of great, instant, and personal importance — ■ *' I come, quickly. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." 394 AFOCALYPTTC SKKTCIIES. Ill tills l(H'ture I shall ( iidcavour to sllo^v you hnw lull the Ncv\' Testament is of what is called the second advent of our Lord, whatever be the nature of it. You must not take my opinion of the nature of it : you must not form your conceptions of that day from any descrip- tions of mine ; hut you must, like the Bereans,^ search the Scriptures, and see if these things he so ; and if then my voice is the echo of the voice of the Spirit of God, it is at your peril that you reject it, it is your privilege to receive it. Exphiin it as you may, no sooner was Jesus gone from his disciples, than they felt it an irreparable catastrophe ; and every time that Jesus gave them an intimation of his going away, the Apostles mourned over it, and they were comforted only by such words as these, '^ It is expedient that I go away ; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." Yet you must notice, that the Holy Spirit was not to be a substitute for Jesus, but a witness of Jesus. It is, I conceive a misapprehension of the nature of the evangelical economy, to suppose that the Spirit of God has so taken the place of Jesus that we can dispense with him, and look only to the Spirit. If I understand his office, or if I have read the Scriptures that proclaim it clearly, the office of the Spirit of God is, not to super- sede the King of saints, not to be a substitute for his per- sonul coming, not to make us satisfied that he is gone, and careless that he should come again : but to testify of J(>sus, to create in us an intenser waiting for his advent, to cause us to cleave clos(u* to him in love, in truth, in sympathy, and to count all things but loss for the excel- lency of the knowledge of him. In all the hardships thai the Apostles suiFered, the promise which He himself gave them, ''I will come again," seemed to be that which sustained them in their toils, mitigated their sorrows, increased their patience, brightened their hope, and made them to be ''more than conquerors." And, strange to say, Jesus had no sooner gone than the cry was raised, " (!omc. Lord Jesus." And he has no sooner declared, in tlie closing verse of this chapter, " 1 come quickly," than THE ADVENT. 395 John instantly says, not as some Avonld say, '' Lord, wo can do without thee, for we have the Spirit. Lord, wo do not need thy presence, for the Comforter is with us ;'* but John adds, what we too if we have John's spirit sliall add, ^'Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Nor are you to suppose that Christ's spiritual presence is a reason for being indifferent to his personal presence. On the con- trary, foith, as it grows in strength, always approximates to sight. Faith is not a grace that is to last for ever. Faith is the telescope that we use to see, and catch some gleam of glory of the distant personal Christ : this dis- pensation itself shall pass avv'ay ; and faith, which is so precious now, shall be lost and merged in sight. Faith here is but a temporary thing : it is but a substitute for sight, it is not to supersede or render it unnecessary. So John, the beloved disciple, who lived nearest to Christ, who leaned upon his bosom at supper, John was so little satisfied with seeing Christ by faith, that he longs, from the commencement of the Apocalypse to its close, for seeing Christ by sight — '' Come, Lord Jesus." The friend is not satisfied with epistolary intercourse with his friend ; he longs to see him in the flesh. The bride is not satisfied that the bridegroom should be distant ; she longs for his presence. The Christian church is not satis- fied that the Lord should be beyond the horizon; she longs and prays, " Come, Lord Jesus." Christ was mani- fested in the flesh, not merely to make an atonement — though this was the first, the essential thing ; ''it was needful that he should sufter;" but I conceive that a gi-eat and ultimate design of tlie manifestation of Christ in the flesh was to present to humanity a visible mani- festation of the Godhead — him whom we have not seen, and whom we cannot see except as he is revealed in Christ Jesus. This dispensation, therefore, is imperfect ; it is only preparatory to another, a higher and a more glorious one, when hope shall evanish, and having shall take its place— when we shall see Christ no more thi'ough a glass darkly, but face to face — when, in the language of the Fvangelist, *' We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." But instead of dwelling upon these points, I 396 ArOf'ALYPTTC SKKTCnES. will lay before you what must be more interesting to true Christians, though it may not be so to others — those pas- sages of Scripture w^hich I have copied in succession, and wdiich refer to the fact and nature of our Lord's advent. It was thus foretold by the ancient prophets. Dan. Yii. 13 : *' One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him : liis dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."^' This has not yet been fulfillrd ; it remains to be so. In Jude, verse 14, we read, " Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints." All this was after the first advent, and when Christ had arisen from the dead. Again, it was pre- dicted by our Lord himself, thus. Matt. xxv. 31 : '^ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy ano;els with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory;" and again, John xiv. 3 : '^I will come again and receive you unto myself ; that where I am, there ye may be also." Christ has come in shame, but he has not yet come in glory : we look for that, and we are assured by himself that it shall be. Thirdly, this advent is pro- claimed and predicted expressly by the Apostles. Thus, Acts iii. 20: ''And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you. Whom the heaven must receive, until the times of restitution of all things ; whicli God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." Again, 1 Tim. vi. 14 : '* That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ : which in liis times he shall show', who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of Lords." Fourthly, this advent was expressly proclaimed and pro- * If the reader desire to see the mogt attractive, able, and Christian commentary on the wliole of the book of Daniel, let him read Mr. Birk's Commentary on the book of Daniel, u book of very great learning and instruction. THE ADVEXT. 397 dieted by angels. Acts i. 10 : " Ueliold, two men stood by them in white apparel ; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." This is plainly not a spiritual advent. How did he rise from them ? He ascended from the mount ; a cloud of glory, that is, the Shechinah, received him out of sight. **He shall so come in like manner." ''Behold, he Cometh w^ith clouds, and eveiy eye shall see him." It must therefore be his own personal advent. Again, we have the manner of this advent described in the second division of my subject, in such texts as the following. He shall come with clouds. JMatt. xxiv. 30 : *' They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." ]\Iatt. xxvi. 6-1 : *' Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven." In the next place, it is said he shall come in the gloiy of his Father. Matt. xvi. 27 : '' The Son of man shall come in the glory of the Father, with his angels : and then he shall reward every man accord- ing to his works." It is said also, he shall come in his o^Ti glory. Matt. xxv. 31 : '' The Son of man coming ill his glory." It is said he shall come in flaming fire. Thus, 2 Tliess. i. 7 : ''The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God." It is predicted that he shall come with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel. We veiy often speak of arch- angels. There is no such word in Scripture. It is never used in the plural number. It speaks only once of the archangel, and then it is used in the singular number. 1 Thess. iv. 16 : " The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, v/ith the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." It is next prophesied that he shall come with his saints, ?>., with those saints who have preceded us, and who arc now in gloiy. 1 Thess. iii. 13 : " That he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." "VVe are told 398 APocALmic sketcues. also that ho shall come suddenly. Mark xiii, 36 : ''Lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping." We arc told iilso that he shall come unexpectedly. Matt. xxiv. 44 : '' At such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man Cometh." And, 1 Thess, y. 2 : "The day of the Lord Cometh as a thief in the night," AVhen men shall he saying, Peace, peace, then shall he come. We read, in the next place, of the accompaniments of Christ's coming. In 2 Pet. iii. 10, it is said that the heaven and the earth shall be burned up when he comes. ''But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night ; in the which the heavens shall pass away Avith a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." It is also predicted that when he comes, the dead in Christ shall rise first. 1 Thcss. iv. 16:" The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." Most solemn will be its accompaniment. Two graves shall be in the same churchyard, both co- vered by similar green sods ; and when Christ comes, one shall pour forth the manifested sons of God, the heirs of glory, the other shall remain just as the sexton left it. And in families, when Christ comes, the father shall rise upon wings mysterious and unexpected, and meet the Lord in the air, and the mother shall be left behind. Or, the son shall rise, the daughter be left behind. My dear friends, what a terrible separation shall this be ! Let it be our prayer to God, that every member of our house- hold may be a child of God ; and then the separation that death makes shall only be a short and temporary suspension of a communion Avhich shall not be inter- rupted any more. AYe read next of the end and object of Christ's coming. He comes to complete our salvation. Heb. ix. 28 : "Unto them that look for him shall he appear a second time unto salvation," 1 Pet. i. 5 : "AVho are kept by the power of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." He comes also to be glorified and ad- mired in his saints. 2 Thcss. i. 10: "AVhen he shall THE AUTEXT. 399 come to be glonfied in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." He shall come also to declare all hidden things. '* Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who wiU bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." He comes, in the next place, to judge. 2 Tim. iv. 1: ''The Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom." He shall come also to destroy death. 1 Cor. xv. 24. *' Then cometh the end, when he shall have given up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall ha^e put do^\Ti all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." And he shall come, as Ave are specially told, to destroy the man of sin, i.e. the great Apostasy ; and this teaches us, that though he may be removed from Home, and though that system may be, as I believe it will be, shortly broken up, it will not be utterly extinguished till Christ come. Ajid my authority for this is not guess, but the plain de- claration of the word of God. '* Then shall that wicked one be revealed," of whom Ave have the description in the' previous A'crses, " A\^hom the Lord shaR consume with the sjiirit of his mouth," — that consumption is now taking place, — ''and destroy with the brightness of his coming;" i.e. the Popedom is to suffer Avasting and con- sumption prcA'ious to Christ's advent ; but its utter de- struction, dislocation, and extinction, shall only be when Christ himself shall come. We read again, that he comes to reign. Isa. xxiv. 23 : " The Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and before liis ancients gloriously." Rev. xi. 15 : " The kingdoms of this Avorld shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for CA'cr and ever." I cannot tell you the exact characteristics and the accompaniments of this reign. ]\[uch that is wicked has been said about it : much that is rash has been uttered by good men. We knoAv so little of the brightness of that age, that where God has not spoken, it is best for us to be silent. But this I do believe, that Christ shall come — that his glorious foot- 400 APOCALYI'TIC iSKETCnPS. steps shall again toucli and consecrate our long groaning and oppressed earth — that he shall be seen as he is by CTcry saint of God — and that -sve shall hail his advent as the extinction of all curse, the end of all sorrow and suij'ering, of all night, the destruction of all death, and the dawn of a gloiy that shall never be eclipsed, and the first tone of a music that shall never be interrupted by discord. AYe have, in the next place, what this advent is de- signated. It is designated, ''times of refreshing from the presence." (Acts iii. 19.) It is called in Acts iii. 20, "times of restitution of all things;" in Tit. ii. 13, ''the appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." It is called in 1 Cor. i. 8, "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." In the next place, all true believers not only hope for this day, but are assured of it, and find in it their joy and delight. Job could say, 1500 years before the first advent of Christ, " I know that my Eedeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God ; whom I shall see for my- self, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." And all true believers arc represented as waiting for this event. 1 Thess. i. 10: "To wait for his Son from heaven." All true Christians are represented as looking for him. Phil. iii. 20 : " Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour." All true believers wiU be preserved unto that day. Phil. i. 6 : " He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." 2 Tim. iv. 18 : " The Lord will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom." Believers are represented as not being ashamed of it. 1 John i. 28 : " Abide in him, that when he sliall appear Ave may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." Believers, it is said, wiU then be pre- served blameless before him. It is written, in 1 Cor. i. 8, " That ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is promised that believers shall be like him. Phil. iii. 21 : "He that shall change our vile THE ADVENT. 401 body, and fashion it like unto his glorious body." '' We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Be- lievers are represented as receiving from him a croA^Ti of glory. ''Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of glory, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not unto me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. iv. 8. Again, believers are said to reign with him. 2 Tim. ii. 12 : ''If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him." '' They shall reign with Christ a thousand j'ears." J^ow, I have quoted all these texts which allude to this event, that j'ou may see how full the IS'ew Testa- ment is of it, and how great a space this doctrine occu- pies in the New Testament. And most remarkable it is, that we are rarely taught to prepare to meet him by the prospect of death, but always by the certainty of the Eecond coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. ISTow, having quoted these texts in reference to the second advent of Christ, the relationship and bearing of which I shall dwell upon next Lord's day evening, let me now impress the warning pronounced by the Prophet — a warning which is of spcially pressing and instant moment in the day in which we live. " Prepare to meet thy God, 0 Israel." You ask me, Whj^ prepare to meet him : It is certain that he will come ; all the texts which I have quoted declare it. Are we ready to meet him r "Were the trumpet to sound, and the dead to rise, and the earth to blaze, and the thrones to be set, should we be ashamed, or happy, at his coming? My deal friends, it is a question that most vitally affects us. Why, what can be in men's minds, what can have be- come of men's common sense, when they settle all ques- tions, examine all disputes, decide all differences, and leave unsettled the tremendous question. Am I prepared to meet my Lord and my God, and to hail his advent as that of the Lamb who has ransomed me ; or to deprecate it as that of an angry judge, Avho will finally and for ever condemn me ? My dear friends, prepare, if you are not prepared already, to meet him. It will be a solemn meeting ; wo shall gaze upon the veiy countenance of SIXOND sr.uii.s. D IJ 402 ArOCALYPTIC SJlETCHF-S. our risen Lord. AYe shall no more see him through a glass darkly, but face to face : '^ whom having not seen we love ; in whom, though now we see him not, yet be- lieving, we rejoice Avith joy unspeakable and full of glory." The veil shall be raised, the glass shall be broken; and be you the saint who wait for his glory, or sinner suspended over the gulf, you must look Christ in the face, and Christ will look you in the face ; and that look will either be the prelude to your everlasting joy, or the first flash of eternal and unmitigated woe. Let me ask you to prepare to meet Him, because it will be too late to make any preparation when He comes. The opinion, I believe, that obtains at this moment so much in every portion of the church is this : We do not intend to reject the Gospel — God forbid! AYe do mean to become Christians; we are well convinced that Chris- tianity is true, and we have no doubt that it is our duty to embrace the Gospel ; but then there is this trouble not yet over — there is this law- suit to settle — there is that little difficulty to be disposed of: I must leave my situa- tion of a servant, and 'become a master ; I must cease to be employed, and become the employer; and then I intend to attend to the things that belong to my eternal peace. This is a fatal delusion, from the commencement to the close. It is the devil's plan of deadening con- science and carrying you to destruction. It is a great law, that if two forces pull at right angles, the body that is acted upon goes neither the one way nor the other, but goes along the diagonal. It is so in moral things : jonr duty is to embrace the Gospel ; your convenience leads you to reject it : Satan steps in, in the midst of the con- troversy, and suggests the diagonal or intermediate course. You cannot reject the Gospel at once, or 3'our conscience will scourge you ; you cannot embrace the Gospel, or your sensual pleasures will be at an end. You say, therefore, you intend to accept the Gospel, and you put it off to a convenient occasion, when you will become Christians. That occasion was once anticipated, and it never arrived ; and if the last trumpet should sound, and •he last shock that follo^vs the vibrations we have felt THE ADTENT. 403 take place, and the Lord of glory should come to-morrow, or next week, or next year — (no man knoweth, not the angels ^^^ho are in heaven : and all we know is, that we are to Avatch and be ready for His coming) — there will be no preparation then. The man wdio has lost the seed- time, need not sow in harvest : the man who has lost the tide, need not trj' to float his ship : the man is too late for the battle w^hen the foe is in the midst of the camp. To-day is for forming the character in which you are to live for ever : and if we die without new hearts, we have souls wdiich are incapable of extinction, but wdiich have a terrible capacity of agony ; and I should disguise, and conceal, and dilute God's blessed word, if I did not say, that so living and so dying, there is before us nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment and tiery indignation. Xow, do not take my opinion on it ; search the Scrip- tures, whether these things are so. Surely it is a matter of such importance that it must not be postponed or superseded. You are called upon instantly, without the loss of a single day, to settle this question. Is Christianity true ? Am I a Christian, or am I not ? Do not deceive yourselves by saying it is very difficult to determine. It is very easy to determine. Is your trust in the Lamb ? Is your nature regenerated by his Spirit ? Is your first thought at morn, and your last thought at night, your soul, God, eternity, the Eible ? '' Prepare to meet thy God." But how, you ask, are we to prepare to meet Him ? And what is it to be prepared to meet Him ? The very first thing is to be reconciled to Him : " Wo are ambassadors from God, as though God did beseech you by us; be ye reconciled to God." But you say, * * AVTiat, are we enemies to God — enemies to the God of the Bible ? Impossible !" The Bible says that the na- tural heart is not only the enemy, but it is the concen- trated essence of an enemy, it is ** enmity" to God. As long as we have a thought that is not in unison with his, as long as we kick at his laws and revolt at his command- ments, so long we are enemies to God. To be reconciled to God, means to acquiesce in the curse pronounced on D D 2 404 APOCALTrTIC SKETCHES. sin, iu the propitiation ho has made for lis, in all that he has said in his blessed Gospel respecting himself and respecting us. But the next means of being prej^ared is being born again. You may be the most distinguished Pharisee, or the most degraded publican ; you may be a nobleman, or you may be a plebian ; you may be a sena- tor in parliament ; you may be a great philanthropist, beloved by all connexions, respected by your country, elevated in your state, — it does not matter ; all these are circumstantial and adventitious ; — it is addressed to our Queen, it is addressed to the liighest and noblest that are around her throne ; it is addressed to the Lord Mayor, and all the magistrates about him : to every tradesman, and merchant, and lawyer, and physician in this city ; to every good man, to every respected man, to every rich man, to every learned man, — " Except ye be born again, ye cannot see the kingdom of God." Let me, then, ask you. Have you a new heart? If you have not, need I add that you cannot but be ashamed at Christ's coming ? If there be truth in the Bible, you are unlit for heaven. But you ask, How can I have it? There is nothing to perform, promise, or pledge, but simply to pray to the God that made your heart holy at first, that he would remake it ; that the God who alone can regenerate that heart, would regenerate it : and no man ever yet cried in his agony, ^' 0 God, give me a new heart by thy Holy Spirit, for Jesus' sake," — never did a man ask it truly, and go away Avithout it. God waits to give, and de- lights to give. Do you ask when you are to prepare to meet God? The answer I have already given — Now. Every description of death I have read, every death I have witnessed, eveiy promise in the word of God — the certainty of that daj, the nearness of that day, the solemnity of that day — all proclaim. Prepare, now or never, to meet thy God. My dear friends, 1 have always said, to be Christians is the greatest thing, to be with God the noblest privi- lege. I beseech you, take what interest you please in politics, in trade, in commerce in arts, in literature, in THE ADYEXT. 405 science, but, I beseech you by the mercies of God, not separating myself from you, Prepare to meet God. You know not but that heart of yours, the frailest thing in the Y^^orld, may stop to-night. You cannot keep it going. And then what takes place ? It is not an ex- tinction of the man ; it is only the soul leaping forth from its cold, dead tabernacle, and rushing into the presence of that God before whose face the heavens and the earth shall flee away : and for a soul to be so placed, unsanctified, unregenerated, unrenewed, — language fails to embody what I feel, or what must follow. But if you can say, Christ's blood is my sacrifice, his finished righteousness is my title, his Holy Spirit is my sancti- fication, his Bible is my delight, and his promised ad- vent is my hope, — then happy is that mother's son that can say so. Who shall separate thee, my brother, from the love of God ? I am persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate thee from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. LFXJTURE XXIX. ORDER OF ADVENT. ^'Behold, I come qidcJchf. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus:'— JIey. xxii. 20. Last Lord's-day evening I showed you how full the whole New Testament is of what I called the second advent or comino- of our Lord. You will recollect how many passages I quoted, each passage the nucleus of precious and edifying thought; and how I showed that, instead of being a doctrine that occurs only here and there, it is constantly preached by the Apostles — pre- dicted hy our Lord — the hope of saints — the joy of the whole church of Christ, This evening I proceed to con- sider the order of this event. Last Sabbath evening, I showed you simply the fulness of Scripture in ex- pressing the certainty of this event , hut this evening 1 Avill try, in dependence on Divine aid, to lay open the order of this event ; in other words, to ascertain whether, according to some, it shall precede the millennium or, according to others, succeed it. All sections of the Church of Christ are perfectly agreed in this, that Christ will come personally to our world : there is no dispute about this ; there is no diversity of opinion whether Christ will personally come ; the whole contro- ver;~y is upon the order, or what precedes, and what im- mediately succeeds it. We have therefore no question about the fact whether Christ shall come or not. Again, there is no dispute in the christian church if there will he a millennium. You may call it what you like ; a millen- nium is derived from the Latin word " mille," a thou- ORBEll OF ADTEXT. 407 sand, and ^' annus," a year, and signifies the space of a thousand years : it derives its origin from llev. xx., where we read of a thousand years during which Satan shall be bound, and the whole church of Christ shall be holy and happy and perfect : but call it what you please, there is predicted in Scripture an era which shall exceed anything that has been realised on earth, in the holi- ness, in the happiness, in the joy that shall be enjoyed by the saints, in the fertility that shall be possessed by the earth, and in the communion that shall subsist be- tween a reconciled God, and a reconciled and rejoicing family. There is no dispute, then, in the first place, whether Christ will personally come ; that is settled, that is the fixed belief of us all : secondly, there is no question or dispute that there will be a millennium, an era of happiness, felicity, and joy, when earth shall close, as earth commenced, with paradise. About these there is no dispute. The first point of difi'erence, then, is the order of these events. One class allege that the millennium will come first, and Christ will come at its close : another class of Christians allege that Christ will come first, and the millennium will in- stantly succeed him. The one class say the millen- nium will usher in Christ ; the other say Christ will usher in the millennium. The one class say that mis- sionary efibrt is to bring in the millennium, and that millennium is to have Christ for its close; the other say that all existing missionary efibrt is to select a people from the midst of the world for the Lord, and that Christ shall come himself, like the sun standing at his meridian, and that the millennium will only be the sheen and splendour of that imsetting sun. The difi'erence is this : — the one class look forward to the millennium as their hope, the other class look forward to the coming of Christ as their hope. Tlie one class asserts, ''Come quickly" means, Let the millennium dawn speedily; the other class assert that ''Come quickly" means, just what it naturally implies, "Come, Lord Jesus, personally, and begin the millennium." The one class, therefore, is looking for expanding 408 APOPALYI'TIC .sKKirncs. piety, increasing light, a growing church, and dying apostasy — a progressively advancing millennium of beauty, holiness, and glory, and then Christ upon the judgment-throne. The other class are looking for increasing confusion, abounding errors, multiply- ing sins, a world turned upside-down, denser dark- ness, tremendous chaos, Christ interposing in the midst of it, and the millennium bursting from the earth the moment that his footsteps touch it. These, then, are the two points of difference. Among these two classes, let me say, there is no difference about Christ's great work upon the cross : that is settled. It is not Christians and tlie world that differ ; it is Christian and Christian that differ, not about what is of the essence of faith, but about its outworks, its privileges, and its joys. There is no doubt that you will find, in every section of the church of Christ, that two men equally distinguished for piety, devotedness, and consistency, differ upon this point. I have met with some who are perfectly furious against what they call millennarianism ; I have met with others who are just as furious in defence of it : and the one is as much to be blamed as the other. They both agree that the righteousness of Christ is our only trust and title, and that Christ will come again ; but they quarrel, where they ought only to agree to differ till they have greater light, about the order and sequence of the events that are to characterise the future. "Now I wish this evening to try if I can. settle the order in your minds ; and I ask 3'ou to lay aside all previous conceptions which you may liave formed from your earliest days ; I ask you to lay aside all prejudices that you may have taken up against those who arc called by the nickname — if such I may pronounce it — ]\f illennarians. I ask you simply t ) follow me through various passages of Scripture ; and if my inferences do not commend themselves to youi' judg- ment as logical and legitimate, then the greatest justice you can do me, and the greatest justice you can do your- selves, is to reject them. But if the inferences I draw prove — and prove, I think, they irresistibly do — that Christ comes first, and that the millennium comes next, OrvDKR OF ADVKXT. 409 then I am sure tliat Christian minds and cool judgments will lay aside their earliest prepossessions, and hear, not Avhat man may plead for, but what God has said — '' Thus saith the Lord." I will refer you to passages in the Old Testament, where I think this event is alluded to. The first passage I will quote is Isaiah xxiv. 19 — 21: *' The earth is utterly broken do"«Ti, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage, and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again. And it shall come to pass that in that daj the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth." And, j^assing to the 23rd verse, we read, '' Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients glo- riously." Now if we examine this passage, we shall see that there is first the assertion of chaos, disorganisation, and judgment; then there follows, without the interven- tion of anything like millennial bliss, the prediction, that in the midst of this Christ shall come and reign in the mount Zion, whatever bO the nature of that reign, and shine before his ancient people, the Jews, gloriously. After this, the 25th chapter follows, which is just a millennial song: "0 Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name, for thou hast done wonderful things ; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth." And at the 8th verse of this song of the millennium it is written, " He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth ; for the Lord hath spoken it." In order to know when this victory shall take place, we have only to refer to 1 Cor. xv. 54, where the Apostle says, ''Allien this corruptible shall have put on incor- ruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying — " What saying ? " The saying that is written," which Isaiah has 410 ArOCALYPTIC SKETCUES. nttcrcd licro in chap. xxy. in a millennial song — ''He will swallow lip death in A-ictory." When is this to be ? Christ first reigns in Zion, and shines before his ancients gloriously; and subsequent to this is the song of re- joicing, one of the predictions of which is that ''death shall be swallowed up in victory." You go to an Apostle in the New Testament to get light upon the old Testa- ment chapter, and he tells you that the time when the prediction in the Old Testament shall be fulfilled, is when the resurrection comes, and '' death shall be swal- lowed up in victory. " But when does the resurrection come ? After Chiist has come. That there may he a resurrection, there must be the presence of Christ ; and then " the trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be raised :" and hence we infer from Isaiah, and from this passage in Corinthians, alone, that Christ comes first, and shines before his ancients gloriously ; and the resurrection of the dead, the joy of the saints, the happiness of the world, immediately and instantly follow. Again, in Isaiah xxxiv. we have another prediction which casts light upon this very subject. We read at verse 4, after denouncing judgments upon the nations in the second verse, 'Tor the indignation of the Lord is upon aU nations, and his fury upon all their armies ; he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the moun- tains shall be melted with their blood :" and then it is added, " And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll : and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree." Now, the question is, AVhcn does this occur ? Turn to 2 Pet. iii. 10 : " The day of tlie Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which" — quoting the very words of Isaiah — " the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." It is plain, therefore, that before Isaiah xxxiv. can be made actual, Christ has come : then chap. OP.TIKK OF ABVF.yT. 411 xxxy. which immediately follows, is a song for the millennium : " The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads ; and they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." '' The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them ; and the desert shall blossom as the rose." Now in both these chapters we have, fii^st, the occurrence of fearful judg- ments executed upon the world, and next, and imme- diately after them, a new heaven and a new earth starting into existence : we see an Apostle in the New Testament showing you that the creation of the new heaven and the new earth succeeds, not precedes, the advent of Christ ; and in both the chapters of Isaiah we have the evidence of the millennial blessedness following the new heaven and the new earth. In other words, not first the millen- nium, with its bliss and its happiness, and the coming of Christ next ; but Christ fii'st and the millennium next. Again, in Isaiah Ixv. 1 7, we have a reference to the same event : '' Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth : and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind :" and then, if we read what follows at the 19th verse, we shall find it is a description of millennial bles- sedness : " I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people ; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." ^' The wolf and the lamb shall dwell together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock ; and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord." This description of perfect happiness succeeds the event which is recorded in the 1 7th verse, tlie creation of new lieavens and a new earth. The ques- tion is, When does that creation take place ? The Apostle Peter tells us that it takes place immediately after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; for he says, 2 Pet. iii. 13, ''We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous- ness." What promise? Plainlj' that of Isaiah Ixv. 1 7. Eut when does this promise take place ? St. Peter tells us in verse 10, that ''the day of the Lord cometh as a 412 ArprAT-vi'TTf sifF/rciiES. thief in the night ;" and instantly after his advent the earth and the elements shall be burned up ; and imme- diately after, he proceeds to say, ' * jS^evertheless, Ave look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Christ comes fii'st, the judgment of the nations accompanies that advent ; immediately succeed- ing it there emerge into view a new heaven and a new earth, and all the bliss and beauty and glory of the millennial and perfect kingdom. I refer to Dan. vii. 13 : ''I saw in the night-visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven,"- — (''Behold, he cometh with clouds, and everj' eye shall see him") — ''and came to the An- cient of days, and they brought him near before him." Here is Christ coming first in the clouds of heaven ; then hear what follows — " And there was given unto him," — after his advent — "dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people and nations and languages might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting domi- nion, that shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall never be destroyed." ^Now Daniel tells us plainly that Christ comes first, in the clouds of heaven, and the kingdom of happiness and holiness immediately succeeds, and does not precede that event : in other words, that the possession of his kingdoin is subsequent to his ad- vent, and not prior to that event. Again, in Dan. xii. 1 — 3, we have a very beautiful promise of this event. "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth before the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble" — just as our Lord predicted — " such as never was since there was a nation, even unto that time." The time of trouble already begun, "And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book : " whosoever is not found written in the book of life is not saved; — " and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." 1 believe this is a description of the first resurrection ; the verse reads strictly, "some," that is, those who awake, "to ever- ORDEK OF ADVENT. 413 lasting life; and some," that is, those who sleep, i.e. who still remain in their tombs, *' to everlasting shame and contempt." And then it is added, ''They that be wise shall shine 'us the brightness of the &mament, and they that tui^n many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Corresponding to the words of our Lord: ''The harvest is the end of the world," when "the SQn of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fii'e : there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. xiii. 39, 41 — 43. !Now the plain inference from this passage is, — that, firs.t, there is a description of all anti- Christian powers ; secondly, there is the advent of the Son of man, the re- surrection of many that sleep in the dust — " This is the first resurrection :" then there is immediately after his advent, " They that be wise shall shine as the brighljaess of the firmament:" and the fact that a resurrection takes place, always involves the prior fact that the 8on of God is personally present. There is no resurrection of the bodies of the Saints till the Lord of glory himself comes." The next passage I ask a'ou to look at is Hag. ii. 6 : "^For thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet a little while, and 'I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land : and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come ; and I will fill this house with my gloiy, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts : and in this place will I give peace." I believe this has not been fulfilled. To say that this has been perfectly fulfilled in the first advent of our Lord, seems to me to quote a per- formance which does not cover the prophecy ; and the best evidence that it has not been fulfilled is, not in compai'ison, but the express assertion of the Apostle Paul, when, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, he says, 414 ArocALYnic sketches. *' AVTiosc voice then shook the earth ; but now he hath promised, saving, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven ;" thus teaching us that this pre- diction has not been fulfilled. ■• The time of our Lord's first advent was a time of the greatest peace : it was tlie grand characteristic of that era, that the temple of Janus was shut, the Avhole world was at peace ; and in the deep calm Christ cai]^e : but the time when Christ is to come again, is specified here as a time of commotion, shaking the kingdoms of the earth, and '^ not the earth only, but also heaven." Then there is a reference to the emerging glory of this latter period : the words descriptive of which are not fully rendered in our translation. In the Septuagint Greek it is, fi^ydXr] tarai r] ^o^a rov oikov, rj tayrarr] vinp Ttjv TTpMvyjv : which is, literally translated, "Greater shall be the glory of this house; this latter glory greater than the former glory." And it is plain that in the Old Testament Scriptures the three temples of Solomon, Ze- rubbabel, and Herod, were regarded as substantially one ; and the latter temple that I conceive to be referred to here, is that glorious temj^le which I have endeavoured to describe in lecturing upon the 21st chapter of Revela- tions— where there is no temple, but the Lord God and the Lamb shall be the temple thereof; which needs neither sun nor moon. If this be so, then the shaking of the earth and also of the heaven, is yet to come : and in the midst of the troubles and convulsions predicted by the Spirit of God, like the flash of lightning that biu'sts from the east and illuminates the sky in its transit to the west., will the coming of the Lord of glory be. Then you will notice, that in this prophecy it is predicted in verse 7, that '^ the house shall be filled Avith glory;" and in verse 9, that ''there shall be peace." ]kit our Lord tells us, that the characteristic of this dispensation is war : " ] am come not to send peace on the earth, but a sword." And therefore I conclude, that the whole of that prediction in Haggai remains to be fulfilled ; that excitement and commotion shall precede the advent of Christ, and peace, glory, and felicity shall succeed it; ORDER or ADYEXT. 415 that tlie Millennium shall follow Christ, not Christ the Millennium. Again, in Zech. xir. 1, we have another prediction, the last that I shall quote from the Old Testament Scriptures, which goes to prove what I am now asserting : *' Behold, the day of the Lord cometh " — that day that Cometh as a thief, that day to which Peter refers in tlie passage I have already quoted — Christ's personal advent; and then, in the fourth verse ; '' And his feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives, Avhich is before Jerusalem;" and then, in the tiftli verse, " And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azab ; yea, ye shall ilee like as ye lied before the earthquake," (speaking to the enemies of God ;) *' and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." Compare this prediction with that which is pronounced by the Apostle in 1 Thess., where he declares that Christ shall " be revealed with alibis saints;" then, immediately after this appearance of Christ with all his saints, it is added, in verse 8, ''and it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jenisalem, half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea:" (and I beheld, and there came from the throne of God and of the Lamb a river of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb :") — and then he goes on to say, at verse 9, '' And the Lord shall be king over all the earth," i.e. after he comes with his saints. ^' In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one :*' sects shall cease, parties shall be absorbed ; the name that was pronounced at Antioch in scorn, shall produce the millennial glorv ; Christ shall be all, and Christians shall be the only characteristic and designation of his people. Then, in verse 20, '* In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses " — i.e. upon the most trivial and common things — " Holiness unto the Lord ;" as it is stated in llevelation, ''Nothing that detileth shall enter into it, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which arc written in the Lamb's book of life." 416 APOCALTPTIC SKETCnES. Now, iii'st of all, the passages which I have here quoted from the Old Testament Scriptures prove, tliat when Christ comes, instead of finding a world pervaded by holiness, happiness, and peace, he will find a world full of controversy, disorganisation, judgment, calamity, dispute ; and not till immediately after he comes, will there follow unity, happiness, and peace. The inference from all this is, that there shall not be first a thousand years of millennial bliss, and then the Lord shall come in his glory ; but that the Lord shall come first in his glory, at an hour when we think not, and then, like the light that succeeds the rising sun, there shall be a millennium of felicity and joy over all the earth. I will turn to some JS'ew Testament passages which appear to me to prove the very same thing ; and I would refer, in passing, to Luke xxi., intending, on a subse- qnent evening, to show that the predictions therein con- tained remain in their details to be yet fulfilled. In Luke xxi. 24, it is thus Avritten ? '' They " (that is the Jews,) '' shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations." This fact needs no comment of mine. '' And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles" — the lloman, the Arab, the Mahommedan, the Barbarian, have successively trodden it down — *' until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Then what takes place ? " And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars." Does it, tlien, say that when '' the times of the Gentiles be ful- filled," then shall begin the millennium ? No ; but *' there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars ; and upon the earth distress of nations, with l)erplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;" i.e. popu- lar commotion; '' men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth : for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." And what next ? A millennium ? No, not a syllable about it; but, "then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory, '^^^lcn these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads ; for j'our redemption draweth nigh." ORDER OF ADVENT. 417 Another passage wliic-h seems to me to prove the very same order, is that prediction of our Lord contained in Lnke xvii. 23, where He alludes to his own advent, and says, " And they shall say unto you, See here, or see there : go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lightneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven ; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this genera- tion." He then proceeds to note what shall be at the end of the world : " As it was in the days of ]N"oah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that ^oah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot ; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded ; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fke and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." l^ow, what does this teach us ? That instead of Christ coming to a world prepared by a thousand years of pre- liminary millennial bliss, he shall come to a world in which men shall be acting just as they acted in the days of N^oah, saying, Where is the promise of his coming? absorbed in the cares of time, charmed with the pursuits of this life, multiplying their connections and relation- ships in the world ; the last thing they anticipate, the advent of Christ; the only things they think about, what they shall eat, and drink, and wherewithal they shall be clothed. And in the midst of this, in an hour when the world is most apathetic, and half the church, like the foolish virgins, steeped in slumber and indiffer- ence, shall be heard the rush of chariot wheels, like the waves of the roaring sea, and shall be seen at some mid- night, when every man shall be startled from his deepest sleep, thciiiash of the last splendour, whose coruscations shall blaze through heaven and eartli, while all graves shall open, and all homes shall be entered, and the day SECOND SERIES. E E 418 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. of trial begin, and the day of grace close, and the day of glory dawn. My dear friends, 'we know not but it may come next week, next month, next year ; we know not when it may come. The greatest symptom that it is just at our doors, is when the greatest apathy prevails in a world that looks not for it. Suppose you are placed at the gambling-table : what an awful position for the Lord of glory to come and find you in ! Or, suppose you are absorbed in the excitement of a playhouse : is not such a very questionable position for the Lord of glory to come and surprise you in ? I do not say that there is sin in seeing characters personated ; I do not say that there is sin in hearing what might be a perfectly unimpeach- able play acted ; but is it not the fact, that the phiyhouse is the centre of abomination ? and that if you have tliat moral force within you, — your Cliiistian and heroic sentiment so strong, that you could go to a playhouse and come out of it, and catch no contagion, are you Biu'e that your daughter will equally escape ? are you sure your son Avill do the same ? Masters, are you sure your apprentices will do the same? You set the ex- ample ; you have force of character to resist the conta- gion ; but can you guarantee that a son, a daughter, an apprentice, a friend, with less moral force, and greater susceptibility of kindling passion, who will follow youi- example, 'will also inherit your immunity ? In points of logic, you may take ten minutes to consider, if the case requires it ; but in a question of conscience, if there is a difficulty at the first blush, it is always safest to act upon the holiest side. Pause in logic is wisdoui : pause in a matter of conscience is often the pathway to sin : the first impression in moral matters is, in gcnend, the most correct ; hence, your first conclusions in such matters are generally the most true. — lint, to return to the point ; when the Lord of glory comes, where should 5'ou like best to be found ? 13y aU means, tradesmen, behind your counter ; merchants, in your counting- house ; senators, in the senate. If you are at the post of duty, and in the path of righteousness, there to be OEDEE, OF ADVENT. 419 found when He comes, is to be found like a sentinel at his post by the commanding officer, ready for all when- ever the trumpet shall sound. But certainly it is yowc best and holiest impression, that the place of sin, the place that is suspicious, the place that is questionable, the place about AVhich there is even a doubt in the minds of good men, is the last place where you would like the King of Glory to come and find you. But let me pass on to other passages. In Acts iii. 20, I find these words : " And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you : whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." We are here told that heaven must retain Christ, till when ? iN'ot as some read the passage, till all things are restored ; but till the time of restitution of all things, of ivhich time the pro- phets have written : that is, when the time of prophecy is closed, and the era that precedes the restitution of all things has arrived, then Christ shall come and take pos- session of his kingdom. I read also in Eom. viii. that ** the whole creation," not only we om^selves, but the whole creation, i.e. the material creation, the earth, *' gi'oaneth and travaileth in jDain together imtil now ; and not only it, but ourselves also, which have the first- frnits of the Spirit: even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemp- tion of our body." 'Now, what does this passage prove ? That the fabric of natiu-e shall continue till the resur- rection comes, here called '' the redemption of our body :" but we are assm-ed in other portions of Scrip- ture, that the resurrection takes place after Christ has come; *' 'for the Lord shall descend from heaven with the voice of the archangel, and the dead in Clmst shall rise." Then it is plain from this, that the creation groans and travails, endures the curse, and will continue to do so till Christ comes. Tberefore we conclude, that the millennium succeeds, not precedes, the advent of the Lord of glory. Then again, in that beautiful passage m Thessalonians E E 2 420 APOCALTrirc SKEicnES. which I read hist Lord's-day cYcniiig : 'Tor this vrc say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alire and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep ; for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first." The resurrection of the dead shall take place after Christ has personally come ; ''then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the ail' ; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." And we read in llevelation, that when the marriage supper of the Lamb has come, and the Bride hath made herself ready, happiness and triumph instantly follow. If I turn to the parables, which you may read at your leisure, and on some of which I have commented — the parable of the tares and the wheat, for instance — we find that when some wished to separate the tares from the wheat, i.e. the bad members from the good members of the ^dsible Church, the Lord said, "Ho, let both grow together until the harvest." He then ex- plains what is to take place at the harvest, which, as ho tells us, signifies the end of the world. " The field is the world ; the good seed are the children of the king- dom, the tares are the children of the wicked one ; the enemy that sowed them is the devil ; the harvest is the end of the world." The tares and the wheat continuing together till the end of the world; ''Then the Son of man shall send forth his angels,' and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things which oft'end, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fii-e ; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." The parable teaches us, that instead of the Church rising to its millennial state before Christ comes, it shall be found in its mingled state, tares and wheat together ; and till he make the separation, the tares and the wheat remain together; and after his separation of them shall the righteous shine forth in the millennial kingdom of glory for ever. ORDER OF ADTT.NT. 421 So it is in the other parable of the good and the bad fishes : when the bad fishes are cast ofi^, and the j^ood retained, it is our Lord himself who makes the division. So again, in the parable of the ten yii'gins, on which I hope to address you in the course of my Sabbath-morn- ing lectures : when the Bridegroom came, five Avere awake, and five asleep ; in other words, one half the Church unbelieving, or tares and bad fishes, and the other half awake, resting on their Saviour's cross, and looking with joy for the Saviour's crown. In the next place, the characteristics of this dispensation, as they are given in the Bible, show that there can be no millen- nium till Christ comes. The characteristic of the pre- sent dispensation is election: "Many called, but few chosen;" "a little flock;" nations at war, the Church a mixture, creation groaning and travailing for its de- liverance. It is the chai-acteristic of the Christian in this dispensation, '' Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of heaven." The true Church is a woman in the wilderness; she is persecuted by Satan ; and each member of it has a law in his mem- bers warring against the law in his mind, making him the captive of sin and death. Thus the world is to con- tinue the world till the Kedeemer comes ; the Church is to continue a mixed crowd — all baptised, but not aU. regenerated — till Christ comes. In other words, there .is to be no millennial bliss before Chiist's advent, but this millennial bliss is instantly to succeed it. Again : the description of the state of things at his coming given by Himself to his Apostles, shows that there will be no millennium till he comes : " ^Mien the Son of man comcth, will he find faith on the earth?" This does not show that he will come at the close of the millennium. ''In the last days," says St. Paul, "pe- rilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their ownselves, covetous, proud ;" a part only of a catalogue of dark and dismal characteristics of those that shall belong to the last days. Again, we read that there shall l>e manifested the development of the man of sin, and the mystery of inicpity, which shall work until it is 422 ArOCALYPTTC SKETCITES. consiTTned by the- Spirit of the Lord's month, and de- stroyed by the brightness of his personal coming. In other -words, there is no break in the dark interval ; • there is not the least intimation of millennial bliss ; and if it do not come after Christ, most certainly the Bible BhoTvs most distinctly that it does not come before Christ. Then let me add, If there are to be first a thousand years of bliss, and if Christ is to come in the very last year of the thousand, we may be called upon to wait, but sui'ely we cannot be called upon to Avatch. "We wait for that date which is fixed ; we watch for that which itself is sure, but its time uncertain : but if the truth be that Christ comes at an hour when we think not, and prior to this millennial bliss, then the precept, '' Watch !" is as beautiful as it is important, as a duty devolving upon us all. Again : during the sounding of the fii'st six trumpets, all is dark, dismal, and terrific ; it is when the seventh sounds, and Christ comes, that the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Again : the three unclean spirits come into action under the sixth vial ; and whilst they are in action, polluting the earth with their trail, and preparing men's mind for all terrific and daring out- breaks, the words are heard, "Echold, I come as a thief: blessed is he that watchcth." Again : we are told that the Jews shall continue unconverted, as a people, until the Lord himself shall come. I will quote only one passage from the Psalm which we sung this evening : " AVhen the Lord shall build up Zion," i.e. restore the Jews to their land, and Jerusalem to its glory, " then ho shall appear in his gloiy." But let me now notice two or three objections to the whole subject, which I have endeavoured thus briefly to illustrate and construct from Scripture. rirst, it has been argued hj some who are opposed to the order I have stated, that such a hope is incompatible with the sentiment expressed by our Lord — " ]\[y king- dom is not of this world." They say, If there is to be a reign of glory and of blessedness, with Christ, in some way unknown to us, manifest in the midst of it, it would Ol^DER OF ADYENT. 423 imply tliat Christ's kingdom is not of this 'world. I answer, The objection is not a valid one. AYc say, Christ's king'dom is in the world, but Christ's kingdom neither is nor ought to be of the world. Believers now are in the world, but it does not follow that they are therefore of the world. "WTiat we contend for is this : that Christ's kingdom wiU be manifested in the world, but that Christ's kingdom will not then be — what it ought not now to be — a kingdom raised by carnal wea- pons, defended by carnal men, and dependent upon carnal motives for its maintenance, stability, and support. The second objection I have heard is contained in Luke xvii. 21 : '*]^either shall they say, Lo here! or Lo there ! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." It has been argued that there can be no king- dom of God -without us, because the kingdom of God is within us. I answer, Suppose we take the words just as they are written, still this last inference does not fol- low. The kingdom of God has in Scripture two aspects : one as composed of principles, the other as composed of persons. As composed oi principles, the kingdom of God is not meat nor drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ; and as such that kingdom is within you. ' As composed of p>^^sons or saints, heirs of God, the kingdom of God is necessarily witliout you; but the ti'uth is, our translation conveys a wi^ong im- pression,— it reads as if our Lord had said, '' Neither shall they say, Lo here ! or Lo there !" and then had added as a reason, " Behold, the kingdom of God is within you." But the last words, *' Behold," &c. are a part of what the people say : '']^either shall they say, * Lo here ! or Lo there ! for the kingdom of God is ■within you.'" This is what they shall not say; and if they do so, you are commanded to pay no attention to it. Just in the same manner as if thej^ should say, ''He is here in the secret chambers, go not there ; or, Lo, he is there in the desert, go not after them." And there- fore " The kingdom of God is within you," is not a reason assigned by the Saviour for rejecting the "Lo here ! or Lo there !" but it is part and parcel of the 424 ArocALYrTic sketches. sentiment of those who shall exclaim, "The kingdom of God is here, or it is there !" and who, therefore, do not look for its advent, its spread, and its triumphs upon earth. Kow I admit, in closing my remarks on this branch of the subject, many excellent men reject the order I have endeavoured to prove. It is perfectly true, no one doubts or denies it ; but we must not read the Scrip- tures in the light of excellent men, but the creeds and sentiments of excellent men in the light of the Scrip- ture. The great law is, that our rule of faith is not what the best men say, nor what the worst men say, but what God has distinctly stated in his word. If you are satisfied, from the proofs I have adduced, that Chi^ist comes first, and is therefore the hope of his people, and his kingdom follows next, then you must not mind that some good men reject it; but if a human element is to be admitted, I may thus answer: If many good men reject it, many good men, I need not inform you, accept it. Such excellent men as Mr. S^tratten of Paddington, and Mr. 'Noel, late of St. John's Chapel, are opposed to this order ; but such no less excellent men as Mr. Yil- liers, and Dr. M'Neile, Mr. Eickersteth, Mr. Eiiiis, and many others, accept it ; and therefore, if we are to weigh one good man against another, you must remain perfectly neutral. You must, therefore, read the Bible yourselves — ask God's Spirit to teach you, and to lead you to the conclusion which is truth. Another objection is, that these prophetic views have led some great men into grievous heresy. "Was it the prophetic views that led them into heresy, or their own wayward fancies ? It would not be fair to say that the Bible leads to Socinianism, or to make Christianity answerable for Popery. Secpence and consequence are two different things : en^or may follow truth, but truth does not necessarily generate error. Blame not pro- pliecj^, but human infirmity. Others have said, that all prophecy is meant to be studied only after it is fulfilled. Suppose Adara and Eve had acted upon this sentiment, they had lived and ORDER OF ADYEISTT. 425 died ignorant of the Gospel ; for they had nothing but a prophecy to lead them to Christ : *' The woman's seed shall bruise the serpent's head." Thej^ believed the promise — treated the promise as performance — and were saved through the truth that it embosomed. Or sup- pose oui' Lord's immediate disciples had acted upon this sentiment. Our Lord told them what should befall Jerusalem, how they would escape, and how they were to act. They received his prophecies, acted upon his precepts ; and if they had waited till the prophecy was fulfilled, they had perished amid the ruins of Jerusalem. Our Lord himself reproved the scribes and Pharisees for noticing the signs of the sky, and not observing those of the times. He says, " Ye say the sky is red, and it will be fine weather to-morrow ;" and if you are so accurately acquainted with your barometer, why not be better ac- quainted with your Bible ? You calculate what shall be here to-morrow, from the aspect of the sky to-day : , How is it that you are ignorant of the signs of the times, which you ought also to interpret, and see what they lead to ? Others, again, have said, that such a millennium as that which I have alluded to — Christ in the midst of it, his people clustering round like concentric zones of adoring worshippers, holy and happy — is a carnal millennium. If it be God's truth, it cannot be carnal. I will not pause to discuss the objection, that it is carnal : the great question is — Is it true ? Is it here ? If it be not here, it is false, which is worse than carnal: if it be God's prophecy, then depend on it there will be nothing carnal, or sinful, or sensuous, in it or about it. Others say. Has not Paul said, " I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified." Would it not be much better to dwell on such a text as that, and not to spend an hour and a quarter in endeavoui'ing to prove the order of events which^ God has left undetermined, and about which, perhaps, absolute certainty is altogether unattainable? True, the Apostle Paul did say, " I determined to know 426 ArOCALTPTIC SKETCHES. nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified." But the same Apostle did also say, '^ Eut now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order : Christ the first-fruits ; afterward them that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." And the Apostle Paul, in reminding his converts what he preached, and what was the eff'ect of his preaching, says, '^For they them- selves show what manner of entering in we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living God, and to ivait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus which delivered us from the ■^T.-ath of God." Others again v\rill say, " If these things be so, what occasion is there for missions r" And I was so misin- terpreted in uttering some of these sentiments before, that one told me he had heard that I no longer took the least interest in missions, because I believe this age is soon to close, and Clirist is soon to come. The facts are altogether the opposite : because the time is long, you can aff'ord to be slack ; because the time is short, ive can afford only to be busy. Because this is the age for selec- tion, for preparing a people to meet the Lord, I feel that every energy of heart and head ought to be concenti^atcd. !N'ow we must give largely and make large sacrifices : the candle is nearly burned to the socket — I must wiite quicker while the little light remains. The paper is almost covered with writing — I must crowd what re- mains with closer writing, more startling sentiments, more thrilling warnings, more earnest exhortations. The age is dmwing to a close ; the shadows of the world's eve are gathering round ; the crash of thrones, the fall of dynasties, the shaking of the cai^th, to be followed by the shaking of the heaven, are heard as dread prcmonitoiy OEDER OF ADYENT. 427 sounds booming over all the earth. "We know not, my dear friends, how soon the Lord may come. Let every one, therefore, have his loins girt, and his lamp bnrning — his foot-hold the Ilock of Ages, and his hope the crown of glory. MCTTJEE XXX. THE FALL OP JEEUSALEM. " He ivhich testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quicUij. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus,'^ — Eey. xxii. 20. In my first discourse on these words, I showed how frequently the advent or second coming of onr Lord is referred to in the ]^ew Testament. In my second dis- course, I endeavoured to show you the order of this event ; and I think the texts I adduced clearly prove that Christ comes first to our world, and then the millennium, or the reign of happiness and joy and peace, shall follow. In this lecture I wish to direct your attention, in con- nexion with this text, to the last prophecy of our Lord relating to the destruction of Jerusalem : distinguishing how much of it relates to that event which is mentioned in the text — the coming quickly of the Son of man. iNext Lord's-day evening, if spared, I will show you tlie other intervening event between the first and second advent of Christ — the man of sin ; and then, in the last discourse I shall preach upon this portion of this hook, I will show you what are the signs and symptoms, as far as I have gathered any fresh ones, of the nearness of that great and hoped-for event. The prophecy then — which I will illustrate as briefly as I possibly can, by quoting illustrations of it — is contained in IMatt. xxiv. In that prophccj^, so much, as I have told you, refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, which was near; so much, to the advent of Christ, which was beyond it : this subject will show us that nothing is to take place between the destruction of Jerusalem and the coming of Christ, in the XnE TALL or JEETJSALEM. 429 way of spiritual prosperity and happiness to the Church nniversal ; but, on the contrary, the prolongation of the great tribulation Avhich is to overtake the Jew, and the ruins of his noble capital ; while all the land of Israel will continue in a state of desolation until Christ comes, and then, and only then, it shall cease. It appears, from the fii'st verse, that Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple, and that Jesus said unto them, " See ye not all these things ? Yerilj- 1 say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another^ that shall not be thrown down." He that made such a pre- diction as this, amid the circumstances of strength, of splendour, and of greatness which surrounded him at that moment, must either have been a maniac, speaking in his madness, or he must have been He to whom the past, the present, and the future are equally luminous. It is added, "^ind as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him." I think it is important to ex- plain this prophecy, because many persons say that the predictions which relate to the downfal of Jerusalem apply also to the second advent of Christ; and others apply the whole to the second advent of Chiist, and over- look the plain and palpable foot, that the great bulk of it was fulfilled in the destruction of the Jewish capital and the Jewish polity. They said, *'Tell us, when, shall these things be ?" I beg of you specially to notice the words "these tilings," because they are referred to again and again. " When shall these things be r" is the first question; and, ""WHiat shal^be the sign of thy coming," {irapovaLa, personal appearance,) '' and of the end of the world?" "This is the second question. The word rendered ''world" is not KoajioQ, which means the ft-eated world, but ani)v, which means a dispensation — "When shall be the end of the age ? — a'lwv vvv, " that now is," being the usual form for the present dispensa- tion; and aiMv fAWwv "the age to come," being the form for tlie millennial dispensation, described in Kev. xxi. xxii. There are here three great questions stated : first, AV^hcn shall these things be ? secondly, What shaU 430 AroaiLiTTic sketches. be tlic sign of thy coming ? thirdly, xVnd of the end of this dispensation which is now begun ? Jesus proceeds instantly to answer thesogfthree questions in succession ; and, in distinguishing the contents of the chapter, you distinguish what is fulfilled from what remains to be fulfilled, and thus gather what is to interYeno between the destruction of the Jewish capital, and the erection, the coming down from heaven, of that jS^ew Jerusalem — *'that city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Jesus thus proceeded to answer and explain them : ** Take heed that no man deceive you. Por many shall come in my name, sapng, I am Christ ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars : see that ye be not troubled ; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Tor nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kmgdom ; and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you ; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake;" — addressing plainly the disciples: the disciples asked the question, and to the disciples, as re- presenting the Christians, he addresses himself: — "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold : but he that shall endure imto the end, the same shall be saved. And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come. "When ye therc^fore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of bj^ Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (^A'hoso readeth, let. him understand,) then let them which be in Jiidea flee into the mountains : let Imn which is on the house-top not come down to take anything out of his house: neither let him which is in the field return bac k to take his clotlies. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days ! ]3ut pray ye THE FALL OP JERUS.y.EM. 431 that your flight be not in the mnter, neither on the Sabbath-day : for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time ; no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, no flesh should be saved ; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." (Yerses 4 — 22.) Down to this, he seems to me to refer specially to the downfal of Jerusalem ; then, from verse 23 onward, he guards them against misinteipreting the signs of his advent. From verses 23 to 29, and from verses 30 to 41, he describes his own second coming, and the end of the alcov, or age. To show you that his predictions from verses 4 to 23 have been strikingly fulfilled, I will read to you some extracts, made from different ^vriters, which will prove how strictly and literally the past has been fulfilled, and how strictly and literally we may expect the future to be fulfilled also^. The first sign he gave is the appearance of false pro- phets : ''Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Clirist." JS^ow, Josephus informs us that there were many Avho, pretending to Divine inspiration, deceived the people, leading out numbers of them into the desert. He does not, indeed, expressly say that they called them- selves the Messiah or Christ, yet he says that which is equivalent ; viz. that they pretended that God would there show them the signs of liberty, — meaning, redemp- tion from the Roman yoke, which thing the Jews ex- pected the Messiah would do for them. Among these was Dositheus the Samaritan, who affirmed that he was the Christ foretold by Moses ; Simon Magus, who said that he appeared among the Jews as the Son of God;" and many other examples are also given by Josephus, of pretended Messiahs who appeared at that time. And this led Tacitus to make the remark, that " there pre- vailed a common opinion throughout the East, of some one who should bo Lord and Master of the world ;" the expectation of the Messiah leading many to put in a claim to be so. The next sign was, that there should be " wars and rumours of wars." The rising of nation against nation 432 ArOCALYPTIC SKETCnES. portended the dissensions, insurrections, and mntual slaughter of the Jews and those of other nations who dwelt in the same cities together; as particularly at Ciesarea, where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city, which contention at length pro- ceeded so far that above 20,000 Jews were slain, and the city was cleared of the Jewish inhabitants. At this blow the whole nation of the Jews were exasperated, and di- viding themselves into parties, they bm-nt and plundered the neighbouring cities and villages of the Syrians, and made an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians in revenge destroyed not a less number of the Jews, and every city, as Josephus expresses it, "was divided into two armies." *' The rising of kingdom against Idngdom portended the open wars of different tetrarchies and pro- vinces against one another." Eut, as Josephus says, *" there was not only sedition and civil war throughout Judea, but likewise in Italy,' Otho and Vitellius contend- ing for tlie empire." So strictly and literally was this prediction fulhlled. The third sign of the destruction of Jerusalem was "famine and pestilence :" the fulfilment of this is even stated in the Acts of the Apostles, xi. 28, as predicted by Agabus : it is also mentioned by Suetonius, Tacitus, Eusebius ; and was so severe at Jerusalem, that Josephus informs us many people perished for want of food. Pes- tilences are the usual attendants of famines, as scarcity and badness of provisions almost always terminate in some epidemical distemper. That Judea was afflicted with pestilence, we learn from Josephus, who says, that when one Niger was put to death by the Jewish zealots, besides other calamities, he imprecated famine and pes- tilence upon them all; "which imprecations God con- firmed against these impious men." The next sign is "earthquakes." If these mean literal earthquakes, as I believe they do, we read of one at Crete, in the reign of Claudius, and others at SmjTua, Miletus, Chios, Samos, and other places, in all of which JcAvs were settled. Tacitus mentions one in the same reign, and says that in the reign of Nero, the cities of THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. 433 Laodicea, Hierarapolis, and Colosse were oyerthrown, and that tlic celebrated city of Pompeii, in Campania, was overthrown and almost demolished by an earth- quake ; and another earthquake at Rome is mentioned by Suetonius, as having happened in the reign of Galba. The fifth sign was, fearful sights and signs from heaven. Josephus, who was not acquainted with the prophecy contained in Matt, xxiv., records simply as an historian, iiTespective of any religious view whatever, the follow- ing facts. The Lord said there should be sights and signs in heaven ; and this prediction is repeated in the Gospel of Luke. Many prodigies are related by Josephus, pai'ticularly " that in Judea, at the commencement of the war, and before the siege of eTerusalem by Titus, there broke out a prodigious storm in the night, with the utmost violence, and very strong winds, with the largest showers of rain,, vnth continual lightnings, terrible thunderings, and amazing concussions and bello wings of the earth, that was in an earthquake. These things were a manifest indication that some destruction was coming upon men, when the system of this world was thrown into such disorder ; and any one would guess that these wonders portended some grand calamities that were im- pending." The same historian, in the preface to his History of the Jewish AYar, undertakes to record the signs and prodigies that preceded it, and accordingly, in his sixth book he enumerates them thus : ''First, A star himg over the city like a sword, and the comet continued for a whole year. Second, The people being assembled to celebrate the Feast of Fnleavened Eread, at the ninth of the night, there shone so great a light about the altar and the temple, that it seemed to be bright day. Thii'd, At the same feast, a cow, led by the ]Driest to sacrifice, brought forth a lamb in the middle of the temple. Fourth, The eastern gate of the temple, which was of solid brass and very heavy, and was scarcely shut in the evening by twenty men, and was fastened by strong bars and bolts, was seen, at the sixth hour of the night, opened of its own accord, and could hardly be shut again. Fifth, Before the sotting of the sun there was seen over SECOND SEIUES. F F 434 APOCALITTIC SKETCnES. all tlie country, chariots and armies fighting in the clouds, and besieging cities. Sixth, At the feast of Pentecost, as the priests were going into the inner temple by night, as usual, to attend their services, they heard first a motion and noise, and then a voice as of a multi- tude, saying, ' Let us depart hence.' Seventh, what Josephus reckons as the most terrible of all, one Jesus, a country fellow, four years before the war began, and when the city was in peace and plenty, came to the Peast of Tabernacles, and ran crying up and down the streets, day and night, ' A voice from the east, a voice fi'om the west, a voice from the four T\dnds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, a voice against all the people.' The magistrates endeavoured by stripes and torture to restrain him, but he still called with a mourn- ful voice, ' AYoe, woe to Jerusalem.' This he continued to do for seven years and five months together, and espe- cially at the great festivals ; and he neither grew hoarse nor was tired, but went about the walls and cried with a loud voice, ' AYoe, woe to the city, and to the people, and to the temple ;' and as he added at last, ' AYoe, woe also to myself,' it happened that a stone from some sling or engine immediately struck him dead." Tacitus also, the Boman historian, who is not suspected by sceptic writers, but whose testimony is received in preference to that of others, records that there happened several prodigies ; he does not speak of the destruction of Jerusalem especially, but of the times. ''There happened several prodigies; armies were seen engaging in the heavens, arms were seen glittering, and the temjole shone with the sudden fire of the clouds ; the doors of the temple opened suddenly, and a voice greater than human was heard, that the gods were departmg ; and likewise a great motion of theii" departing." Tliese arc the words of Tacitus, the E,oman historian, who called the Christian religion exitiahilis sKperstitio, ''a pernicious' superstition;" and who had not the least design of confirming any prediction connected with it. The next j)rediction was, that '' they will lay hands THE FALL OF JERTJSALEM. 435 on you and persecute you, and deliver you to be beaten ; and ye shall bQ hated of all men for my name's sake." I need not quote proof demonstrative of this : whether you read the Acts of the Apostles, oA:ead the historians of the time, you ^vill find that the war was a war against the very name of Christian, and an effort was made to ex- tinguish the religion. " Though a man was possessed of every human virtue, yet it was crime enough if ho Avere a Christian." So hated was the name, and such was the effort to proscribe and extinguish it. The seventh sign was, that the Gospel should be preached among all the nations constituting the empire and known at that day. This can be proved by distinct contemporaneous testimony : the most strong is that of the younger Pliny, in his letter to the emperor Trajan, A.D. 107, from which we learn, that during his procon- sulate in Pontus and Bithynia the Christians abounded in those provinces; that informations had been lodged against many on this account ; and that he had made diligent inquiry, even by torture, into the nature of the charge against them, but could not discover any crime of which they were guilty, besides what he terms an evil and excessive superstition. He adds, that he 'thought it necessary on this occasion to consult the emperor, espe- cially on account of the great number of persons who are in danger of suffering ; for many of all ages and of every rank are accused, and will be accused : nor has the con- tagion of this superstition seized cities onl}^, but the lesser towns also and the open country;" and he further intimates that " the ^temples had been almost deserted, the sacred solemnities discontinued, and that the victims had met with but few purchasers." Then, if we refer to Clement, and Justin Martyr, and others, we shall find still further testimony to the spread of Christianity at that day. AVc find another sign of the destruction of the temple predicted by our Lord — viz. ''that the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet sliould stand in the holy place." '' This abomination of desolation is universally believed to have been the Koman ensign and 436 ATOC-LLYFTIC SKETCHES. the Eoman army. These entered the very holy of holies, and the Iloman eagle was actually raised ivhere the che- rubim and the shechinah once were. AYe read then the command of our Lord, fhat those who were in Judea should flee to the mountains. Josephus tells us, that in the 12th year of ]S"ero, Sestius Gallus, the president of Sj'ria, came with a powerful army against Jerusalem, which he might have assaulted and taken ; hut without any just reason, and contraiy to the expectation of all, he raised the siege and departed. Immediately after his retreat, many of the principal Jewish people forsook the city, as men do a sinking ship. And a few years after- wards, when Vespasian was drawing his forces towards Jerusalem, a great multitude fled from Jericho into the mountainous country, for their security. Among them it is probable that some were Christians. At this juncture, we are told, all who believed in Jesus Chiist, warned by this oracle or prophecy, quitted Jerusalem, and removed to Pella and other places beyond the river Jordan, and thus marvellously escaped the general shipwreck of their country." And we read that not one Chi'istian (which is very remarkable) perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. Another sign was the appearance of " false Christs and false prophets." Josephus thus speaks: ''The tyran- nical zealots who ruled the city, suborned many false prophets to declare that aid would be given to the people from heaven. This was done to prevent them from attempting to desert, and to inspu'C them with con- fidence. In this manner impostors, abusing the sacred name of God, deluded the unhappy multitude ; who, like infatuated men, that have neither eyes to see nor reason to judge, regarded neither the infallible denunciations pronounced by the ancient prophets, nor the clear pro- digies that indicated the approaching desolation." AVe read next of the miseries that were to overtake that land. Time would fail if I were to read the dreadful numbers slaughtered at the siege of Jerusalem, or the terrible alternatives to which they were reduced. To the extreme suft'erings of the Jews, Josephus bears THE FALL OF JERTJSAXEM. 437 most ample testimony. In the j^reface to his history of the Jewish war, speaking generally of the calamities that befel the Jews, he says, almost in our SavioiK's words, '' that all the calamities which had befallen any nation from the beginning of the world, were but small in comparison of those of the Jews." We find that opposite factions filled all places, even the temple itself, with continual slaughter. Mothers were even found, in the ch'eadful famine during the siege, eating the flesh of their own children ; and we gather from Josephus that numbers, rushing into every lane, slew Avhomsoever they found, without distinction, and burned the houses and all the people who fled into them. And when they en- tered for the sake of plunder, they found whole families of dead persons, and houses full of carcases destroyed by famine. Then they came out with their hands empty, and though they thus pitied the dead, they did not feel the same emotion for the living, but killed all they met, whereby they filled the lanes with dead bodies. The whole city ran with blood, insomuch that many things which were biu^ning were extinguished by the blood. Thus were the inhabitants of Jerusalem slain with the sword : thus was she laid even with tbe ground, and her children with her. The soldiers being now wearied with killing the Jews, and yet a great number remaining alive, Caesar commanded that only the armed and they who resisted should be slain. But the soldiers killed also the old and infirm : and taking the young and strong prisoners, carried them into the women's court in the temple. Caesar appoiiJted one Pronto, his freedman and friend, to guard them, and to determine the fate of each. All the robbers and seditious he slew, one of them be- trapng another. But picking out such youths as were remarkable for stature and beauty, he reserved them for the triumph. All the rest that were above seventeen years old, he sent into Egypt to be employed in labour there. Titus also sent many of them into the provinces, to be slain in the theatres by beasts and the sword. And those who were imder seventeen were slain ; and during the time Fron to judged them, a thousand died of hunger. 438 ArOCALTPTIC SKETCHES. But the falling by the edge of the sword is not to he confined to what happened at the siege, in which not fewer than 1,100,000 perished. It also comjirchends all the slaughter made of the Jews in different battles, sieges, and massacres, both in their own country, and at other places dimng the course of the war. Thus, by the command of Florus, who was the fii^st author of the war, there were slain at Jerusalem 3,600; by the in- habitants of Ca^sarea, above 20,000; at Scythopolis, above 13,000; at Ascalon, 2,500, and at Ptolemais, 2,000. At Alexandiia, under Tiberius Alexander the president, 50,000. At JojDpa, when it was taken by Scstius Gallus, 8,400. At a mountain Amason, near Sepphoris, above 2,000. At Damascus, 10,000. In a battle with the Eomans at Ascalon, 10,000. At an ambuscade near the same place, 8,000. At Japha, 15,000. Ey the Samaritans upon JMount Gerizim, 11,600. At Jobopa, 40,000. At Joppa, when taken by Yespasian, 4,200. At Tarichea, 6,500, and after the city was taken, 1,200. At Gamala, 4,000, besides 5,000 who threw themselves down a precipice. Of those who fled with John from Gischala, 6,000. Of the Gadarenes, 15,000 slain, besides an infinite number dro^vned. In the villages of Idumca, above 10,000 slain. At Gerasa, 1,000. At Machcerus, 1,700. In the wood of Jardcs, 3,000. In the castle of Masada, 960. In Greece, by Catullus the Governor, 3,000. Besides these, many of every age, sex, and condition were slain in this war, who are not reckoned ; but of those who are reck- oned, the number amounts to abd'^e 1,357,660 ; which would appear almost incredible, if their o^vn historian had not so jiarticularly enumerated them. And then the prediction is, that '' theii' house should be left deso- late, until the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled." This it needs no historical testimony to corroborate, as it is perfectly plain before our eyes. " The temple was a building of such strength and grandeur, of such splen- dour and beauty, that it was likely, as it was Avorthy, to be preserved, for a monument of the victorj' and gloiy of the Iloman em2)ire. Titus was accordingly THE FALL OF JEllFSALEM. 439 very desirous of preserving it, and protested to tlie Jews, who head fortified themselves within it, that he would preserve it even against their will. He had expressed the like desii'e of preserving the city too, and repeatedly sent Josephus and other Jews to their countrymen, to persuade them to a surrender ; hut an overniling Provi- dence directed things otherwise. The Jews themselves first set fire to the porticos of the temple, and then the Romans. One of the soldiers, neither waiting for any command, nor trembling for such an attempt, but urged by a certain divine impulse, threw a bui^ning brand in at the golden window, and thereby set fire to the build- ings of the temple itself. Titus ran immediately to the temple, and commanded his soldiers to extinguish the flames. But neither exhortations nor threatenings could restrain their violence. They either could not hear or would not hear, and those behind encouraged those be- fore to set fire to the temple. He was still for pre- serving the holy place. He commanded his soldiers even to be beaten for disobeying him : but their anger, and their hatred of the Jews, and a certain warlike ve- hement fury, overcame their reverence for theii' general and their di-ead for his commands. A soldier in the dark set fire to the doors; and thus," as Josephus says, '' the temple was burnt against the will of Caesar." When the soldiers had rested from their horiid work of blood and plunder, Titus gave orders to demolish the foundations of the city and the temple. But, that posterity might judge of the glory and value of his con- quest, he left three towers standing as monuments of the prodigious strength and greatness of the city ; and also a part of the western wall, which he designed as a rampart for a garrison, to keep the surrounding coimtry in subjection. All the other buildings were completely levelled with the ground. It is recorded by Maimonides, and likewise in the Jewish Talmud, that Terentius Rufus, an officer in the army of Titus, with a ploughshare, tore up the founda- tions of the temple, and thus remarkably fulfilled the words of the prophet Micah : " Therefore shall Zion for 440 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest." (Mic. iii. 12.) 'No^y, it seems to me, that all that our Lord said, down to the 23d verse, has been fulfilled. Here, we have had famine, pestilences, earthquakes, wars, the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, the Christians escaping from Jei-usalem and rushing into Pella for safety, the Gospel of the kingdom preached in every nation. It is supposed that the Apostle Paul even came as far as Britain ; and it is matter of fact, that the rest of the Apostles went through the whole known world, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. But, from the 23d verse, our Lord proceeds to warn his hearers not to confound his second coming with the destruction of Jenisalem, and says to them, ''Then, if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or, Lo there ; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders ; inso- much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. AMierefore, if they shall say unto unto you. Behold, he is in the desert ; go not forth : Behold, he is in the secret cham- bers ; believe it- not. For as the lightning comcth out of the east, and shineth even unto the west ; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." 'Now, some persons have said that the coming of our Lord was fulfilled at the destruction of Jenisalem. Our Lord says, '' I warn you that it will not be my Trapovaia, my personal appearance, my coming : many will come and say that it is ; but if any man should say, Lo, here Christ is come, and is to be found here; believe him not. If another should say, Lo, he is in the desert, go out to meet him ; do not believe him. There can be no such mistake about my coming ; for so little liable shall my advent be to this misapprcliension, that it shall come with the rapidity and splendour of the lightning, that bursts from the east, illiuuinates the sky, and buries THE FALL OF JEEUSALEM. 441 itself in the west ; and so little liability to mistake shall there be at that day, that as easily will the vulture with outstretched wing pounce npon a stone, instead of descending upon its prey, as the Christian take one for Messiah who is not the^ Christ — the Messiah promised by the Father.' So you see these verses warn them that they are not to confound his advent with the destruction of Jerusalem ; that when it does take place, it will not be something that men may dispute about, but it will be so palpable that "every eye shall see him;" and ''they that pierced him" so satisfied, that they "shall wail because of him;" and they that loved him shall be like him, for they " shall see him as he is." After clearing away misapprehension about his ad- vent, he answers, in the 29th verse, the question, " What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world." He tells ns what shall be imme- diately after the tribulation of those days : " The_ snn shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken : and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." N"ow, this is the prediction or prophecy of Christ's own personal advent, and the end of the_ aiwr, or age, or dispensation. But you say. How is this con- sistent with the words, "immediately after the tribu- lation of those days?" I answer. This tribulation, begun at the destruction of Jerusalem, continues now, and shall only be closed with Christ's second personal advent; for you perceive that it is so, by comparing what is said by our Lord in this chapter with what is said by Daniel, referring, I believe, to the veiy same event. It is said, " There shall be great tiibulation, such as never was from the beginning of the world, no, nor ever shall be." If this relates only to the destruc- 442 ArOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. tion of Jerusalem, it would imply that that was the greatest tribulation that ever was or ever shall be. But the prophet Daniel, speaking of the end of the world, and of what was immediately to precede the very last scene in this dispensation, states that there should be " a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation." Eut if the tribulation of Jei-usalem was greater than ever was or ever shall be, that would be directly contradictory of the express prediction of Daniel, that the last should be a time of trouble such as never had been and never should be. Hiis tribulation, then, I conceive, began with the destruction of Jerusalem, and it is contained in the fact that Jerusalem is still trodden under foot of the Gen- tiles ; that the Jew is still scorned, proscribed, and per- secuted in every land ; and that upon the whole of that people the tribulation lies with terrible pressure, while every effort to lighten it has completely and successively failed. jS^o sooner did a Pope, in the midst of E-ome, supposed to be the most enlightened and most liberal of his class, attempt to lighten the pressure of the Jew, than — not in judgment for this, for I do not believe it was the cause, but for attempting to reform what can only be revolutionised — he was swept from his place, and is now — as I told you he was likely to be, if the views of prophecy I explained to you be correct — a re- fugee, and, what is not improbable, likely to seek shelter in the only asylum there is in the world at this moment — the land of heresy, in his judgment — the land of Gospel light and libertj^, in ours. This tribulation, then, extends to the coming of the sign of the Son of man. That this tribulation is a tribulation reaching from the destruction of the first Jerusalem to the build- ing up of the New or second Jerusalem, is confii'mcd by a reference to the parallel passage in Luke xxi. 24, where it is said, speaking of the Jews, " They shall fall by the edge of sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations :" here is the tribulation or punishment continued: ''and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles," — here is the tribulation still continued, THE FALL OE .TElirSALEM. 443 —"until the times of the Gentiles be Mfilled." ^Yhat occurs after this period, this " time, times, and half a time," has all been fulfilled. We read what takes places immediatehj after. It is in one passage, '' Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened," &c. In Luke it is, after "the treading down of Jerusalem," and the *' fulfilling of the times of the Gentiles," " then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven :" — show- ing that the two prior events to these signs are perfectly parallel. Now all this, I balieve, is what we are just entering upon, when '' there shall be signs in the sim, and in the moon, and in the stars ; upon earth distress of na- tions, with perplexity; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming upon the earth." Then, out of all this terrible chaos shall rise, in glory and in meridian noon, greater than that sun that rose on creation first, the Son of God. " Then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." "And when these things begin to come to pass, then," Chris- tians, "lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." And does not all this confirm the prediction I endea- voured to prove last Lord's-day evening, That all that precedes the coming of Christ is tribulation and distress? that there is not the least sign or symptom of a millen- nium prior to the personal appearance, whatever that appearance be, of the Son of God ? In verse 30 of this chapter in Matthew, we have it declared that he shall " come with power." The evidence of that power shall be in the heaven above, in the earth below, when it shall enter into the graves of the dead, and into the homes of the living : He shall come with a power that shall iliow itself in the rising bodies of the first resur- rection, in the changed living, in the opening graves, in the departing firmament, in the desolated earth, in the trend)ling, weeping, and mourning guilty. He shall come also with great glory ; He shall come with the 444 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. Shcchinah, the whole firmament in flame, lighted up with a splendour that shall put out the sun and the stars, even as the sun at his rising puts out the morning star; and he will " send his angels with a great sound of the trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four Avinds, from one end of heaven to the other:" that is, constitute his OAvn perfect, complete, manifested church. Then, there shall he what is called " the manifestation of the sons of God;" the visible church and the true church, coextensive and identical the one with the other. Then shall be the real catholic church, for it shall consist of all nations ; then shall be the real ancient church, for it shall be " chosen in Christ before the foun- dation of the world." Then shall be the true united church, all one company, Christ the centre, and his name all and in all. Oui' Lord next gives certain signs; and in the 33d verse he says: *^ AVhen ye shall see all these things, know that it is nigh, even at the doors." A\Tiat things ? I conceive the things mentioned in verse 2 : " When ye shall see all these things, then it is nigh upon your doors," (fTTt Tag Ovoag.) Xow, some one will say, that this is utterly incompatiable with what you have stated : When these things take place, this trouble — all these judgments — to say Chiist is nigh, even at the doors, is not correct. But is it not constantly stated in every chapter of the Eible, ''The Lord is at hand?" Does not the Apostle James use the veiy same expression, in the fourth chapter of his Epistle, ''The irapovma, the personal appearance, of the Lord draweth nigh?" This just means, that the church of Christ should, from this moment, assume this position — their foothold the cross, their hope the crown ; — looking for nothing upon earth so glorious, so dear, so precious, so beautiful, as the return of Him who left them, and who promised that he would come again and receive them to himself; that where he is, there they should be also. Then he adds, " Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things are fulfilled." If you suppose " these THE FALL OF JEEUSALEM. 445 things" to refer to what he has stated about the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, it is perfectly explicable ; but there is another way of explaining it also. The word here used is y£vea. I have looked into every dictionary I could lay hold of, and it is defined, no doubt, to signify a generation — 30 years of time ; and if these words apply to the destruction of the temple, it was literally true, that during the lifetime of the generation then living that temple was destroyed. The word j^veo., however, is more frequently used, by Homer especially, to denote a race, a people ; for instance, yeveci ^fXicro-awv, the race or nation of bees — yevm dvOpij^Trov, the race of men, meaning the race as distinguished from some other — yevm ^vAXwv, race of leaves ; and so -y^^^" may denote this race, this people — the Jews, as a race, shall not pass from the earth until all these things be fulfilled. And if so, there can be no difiiculty in the way of the interpretation which I have tried to estab- lish, of the coming that is here alluded to. Some have an idea that the expressions describing the coming of Chiist may not mean a personal coming ; but wherever this coming is alluded to, the word employed is irapovGia, which means, in all instances but one (and that one may be explained), a personal coming. You will see it by comparing verses 20 and 37 with verse 30 ; no one can doubt that it is our Lord's personal coming : '.' They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven ;" and in verse 37, "As it was in the days of jSToah, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be." He is speaking plainl)^ of the same event. ;N"ow, if the millennium is to precede the coming of Christ, things would not be as they were in the days of f'oah. But if the millemiium is to succeed it, then the on of man will come upon a world that does not expect him, and begin that state of felicity, holiness, and hap- piness, which shall be merged in the glory and happiness of heaven for ever and ever. The practical lesson I will conclude with is contained in the 42d verse : " Watch, therefore : for ye know not 446 ArOCALlTTIC SKETCHES. what hour your Lord doth come." And again, in verse 44 : " Therefore be ye ready : for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh." It is very plain that the workl will not be ready, in the best sense, at Chiist's a2)proaeh. Men will be saying, All these views are nonsense ; we have nothing to do with prophecy until it has been fulfilled. If the Christians of Jerusalem had said, " We have nothing to do with Christ's prophe- cies, we have only to do with his precepts," they never would have left Jerusalem and reached Pella in safety. But why did our Lord give them these prophecies re- specting the destruction of Jerusalem ? To guide them. "Why Las he given us prophecies? why are they wiitten? Surely, to be of service ; and if to be a guide, surely, to be frequently studied; and if 'to be studied, surely, in some degree, to be opened, and, as the period ap- proaches, to be more and more thoroughly known. iJut that the gi^eat mass of men will not be looking for such an event, is plain from what Peter says, ''that in the last days shall come scoifers, walking after theu' own lusts, and saying, A\liere is the promise of his coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they Avillingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water : whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished : but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the 'same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise (as some men count slackness), but is longp- suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night ; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that tu'c therein shall be biu'ned up." But, THE FALL OF JEEUS.VLEM. 447 to you wlio arc believers, the command is, " AYatch :" be anxious about the time of his advent, but far more anxious about personal preparation for it. The sentinel does not care when his commanding officer visits him, if he is always at his post. The servant does not mind when his master overlooks him, if he is always busy at work. The porter docs not mind when his lord knocks, if he be waiting at the door and ready to open. Thus, that Chi'istian is sure to be right, whether he understand things unrevealed or not, whose heart is right in the sight of God, and whose hope and confidence are in the Lord his righteousness. AYatch, then, against being sur- prised ; watch against dereliction of duty ; watch against every clibrt to withdraw you from the post of duty, as if it were the post of peril and not of safety : and be yc ready. You ask. How can we be ready ? Ey being sure that you are standing on the right ground. Stand upon the Ko'ck of ages ; j^our loins girt, and your lamps burn- ing ; Christ's righteousness your title, Christ's name your watchword : and, come what may, neither your hope nor your position can be overturned. Be ready, also, by not only being in the right state, but by having also the right character. AYe must not only be standing in Christ as our ^ sacrifice, but we must have our hearts sanctified and prepared by the Spii'it of God, so that we shall hail and rejoice in his coming. It docs not mean, by having such hearts, that you are to leave youi- place. Two persons shall be grinding at the mill, both engaged in duty ; one's heart shall be in heaven, the other's heart shall be in his mill. Two per- sons shall be found in one shop ; one, shall have his hand in the shop but his heart in heaven, and the other shall have his heart and hand both in the shop. Be here discharging the world's duty, feeling the world's responsibilities ; but let your hearts be in heaven, where Christ youi* treasure is. Be ready also to resign the world whenever you are bidden to do so. Do not bury your hearts in it ; do not let it absorb them ; do not think that this world is all : discharge, as I have told you, every obligation ; no man is to leave his trade ; no 448 ArOCALTPTIC SKETCHES. man is to bo less loyal, to be less dutiful, to be less dili- gent in business; but every man is to be more ''fer- vent in spirit, serving the Lord." Standing, then, upon the right ground, having thus the right character, let us lift up our heads, And know that the noise we hear from afar is only the rush of the chariot wheels of Him, who comes armed with destruction, indeed, for a world that rejects Him, but full of mercy, and peace, and welcome to them who wait for his coming. LECTURE XXXI. THE M-IN- OF SIN". '* Se which testifieth these tilings saith, Surely I come quicMif. Amen, Even so, come, Lord Jesus.'''' — BeVc xxii. 20. (Connected with which you will also read 2Thess.ii. 1—17.) Jfst before I enter on the more immediate subject of discourse, I am anxious to refer to a slight misapprehen- sion— originating, I believe, from a mistranslation — which occurred to the minds of some in the coui'se of my exposition of Matt. xxiv. last Lord's-day evening. You remember that I tried to solve what seemed an almost insurmountable difficulty, — the distinguishing ^hat portion of Matt. xxiv. relates to the downfal of Jerusalem, and what to the end of the world. As Jesus 8at on the Mount of Olives, his disciples asked him these three questions : '' Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world r " I said that I jpnceived the disciples asked three definite questions, anOhat our blessed Lord gave in the chapter three distinct and appropriate replies. The first question is, ''When shall these things be?" viz., the downfal of Jerusalem : I said that I conceived the answer to this question was finished at the close of verse 22. I then said that our Lord, in verses 23, 24, enters upon his own personal coming, and he tells them that ''You are not to suppose yet that I am come for judgment ; for if any man shall say unto you, " Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not," for my personal coming will not be so mistakeable a thing that men wiU have any doubts about it ; but, on the contrary, it shall be "as the lightning that cometh out of the east and SECOND SERIES. G O 450 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. shineth even to the ^est," that all eyes may see it, and no man shall be able to dispute it." Then he gives the signs of it. ''Immediately after the tribulation shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall bo shaken : and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven." The next question was, *' AVhat shall be the sign of the end of the world r " Several who listened to the explanation I endeavoured to give, were puzzled by the occurrence of the word '' end," in verses G, 13, 14. For instance, they say that the first twenty-three verses cannot refer to the destruc- tion of Jerusalem exclusively, because our Lord says in verse 6, '^ The end is not yet : " therefore, they argue, he is speaking of the end of the world. Again, in verse 13, "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved:" therefore, it is urged by those Avho make this objection, Christ is speaking not merely of the destruction of Jerusalem, but of the end of the world : and again, in verse 14, "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness imto al]^ nations, and then shall the end come." It is argued by those who doubt my interpretation of the first twenty- three verses as descriptive of the downfal of Jerusalem exclusively, that the occurrence of these three expres- sions shows that our Lord in the very beginning of the chapter begins to antkver the question, which I con- tended was only answered at the end, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the Avorld?" IS'ow, on looking at the whole chapter on Monday, after I had preached the sermon, and reading it in the original, I discovered this fact, which I had not noticed before, that totally difi'erent w^ords arc used; for instance, in verse 3, the question asked by the disciples is, "What shall be the sign" avvriKdaQ rov aiwyoq^ (of the end" — (jvvTL\ua.) But the words used in verses 6, 13, 14, is not avvTiXHa, but rfAoc, a different one. If the word had been the same, then those who object to my interpretation would have done so with greater plausibility. The word used in verses 6, 13, 14, is the THE MAN OP SIN. 451 word TfAog, a minor and generally for less expressive word. The question of the disciples is, ^\Tiat shall be the sign of the avvTeXeia of the world? The state- ment in these verses is, " Then shall the r^Xog come ;" " he that shall endm^e unto the riXog shall be saved." The question is important. Is there any diifcrences be- tween the words in point of signification? The fact that the same word is employed in verses 6, 13, 14, is strong ground for the presumption that these verses do not refer to the same event as that referred to in verse 3, and described by another word. The word avvTlXeia is derived from the preposition avv, together, and the verb teXe(i), to finish, and means the confluent termina- tion, not only of two or three, but of all the events and prophecies, and things that were spoken of from the foundation of the world: i?i short, the consummation. For instance, it occurs in Matt. xiii. 39 : now no one doubts that the event there referred to is the end of the world, for our Lord says, ''The hai-vest is the avvTEXeia of the world." But the word rf Aog is applied to de- finite periods, to the termination of single events. I admit it is sometimes used in a more extensive sense, but I say that is its primary meaning : for instance, it occurs here, " Christ is the r^Xog (the end) of the law;" agaiir, "AYhose end {tIXoq) is destniction;" teXoq signifies also the end of life ; and it is very remarkable that the same word is used by the Apostle when he says, " destruction is come unto the Jews, a'c to rsXag, imto the end, or to the uttermost." You see then that the question of the disciples relates to the avvreXua (finish- ing) of the a'lwv or dispensation ; and the reXog that our Lord uses in verses 6, 13, 14, relates only to the downfal of Jerusalem : and the objection therefore of those who doubt my inteipretation, instead of proving their point, proves more strongly the position I attempted to lay down. I conceive, the end, as, :rlXoQ, our Lord refers to, is explained by himself, as when it is stated in Mark xiii. 7, ''Tho end is not yet; "for our Lord says, G G 2 452 ArocALYrTic sketches. " These are only the beginning of sorrows." It is plain, therefore, to my mind, that the first twenty-three yerses contain no reply to the question relating to the end of the TV^orld, but merely a full exposition of what should pre- cede the downfal or destruction of Jerusalem. And, next, we have the declaration that Jerusalem is to be trodden underfoot of the Gentiles, and to be desolate and in ruins — no millennium to intervene ; and the first great event immediatelj' before its restoration will be the appear- ance, like the lightning in the sky, of the Son of man ; all those that have rejected and despised Him mourning because of Him. I now come to another prediction of great significance. I showed you, from the chapter on Avhich I have been making these preliminary remarks, that nothing like a millennium intervenes between Christ's first advent and his second advent; but, on the contrary, tliat he is to come suddenly, as in the days of jSToah, when no man expects him, and most men deny and reject him. I now proceed to show you this evening, that there intervenes between Christ's first and second advents, not millennial purity or millennial bliss, but the dark apostasy of the man of sin, who, we are told in the passage I have read, shall be destroyed by nothing before the brightness of Christ's coming. JSTow I wish you to look at this Second Epistle to the Thessalonians attentively; as, if I can identifj^ the person spoken of in 2 Tliess. ii. 3 — 8 with the popedom, then I have proved that this apostasy is to stretch from Christ's first advent even to his last ; and that therefore a millennium cannot precede, but must succeed, Christ's second advent ; for the 8th verse expressly declares, " Then shall that wicked one be re- vealed, whom the Lord shall consume with tlio sjurit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming." If this be the man of sin, he is to be first of all gra- dually consumed by God's providence — by the spread of the Bible, by the testimony of faithful men, by the preaching of the- Gospel, by the circulation of tracts — ■ and he is, lastly, and only then, to be utterly destroyed, by what ? Ey the brightness of Clnist's personal coming THE MAN or SIN. 453 (Trapovaia). Then, if Christ is to come to this -svorld and destroy Babylon, it is quite plain that the millennium Avill not precede his advent, for Babylon shall be in existence, and when he comes he shall destroy it. Do you not see the consumption fulfilling ? I mean to show you, by and by, how completely the evidence has come out, since I last adckcssed you on the seventh vial, that we are now under its influence. The evidence is com- plete at this moment that the popedom is being consumed, but the evidence is not yet come of his destruction, for that Avill only be by Clirist's personal coming, A\^iat can be a stronger proof of this consuming, than that the Head of the holy lloman empire (which is the title of the emperor of Austiia) is obliged, after the most terrible covulsions in his kingdom, to abdicate his throne ? and so cheap is that throne, that the heir will not accept of it, and it is sent over to a remoter heir to take possession of it. Here is the llomish laity smitten in the head of the holy Roman empire. Along with this, another pheno- menon occui's in the very same week. He whose pre- tensions I will unfold to you this night, whose biu^ning characteristics here will indelibly cleave to him, was expelled from his throne by that people who Avere to be models of Christian excellence. If Popery be fitted to make a people holy, happy, moral, and submissive, what people ought to be equal to those of the metropolis of the popedom ? for it is a remarkable fact, that in that country, in the Italian states alone, there are one pope, six arch- bishops, seventy-two bishops, fifty thousand ecclesiastics, and in the city of Eome there is a priest to eveiy thirty people. If this system be so civilising, so moralising, so elevating a system, that you have only to make a nation of papists to make the people happy, loyal, all that is good — how comes it, that where, a few weeks back, there could not be a Protestant church, and where I dared not for my life say such things as I have been saying this evening, — hoAV comes it, I ask, that there is no people on tlie face of the earth so corrupt, so immoral, so degraded as those who surround the very throne of the Pope ? So disloyal are they, thai they have swept the pope from his palace, and 454 APOCALYrTIC SKETCHES. sent him that was Lucifer, the sun of the morning, mightiest among the mighty, a fugitive in a footman's livery, perched on tlic box of a carnage, anxious to get safety anywhere from the people, whom he had exhibited as the models of Christian loj^alty and love and light. Surely this is the beginning of the consumption of the man of sin. AYhat lias been the great object of the ency- clicals of the popes for the last few years. Gregory XVI. published an encyclical in 1844, denouncing the Bible Society. Pius IX. issued an encyclical in 1846, the chief scope of which was denunciation of the Bible Society : and I believe that that noble institution, the British and Foreign Bible Society, is signally blessed of God to the wasting and consumption of the popedom at this moment. The great object of the popes was to de- nounce the circulation of the Scriptures ; but they liave failed to check it. As well might they stand on the shores of Ireland, and bid the Atlantic waves, pressed by the western winds, roll back to America, as try to an-est the spread of that AYord, and the influx of light and life which flows from the Fountain of Light and Life. The Papal power is now undergoing the consumption to which it is doomed, but its destruction will not be till Clirist comes. I believe that the Poj^e will get back again to Rome, and that he will only lose, for a time, his temporal power — that is, a very important part, and in his esti- mate, a very vital part of his power — which will be again restored until the lightning comes from the east, shining even to the west, and Home, his throne, and all that cleave to him, will be destroyed in the brightness of the Saviour's coming, by those judgments that await an apostate and a guilty church. But I proceed to show, from the passage in Second Thessalonians which I have read, that it describes the popedom ; and the reason I attach so much importfmce to this proof is, that Home has, from the beginning, applied this passage to anybody and everybody, rather than to herself; and the view which is taken by some of her su]i])ortcrs is, that this antichrist is some one to appear in the last days in Home. There is a sect, you • THE MAN OF SEN". 455 are aware, in the clmrch of England, called Puseyites or Tractarians among a few of the clergy — Papists with- ont a head. Popery without a Pope : for that is their true condition. They have employed great ingenuity and immense learning to show that this passage does not refer to popery at all, but, on the contrary, to some other system ; and some very pious men have, I regret to say, fallen into their \-iews. They say that, just three days and a half before Christ comes — for they admit that Christ's coming is to be personal — a great monster shall appear, of prodigious human, corporeal dimensions, who is to be so daring as actually to disown the veiy existence of God, and to wield a power some- thing like Satan's own, sitting in the literal Jerusalem and in the literal temple of God; and then God shall come and destroy him. I am siu'e the interpretation is so absurd and extravagant, and unlike what seems to be the analogy of prophecy, that it needs only to be heard in order to be rejected. First of all the Apostle warns the Thessalonians not to be " soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that I the day of Christ is at hand." Now here, again, I must make some remarks upon our translation; and, in doing so, let me say, that while nothing can be more noble or more complete than its general excellence, there are points in it which might bo very much amended. ''Be not troubled, as that the day of the Lord is at hand." How, you may ask, do you reconcile this with the statement of the Apostle James, " The Lord is at hand r" How do you reconcile it wdth other passages where it is distinctly said, " The day of the Lord is at hand ?" If you turn to the original, you will find the word used is evEarrjKe. The word used by James and Paul in the other passage is riyyvi: £(JtI, or r/yyt^t, is near or approaches. Our translators have rendered them both ''at hand." But the word here used ought not to be so rendered. For instance, this word is the same as that used by the Apos- tle in Ptom. viii. 38, where he savs. "Thii)2:s present 456 APOCALTTTIC SKETCHES. • (fvfwo-rra)." The same word is used in Cor. iii. 21, 22, * ' All things are yonrs ; "vrhether Panl, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come." In other words, ev£(JTr]K£ shows us that the meaning of the Apostle is, " at this moment present or in the midst of you :" ''You are not to suppose that Christ has come, and at this moment is in the midst of you;" and what Paul says to them is, then, '^ You arc not to think, as by letter from us, that the Lord is in the midst of you, that the Lord is actually present, that he is now truly and indeed come." In other words. It is not true, '' Echold, he is here, or there, or in the secret chambers : " on the contrary, between the presence in the flesh, of the Sa^dour, and his presence on the earth a second time, when he shall shine before his ancients gloriously, there shall intervene a long dark shadow called the Apostasy, the future signs and cha- racteristics of which, says the Apostle, **I will now unfold to you." There wiU be between that sun when he rose in clouds of sorrow, and that sun when he shall shine in his splendour, a long dark night : — that there is a tierce battle to be fought, a great enemy to en- counter ; and we are not to expect his personal presence in the midst of us until we see that great power called the Apostasy developed ; and then that power shall be consumed gradually, after it is fully developed, by the Spirit of his mouth, and will be destroyed by the bright- ness of his coming : — that its destruction and Christ's advent are to be contemporaneous : you are not therefore to conclude that the Lord tvEdrr/zcc, is in the midst of you, or that he will be present this verj^ year. JN^ow, if I can show that this prophecy is fullilled in the Pope- dom, I not only do what the Apostle did — (for it seems the Apostle Avarned his people very much of it) — for he says, ^' Kemember ye not that when I was yet with you I told you these things ?" '* I told" is in the imperfect tense, which signifies the continuance of the action — '' I was wont to tell you of tliese things ;" just as he told the Presb5'ters at Ephesus) — but ] shall also confirm the position which I have endeavoured for the last three THE MAN OF SIN. 457 or four successive Sabbath evenings to establish, that oiir hope is not a millennium, but Christ to come again in his glory : so that we shall see him as he is, and be for ever with bim. I will refer, first of all to the expression by wbich the Apostle characterises the apostasy. He says, ''Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first." Here our translation is at fault again : the word in the Greek is not a falling away, but ^'- the falling away;" not an ajDostasy, indefinitely, but 17 aitoaraaiay the definite apostasy of which I spoke when I was with you. In other words, it is plain that the Apostle refers to the apostasy of which he had spoken on previous occasions, which they expected and which God had distinctly pre- dicted in his word. So that the passage in the original nins thus — ''Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day," when Christ £yfa-rr7/c£ is actually present in the midst of us, " shall not come except there come rj aiToaraaia ttjOwtov, the apostasy first." The next question is, ^^hat is the meaning of apostasy ? Some argue that it means a political revolt, not a religious defection. The right answer to this is, that throughout the Scriptui-e it is invariably used to denote a religious defection. Thus, for instance. Acts xxi. 21, it is said, " Paul led the Jews to forsake" (literally translated, "to apostatise from") "Moses." ISTow how did Paul meet this ? Did he admit it ? ^0, he denied that he did. And what does this prove? That an apostasy does not necessarily mean that the person apostatising denies Christ ; but, on the contrary, that he may be- lieve in Chi'ist, and yet be guilty of apostasy. This word is used in its neuter form, aTroa-radi'ov, which de- notes a bill of divorcement. Thus Mark x. 7, "a bill of divorcement;" in the Greek, /3ij3X/ov ctTrofTraa/ov, a paper, a writing of divorcement. And this conveys to us another great proof that the Pope is antichrist : he too has his church, which sits upon many waters ; and Chiist has his chiuxh, that shall come down from heaven as a bride adorned for the bridegroom. I have 458 APoaiXYPTTc sketches. noticed that in the whole of the Apocalypse all those things about which Christians quarrel arc treated as nonentities : they disajDpear in the splendour and magni- ficence of that tremendous difference between Christ and antichrist, between the true Church and the apostasy. For instance, the scriptural definition of the Church of Chi'ist is not Presbytery, or Episcopacy, or Indepen- dency; but it is this, ''Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in Christ's name, there is Christ in the midst of them." The definition of antichrist's church is, AYheresoever two or tliree are gathered together in antichiist's nanie, there is the Apostasy, anticlmst, and his corru^Dt and apostate church. The Pope is divorced from Christ's chui'ch, and wedded to a strange woman. He has lost his position in the true church, and has become the head and husband of the great Apostas}'. This Apos- tasy is also described under another name, — and I would allude to the description of the system before I allude to that of the person — it is called "the mystery of ini- quity." Fii'st of all it is called the Apostasy, then the mystery of iniquity. And the Apostle tells us that this " mysteiy of iniquity doth akeady work." In what re- spect may the Eomish system be called "the mystery of iniquity?" Just as antichrist and his apostate body are the opposite of Clmst and his redeemed Church, so the mysterj' of iniquity is just the reverse of the mystery of godliness. The regenerated Christian is in the mystery of godliness, a member of a divine economj' : the unre- newed man is in the mj'stery of iniquity. The mystery of godliness consists in this — that death gave life, that suftcring gave joy, that a cross leads to a throne. The mystery of iniquity consists in this — that the truth ends in a lie, the Uible ends in the Breviary, the liglit of heaven leads to the darkness of hell : that the stones set apart of God for the construction of a temple wliich sliould be vocal with his praise, and in which the blend- ing tones of mercy and truth should be lieard together, have been gathered and worked into a temple in which antichrist sits, and in which the cries of persecuted saints and mfxrtyrs have reverberated from age to age. The THE MAX OF SIX. 459 mystery of godliness is God manifest in the flesh : the mystery of iniquity is Satan manifested as an angel of light : the one distinctly distinguishable from the other. The mystery of llomanism consists in this — that, under pretence of reverence to his word, it renders that word null and void ; under pretence of love to Christ, it per- secutes his saints ; imdcr the pretence of zeal for their salvation, it commits their bodies to the flames ; under the pretence of creating purity among the clergy, it pro- hibits marriage, and, as the consequence of it, sanctions the greatest abominations of the earth. The peculiarity of the mystery 'of iniquit)^ is, that, starting from Christ, it ends in antichrist ; beginning -with justification by faith alone, it ends in justification by works alone. It excludes Christ, in order to raise higher the Yirgin : it magnifies the church, in order to magnify the priest; and makes the man not the means of spreading Chris- tianity, but Christianity a system for ministering to the pride of man, to the pomp and vanity of a stupendous hierarchy. IS'ow, the Apostle says, that this mystery of iniquity ''doth already work;" iu the days of the Apostle Popery began. I do not hesitate to say that at that time the mystery of iniquity had begun to work, but it was not then developed into its ultimate and final results in the Popedom. I will show you the evidence of this from the writings of the Apostle. Por instance, in 1 Cor. x. 4: "Voluntary humility and worshipping of angels" is one of its seeds : in 1 Cor. iii. 3, '^ Strife and divi- sion" among Christians is another seed : in 2 Cor. ii., '' Corrupting the word of God :" in 1 Tim. vi. 5, " Per- verse disputings of men of corrupt minds, supposing that gain is godliness:" that is another seed. Gal. iv. 10, observance of fasts and festivals, making man for fasting, not fisting for the man : that was another seed. Palse philosophy and vain deceit, and traditions of men : that is another seed. All these seeds were sown in the corrupt soil of the human heart, by Satan, the great soAver ; they spread until they rose into the overshadow- ing harvest of the mystery of iniquity, and a vast majo- 460 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. rity of those that bore the Christian name ahocle under the shadow of this terrible Apostasy. IS'ow, it is stated, that out of the midst of this Apos- tasy Tvas to come him who is called the man of sin — the antichrist. It was not the Pope that was to make Popery, but Popery that was to make the Pope. It was not jSTapoleon that made revolution, but the IloYolution that made IS'apoleon : so, the Pope is to be the product of the system, and not to be merely the promoter of it. This mystery, in its full and final development, is to be imder a great head called the antichrist. We are told that we " know what withiioldeth that he should be revealed in his season." The word in the original is o /cars^wv, the withholding element, thing, or system. ''Ye know that withholding thing." Kow, what was that withholding thing? Almost every one of the earliest Christian writers admits that it was the Ptoman empire ; and so deeply impressed were the early Christians that the Ptoman empire was the great obstruc- tion to the development of the great Apostasy, that they continually prayed that God would preserve the Roman empire, that he might thereby delay the development of the man of sin. Damian the monk thus addressed Hil- dcbrand: — **Ego claves otius universalis ecclesice tuis manibus tradidi. Immo, sublato rege de medio, totius Pomani imperii vacantis tibi jura permisi." " I have committed to your hands the keys of the universal church. The king of the Poman empire being taken away, I have given to you the rights of this throne that is vacant." An orator of 10th Sess. of Fifth Latcran thus addressed the Pope : — " Constantinus, Divina gratia afflatus, sccptrum imperii orbis et urbis vero Creatori Deo et homini, in scde sua Eomana Sylvestro Pontiiici, in jure xnimajvo Christi eterni saccrdotis plene cessit." ^' Constantino, inspired by Divine grace, fully surren- dered the sceptre of the empire of the world and of the city" {i.e. Pome) ''to the true Creator God and man, in his Iloman seat, to Sylvester the Pope, in the ancient riglit of Christ the eternal Priest." Again, I read in Machiavel's History of Florence : — THE MAK OF SIN-. 461 "^ When the emperor of Rome left Eome to clTvell at Constantinople, the Roman empire began to decline, but the Cliurch of Rome augmented as fast. Nevertheless, after the coming in of the Lombards, all Italy lay under the dominion of emperors or kings. Bishops assumed no more poTt^er than was due to their doctrines or morals. But Theodoric, king of the Goths, fixing his seat at Ravenna, and no other prince being left at Rome, the Romans were forced to pay greater allegiance to the Pope. The Lombards, having invaded and reduced Italy into cantons, the Pope took the opportunity, and began to hold up his head." So Gibbon, to whom I frequently referred on previous occasions, and from whom I made this extract, I think, before : — ''Rome had reached, about the close of the sixth century, the lowest period of her depression. Like Thebes, Babylon, or Carthage, the name of Rome might have been erased, if the clergy had not been animated by a vital principle which again re- stored her to honour and dominion. The temporal power of the Popes gradually arose fi'om the calamities of the times." And on the removal of the imperial seat from Rome to Constantinople, the restraint on the ambition of ^e man of sin was removed, and the Roman bishop shot up into a great temporal prince. This leads me to the consideration of the man of sin himself. Pirst, he is called, '' He that opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is wor- shipped." The word in the original is avTiKUjuevoQ, literally, ''lying over ;" and I may here state, what is a very important point, that many persons, and especially those who maintaia that this passage does not describe the Pope, say, dvA means against ; and that the Pope is not professedly and avowedly opposed to Christ. Cer- tainly he is not professedly and avowedly opposed to Christ; but the proposed interpretation of avA is an erroneous one: avrit in composition vrith a noun, does not mean against ; though we have the word used in that sense in some compounds, as anti-p«dobaptist, one op- posed to the baptism of infants. But this is not the 462 ArocALYnic sketches. classical use of the word. The characteristic meaninar of avTL in such composition is not " against," but, what is most important in this criticism, *'in the room of." Por instance, avOvTrarogf not one opposed to the consul, but a vice-consul; avrij3a(7iXivg, one in the room of a king : avrirvTrov does not mean '' opposed to the t5'pe, but a copy that corresponds to the original." Homer calls Achilles avTideoc;, meaning, not " opposed to God," but " like a god — equal to a god." Homer also calls him dvrtXc-wv, which docs not mean, ''opposed to alien," but taking the place of, equal to, having the strength of, a lion. Again, we road of anti-popes ; but the meaning of the term was not that they were opposed to the Pope, but that they were taking the place of the Pope. !So, then, the antichrist, the avrt/cf t/i£voc> is not one op- posed to Christ professedly, but one that takes the place, assumes the prerogatives, wields the power, wears around his brow the diadem, and sits in the place of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does antichrist call himself? The Yicar of Christ, the vice-christ ; the very name that he assumes to himself is, unconsciously on his part, the very name by which he is branded in prophecy — the* antichrist, the Yicar of Christ. In order to show you that the Pope does take the place of Christ, let me give some such simple instances as these : — Is Chi^ist the head of his redeemed church ? The Pope calls himself ''the head of the body;" he assumes this as one of his titles. Is Christ the great high-priest ? Peter of Arragon, quoted by Ilanke in the Lives of the Popes, calls the Pope " the great crowned priest." Has Christ the keys that open and no man shuts ? The Pope claims to have the keys of heaven and of bell. Is Christ the Good Shepherd? One of the most celebrated bulls begins, " Ego pastor bonus." Is Christ the Husband of tbe Church ? The Pope assumes to be the same. The common name hy \\\\m-\\ he is dis- tinguished in the canon law is "the Husband of the Church;" and when the Pope is consecrated, a ring is placed on his fmger, signifying that he is then wedded THE MAN OF SIN. 463 to the Church. Does the Lamb of God take away the sins of the world ? The Pope assumes the prerogative of taking away or absolving men's sins. So fai' I have given evidence that the apostatising one here mentioned, the Antichrist, is the Pope of Eome. He is also designated by another epithet — the Man of Sin. This has two, meanings, either that he is the man who causes sin, or that he is the man who is guilty of sin. Many of the Popes have been men of enormous turpitude of character. I believe, more fearful abomina- tions have been committed by Popes, than by the most cruel of the Roman tyrants of pre\ious times that ever wielded a sceptre or sat upon a throne. Xever, you know, does impiety rise to so terrible a height as wlion religion is made a road to consecrate its i^ollution. Put I do not mean here to lay much stress on the personal character of Popes ; I shall rely more upon their official character. Our blessed Lord is called the Man of Sor- rows ; i.e., a man whose whole life was vicarious suffer- ing or sorrow : and he is called the man of sin, whose whole life and office and tendency is to spread sin, under the pretence of extkpating it ; to multiply its stimu- lants, under the pretext of absolving from it. Keed I mention any other proof than this, that there is no church upon earth but the Church of Rome that holds the idea that sins are of two kinds, venial and mortal ? thus defined in a celebrated Roman Catholic catechism : *' Q. What is a venial sin? A sin that does not break charity between man and man, much less between man and God : as a jesting lie, the stealing of a pin, an apple, &c." And then it is said, that venial sins are forgiven by penance, absolution, and purgatory ; and then mortal sins, we are told, are those which condemn the soul for ever: these are to be forgiven in another way. Put venial sins may be committed, according to this theology, to an almost infinite extent, without acquiring the damning flagrancy of a mortal sin. Indeed, the ques- tion is even asked, ''How much must a man steal in order to create it mortal sin ? " Answer : Our divine^ are not as:recd. * 464 APOCALYrXlC JSTvETCHES. Mankind are therefore divided into four classes, kings, nobles, merchants, and poor. In the first class, to steal the value of sixty pence would be a mortal sin. This would therefore imply that anything below that sum would be a venial sin only ; but if a great many venial sins are committed under that value, the venial sins summed up at the day of judgment would amount surely .to a very grievous mortal sin. But is it not the ten- dency of such a system to promote, foster, and encourage sin ? In a work by Mr. Whiteside, the celebrated bar- rister, who has lately visited Rome, and in Percy's and Seymour's also, it is said that you can scarcely enter a church in Eomc where you will not get absolution for the past, and license for the future. For instance, in the Church of S. Pietro in Carcere, there is this inscrip- tion : — " St. Sylvester granted every day to those who visit it, 1200 years of indulgence, and every day besides the remission of a tliii'd part of sins." Again, in the church of St. Cosmo and Bamicn : " Gregorj^ I. granted to each visiting this church 1000 years of indulgence." On a marble slab near the door of the church of St. Sa- viour di Thermis : '* Indulgences conceded in perpetuity by high pontiffs in this church. Every day of the year there are 1230 years of indulgence." On the inner wall of St. Sebastian, on marble: ''Whosoever shall have entered it shall obtain plenaiy remission of all his sins, tlirough the merits of 174,000 holy martyrs, and 46 high pontifls, like^dse martp's interred here." I will not attempt the subtle explanations that may be given ; but I ask, must it not be the tendency of such inscrip- tions to create a license for sin, and to lead the people to indulge in it ? To kiss a crucifix is greater virtue than to sj)eak truth ; to go a pilgrimage to Jerusalem is higher merit than to be a good husband or a good wife. Have you not heard of frauds that are called pious ? of ends that justify the means ? of robbers that repeat the Creed before thej' go forth to seek their booty ? Have you not read of cathedrals, monasteries, and i?piscopal palaces built from the spoils of the widow and the orphan ? of the greatest lies told, the THE MAN OF SIN. 465 greatest wickedness perpetrated in the name of re- ligion? I have tonched on one or two points only ; yet these are sufficient to show that the man of sin — one whose principles, whose patronage, whose system, encourage sin — is a burning brand of the Pope. His next charac- teristic is, " the son of perdition ; " i.e. as Judas is called the son of perdition, so he is destined to be destroyed, — he is one who is fixed by God for destruction. I have mentioned abeady some signs of the approach of that desti^uction ; the consumption is now going on ; his utter destruction, I believe, soon will be. I find that, though I have tried to speak as rapidly as possible, I have not been able to say all I had in- tended to say ; I must therefore reserve the sequel for the next lecture. In the mean time, let me add, the great cry that sounds from heaven at this moment to all God's people who may be within reach of her contagion, is, " Come out of her, my people, that ye bo not par- takers of her plagues." You are called upon at the present day to lay aside every rag of the Popedom, every element of that system that may cleave to your heart, or may tend to coriTipt youi' practice. The great cry is, " Come out of her !" escape from her pollution, that you may escape from her judgments. The day comes when the man of sin, and all his priesthood and his chui'ch, shall be cast like a millstone into the depths of ruin. We shall have no tears to weep over the spectacle ; we shall not grieve at it. If any one should be so sensitive as to feel an emotion of pity or regret, all his recollec- tions will rush back to Smithfield, and to the Sicilian Vespers, and to St. Bartholomew's-day, and to all the slaughters which have been perpetrated in the name of Christ by the Yicar of Christ; and, charged with indignation, these sympathies and sensibilities will re- turn again to the scene of judgment, and, in common with the angels and the choirs that are in heaven, they will say, '' Salvation, and ghny, and honour be unto the Lord our God, for he hath judged the great whore, and hath avenged the blood of his servants:" and again SECOND SERIES. H H 466 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. they will say, Hallelujah ! and her smoke will arise up for ever and ever. Till that system be consumed, man will not come to himself, and God will not receive all his glory. Let us pray, like the martyrs and the saints of old, for its destruction; let us pray also for that bright and glorious advent, in the midst of which it shall be destroyed. ''Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly." Amen. LECTTJKE XXXII. THE A^CAB. OF CHEIST. '* He which testijieth these things saith, Surely I come quicldy. Amen. Uvoi so, come, Lord Jesiis.'^ — Eev. xxii. 20. " Who opjwseth and exalteth himself ((hove all that is called God, or that is loorshipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God^ — 2 Thess. ii. 4. You ^11 recollect the explanation that I gave m my introduction of this remarkable prophecy. I showed you what must j^recede, and what it seems to nic j^ro- bable will succeed, the personal advent of our blessed Lord : and one of my designs was to j)roTe that it is utterly impossible, taking the whole Scripture in order to illustrate it, that a millennium can precede ; it is all but certain that a millennium must succeed the personal appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I showed you, in evidence of this view, that memorable prophecy which relates to the downfal of Jerusalem, and to the signs, as enumerated by our Lord, that should precede his own second appearance. I showed you also, by several texts, which I quoted, that the great hope of the Christian Church is not the expansion of the measure of Christian light that now is, into an everlasting or a millennial Jioon, but the falling of the light that now is into darkness ; and in the midst of the terrible eclipse there shall burst upon the world, like the lightning that gleams fi'om one end of the sky to the other, the bright- ness of the coming of the Son of man. I showed you, I£H 2 468 APOCALyrxic sketcues. too, that this was confirmed by this remarkable pro- phecy of the apostasy which is here predicted, if so be that this apostasy can be identiiicd with the Eomish system, which is to stretch, like a dark and terrible cloud, from the commencement of the apostle's days to the very close of this disjDensation. Hence, this passage proves that if popery began 1800 years ago, and if it is not to be destroyed, broken up, and swept away, except by the brightness of the Ecdcemer's irapovaia, personal appearance, then the millennium cannot precede, but must succeed the personal advent of the Son of God. I explained to you last evening the general introduction of this passage. I showed you that the impression pre- vailed among the Thessalonians that the day of the Lord, as it is translated in verse 3, *'was at hand." On first reading this passage, one would suppose it is a contradiction to others. For instance, the Apostle says, " The day of the Lord is at hand/' kyyi't^i; and here the Apostle says, you are not to be led away with the delusion that the Lord is at hand ; but when you open your Testament, and read the passage in the original, you will find that when one apostle said, " The Lord is at hand," f-y-yuc '^^r\, or eyyit^i, the word is perfectly distinct from that used here : the word here used is that which is translated in Romans ''things present;''^ and again, the same word is translated in 1 Cor. iii. 22, " All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or tliijigs present, all are yours ; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." Tlicrefore the meaning of this is, you are not to be deceived as if the Lord were actually in the midst of you; you are not to believe when they say, "Behold here he is ! or, Lo there ! go forth to meet him." You arc not to believe that the Lord is actually to come in the course of this very year ; but you are to notice that there is, first of all, to intervene a dark and terrible eclipse, a fearful Avonder-working apostasy. After that ajoostasy has grown to its height of pride, and blasphemy, and sin, it shall be destroyed by thelledeemer's coming; so that his coming, whicli you think is now, will not be TIIE VICAR 01? CHETST. 469 till ho comes to destroy the apostasy, which is in its seminal state now, and shall be in its full dcYclopracnt then. I then said, that if I can identify this prophecy with the llomish system, I not only show a remarkable evidence of God in history, fulfilling what God has written in prophecy, but I also show you the point from which I set out, that the apostasy, not the millennium, is to stretch to the very eve of the Eedeemer's personal advent. I then pointed out to you several words, not mistranslations, but renderings, deficient in conveying the full force of the original. For instance, in verse 3, we read, "Let no man deceive you by any means ; for that day shall not come, except there come rj ciTrocyrao-m/' not an apostasy, but the apostasy, the falling away. I showed you that the word here nsed aTroaraaia, but especially a neuter form of it, airoaraaiov,^^ is applied by our Lord to a divorce ; and if there be one branding feature by which the Pope is characterised more than another, it is this, that the bride belongs to the Lamb, and the adulterous woman is the bride of antichrist; and just as we have Christ in the midst of his people constituting the true Church, so we have antichrist, and those that bear his mark, constituting the Apostasy. This is the divorcement of the body from Christ, and its union to him who sits in the place of Christ. I showed, in the next place, how truly he is described as *' the man of sin." If you take his doctrinal distinction of sin into venial and mortal sin, it is calculated to foster sin ; if you take sin in its narrowest sense to denote idolatry, he is emphatically the man of idolatry ; for the sj'stem is full of idolatrj^ from first to last. If you take ^n, again, in its other sense, to signify the encourage- ment of sin, by the pretended absolution of it, we have the very same feature brought out. There is not a church in Rome in which there are not inscriptions, off'ering absolutions and indulgences for devotion at its altars, or for prayers addressed to particular saints. I * The apostasy cannot mean an infidel power. See Scptuagint version of Deut. xxxii. 15 ; Jer. ii. 5 ; Isaiah xxx. 1 ; Dan. ix. 9. 470 APOCALYrTTC SKETCHES. showed you that the frauds Trliich are called pious, the ends that justify the means, the robber tliat repeats the Creed, and goes forth to plunder, the cathedrals and mo- nasteries that have been raised by spoil, treachery, and tyranny ; the principle that makes the kissing a crucifix greater merit than speaking the truth ; that canonises a freebooter or a crusader to the Holy Land, and degrades or burns an honest man — the head of a system that exalts the ceremony to the skies, tramples morality to the earth, may be called emphatically the man of sin. I forbore to allude to the personal character of Popes ; unfortu- nately there have been bad Protestant ministers whom the Papist can refer to ; we can quote dai^k catalogues of bad men in every communion under the sun ; but still some of the Popes have been criminal to excess : their gigantic power has been followed by more gigantic sins ; and I would even risk the identity of the j)rophecy on the personal character of the Popes alone ; but I did not do so : so strong is the other proof of identity, that we can afford to omit this proof. I then showed you in what respect he may be called ''the son of perdition;" and also in what respect he is called the " antichrist."* I explained to you the misapprehension that prevails in supposing that avrl generally means opposed to ; and I showed you that in composition with substantives it means generally, and here unquestionably, put in the room of : thus avri-/3a(TiX£i]g is not one opposed to the king, but one that takes the place of the king ; dvOu- TTciroc is not one opposed to the consul, but the vice- consul that takes the place of the consul; clvtiXewv does not mean one opposed to a lion, but equal to a lion. ^ So we read that, in the middle ages, there were tluTC infallible Popes, each excommunicating the other, and each pronouncing his decrees to be fallible ; one called the other the antipope, not meaning that he was op- * In answer to those who say "the man of shi," the "anti- christ," must mean a siugle person, I observe that the woman clothed with the sun (Kev. xii.), the woman on tlie beast (Rev. xiii. 3), cannot be, never have been, interpreted by any as sinf^jlo persons. THE VICAR OF CHEIST. 471 posed to the popedom, for so did he love the popedom that he strove to possess it ; but meaning, that he assumed the office, and pretended to discharge its functions. So this anticlmst, the man of sin, the avTiKHjueuog, does not mean one who is opposed to Christ professedly, for he is not ; lie pretends to be the advocate, the vicegerent of Christ ; and therefore, professedly, he is not opposed to him. If you tell a Roman Catholic he is against Christianity, he will repeat to you the Apostles' Creed. If you say he is opposed to Chiist, lie will sign hdmself with the cross, and say that he glories in it ; if you tell him that the Pope is opposed to Christ, he will show you that lie is so far from it, that lie sits in the very temple of God, and assumes to represent God. The Apostle, therefore, does not mean that the Pope will be profes- sedly opposed to Chiist, but that he takes the place of Christ, supersedes him, acts as his representative, or, as he calls huiiself, the Yicar of Christ, i.e. the Yice- Christ, the avriy^pLcrroQ. I now proceed to show you that he ''exalteth himself above all that is called God." Kow here again the objection has been raised, that the feature of the Thessalonian antichrist here predicted, is not developed in the Eoman antichrist. But this sup- poses that God means Deity. But wheresoever in this veiy passage the word God is used with this significa- tion, as for instance, ''He sitteth in the temple of God," there the article is used (o 0£oc) ; but here the article is not used ; and if we open the Bible to ascertain what is meant by this, we shall find that the name commonly given to magistrates and chief rulers is that of gods : for instance, the Apostle,. in 2 Cor. viii. 6, says, "There is but one God the Father ;" but then he adds further on, ''There be that are called ^ds.''' Kow mark the ex- pression : "He exalts himself above all that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth." " There be gods many and lords many," referring plainly to magistrates and rulers. Then, again, if I open the book of Exodus, xxii. 28 : " Thou shalt not revile the gods,'' evidently the magistrates ; Ps. Ixxxii. 6 : "I have said ye are ' and our blessed Lord said, John x. 35 : "If God 472 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. called them gods unto whom the word of God came/' plainly meaning church magistrates, kings, and rulers, and not the Supreme Deity ;" or, if deity at all, it must mean the gods, the ^ai^ov'ia or titular gods of the hea- then. ]S'ow it is matter of history that the Pope exalts himself above all magistrates, kings, and rulers, above all authority, and rule, and law. Hear facts, focts that I have gathered from original resources, and facts on which you may implicitly rely. In the eighth century Pope Gregory II. boasted to the Greek emperor, " AR the kings of the earth rever- ence the Pope as God." Charlemagne received his title and his empire as a donative from the Pope. In the coronation oath of the western emperors they swore that they would be submissive to the Pope and to his Boman successors. The emperors Otho and Eadolphus both received their imperial crowns as a grant from the Pope. John of England received his crown as a vassal of the Pope. Adrian lY. (a.d. 1155), on King Henry's petition, iDcrmitted him to subjugate Ireland on condition of his giving to the Ptoman see a quit-rent of a penny for each house in it. On the discovery of America, Prince Henry of Portugal applied to the Pope to gi^ant to the Portuguese every country they might discover. A bull was accordingly issued granting the petition, on the ground that the heathen had been given to Christ and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. Again, Pope Nicholas I. required kings to hold the bridle of his horse, and Louis II. king of France, and the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, did so ; and up to the sixteenth century kings kissed the Pope's feet. It is a fact at this moment that bishops are allowed to kiss his hand, but the emperor must only kiss his foot. The Emperor Henry having offended Pope Gregory YIL, better known by the name of Hildebrand, he waited three days and three nights in the depth of winter, barefooted and clothed with sackcloth, in the trenches of Rome till the Pope relented and forgave him. Pope Gelasius made the remark in the fifth century, " There are two authorities by which the world is governed, the TITE TTCAR OF CriRTST. 473 pontifical and the regal; in divine things it becomes kings to bow the neck to priests, and especially to the head of priests." Pope Celcstine III. (a.d. 1191) kicked the crown off the head of the Emperor Henry VI. ; and Baronius states that this was to be a sign that the Pope had the power of deposing, as he alone had the prerogative of making kings. Pius lY. excommuni- cated Queen Elizabeth, and assigned as a reason, that *' God hath set me up as a prince over all nations, to root up, to pull down, and to destroy." And not only does he exalt himself above all that is called God, but also above all that is worshipped. The word worship here is not the ordinarj^ word used in the 'New Testa- ment ; it is (T^j3a(Tfia, literally translated, ''above every- thing worshipful." The word is derived from o-f jSa^o/iat, or the obsolete a^jSofxai. It is apiDlied to kings : for instance, the Romans called their emperor Augustus: whenever the Greeks spoke of Ciiesar they called him artakers of her sins, be plunged into the fire of her ruin. But, my dear friends, come what may, let us rejoice that Ciirist is our King, not antichrist; that the Bible of THE TIC All OF CHRIST. 487 Christ, not the Bi'cviary, is our law ; that the Gospel, not another gospel, is our hope ; and come life, come death, come signs, come wonders, come miracles, come things present, things past, things to come — nothing, nothing shall bo able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. LECTURE XXXIII. 1848; OE, PEornECY rrLFiLLED. '^ He v:hich tesfifieth these things saith, Surely I a me quicJchj. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus' — Hlv. xxii. 20. *' And the seventh angel looiired out his vial into the air ; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done." — Ret. xvi. 17. Last Sabbath Gvening I showed you that the reign of antichrist was to endure from that moment when tlie mysterj^ of iniquity began, in St. Paul's day, until that moment when the Lord shall come again. I showed you on a previous evening that in Matt, xxiv, there was the earliest intimation thiit Christ's advent should take the world b}' surprise, and should come upon them like the lightning that gleams from the cast and spreads its coruscations in the west, and should find them as the flood found them in the days of jSToah, eating and drink- ing, marrying and giving in marriage. On a previous evening 1 showed you by a multitude of texts that tlie great hope, as it seems to me, held out in every passage of the Xew Testament is that of Christ's second advent: and just as the devout Jew continuallj' looked for his first, so the devout Christian, leaning on the first as the foundation of this liope, anticipates with joy the second as the substance and realisation of it. I di'ew fairly the inference, that no millennium is to precede the ;;(i' vent of Christ, but, on tlie contrary, to succeed it: \h-\t He comes first to a world unprepared for his advent, though to his church as to a bride waiting for the bride- groom ; and that the millennium will not be the dawn 1848, OR. PKorHErv fi'Lfili.kb. 489 that precedes it, but the noon that streams from that risen and meridian Sun of righteousness. I now proceed to lay before you some proofs of the truth of what I stated in my last lectures in Exeter Hall, announced as prophecy in 1847, but in 1849 performance. I believe that the events which I then described and classified, as you may see by referring to the lecture on the Seventh Yial, the fulfilment of which I did not expect to be so instant, is at this mo- ment poured out from the angel's hand; and the na- tions, like drunken men, are reeling and staggering beneath its intoxicating po.wer. The statem.ent of these these things is not to gratify a vain curiosity ; on the contrary, if I make good the points I have alleged, and show history giving its comment on prophecy, and the God that wrote the one, acting in the other, I conceive that I am stating what is fitted to solemnise, to stir up the energy that remains, and to make us feel that if ever there was a crisis when men ought to be sure what they are, and whither they are going, it is the crisis, the strange and startling crisis, in Avhich our lot is now cast. Xow just before the seventh vial was poured out, you recollect what I stated in my former lectures upon this subject to be the prelude to all the judgments that were to follow — that three unclean spirits were to go forth under the sixth vial and deceive the nations. These three unclean spirits have been identified by Mr. Elliott, and I perfectly concur with him on the evidence adduced ; he identifies them by showing that each proceeds from a source which he had previously determined. Other commentators have guessed what ^they are, but he has proved what they must be by re- ferring to their origin : one from the mouth of the dragon, another from the mouth of the beast, i. e. the wild be;?st of the Apocalypse — the Pope ; the other from tlie mouth*of the false prophet, which last I have iden- tified with that popery that exists without a pope, but not the less poperj- on that account. "Well, if this be so, tlie three unclean spirits arc — the spirit of infidelity 490 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. ■\vhich I exemplified, and the action of which I pointed out the spirit of popciy, the spread, the power, and the pretensions of which I also analyzed; and lastly, the spirit of hierarchism, kno\\Ti in more popular phrase- ology as Tractarianism, or, if I do not use an offensive term, Pusej'ism, which is just poperj^ without its head, not the less real and mischievous on that account. These three unclean spirits, you observe, are termed *' the sjDirits of devils" — whether that word ought to be rendered strictly devils or demons is a question, which this is not the place to discuss — '^ the spiiits of devils working mii\acles." I showed you last Sunday evening that miracles are not necessarily evidence of truth. If Satan has an archangel's wisdom, he may also have an archangel's power. It is 2)robable there may not only be pretended, but real miracles — i.e. exertions of power above what man can reach — but no mii-acle on earth can prove to me that God's word is false ; and if a miracle were to be wi'ought equal to raising the dead, and then the per- former were to say that it was to show that transubstan- tiation is true, I should despise the miracle-worker as I would reject the doctrine. Thus " the spirits of devils working miracles ... go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them together to battle to the great day of God Almighty." And recollect the cry that closes the sith vial — ^' Eehold, I come as a thief;" i.e. whatever comes next will come with startling effect, unexpectedly come — will be the footfall, as it were, of the approaching Lord, the rushing and the sound of his chariot wheels as they approach from afar. ^' Eeliold, I come as a thief: blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked." *' And He gathered them together unto a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon ;" on which last I do not now enter. These three unclean spirits were to prepare the way for the action of the seventh vial; and whatever 'takes place under the seventh A'-ial is to be the explosion of the ele- ments with which those spirits have impregnated the social system ; and I conceive that what has taken place 1848, OR, PROPHECY FULFILLED. 491 in Europe during that remarkable year which, is now drawn to its tomb is the result of the action of these unclean spirits as the pioneers, and the immediate ofTect of the poiuing out of the seventh vial as the great primary cause. The period that immediately preceded 1848, was a period full of new discoveries. We heard continually ringing in our ears the most golden promises. The world, we are told, was to be happy without Christianity, na- tions to flourish without wars ; and Christians, echoing the sentiment, thought mankind had too much good sense ever again to go to war. There never was a calm so deep, so still, as that which preceded 1848; but in that cahn, during that peace, the unclean spirits were acting, working, leavening, nndermining deep below the foundations of society. Prior to 1848, kings actually slept and nodded on their thrones, swords were begin- ning to grow rusty in their scabbards, iron was with- drawn from manufacturing cannon, and was turned to the manufacture of rails. The soldier was beginning to be regarded as a being with an antique aspect, and as the lost fading remnant of a regime that had passed away. The navy was rotting in its harbour ; the cry was heard from every quarter of the land, "■ Eeduce the navy, disband the army ;" and new improvements in our laws about trade were to pacify, to civilise, and almost to Christianise the world. Were not these the very sen- timents that were uttered ? the cries, that intimated the anticipations of mankind ? And religion itself was re- markably quiet. Professing Christians quaiTclled with each other, apparently because they had nothing better to do, and phantom grievances took the place of real ones, and great hopes were introduced of the spread of religion, prophecies of the approaching millennium were heard ; in short, no language that I can employ is ade- quate to describe the deep and auspicious quiet, the complete calm, that reigned for many years over all the world for years prior to 1848. During this, however, as I have shown you, the unclean spirits were silently at work — Popery, and Puseyism, and Infidelity, each 492 ArocALYrric sketches. with its respective retinue, of minor parties and sub- divisions. Sometimes, it is true, they quarrelled with each other, as Michclet and Quinet, personations of the spmt of infidelity ; and Eugene Sue quarrelled with the Jesuits and archbishops and priests of Prance, but though rivals in renown, they were brethren in arms : they were kindred spmts from different sources, tending to the same great result — namely, sapping the foundations of society, nourishing intellectual pride and sensual indulgence, and endeavouring to create a happiness without Christianity, and a religion without God. Let me just give one or two extracts from the writings of one of the master-spirits of the present movement in France, as evidence above ground of what was working under. He is one of the most popular writers upon Socialism ; his talents have made him formidable, and his sentiments have made him terrible : I mean Proud- hon, the great head of the Socialist movement. I take these extracts from his writing pre^-ious to the con- vulsions of 1848. "Property. Property is nothing in itself; it is merely a privilege in circulation, as a toll on a river, a remain of feudalit}', the abolition of which is the necessary completion of our great and glorious revo- lution !" '' Family. It does not belong to you, boiu'- geoisie, who buy your wives and sell your daughters, without measure and without remorse, to speak of famih', Family, we have told you a thousand times, has become by property a den of prostitution, of which the father is the souteneur, and the mother entremeiteuuP Pe- LTGToy. " That horrible and detestable fraud." God. ** God does not exist ; and if he did, he would, as rep- resented by the priests, be a monster of tyranny. Let the priest bear in mind tliat true virtue — that which renders us Avorthy of eternal truth is to struggle against religion and against God. God is essentially hostile to our nature, and we have no reason to submit to his authority. We arrive at science in spite of him — at hap]; iness in spite of him. Each step in advance is a victory in which we crush divinity. God, behold thy- self dethroned and fallen ! Thy name, so long the hone i 1848; OK, TKornECY fulfilled. 493 of the poor, the refuge of the repentant sinner, hence- forth devoted to contempt and anathema, Trill be scouted amongst men ; for God is folly and cowardice, hypocrisy and falsehood, tyranny and miserj\ God is evil. As long as humanity inclines before the altar, humanity will be accursed. God, avsray with thee ! For from to- day, relieved from the fear of thee and become wise, I swear, my hand raised toward heaven, that thou art only tlie hangman of my reason." These are but a few of the horrible sentiments and expressions of this ''unclean spirit," or, as I called them, judging from the source from whidi they spring, the croakings of one of the '' frogs" that go out and devas- tate the earth. And it is a remarkable confirmation of what !Mr. Elliott thought, that as three frogs Avere the ancient arms of France, the three unclean spirits should trace theii' origin and commit their first and greatest > devastations in the midst of that country. How truly has it come to pass ! I need not refer to the spirit of Popery or of the Beast ; I need not mention the mag- nificent cathedi^als it has raised ; the progress of its priests ; the popularity of its principles, in low places and in high — with the multitude, and with many of the nobility. I need not refer to the progress of the unclean spirit Puseyism, that spirit which has tainted thousands ; and at this moment, though its worst pretensions are softened, its real principles and power and progress are substantiall)' unchanged and unchecked. These three unclean spirits, then, on the progress of w^hich we do not now enter, are actors in the same di'ama : '' they are the spirits of devils Avorking miracles, who go forth to the kings of the earth, to gather them together to battle to the great day of God Almighty." I now come to the seventh vial, the description of which I read to you from Ptev. xvi. 19. You will notice that each of the preceding vials, as I showed you in my lectures in Exeter Hall, were emptied upon particular parts of the Roman empire. As, for instance, one was emptied upon the rivers, another emptied its scorching contents upon the fountains of waters, and the sixth 494 ArocALrnic sketches. emptied on only a third part of the Eoman papal empire. But, as you will see, it is implied of this vial, that it ceases to be a special, and becomes an universal judg- ment. The language used respecting it is, that it is poured out upon the air ; and you cannot open a news- paper without seeing allusions that indicate how the air is used, as indeed it was used in ancient times. To quote from papers, — ''Our social atmosphere" is the language of one; ''Our political atmosphere" is the language of another ; and this vial emptied into the air was to be followed by thunders and lightnings; i.e., insurrections, convulsions, strange cries, awful senti- .aents, all to be the effects of its influence, heard by the whole po23ulation of the Roman, i.e, the ecclesiastico- political papal earth. The expression, " poui^ed into the air," indicates its universality: the aii' is the medium of sound — is that element which reaches to the highest, and descends to the lowest — ^binds together into one the remotest of mankind: the air must be breathed by 'all — by the Queen upon the throne, and by the very mean- est and poorest of her subjects; it enters the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the General Assembly and the Archbishop's palace ; it must be inhaled by every one, and out of it* humanity cannot exist : we may ex- pect, therefore, that whatever be the influence of this vial, universality would become one of its most striking and remarkable characteristics. You notice, too, that when the vial was poured out into the air, a voice was heard from heaven, saying, "It is done." These words, " It is done," are used in the Apocalypse to denote the commencement of a new state of things. Thus, in chap, xxi., which I have explained to you, avc shall find that it is said, at verse 5, "He that sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new;" i.e., the new heaven and the new earth. "He said unto me. It is done." The old heaven and the old earth have passed away, the new heaven and the new earth are come. The same words were used at the era of the lleformation : "It is done;" that is, one regime has passed away, and another h:is now commenced : and, as 1848; OE, PsopnECT tulfilled. 495 I explained to you, "vre shall always find -syhenever there is an Apocalyptic Yoice heard in heaven, it has invari- ably its echo upon earth ; and you will recollect, every extract that I made from history showed you, that whenever there was such i voice uttered in heaven de- scribing a transaction taking place on earth, it found an echo from mankind — a counter- voice, as it were, imply- ing that that voice was heard and responded to. Just see if what takes place here is not responded to. There is a newspaper published in Italy called Za Patria : an extract from it is striking; it was written after the French Eevolution of 1848, and gives an echo of ''It is done :— " THE PROPHET. THE JOTJ-RN-ALIST. "And the seventh angel poured "Whoever looks beyond to- cut his vial into the air ; and morrow — whoever looks nar- there came a great voice out of rowly into the state of European the temple of heaven, from the nations, sees that the heavens throne, saying, It is done. And thunder from above, and the there were voices, and thunders, earth beneath quakes, feome and lightnings ; and there was causes of this lie on the surface, a great earthquake, such as was but others are deep beneath ; not since men were upon the for the thought and the heart of earth, so mighty an earthquake, men were never so disturbed, and so great. never so ardent. For a long while, they who governed the actions and the consciences of men prepared, and at the same time delayed, this time of ruin and of restoration. Now it can- not either be prepared, or de- layed. The measure is full ; it overflows." Such is a human echo of the Divine words, ''It is done." The Times is the newspaper which may be called the barometer of public opinion — the newspaper which responds to the force of public sentiment, and from which you may gather a faithful reflection of it. Hear its echo of "It is done." That paper says (Oct. 1848) : — "On the stage of Europe we witness the per- formance of a drama more tremcaidous, and even more 496 APOCALYrTIC SKETCHES. wild, than even a melodramatist ever co.nceived. Capi- tals, empires, races, are the personages of the wonderful plot : the most surprisin"- incidents naturally succeed one another; and if we think we have beheld the cata- strophe, it only serves to fix our expectations on some- thing more terrible and universal. So great are the vicissitudes of the principal personages, that it is ah-eady impossible to recognise them. As for ourselves, with avalanches thundering past our heads, we are only hop- ing that our turn may not come next." And then, speaking of the future that is before us, the same writer proceeds: ''The next twelvemonth will add a quarter of a million to the crowded and ill-employed population of this island, with war and revolution around us, and a failing exchequer among us. AYe will not insist on what is still impending — the visitation of a terrible epidemic. So far we are happily distinguished from our neigh- bours, in being allowed some breathing time, perhaps, to prepare." How just is this sentiment! how Chris- tian, whether meant so or not! ''With sedition and insurrection around us, and with, the lesson of continental ruin deeply impressed upon the minds of the people, -^^^e seem to be on the still and solemn eve of important events, the good or evil of which will depend on our o^vn preparations. You recollect that at the destruction of Jerusalem, and just before the last shock which left it in ruins, there was a lull — a respite given, and during that respite every Christian escaped from Jerusalem, and found shelter at Pella. Now is the respite before the destruction of the ten kingdoms, during which the cry is heard, ''Come out of her, my people." " Every man is called upon to shake himself loose from all connection with foredoomed Babylon, and to stand ready to rise, and soar far above the tremendous scenes that will soon close upon us. The same paper goes on: — " Should the storm reach us, no policy but the popular policy will stand." So far so well ; the right way to save institutions is tlioroughly to reform them ; and every wise man should feel that this is a sacred duty devolving upon him. There must 1848; UK piioPHKci- iulfillld. 497 be no abuses ; tliese will not stand the storm ; all must be thoroughly cleansed and made ready for the issue. The same paper goes on to describe the extent of this eartlumake :—'' There are Central and I\^orthern Ger- many all on the spring to gras]3 the Duchies and despoil Denmark; while the old-lashioned, (and to the Peace Congress Committee) highly distasteful intervention of diplomatists is paring the claws of German ambition ; the burghers of those great seats of civilisation, Eerlin and Frankfort, are cutting one another's throats. Not to be beaten by the pacific citizens of Berlin and Frankfort, the Viennese get up barricades, a siege, and a slaughter of their own, with accompaniments of rapine, lust, and brutality, which nothing but the presence of an armed soldiery is able to repress. Meanwhile, those admirable men the modern Romans, ^^-ith whom the allies and friends of the Peace and Arbitration Congress have been sympathising and sonnetteering for the last forty years, commit a ferocious assassination, which all Rome ap- plauds, drive the head of the Roman Catholic Churcli into ignominious exile, and introduce a confusion and anarchy which defy all tranquillisation, except by an ii-on hand and a shai-p-pointed sword. Isov do Rome, Rerlin, Frankfort, and Vienna bound the prospect of war and civil contention. While Sclaves arc combining against Magyars, and Germans raving against Danes, an army of 90,000 men is protecting Paris against a repetition of the struggles of February and June. It now, humanly speaking, depends upon tlie whim of a party, the pre- dilections of a province, the prestige of a name, the integrity of a prefect, or an intricacy of accidents, whe- ther all France may not, within ten days of this date, be convulsed by two sanguinary factions fighting on the side of Louis ]S"apoleon and Cavaignac. " That there are men in France who hate all war and detest ci\'il war, who recognise the loss, the min, the shame which it entails, I doubt not. But is there any one single fact in the published accounts of the latest cmeides, which can induce us to believe that there are not in Paris .^O.OOO or 80,000 men ready to light in SECONP SKUIRS. ^ ^ 498 AruCALU'TlC .•skktciils. December with the same I'erocity that they disqhiyed in February, in Marcli, and in June? At this moment, in the capital of France, as well as in those of Austria and Prussia, the existence of civil concord and the preserva- tion of peace are identified with the firmness of military leaders and the vigour of the forces they command." And to show how truly these recent shocks are the results of the action of secret, unseen, and subtle prin- ciples, I will read the following extract from the Times. The unclean spiiits, as I told you,, were to prepare for these events which this writer has thus delineated : — ''A great English writer of the 1 7th century, who di'ew with unsparing truth the dark picture of the civil broils in which he lived, has remarked, that when it enters into the counsels of Providence to humble the pride of a nation, and break it up in confusion and changes, very mean and vulgar instruments may oftentimes serve such purposes as those. Such a result needs not the greatness of an Alexander or a Cyrus, but may be accomplished by aMasaniello or a John of Ley den ; 'For,' said this writer, in a manner in which our readers will recognise the ago and the style of Cowley, ' when God sought to humble the Egyptians, he did not assemble the great serpents and monsters of Afric, but a plague of locusts swept over the land and left it desolate.' The same plague of locusts has fallen upon Europe. The ravage of the last ten months has been accomplished by men who are un- distinguished even by their crimes. A combination of hidden and minute causes has swept away all resistance ; or, to speak more correctly, men, in their lassitude and their impotence, have abandoned themselves without an effort to the torrent, which a single great man with dauntless will and a good cause miglit, perchance, have stemmed." This revolution, by the secrecy and subtlety of the springs of its explosion, shows how correctly I interpret the Apocalypse, when I conceive that the seventh vial is now being poured out. IMctternich, who is supposed to have been one of the most accomplislicd statesmen in the Avorld, made the striking remark, that after him there 1848; OK niorirECY fulfillkd. 409 \roiLLd be a deluge. After the first outbreak at Paris in February, the Timei^ made the observation : — " It is by 110 means unlikely that, in the present state of national feeling in many of the proyinces, and in the electrical condition of the political atmosphere" — (''And the seyenth angel poured out his yial into the air,") — '' all oyer Europe, the fall of central authority Avill be ibl- lo^yed by a series of local explosions." These are the sentiments of the conductors, the col- lectors, and the exponents of public opinion. As a corollary to the explosion, as it is called by the Times, in February, the President of the J^ational Assembly said, on June 25tli, after the frightful massacres that he had witnessed — " The immense loss of life . . . neyer anything seen like it in Paris." The Times says : — *' Such a scene of slaughter was never witnessed since the massacre of St. Bartholomew." And the Standard says : — ''iS'othing in the llevolution of 1789 at all com- parable to it for amount of bloodshed." And the Patriot newspaper says: — ''Xo similar political catastrophe occurs in history. Great changes have been eflected by a single battle, upon which the fate of empires has been staked ; but, in this instance, the apparent inadequacy of the cause, the suddenness and spontaneity of the move- ments, and the extent to which the convulsive agency has propagated itself, give to the European Revolution of 1848 the character of a prodigious phenomenon." Sucli is the language of men about the Revolution—" an earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great." God cried from heaven, "It is done;" — newspapers, and those who collect for them, and convey as the conduits, as it were, of public opinion, cry also from eartli, " It is done." In order to show how true is the statement of the papers, how just is the language of the Apocalypse, or rather how applicable to these events, I would notice the following distinctions : — When the sixth seal was opened, (Rev. vi. 12,) it is said "there was a great earthquake :" but you recollect this oarthqunKo repre- K X 2 500 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. sented the fall of tlie Pagan power, which was gradually undermined by the Christian religion, and fell like an avalanche into the depths below, and melted away before the sun, leaving only fragmentary wrecks behind. Again, at that glorious epoch, the ascent of the two witnesses, the Paulicians in the cast and the AYaldenses in tlie west, when Great Britain separated from the ten kingdoms, and became a protesting -w^itness against them — namely, at the period of the Reformation — we read that there was also a great earthquake"; and in its vibrations this country shook itself free from all connexion wdth the Apostasy. But this third earthquake is described as such, and so great, that there never was the like of it upon the earth. It is described by attributes which show it to be quite distinct from others. Former revo- lutions altered the frame\^'ork of the social system ; this has disorganised and dissolved it. Former revolutions modified the machinery ; this one has broken it to pieces. Former revolutions acted upon the surface, and scorched for an hour; this one has upheaved society from its depths, and disclosed its terrible abysms. What fearful sentiments and scenes have been spread abroad ! Kings have been flung from their seats ; their prime ministers have been murdered before their eyes. Laws it took cen- turies to mature, have been swept away in an hour. Institutions, thought fixed like stars, are dissolved like frost-work in the sun. The gradations of prince, and peer, and peasant, are all macadamised and beaten down by the wheels of this terrific revolution. It seems as if a mysterious wind had smitten the earth, and bowed the great, the mighty, and the royal as it passed by, as the flowers of the grass arc bowed before the storm. Austria, and Prussia, and France, and Italy, and Switzerland, and Spain, are all struggling like dismasted ships in a tempestuous ocean, reeling ever as the wind strikes them, and threatening every moment to sink into the depths. All former revolutions were resistance to actual or alleged oppression ; this revolution is contending for abstract rights. In past revolutions the ideas of law and con- nexion with the past were all-retained; here they are 1848, oil, PRopJiKPY rf'LFn.LKo. . 501 abjured, the right of revolution is legalised, and tlie only fixed principle that exists is the duty of unfixing every- thing upon the earth. Such are the characteristics of this revolution ; yet all this is but a sketch in brief of the dim and threatening shadows that lower upon the horizon of 1849. Where, I may ask, at this day are the armies, the ensigns, the standards, the kings, the laws, the constitutions, with which 1848 dawned upon mankind? What it took cen- turies to build, and used to take centuries to pull down, have been dissolved in a single day. It seems as if all the elements, long pent up in the bosom of the earth, having gathered strength from repression, had exploded with more devastating fury, and borne everything before them. In terrible succession, Denmark, Sardinia, and Saxony began to agitate. A feverish feeling influenced Europe at the commencement of this year. In one night Paris was a volcano; the king and queen were projected across the ocean by the explosion ; its throne, its consti- tution, and its charter illuminating the darkness by their blaze. In June that volcano was quenched for a while, but not extinguished, in the blood of citizens, who slew each other at theii' own doors, and beside their fire- sides ; and, as if to show the demoniac elements that were at work, they called this glory, and baptised it " Dying for theu' country." But this was not a mere French, but an European earthquake. Berlin reeled under its shocks ; Vienna felt them, and exhibited a scene almost equal to those that had darkened Paris. Kings, and cabinets, and councils, finding no pillar to which to cleave, and no spot on which to stand, fled as from impending doom, amid barricades and scenes of blood, seeking shelter in more peaceful lands ; and Austria, the overturning of ^'hich seemed as probable to the most sagacious states- men as the overturning of the Alps — Austria, the last crutch of the Papacy, the keystone, as it was called, of sovereignty in Europe — explodes in a day, and scenes of bloodshed take place which even rival those of the French Ilevolution. This vast empire holds in its grasp Italy, and Hungary, and Poland; and, in one day, all these '302 ArocALyPTTc sKi-rcnEs. countries burst like planets from their orbit>5, and are tiying loose from tlie central gravitation and control, and the explosion convulses the kingdoms of the earth, till tlie distant crash shakes the very heart of the llussian auto- crat. The shores of the Ehine, the Vistula, the Danube, and the Po are covered with ruins. In the hearts of these nations there is no restorative element equal to the permanent reconstruction of them. There is no religion left. Religion comes from a vrord, reJigo, which means, to bind together ; binding man to God, and man to man. There is no religion in these counfiies, in order to give us a hope that these elements will be reconstructed. All authority is abandoned, all loyalty perished, all obedience prostrate. The exchequers are empty, commerce is paralyzed, laws have ceased. Thieves, and beggars, and heroes swarm the streets, plundering where they can. The glorious liberty of the law is exchanged for the bondage of licentiousness ; and for the subjection to laws, so necessary to the existence of society, they have the gtdiing servitude of a despot, more grinding and terrible than ever. Xow I ask you, if ever, in the history of Europe or of the world, there was such an earthquake, and so great, or any that could be compared to it at all ? There will be, no doubt, a patching up ; I have no doubt •there will be a partial restoration ; but it is only prepa- ratory to the yet more terrible disorganisation that pre- cedes the coming of the Son of man. Tlie Ed'uihurgh Review, in speaking of the reconstruction of the German empire, says, ''It involves no less than the annihilation and absorption of thirty-seven of the sovereignties of Europe, including two of the greatest powers of the world, in a new and colossal state, under an ancient title, but with such a character as in reality it never bore before. It implies a pacific and bloodless conquest of as many kingdoms as fell before the sword of Caleb, for the consolidation of a dominion as mighty as tlie empire of the Caliphs." It speaks of it as a complete and total revolution. I recommend to j-our attentive perusal a discourse by Wxi:^ Ilcv. G. Croly, D.D., in which he elo- quently sliov/s, l)y referring to recent instances, that 1848, OK, nioi'inx'v j-ij.ru.LK]). 503 wlicrovcr there is national sin, tlicro follows, as tlic bolt the explosion, righteous retribution. To take the case of Prance : Tahiti had become one of the gems on the bosom of the sea. The London Missionary Society had been instrnmcntal in converting to Christ its queen and its people, who had become not merely professors, l)iit Christians indeed. France cast its eye upon it, or rather the Jesuits did so, and made France believe that what was Jesuit ambition would be French glory, if tliey could seize that country, and annex it to theii" own. They made the experiment ; the unoffending queen was treated with a savagism the most disgraceful, such as to cast a stain upon her assailant, whom we should rejoice rather to act witli and to love. Besides this, the iniquitous war in Algeria was carried on with a ferocity almost unparalleled in the history of modern warfare. It was an aggressive war; and whenever a nation j)lunges into aggressive v\'ar, I conceive that that nation commits a sin. War in self-defence is scriptural ; or, at least, I say it is sanc- tioned by Scripture indirecth^ ; but war as an aggression is a grievous iniquity in the sight of God. In Algeria the poor Moors were persecuted with sword, and faggot, and musket; and one horrible barbarity you may have read of, in which unarmed men, and women with their babes in their bosoms, w^ere crowded into a cave, wdien French glory piled combustibles against the mouth, and in the morning four hundred dead bodies of men and mothers with babes in their bosoms, were found within. The prince of Algeria was made a captive ; but he was no sooner locked up in his j)rison, and France rejoicing at tlio glory that thus crowned her African crusade, tlian the shock of the earthquake came, and the king and queen of France were exiles on the shores of Great Britain. So true is it that national sins draw down national judgments. Among the striking scenes that characterise this revo- lution, you may notice the strange reverses of the principal actors. Lamartine was the idol of the spring ; his capti- vating eloquence found an echo in every Frenchman's heart, and his bland and pacific spirit made liim the 504 ArorAI-YPTIC SK'J-n.UES. j-ubject of imivorsul admiration. He is now cast out, like a sca-weecl thrown upon the shore, to rot, high and (hy, beyond the reach of the waves of jDopnlar aduhition. Cavaignac was as much adored in June ; he was hailed as the restorer of his country — his sword was thought a glorious sceptre, his stern work of blood was called patriotism ; and the peo23le almost smothered him with expressions of gratitude and love. I need not ask you, where is he now ? Their favourite now is one whose chief merit is the airy shadow of a mighty name — tlie name of one who once shook the earth by his tread, and made thrones quake by his footfell. As if to show the wild and intoxicating nature of the revolution that has burst forth, Louis I'Tapoleon is now at the head of one of the greatest nations — great in numbers, and great in its past history — upon the face of the earth. At a time, too, when France should be solemnised and saddened by the terrible events which it has witnessed, and the fearful convulsions out of which it has come, the whole Parisian population is rushing to a playhouse, in which is per- formed one of the most popular dramas ever exhibited in Paris, consisting of a blasphemous and 9bscene parody on God's holy word, — as if still farther to show that all this is the result of the action of an unclean and filthy spirit acting from beneath. Such, then, is the evidence of this earthquake. God has risen from his place to punish the nations of the earth. If this earthquake of 1848 be not the earth- quake of the seventh vial, you Avill agree with me that it is surely the greatest approximation to it that ever occurred. It is added in the description of the effects produced by the action of the seventh vial '' there were A^oices, and thunderings, and lightnings." Some have said this may mean the successive explosions ; but I think not : I tliink there is a separate ineaning. Is it not a fact, that voices and thunders of all descriptions are at this hour echoing throughout Europe ? What are all those terrible sentiments that we have heard, but the voices that follow on the outburst of the earthquake ? What ai'e all those 1848; oil, PFjoriiKrv itlfh.led. .'305 voices under which the mob marches to the liavoc, and by which each chib orator electrifies his audience — ''The rights of the people;" ''The Red Republic;" " The sovereignty of the people ;" " Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity," and that voice which has not been heard in Rome for a thousand years, " Death to the Pope," "Down with the Pope?" Of these, however, I shall speak on a subsequent evening. Some of these, however, are more like thunders than voices. " The sige requires it ;" " It is a political necessity ;" '' Vox Populi, Vox Dei," — a veiy profane sentiment: the Yox Populi may be the Vox Dei, if it be the voice of a Christian people ; but the voice of the people is too often, " Away with him, away with him," ''Crucify him, crucify him." In this country we have only had the half-spent sounds of the earthquake : we felt the vibrations of the central volcano, and saw its glare, but the flame, thanks be to God, had no fuel to feed upon ; we are not among the ten kingdoms ; we shook loose from them at the Reformation : we are a Protestant land witnessing for Christ. AVe read next, that " the great city was di'S'ided into three parts." I told 3-ou in another place, that the tri- partite division of Europe would be under the seventh vial, and would immediately precede the downfal of Babylon the Great. I have sought out the evidence of this tripartition taking phice. Just watch some of its indications. What is the loading "voice :" Nationalism. Every country is beginning to demand what is called nationalism. " Italy for the Italians ;" " Germany for the Germans;" "France for the French." You will find some of the papers noticing the fact, that Europe seems dividing itself into three great family divisions; and if you watch the signs of the times you will find tliey confirm the statement. The outline of this division is already discernible. Austria, Prussia, and all minor and subordinate states of Germany, arc to be consolidated into one grand Germanic empire. France and her depend- encies seem already consolidated. Then in Italy, all its petty sovGreigntios are at this moment being fus^d and 506 ArocAiATTrc sketches. melted into onc\ Then S|)ain and Btdgium, according to their rcsjDective pohirities, will join one of these tliive. Bo that we liave at this moment the outline of the tripar- tite division of Papal Europe visible upon the surface of society ; and no one knows but that a day or a week may show the tripartition complete. Whether we are to be included in it 1 know not. Perhaps it depends on Avhat Pritain continues to be. I solemnly believe — and I think it right that every one should disburden his conscientious convictions, careless who applauds or who condemns them ; for the time is come when Ave must have done with deference to the judgment which others may pass upon us — that if this country endow the Popish priest- hood in Ireland, then Great Britain will rejoin the ten kingdoms ; aiid the instant that we rejoin them we shall come under the tripartite division of the Papacy, and shall perish among the wreck of nations. I forgive all that is past, and I would forget it — may God bless us still ! — but if we, by a direct act, countenance, endow, support, and patronise antichrist and antichrist's error, t lien I do conceive we shall liave committed a national sin as gi'eat as that of I'rance, because amid greater light ; and that we shall instantly draw down upon our heads national judgments. Put I hope and believe that tins will not be our crime : there are many good men in power — men who have Christian hearts, and I hope that they will have the courage to speak out ; that ihvj will shake themselves loose from all trammels, and do what tho}' feel to bo their duty in the sight of God to their nation, careless of what party may fall, or what side may rise. All parties will soon be broken up except two — those who are with Christ, and those who are with antichrist ; they that are for God, and they tliat are against him. Then it is added — and this is the last point I shall notice to-night — " The cities of the nations fell." The "great city" is the politico-ecclesiastical corporation '•ailed Home or the Popedom ; and as Home is the great politico-ecclesiastical city which embraces the ten king- doms, " the cities of the nations" I believe are the 1848; OK, ruopnr.cv FULFJLr,i:n. 507 politico -ceclesfastical institutions, or the established churches. I do not pronounce upon the principle that lies at their foundation ; this* is neither the time nor the place to discuss it : I am speaking only of historic facts and of the fulfilinent of prophecj'. In all Europe there is scarcely an established church left. In Prussia it is all but dissolved. In Austria, the stronghold of ecclesiastical despotism, it is all swept away, and the demand of the people is, '' Equality for all modes of worship." In Hungary, Bohemia, in Eavaria, all are moving in the same direction. In Erance the merest tliread of an establishment exists, if indeed it can be called an establishment. Besides which, some sprink- lings of that vial have lighted on our own land. The Church of Ireland is all but gone : in the day when its duty should have been done, it criminally neglected it, and its patrons badly patronised it, thougli at this mo- ment there are more devoted men in it than in any other church upon earth. I need not tell you that the Chiu'cli of Scotland has been weakened, and is at this moment violently opposed, by those who have seceded ; and the Church of England is now literally burning and consuming at both ends. A pious and excellent man, Mr. Xoel, with whose evangelical sentiments I can truly sj'mpathise, has left the Church on one side ; and !Mr. Kewman, and a whole host, numbering some eighty or ninety clergymen, have seceded and gone into the Church of Rome on the other side. Here, there- fore, we have this ancient establishment consuming at both ends. I fear Mr. Isoel is only the first of a lengthening procession : I do not know what his prin- ciples are, or express an opinion upon them ; I merely state the fact, that here are some of the Evangelical party going forth at one side, and the Popish J^arty de- parting at the other ; and thus the institution is suffer- ing at both ends. I believe that all three establishments will ultimately be dragged down : the spirit of the age, be that spirit from above or from below, is insisting upon it, and those who were sup})osed to be their champions are leaving their championship. o08 j\rorAT,vPTTr SKKTmE?, But while I state these ominous facts, let me not conceal from you that there are some bright points. God never sends us all darkness without some gleams of sunshine. In Germany the censorship of the press has been abolished, and you may publish there now what you please. Austria, which had the aii' of a dungeon, and whose custom-houses rigidly excluded Bibles, tracts, and evangelical preaching, is now thrown open, and there is free circulation of the Bible. In Bohemia, the land of Huss — in Bavaria, the most bigoted — in France, in Italy, and in Rome itself, the word of God is circulated and the Gospel may be preached. AVhat is this ? You may recollect that just before Great Babylon comes into judgment, there is heard a voice, saying, ''Come out of her, my people." These openings for the circulation of the Bible, and for the preaching of the Gospel, are the echoes of this voice, '' Come out of her, my people." Notice again the fact, to which I can only briefly allude, that the Jews are at this moment emancipated in almost every country of Europe. In Prussia the Jews were pecu- liarly oppressed; in Austria they were ground down to the very dust — in both they are free. In Rome they were treated like swine, and driven to the Ghetto ; they are now emancipated, and may reside where they please. That great earthquake which has shaken the whole world, and rocked dynasties, churches, thrones, has broken the chains of the Jew and set him free. And we can see also the signs of greater activity and energy among the visible churches. All are alive: every one seems to be stirred up. What is a more in- teresting fact than this, that just now while all Europe is convulsed to its centre, and Popery, Infidelity, and Tractarianism are working together with all their might, the Church Missionary Society is celebrating its jubilee in a state of prosperity almost unprecedented ; and our Queen comes down with dignity from her throne and adds her contribution, not to the Society of which Dr. Pusey and the Bishop of Exettr are the exponents, but to that Society which is so distinguished for its vvdn- 1848; oil, piioriiECY fulfilled. 509 gelical Christianity, and on which the blessing of God has so signally rested. These are still, small, and musical voices amid the thunders, the voices and the lightnings of the world. And now, my dear friends, let me ask, How stands it with you ? Be not satisfied with beholding the pano- rama which I have endeavoured to explain, or with hearing the voices and witnessing the lightnings to which I have alluded. Are your feet upon the Hock of Ages? Is 3-our trust and confidence in the Lamb of God .^ Be not clever to utter the last new vShibboleth, or to wear the favourite ecclesiastical face ; but able to sing the song of Moses, of God, and of the Lamb. We are in the midst of judgments that are abroad upon the earth — let us learn wisdom while all is convulsed around us ; let us remember there is one spot that can- not be shaken, and standing on which, like the harpers by the glassy sea, we may praise our God, and glorify him amid the fire — that spot is the Rock of Ages. Ai'e we upon the Lord's side ? AYhether we go to Christ, or Christ comes to us, is immaterial to our everlasting state : if we are prepared for the one, we are ready for the other ; and if you are the Lord's, and if the Lord be yours, then what is death to you ? A mere transfer from the scene of thunderings, and voices, and light- nings, and a great earthquake, to that bright sunshine, and to that sweet river whose streams make glad the city of God. " An heir of heaven," said Coleridge, very beauti- fully, in speaking of his own death — " An heir of heaven, I fear not death ; In Christ I hve, in Christ 1 draw the breath Of the true Hfe ; let the earth, sea, and sky Make war against me ; on my head I sliow Their mij^hty Master's seal ; in vain they try To end my life, that can but end my woe. Is that a death-licd where a Christian lies? Yes — but not his : 'tis Death itself that dies." LECTURE XXXrV. THE COXSUMPTION OF BAEYLOJT. '* Jle tchich Ustifieth these iliings saith, Surehj T come quicldy ; Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus' — Key. xxii. 20. "And the seventh angel 'poured out his vial into the air ; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is doneP — Eey. xvi. 17. I hate been unfolding in successive lectures tlie various scenes that are to precede the advent of our blessed Lord; I have endeavoured also to prove that the millennium, as far as the light of Scripture leads us to conclude, is not to precede but to succeed the advent of the Lord, and the manifestation of the sons of God. Last Lord's-day evening I showed you that one of the great premonitory signs of the near advent of that great epoch of which I have spoken so much, is the pouring out of the seventh vial. It is the last of the judgments in the hand of the angel. Before it, the warning cry is lifted up, '' Behold I come as a thief." After it, great Babylon comes into remembrance, and the Bride makes herself ready. I endeavoured last Lord's- day evening to identify what I had i^reached as prophecy in 1847 with what I believe to bo its performance in 1848. AVe saw it then in the prospect, not knowing that it was at our doors : we see it noAV, I believe, in its jDsrformancc ; and we are about to enter an epocli, I solemnly believe, the most testing, the most searching, the most startling that ever fell upon the experience of the Christian Church, or of mankind at large. I gathered from the TUE GONsJlMi'TION OF liAJJYLOX. 511 fact, that the seventh aiigel poured out his vial, i. e. the symbol of judgment, into the air, — that, Avhatever was the nature of this judgment, it would be universal, in other words, spread over the ten kingdoms that con- stitute the empire constantly exhibited in the Apo- calypse as that in which the progress of antichrist was to be developed. AVe may expect, therefore, that this vial will have an universal effect upon these kingdoms, and probably ui)on all the kingdoms of the earth. The ail' is that which every man breathes, which rises to the highest throne and descends to the lowest cellar, without which none can live, and which, tainted by miasma or not, all must breathe. This vial„ then, was to affect the air ; probably at this moment it is phy- sically disorganised and deranged, and malaria and seeds of disease, as attested by medical opinion, are at this moment kejjt in solution in it: but surely we see on all hands the evidence of its terrible moral and political derangement. There is not a nation in Europe that has not felt the shock ; not one is spared ; even we oursel\'e3 were slightly affected with the remote contagion of the day — as if to indicate to us by feeling, as well as from prophecy, that the seventh vial is now being poured out into the air. The second great event that is to arise from it, is "a voice out of the temple of heaven, lind from the throne of God, saying. It is done." You recollect I explained in my first lectures, that wherever there Avas an intima- tion indicating a new phasis coming from heaven, there was alwa^'s in the history of the past a response given from below responding to it. This I showed you at great length. Then, I said it was our duty to show that, while a voice in heaven cried, *'It is done," i.e. the last vial is emptied and its action has begun, there would be gathered from the veliicles of public opinion, the reflec- tors of public events, some evidence that will prove to us a conviction in the human heart corresponding to the intimation from the heavenly throne that this great event has takeji place. One great characteristic of it is, that there shiiil be " voices, and thunders, and lightnings, 512 ArOCALVPTIC SKirrCHES. and a great earthquake, sueli as uever was since men were upon the earth." I quoted from newspapers the evi- dences of these. There is nothing necessarily unholy in reading an extract from a newspaper in the pulpit. The Apostle Paul quoted from heathen poets in his Epistles, because they helped him to illustrate a great truth. And why should it be regarded as an invasion of the most sensitive sense of decorum, that one should quote from the collectors of public sentiment without, illustrations and evidences of the fulfilments of Divine prophecy within ? On the contrary, I think it is a duty to do so. I think the ministers of the Gospel are placed as watch- men on the towers of Zion, not only to reiterate and repeat to all the saving truths of the Gospel, but to look around them, and to state whatever thej' see that will explain the providential dealings or prophetic intimations of God, or instruct mankind in more intimate acquaint- ance with his blessed will. I showed you, from various papers, that tlie epithet all but universally bestowed upon the recent explosion in Paris, the vibrations of wdiich have been borne forth in successive concentric circles over Europe — or the very language used by secular writers who have no theory of the Apocalypse, is, ''this great earthquake." I showed you that they not only called it an earthquake repeatedly, but they said that it never had a parallel. I quoted such instances as these : — The Times newspaper, speak- ing of what had taken place in June, said, '' Such a scene of slaughter has not been witnessed since the days of St. Bartholomew." The Standard said, " jS'othing in the revolution of 1789 was at all comparable to the revolu- tion that has taken place in 1848." This is the very language of the Apocalypse used by political and news- paper Avriters. And extracts which I gave at still greater length confirm how truly, when God cried from heaven, ''It is done," every reficctor of public opinion eclioed the sentiment, and said also, "It is done." I then alluded to the other sign, " voices, and thun- ders, and lightnings." These may be regarded as revolutions too, disturbances, emcutcs a.<; they are called, THE COXSUMPTIO.V OF liABYLOX. 513 agitations, convulsions among the people ; though per- haps ''voices" may have a distinct meaning." Let any one now listen to the cries of the revolution : " Libert^j , Equality, Fraternity !" — here is one voice ; " The Sove- reignty of the People!" — here is another voice ; and I could quote hundreds of similar cries uttered from Paris to Berlin, and some by some exceptions in our land ; all showing that, whilst the earthquake thunders from beneath, and God witnesses from the skies, men also are speaking in unison with the prediction of the Spirit, and proving God's word to be truth. I then referred to the tripartite division of " the great city." The gi-eat citj' is the Church of Ptome ; the great city in which the witnesses were slain, '' spiritually, Sodom and Egypt, was divided into three parts," i.e. its deeem-regal division, or its division into ten kingdoms ; which, I have explained before, shall cease after this great earthquake, and the whole of the ten kingdoms, Erance and Gennany, with all the other kingdoms, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, &c. shall be divided into three great sections. This is the next thin.g that we look for. ISTotice, however, what must take place first of all — • disorganisation, chaos, desolation ; and do you not see, in the midst of all this disorganisation which now goes on, certain polarities beginning to shoAV themselves ? The Germans insist upon German unity, as if they were to constitute one great division ; the Erench, again, insist upon their national integrity ; and the Italians are shout- ing in the ears of the Pope and of the Austrians, " Italy for the Italians." It seems, therefore, extremely pro- bable that we shall have Erance and Germany and Italy, the three great divisions of Europe, with their respective clustering dependencies, Spain, Portugal, and Belgium, forming that grand tripartite division of Europe which precedes the destruction of Babylon, and is the prepara- tion for the bright advent of the Lord of glory. I onJy ask you to watch and read God's providential dealings in the light of God's revealed and inspired word. Then it is added, " the cities of the nations fell." [ showed you that the word city, "the great city," was SECOND bf.KIf;S. I- I' 514 ArOCALYPTlC SKETCUES. taken in its politico-ecclesiastical sense; and Ave i.iust understand by it the churches established in the variour^ kingdoms of the earth. I said they would fall. The fact that it is prophesied they shall foil, is not an intimation that they are either sinful or excellent in Ihemselves. It is simple prophecy : it is meither to lessen the affections of those that love them, nor to nerve the hand of those who would throw them down. AYhen God pronounces a prophecy He will take care to fulfil it. It is our business to cleave to duties, never to attempt to fulfil prophecy : we have nothing to do with the fidfil- ment of the prophecy ; God himself takes that into His own hands ; we have only to do with the discharge of the duty and responsibilities that are laid upon us. I need not say that the evidence of this taking place is visible in our own land. Who does not know that each of the ecclesiastical establishments has been weakened ? That of Ireland literally topples to its fall. In England, as I have shown you, it is wasting like a candle that is burned at both ends. Seventy or eighty of the Tracra- lian divines who ought never to have been in it, have emerged from it into theii* congenial darkness, the Church of Rome. But we see the commencement of secession at the other end. I have read Mr. Noel's reasons ; I admu-e the man ; I diifer from his chief posi- tions. But it is grievous to add, that abuses prevail in that great witness for the truth, the Church of England, to whose scholars, to whose great and noble divines, that man who does not feel himself indebted, knows little of scriptural theology; — I say, one grieves to know that there are in it abuses, painful abuses ; but I fancy that if that esteemed and excellent man who has lately seceded from it, and who proposes a series of movements against it in the leading towns of the kingdom, had proposed only its amelioration, or had tried a reformation instead of urging on revolution, he would perhaps have done more for the glory of God, and for the spiritual good of this great land. However, he has thought otherwise. The reasons arc not new ; they have been argued, and discussed, and agitated a thousand times. I am one of those who TnK CONSUMrXIOX OF BAEYLON. 515 believe that an established church is right in itself. I know I address some who differ from me. I belie^-e that this countr}" is deeply indebted to an established church, with all its faults and abuses. There is too much of a tendency to go to extremes in this as in other things : one says, '' AYe have no use for a clock at all ; we have got the sun in the firmament." Another saj's, " The clock is so infallibly right, that unless you set your watch by it, you shall be burned amid fagots, or cast into the sea." It seems tome that there is an intermediate party who says : " The clock is a convenient thing; just oil it, repair it, remove the dust and the cobwebs, *set it by the sun, and follow that clock only as far as it follows the sun." That seems to me the right and proper course. However, without entering on the principles that are here involved — about which I do not wish to provoke discussion, lest such discussion should divert from the great and mightj' facts that are closing around us, — I must note what is here stated ; ''the cities of the nations," or the churches of the nations, "fell." There is scarcely an established church at this moment in continental Europe left ; all have been swept away, or the thin and aii'y-ghosts of what they were alone remain. The last thing stated, on which I mean to make some remarks, is that Great Babylon — I shall not take up your time by proving that this is Rome — *' comes into remem- brance before God." This is the next event ; chap. xvii. which follows, describes the consumption of Home during the French revolution, to which I will briefly allude; and chap, xviii. contains the destruction of Eome, which is, I believe, impending at her very doors. You recol- lect in that prophecy in 2 Thess. it is predicted that the Lord will ''consume antichrist with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of his coming." As a person dies of consumption, he gradually wastes away till the last moment comes, when some sudden accident, a blood-vessel bursting, a fall, or some- thing of that nature, precipitates his complete destruc- tion. So it is to be ^^'ith llome. First, there is to be a process of wasting, and, lastly, there is to be a stroke of LL 2 516 . ArOCALYPTlO yKETCHES. final desolation ; and this last will be by the personal advent of the Son of God. I believe, therefore, that the Church of Kome Avill last till the Lord of glory comes in some vast providential shock, or personally in that glory •with which he promised to come again. With respect to her consumption, I consider that it plainly began at the blessed Eeformation. She had " sat as a queen and known no sorrow" till that day ; she was absolutely supreme. A monk despised by the mighty of the earth, spoke one great, liA-ing truth — ^justification by faith alone in the rigliteousnes§ of Christ ; and that Avord was mightier than battle-axes, and swords, and spears, and armed bat- talions. It was heard in the Vatican, and echoed in the deepest dungeon-keeps of the Inquisition. It startled Leo in his meridian splendour, and the nations felt that a. monk wielding God's truth was mightier than a mo- narch swaying the greatest sceptre of the greatest empire npon earth. The truth that Luther brought prominently forward was, justification by faith alone in the righteous- ness of Christ ; and this is the true way to destroy Popery. Those who persist in wielding mere political weapons against it, fail. If the churches of this land had done their duty in the days that are past, the stcttes- men of this land would never have dared to propose to endow it. The blame lies not at the doors of our jn-ime ministers and statesmen, but at the doors of the bishops and divines of every communion. AVe have neglected our duty : can we wonder that statesmen have forgotten theirs ? A second consumption of Babylon took place at the French Revolution. The first still went on — the living water's oozing through its walls — the voice of truth sounding in multiplied echoes to the utmost circumference of the earth ; and then came that tremendous explosion in 1792, which sliook all Europe, and altered the boun- dary lines of almost every nation that composes it. At one blow the endowments of the priests were swept away in various other countries ; the rich property which filled tlu'ir monasteries, which they had secured by fraud, was taken away by force ; and the beast began to be burned THK COXSUXPTTOX OF IJAUYT-OX. 517 by the infidelity which itself had created, and to reap the results and rewards of its own unfaithfulness to God. And during that consumption subsequent to the Revolu- tion, we read that Pius, the reigning iDontifi, was dragged a prisoner at the chariot wheels of ]!N"apoleon, and left the tiara vacant for a while ; but it was a vacancy very diiferent, as I shall show you, from that which now exists. And the thii\l wasting element that has been at work is that most terrible foe of the Chiu'ch of Rome — the Word of God. It has been spread by the Bible Society, it has been read by the excellent colporteurs employed by that society, and scattered through every country of Eiu'ope. In Belgium, I was once seated at the talh d hote, where, according to the habit of the country, were various persons of various creeds, and I was delighted when I saw one of those labourious agents going "udth his pack of French Bibles, offering them for sale at a low price, telling the people their contents, and what good things they would find in them, and I felt that that seemingly insignificant agency was under- mining the strongest bulwarks of Rome. But the last and final destruction is that which is indicated in the striking words, '' great Babylon came into remembrance before God : and we find a descrip- tion at length of this destruction in chap, xviii. which follows. I need scarcely tell you that the Jesuits are the most powerful supporters of the Popedom. They have been its pioneers. I have gathered from various sources during the last year evidences of the gradual destruction, and, at this moment, except in England, the extinction, to all outward appearance, of that formidable body. Popes have repeatedly acknowledged their gratitude to the society, and it w^as pressure from without, a dire necessity, that compelled Clement XIY. to dissolve them. As soon as the world became quiet, and the sub- ject of Jesuitism vanished from the public mind, the order rose again, received new sanction from successive popes, and a few years ago, the Society of Jesus, as it is called, reigned with a power and acted with an energy unc- 518 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. quailed at any former period. In 1848, as I linve endeavoured to show, great Babylon came into remem- brance before God, to give unto her the cup of his wrath ; and the very earliest sprinkling of the seventh vial fell upon the Jesuits — the missionaries of the Vatican — the most skilful rowers of the bark of St. Peter ; and this terrible order at this moment has been driven to the very ends of the earth. The first blow, I find, was struck in Swizerland. The reverend fathers of Loyola formed the Siinderbund, commenced a crusade against a powerful party of opponents, put arms in the hands of their fol- lowers, consecrated their colours, distributed among the soldiers miraculous medals, and guaranteed them a glo- rious victory. AYhen the collision took place, the Jesuits fled, their convents were destroyed, and their property confiscated. Pius IX. in order to save the papacy in Switzerland, appointed a new ambassador — Bishop Luquet, who addressed a letter to the Helvetic Diet, in which he stated that Rome always complies with the wants of the times, and that the Pope is ready to enter into an amicable arrangement for secularising the monastic order ; in other words, giving up all the property of tlic regular clcrgj', in order to save that of the secular priests. Thus the blow struck on the Popedom in Svv^itzerland was felt on the vcr}' throne of the beast at Home. In France, a Jesuit can scarcely sliow liimself. At Lyons, the commissioner of the republic ordered all tlie houses of the Jesuits to be closed. In Bavaria, to save themselves, they accused the king of immorality ; wliich the reverend fathers connived at when they were \indisturbed, and rebuked only on the eve of their ruin. Maximilian the king s iw their perfidy, appealed to his people, and tlie Jesuits speedily disappeared. Prince Metternich received the refugee fatliers in Austria. The thunder stamp of revolution sounded through the palaces and streets of Vienna, and llio Jesuits fled fr;)ni that capital to find an asyhmi else- TiTF, coxsr:\ri»Ti()N of iiAiiYLoy. 519 where. They \\cvc next driven from Bohemia and Hungary, and other countries ; till, concentrated in Italy, thej' hoped to enjoy beneath the shadow of the tiara a protection which crowns and crowbars, and synods and diets had else^vhere denied them. But there was no escape from the judgment that pui'sued them. In Genoa the people rose against the Jesuits, en masse. The fathers were forced to take refuge under the guns of the citadel, till night enabled them to flee like thieves fi'om the spot they thought peculiarly their own. Modena, Turin, and Florence, followed the ex- ample of Genoa; and in Xaples, though patronised by the king, they were expelled by the people. Eome was their last retreat. Pius IX. was their patron and their admirer, and, by visiting theii- monas- teries, all but risked his early popuhirity in expressing his sympathy with them. But God's word is mightier than the Pope's power. The degenerate Eomans rose against the Jesuits — in the streets the ciies were, ''Down with the Jesuits!" The Abbe Giuberti ex- posed their political crimes, and the indignation of the mob heightened and increased in strength. In vain the Pope issued proclamations in. their praise, and threats of punishing their opponents. The official gazette of Eome at last published the necessity of theii' expulsion, in these words : — " His Holiness, who has ever looked with favour upon these servants of the Church, as unwearied fellow-labourers in the vineyard of the Jjoxd, is deeply grieved at this unhappy event. However, considering the growing excitement, and the numerous parties which tlireaten serious trouble, the Pope has been forced to look at these dangers. He has therefore made known to the Father- general of the company his sentiments, as well as the concern he feels on account of the difficulty of the times, and the prospect of serious disturbance." Upon this announcement the Father-general, after ad- vismg with his counsellors, resolved to yield to the force of circumstances, fearing lest their presence should serve as a pretext to tumult and bloodshed. Roothan, the general of the order, and the monastic conspirators of 520 APoc'ALvrric sketcttf.s. which Ignatius Loyola was tlic founder, quitted Rome to save the Pope from a catastrophe which they postponed a few months, but failed to avert. In Prance, the bishops and priests T\'ho officiate in tlie churches of that country, are fearfully humbled. They are dragged at the heels of revolutionary sceptics to bless trees of liberty, and reduced to slavery in order to escape from ruin, while others are forced to echo the very cries of the revolution in order to get shelter under its wing. At a public republican banquet, soon after the revolution, a Romish bishop said, ''The new motto of the nation, * Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,' was a Catholic motto before it was written on the banners of France:" and the Pope himself had to plead as a sup- pliant for the salaries of his priests being continued bj' the republic. " To give up this support," he says, ' ' would be to take from the clergy the resources which are indispensable to their existence ; for, in some towns in France, and in most villages, the poverty is so great that it would be almost impossible to sustain the church and its ministers. It is much to be feared that the suf- ferings of the clergy would increase, to the great detriment of religion and of souls. Though in the United States of America the Catholic faith makes daily progress in the blessings of God, it would have produced much more abundant fruits if there had been in those countries a native clergy proportionate to the greatness of their population and their spiritual wants." iS"ow, what a startling fact is this, — that during the year which is now drawing to its close, the Jesuits are not left in any countrj' in Christendom, except the one — tliis free land of ours — which opens her bosom as aii asylum to all ! The only country on earth in which thcj^ are suffered to exist, is that country whose light they dread, and whose freedom they would crusli if they could, and whose air must be to them a purgatory on earth. "What an evidence is tliis that great Babylon is " coming into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath !" But this is not the last of its effects. I need not tell THE CONfirMPTIOX OF HABYI.OX. 52. you AYhat has ceased to be news — of the flight of tha Pope from Rome, in the dress of a livery servant — (What a fall is here ! — v/hat a humbling of the king of pride I) — and his exile at this moment at Oaeta. The first intimation of it is from the Roman oiScial paper : — ''The provisional government has been proclaimed;" the Pope was declared to have forfeited all temporal power; and there Avere heard stranger sounds than have been heard for a thousand years m the streets of Eome. According to this paper, the people, enthusiastic with joy at the expulsion of the Pope from temporal power, shouted in the streets of Piome, '' Death to the Pope," " Death to the Cardinals." Truly there Avere voices, and ''thunders, and lightnings, and A'oices," unparalleled in the history of the popedom. But, you will say, the Pope has been a refugee before now. True; but mark the difference. AVhen the Pope quitted his throne in the days of ^^apoleon, he did so by the irresistible force of an external power, which invaded his kingdom and dragged him from his seat, tied him to his chariot and brought him to Paris to grace the splendours and consecrate the usurpation of his imperial tjTanny. But on this occasion, mark you, for the first time in the history of the popedom, the people have resumed the sovereignty which Avas origin- ally theirs ; and in the exercise of that same dread poAver, which is best in abeyance, and which led this country in 1688 to change its djTiasty, have risen as a nation from AA'ithin against the Pope, and have scA^ered the connexion between his temporal and sj)iritual power. You see, then, we haA'e a totally difierent event occurring in 1848 from any that has occun-ed at any previous era; and in order to sliow you still further that the cry ap- plicable specially to this event, "It is done," is resounded from the skies, and echoed by the reflectors of public opinion, I will read a feAV brief extracts. The TaUet newspaper of last Saturday, which is the organ of the Ptoman Catholic body — a paper written with very great talent — attests the consumption of the Beast : — " An archbishop has been martyred, whilst preaching 522 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. peace to his flock ; another holy prelate has been cast into prison and contumelionsly exiled, for boldly defy- ing the powers of this world ; a Pope has incessantly laboured in the settlement of stupendous affairs — the relations of the church in Protestant and schismatic countries, as England and llussia AV'e have seen this Pope flying from Home; feut, no whit dismayed, speaking with authority to the assassins who have usurped his dominions." And again, the same paper says, '' What shall we say of the terrible intelligence from Home ? In a few lines nothing worth saying can be said. The guilt of the Pomans, and generally of the Italian Liberals, can hardly be exaggerated. The critical position, not of the Pope- dom— for that was never safer — but of the Pope, of the hol}^ pontiff who a few months ago w^as the idol of all the pretended worshippers of freedom, is too patent to require enforcing by many words." Everybody asks what will become of the Pope. This is the inquiry. Christ, the infallible head of the Church, placed by God at our head, never can be removed. His throne remains the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever : and while the poor Pomanist is weeping over the destruction of his head, the Protestant rejoices and praises God that Jesus reigns, and the dawn of his universal kingdom only begins to emerge from the chaos of the nations of the earth. This poor writer in the Tablet proceeds: — *' What will become of the Pope ? Will he take refuge in France ? w411 he accept the hospitality of England ? will he carry St. Peter's chair from the blood-stained city — in old times the Babylon of the Apostles — and transfer it to the modern Pabylon, from the inhuman ferocity of Korae afflicted with a new Paganism ? Will he ascend his spiritual throne in the new world with the presence of his august pontificate? These questions are in every mouth, and it is more easy to ask them than to find any satisfactory solution of the great problem they involve." The vial is in the hand of the Pope : he is drinking it to the verj' dregs : and, as if to show that the whole THE COXSUMPTTON. OF BAnYLON. 523 of Eoman Christendom is startled and surprised by this event, the other day a meeting Avas called in Dublin of all the leading Koman Catholics of the country, ''in order to succour the head of the religion, to express sympathy with the Pope under the unhappy circum- stances in which he is placed, and to pronounce that the possession of the city of Eome is indispensible to the solemnity and preponderance of the Roman Catholic foith ; and that, in order to secure its recovery to the holy see, no effort of the Roman Catholics of this country should be wanting. For the purpose of more effectually attaining these objects, and whatever other shall be deemed advisable for the same purpose, a fund, to be called ' St. Peter's Fund,' was instituted, and placed in progress of collection." "Which is the last approxi- mation to the old fund of St. Peter's Pence,-- which once agitated our country in its darkest days. Again, not only does Ireland feel it, but France, another portion of the beast's kingdom, feels it. You are perhaps aware that the President then acting of the French republic sent the Pope the following letter : — " Very Holy Father, — I address this despatch, and another of the Archbishop of !N'ice, your nuncio to the Government of the Republic, to your Holiness, by one of my aides-de-camp. " The French nation, deeply affiictcd with the trou- bles with which your Holiness has been assailed within a short period, has been, moreover, profoundly affected at the sentiment of paternal confidence which induced your Holiness to demand, temporarily, hospitality in France, which it will be happy and proud to secure to you, and which it will render worthy of itself and of your Holiness. I write to you, therefore, in order that liO feeling of uneasiness or unfounded apprehension may divert your Holiness from your first resolution. The Republic, the existence of which is already consecrated bj' the mature, persevering, and sovereign will of the * On Sunday, February 18, a collection was made in the vwiouB Romish chapels of London in behalf of Pins IX. .324 APOfAi.vpjir; sKKTrnKS. French nation, will see with pride your Holiness give to the world the spectacle of that exclusively religious consecration which your presence in the midst of it an- nounces. It will receive you with the dignity and religious respect Avhich becomes this great and generous nation. I have felt the necessity of giving your Holi- ness this assurance, and I heartily desire that your arrival may take place without much delay. '* It is with those sentiments, Very Holy Father, that I am your respectful Son, '^ General Cavaigxac." France is at its wits' end, and the politician, rather than the Papist, may be detec^"ed amid the verbose foilage of the eloquent epistle thus addressed to his Holiness. Another document, extremely significant, is an ad- dress of the French to the Pope, dated December 18th, 1848. A rich specimen it is of the intense superstition and bigotry which have survived the storms of succes- sive revolutions, and still animate multitudes of the peasantry in France. " Most Holy Father, '' The Catholic world has murmured with painful indignation on hearing of the attempt Mdiich Home has Avitnessed carried into effect against your Holiness. May the unanimity of public feeling bring some consolation to the heart of our beloved Father. '' Your Holiness, with that kindness which you draw from Divine sources, has heaped your benefits on Rome and Italy. You have consecrated the rights of the weak, recalled to their duties the strong. You have spoken to the nations ; and the nations, taking a holy enthusiasm from each of your words, transmitted them to each other as a force and as a light for marching more surely towards the future. *' The universe, moved by so high and tender a voice, learned once again the civilising virtue of that Chair of Rome, which substituted right for might, which created THE COXSUMPTION OF EABYLOX. 525 the Christian republic, snatched Europe from barbarism and the world from chaos. " The spiiitual sovereignty of souls, drawing from the sovereignty of the city, twice a queen, its independence, its serenity, its splendour, behold what it was that struck the soul, that was a light for all consciences ! The Su- preme Pontificate and the Sacred Principality formed at Pome a glorious and necessary imion ; for it is good that there was, in this world, a throne where the Prince was a father — a State, where men were less subjects than sons ! " This union, sealed by ages, frantic men have sworn to shatter. They have sworn to destroy that temporal sovereignty of the Papacy, which is the guarantee of the independence of Catholic consciences throughout the whole world. They have sworn it ; but theii* evil design will perish. " The true Romans, reanimated by their ancient love, will emerge from that torpor which freezes their courage ; they will return to you, to their father. Your enemies Avill fall under universal reprobation. " Most Holy Father, such is our hope ; but if it were not to be realised, your children of France would cry out to you : ' Come to us !' or rather, ' Behold us, ourselves, our arms, our goods, our lives. Speak, most Holy Father : we wait, prostrate in our grief, at the venerated feet of the visible Chief of the Church, Spouse of Christ/ " AYof as Catholics, are ready to follow you as Peter followed the Lord ; as Frenchmen, we desire to maintain the foundation of Pepin and Charlemagne. It is the French tradition ! The Papacy at Home is not only Itah', it is Christianity ! '' Meanwhile, with our brethren, with our pastors we implore of God, who touches the insensate and enlight- ens them, that Peme may return to herself, that she may restore you, most Holy Father, to her affection, as when she marched in vour train, ruling over the whole worid." Again, to show how public sentiment is revealed I 526 APOCALTPTIO SKETCHES. read from one of our morning papers : — " Pius IX. is virtually, if not formally, deposed ; the best official ser- vant lie has yet chosen, stabbe*^ on the threshold of liis own parliament ; his own palace windows riddled by the muskets of the citizens whom he had himself armed and accoutred. Count Mamiani, or, for aught we know, that excellent botanist the Prince de Canino, reigns in his stead .... Quitted Rome ! You might as well talk of a man's quitting his planet. The force of attraction which tics the disappointed politician to the surface of the terrestrial globe, is hardly stronger than that link which binds the Pope to the locality consecrated by immemorial tradition as the ecclesiastical centre of the habitable world. lYhat new resting place, which lies beyond the confines of St. Peter's patrimon}', will aftbrd a footing to tlie extruded Pontiif ? What modern Avignon opens her gates to the successor of Clement Y. ? Dublin, w^e know, has long put in her claim to the honour of such a visit. Marseilles offers a shelter ; so does Paris. But why not London ? ' London, the needy monarchs' general home ' — the common refuge for destitute poten- tates ?" And, lastly, I read an extract from a letter of the Archbishop of Paris, the recently appointed Arch- bishop, to his clergy. He says — ''Monsieur le Cure, our soul is plunged in grief. The Church suffers in its chief. The capital of the Christian world is a prey to faction. Blood has been shed at home, even in the palace of our well-beloved Pontiff, Pius IX. The Vicar of Christ has commenced his passion. He is drinkipg from tliat bitter cup of ingratitude, which he foretasted on that day when his magnanimous soul resolved to effect, b}- confidence and love, the redemption of his countr}'. Tlic lather of the liberty of Italy is, perhaps, at this moment no longer at liberty himself The events which liave ensanguined Rome, and clothed in mourning the Catholic world, are not yet fully known." ..." Let us liope, moreover, ttiat the Catholic nations will become aware of the danger wdth which they are threatened, an:l wliich, at tlm same time, threatens all the modern conquests of liberty and civilisation. Can France, above THE coxsu3Iptio:n of BABYLOX. '^27 all, suffer herself to be attacked in her belief, her tradi- tions, her highest interests. If Rome is the head, France is the heart and arm of Catholicism. Let lis all pray, M. le Cure ; the priests will, every day at mass, recite the prayer, ' Pro snmmo Pontifice.'' Call upon the faithful to join their prayers to yours. Let all men of holy minds unite with us in holy communion. At a future day, if circumstances require, we will ordain public prayers to be put up." I read these, then, as evidences from the channels of public o2)inion of what has taken place now — though I believe that there may yet be a temporary patching up -of this dislocated state of things, and that the Pope and Popeiy may yet make a last spasmodic effort to re- gain their lost supremacy, and make that last struggle which will begin Armageddon, and terminate the last sigh and sorrow of humanit3^ And all this is but a sample of the jadgments described in chap, xviii., where it is said of this very epoch, that, a great angel, armed "with power," came down from heaven, ''and the earth was lightened Y>dth his glory. In verse second we have the anticipatory cry, ''Bal)ylon is fallen and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wdne of the wrath of her fornication." Then, in verse fourth, we have the cry, which ought to be embodied at the present day in every minister's sermon, ''Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not her plagues." This is a warning addressed to God's people in it, just like the warning cry of the angel to Lot upon the eve of the destruction of Sodom, or like the voice that God sent to his own faithful children when the earth opened her mouth and swal- lowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram ; or as the warn- ing addressed to the Christians in Jerusalem, " Let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains." I believe that this cry is partly literal, but mainly spiritual. I believe that the recent shocks and vibrations of tlie great earthquake are partly fulfilling it. All English- 528 APOCALYPTIC SKETCnES. men, it is said, are escaping from Komo, from Paiis, and from the Papal nations of Europe, retnrning to their own land and their homes, as if Great Eritain were des- tined to be the pillar of the nations, the sheltering asylum in which refugees from the impending judg- ments npon Babylon shall find peace beneath the over- shadowing pinions of a pervading Christianity, and .a blessing in communion with our Christian churches. — But I believe it is mainly spiritual, and that the cry that should now Ijg addressed to every one is, " Come out of her;" have no sympathy with her at all; and if there be in any of the churches of this land any re- mains of old Babylon, now is the time to consume them. If there be any practical workings of the old leaven, now is the time to cast it out ; if there be any points of identity between existing churches, Protestant in name, and Protestant in the main, with the Roman Catholic communion, now is God's last Avarning to cast all out that is antichristian, to cleave to all that is evangelical, that, escaping the sins, we may escape the plagues of great Babylon. After this we read, as I explained to you in the course of my remarks in previous lectures, of a new state of things taking place. After stating, in the end of chap, xviii., that "in her Avas found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth," it is added, ''after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia" — the first Hebrew word that occurs after Armageddon, Avhieh has been inteipreted by the most competent divines to denote that about this time, and at the des- truction of Rome, God's ancient people Avere to come forth from their bondage, and recognise Jesus as the Messiah, and to join in the song of the Gentile Chiis- tians, " Salvation, and glorj', and honour, and power unto the Lord our God." Is it not right to repeat these things, Avhich awaken songs of joy in the skies ? Ought Ave to pass by, as uuAA'orthy of our notice, great trans- actions, about Avhich such songs arc raised in heaven? Then, immediately after the destruction of Babylon, THE CONSUJIPTION OF BAI3TL0X. 529 •we read, at chap. xix. verse 5, that a voice came out of the thi'one, saying, " Praise our God, all )-e his ser- vants, and ye that fear him, both small and great;" and at verse 7, ''Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him : for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white : for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints;" i.e. the righteousness of Christ himself, the bride being the component sjTnbol for the people of God. And thus then, after Rome shall have been utterly destroyed — partly, as I believe, by Providential judgments, and partly, as I showed, by the explosion of those fearful volcanic elements which pervade the whole of the Italian peninsula — after Pome shall have been utterly destroyed, and the voice shall have been heard pealing from the skies, and re-echoed from the earth, "Hallelujah! Salvation, and blessing, and glory, and honour unto the Lord our God," then Christ's bride will begin to appear ; the true Church, which has never yet been seen, will then be separated from the tares, and make itself manifest that it is God's people collected out of every communion under heaven, out of churches established and churches non-established — many col- lected out of Pome herself; in Pome, but not of Pome — all God's people, chosen in Christ before the founda- tion of the world, who have washed their robes and made them white in his blood, and shall assemble to- gether in a glorious white-robed and rejoicing band, and hail the advent of the Bridegroom, and so be for ever with the Lord. And now, my dear friends, let me say the call to you, each by himself,* is ''Come out of her." And what is the true way to come out of Pome? To rest upon Christ as your only sacrifice ; to look to his blood as your only expiation ; to glory in Christ crucified as all your salvation and all your desire. The only inch of ground on which the plagues shall not come, and from which eveiy judgment shall be repelled, is the Pock of Ages. Are you standing on it } A year of judgments SECOND SERIES. M M 530 APOCALYrilC SKETCHES. has closed ; a year, it may be, of more terrific ones is about to begin. Standing in the twilight of the even- ing of 1848, that is just about to blend with the twi- light of the morning of 1849, I ask you, at such a critical moment. Are you Protestants, not politically — Christians, not nominally, but living sons of the li\TLng God ? M}' dear friends, nothing but real, earnest, evan- gelical Christianity is consistency. All else is irrational. Act decidedly. If you do believe that this book is not God's book, and that this religion is a cunningly de- vised fable, manfully say so ; treat it as such — despise the Bible — resign your pew in the sanctuary — commit yourself to infidelity — manfully avow what you de- liberately and seriously hold. Be consistent. But if not — if you believe that this book is God's book — if you believe that the Lord of Glory is your only Saviour, then why hesitate ? Why not commit yourself to him ? Avhy not cleave to him r why not determine that at all hazards, and at all sacrifices, Christ shall be yours, and you will be Christ's ? Dear brethren, thus close 1848, and thus begin 1849; and -when the world's last year and life's last day shall come, — and one or the other wdll come right speedily, — you will begin in the new Jeinisalem a new year and a new song, where all things are made new, and the new year shall never have a close, and your new happiness shall never experience a suspension. LECTURE XXXV. THE MAHETAGE STIPPEE OF THE LA.MB. *' And after tliese things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying^ Alleluia^ Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God.y — Eev. xix. 1, I THixK I explained to you in a previous lecture, that the era contemplated in this chapter is that blessed eiTi when the tones of the Jew shall mingle with hymns of the Gentile, and both in the songs of the Gospel, the song of all who constitute one redeemed and manifested church. ^' Alleluia, blessing, and glory, and honour, and power, be unto the Lord our God." The era when this shall be realised is not yet come. We can only utter the notes that constitute that song faintly and feebly, in anticipation of that latter and more glorious epoch, when the voice shall be heard of a great mul- titude, '^ as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying. Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." But if we now belong to that band who are designated by the name of ''the wife of the Lamb," and who constitute together members of that holy and heavenly company whose corporate name is the Church — if we can now satisfy ourselves, on the clearest scriptural evidence, that our raiment is the line linen white and clean, which is the rigliteousness of Christ, — then the Lord God himself is our husband, the Almighty his name. If we now bear his name, and sympathise with his mind, and are clothed with his righteousness, and animated by his spirit, then wo nothing doubt that we, too, shall be seated at the mar- M M 2 532 APOCALTPTIC SKETCHES. riage supper of tlie Lamb, and shall be glad and rejoice; and shall hear it recorded of us, as it is now true of U3 if we are the people of God, " Blessed are they who are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." This sajTLug is the true and fiiithful saying of God. I believe, as 1 have told you before, that the event which is pre- dicted here draws rapidly near — is very near. It is the event which constitutes the hope of the church, the desire of saints, the burden of the cry of the travailing and groaning earth and a wasting universe. AYhat is now accepted by faith shall then be seen in fruit,— jwhat is now prophecy is on the -very eve of becoming per- formance,— what we now read in the Apocalypse as a prediction, we shall then enjoy at the marriage supper of the Lamb as a blessing that shall never cease to be. There is here described the time when this solemnity, which has been the subject of a thousand prophecies, — this festival, or marriage supper, such as that described inadequately in some of the parables on which I have lately addressed you, — this festival which crowns anxious days and terminates sorrowful ones, shall close all our trials, and be the true prelibation of yet greater and brighter joys ; fi'om which there is no proscription for any that will ; to which we are invited by a voice from heaven : ''The Spirit and the bride say, Come ; and let him that heareth, say. Come ; and whosoever will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely." AYlien this era, which is here the subject of prophecy, shall come, then Christ's mediatorial work shall cease. He too shall rejoice ; for, as our trials are terminated, his mediation for us shall be terminated also. He shall no more intercede for us that our faith fail not ; no more cr}^ in tones of eloquent remonstrance, " Spare it yet another year ;" no more stand between the living and the dead to arrest the plague, for there shall be no more death. '' It is finished " is now true of his atone- ment; ''It is finished" shall then be true of his inter- cession. The Lamb shall be then the enthroned Lamb ; the Man of Sorrows shall be merged, yet apparent, in the majesty of The Mighty (lod. This dispensation shall be THE ?ersecutcd, there Christ sympathises — all this is not tlie deserving of our merit, but the fruits of the " grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." If we take a reti'ospect of all recorded in the Apoca- lypse, we shall see that all has been of grace. \Vhat preserved the solitary Seer in his exile o-f Patmos ? what withdrew the mystic veil, and disclosed to him scenes unspeakable and full of glory ? Grace. "What saved and kept alive the Church of Christ during the sanguinary reign of a Kero — amid the hot and scorching persecution of a Domitian ? What made cr jrpts and catacombs more glorious than cathedrals, and martj-rdom more des-irablc than the laurel crown or the wreath of Ca3sar ? What made the people of God count it all joy when they suf- fered for that Saviour's sake? AYhat preserved that ehurch until it holds now the hopes of millennial glory ? It was "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." What broTight it to pass that when Constantino made the bishops kings, and the presbyters nobles, and the profes- sion of Christianity a passport to political office ; when the baptismal font came to be the most popular rallying point, and the religion of the fishermen of Galilee the religion of a miglity and a powerful empire ; and when doctrine began to be corrupt, and purity and piety con- tinued to decline, and faithfuhie&s had all but evaporated; coxcLUsiox. 563 what brought it to pass that the Church was uot utterly extinguished in the sunshine after she had survived the storm, and was preserved as a woman fleeing to the wilderness, to hide herself for a time, times, and half a time, till the corruption should be removed and the storm should cease, and she should again look forth '^ bright as the sun, and fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners ?" The answer is, It was " the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." What preserved that Church when the poisonous floods of Ai'ianism roared and rushed after her to destroy her, and when the dragon stood ready to devour the man child that she should bring forth? what spared the Church from his fury, preserved her in her purity, and prevented the gates of hell from prevailing against her ? '' The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." What was it when its terrible and mediaeval eclipse spread over Europe — when cathedrals were built by the spoils of widows, and finished amid the protesting cries of orphans — when the priests assumed tlie keys of the kingdom of heaven, and only opened its gates, or pretended to do so, to those who paid them most liberally — when the ISew Testament was a forbidden book — when the truths of the Gospel were unheard in pulpits raised to proclaim them? what was it that amid all this preserved the ^'Ztcx lucens in tenelris,^^ the beautiful motto of the AValdenses, ''the light shining in darkness," still burning amid the Cottian Alps, and in sequestered vales, amid desert and untrodden moors ? what kept those lights still twinkling, till they met and mingled and blazed in the splendour of the blessed Eeformation ? " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." What Avas it that raised up a Luther in Germany, a Knox in Scotland, and a Cranmer in England? It was "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." And what was it that, when the clnu'ches of the empii'e as established by law were dead, caused a W^esley to appear in England, an Erskine in Scotland, and innumerable others, who followed and rekindled the exthiguished lamps, and began, by the blessing of God, that second lieformatiou, the eltecls of which, A\ith those Oiyl APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. of the first, .shall not cease till they mingle with the glories of the millennial day ? AVhat was it in the last century — when Yoltaire, Marat, Hume, Gibbon, Paine, and all the other master infidel spirits of previous and succeeding years, seemed to have it all their own way, and anticipated the utter extinction of Christianity, — that interposed, and made the Baptist Missionary Societj^ the Church Missionary Society, the AYesleyan Mission- ary Society, the Tract Society, the Bible Society, all suddenly spring up, and, standing on their lofty heights, look down and laugh to scorn the efforts of infidelity and scepticism ? The answer is. It is " the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." What was it that preserved this land amid the shocks and convulsions of 1848 ? what has supported it in its sublime safety amid the rocking countries of the con- tinent of Europe ? what has made it feel peace when all around has been disturbed ? what has made it, like the harpers on the glassy sea, while all Europe echoed with thunders and cries and voices, give its praise and glory and thanksgiving to God and to the Lamb ? " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." Grace has been with the Church in the past ; grace is with her in the present ; grace has made her every sigh find an echo in glory, her every joy a reflection on the throne, her safety absorb the sympathies of heaven, and Christ still show how true is the promise that ho made in Palestine, ' ' The gates of hell shall not prevail against thee." I ask. Why has all this been ? It is no accession of happiness to God, it is no addition to the splendour of that glory that exceeds the sun at noon. The only answer is, His own free and sovereign grace. "He has not chosen us," in the lan- guage he addressed to Israel, "because we were the greatest or most excellent among all nations, but because tlie Lord loved us." Grace, then, is in all that Christ has done ; grace is in all that Christ has suffered ; grace is in all the blessings which we have reaped ; grace is in all that he has promised to do. It is of grace that he has said, " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee ;" it is of grace that lie has promised, " The gates of hell shall coxcLrsroy. 565 not prevail against lis;" it is of grace that he has said, that he will come again and receive us to himself — that where he is, there we may be also. But let me look at this grace as it shines in various particulars. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is exhibited in the pardon of sin : ' ' In whom we have re- demption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Why ? He adds, " According to the riches of his grace." And again says the Apostle: ''Justified freely by his grace." If I address a believer in this assembly, whose heart gives a responsive echo to that absolution which God alone can pronounce and make real, " Thy sins be forgiven thee" — if there be any one in this assembly wlio can say, " We are justified freely by his grace, and therefore we have peace with God" — need I ask thee, my brother, why it is so ? Thou didst not inherit it, thou hast done nothing that can purchase it ; the glad answer you will give in songs of gratitude and joy is : *'By grace I am justified, by grace I must be saved." Grace is also exhibited in our sanctification. Justifi- cation is an act of grace ; sanctification is a work of grace ; and this work is not a process that we can begin, or caiTy on, or that we can consummate ; but as it begins in grace, it is carried on by grace, and is consummated in glory. There is nothing we do, nothing we say, nothing we can promise, that can merit one blessing from God. From the least crumb that rests upon thy table, to the diadem of glory that shall be placed about thy brow — all is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then grace shines not only in justification and sancti- fication, but also in adoption. What are we, if Christians ? The sons of God. What a contrast to what we were by nature — the children of wrath ! What has made us so ? ]N'o authority of man's. The queen can make a noble- man : God alone can make a Christian. A nobleman is a mere adventitious and airy digrfity — a Christian is a real, an ever-rising, an eternal rank; and yet, strange as it is, I may address some in this assembly who would rather have some such title as our beloved monarch can bestow, than have that heart which the Lord of glory is 566 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. ready and willing to give. What a miscalculation if it be so ! AVhen we lie upon that bed, on which recently I hare seen not a few — that bed from which we take a calm retrospect of the past — prejudice, and passion, and anger, and ill-will, rolled awiiy for ever, and from which we take a solemn gaze into that terrible and untried futurity, about which none of us have thought as we ought — you can have now very little idea how truly worthless, at such an hour, and at such a re- trospect, and before such a prospect, crowns and coronets and wealth appear My dear friends, realise at times a death-bed, and am- bition will f»ld its wings, and the proud heart Avill lie low in the dust, and say : " 0 my Saviour, let thy grace make me but a child of God, and I care not how soon may perish all the pomp, the honours, the vanities, and the ambition of a world that passeth away." Yet, ''to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." Grace shows itself in our adoption; grace will show itself in assurance. Many Christians have spoken to me, and said, We grieve that we have not assurance ; we hope that we are Christians — we desire to be so — but we dare not say we are absolutelj^ certain that we shall be saved. God does not give assurance to every one ; perhaps it is in mercy that we have not assurance. Yet it is not because there is not enough in the Bible to lead us to realise and to enjoy assurance. But it is one thing to say, I know that I am saved by Christ — that is assurance; but it is just as sufficient a thing to say, I believe in Christ in order to be saved. Make sure of grasping the Saviour, and never trouble 5'oarself about assurance. Faith in Christ is the root ; assurance is the beautiful blossom. God maj' give you the root ; He may withhold the blossom. Assurance is a visible impress, stamped upon the soul of the believer, convincing him from God that he is a child of God. A wife, for instance, wears .upon her finger a ring as the outward symbol that she is married ; but if that ring were to drop from her finger and be lost, the marriage covenant would not therefore be dissolved. The ring is COXOLVSION-, 567 tlie more outward symbol that slic is married, it is not that which makes her so. Assurance is the outward, visible, audible symbol to the believer that he is a child of God ; but he does not cease to be a child of God because that outward sign or sjTnbol perishes. God binds him to himself by ties indissoluble as his attributes can make them ; and whether he give them the earnest and the foretaste of 't, or withhold it, let us be satisfied to cleave to Christ for salvation ; and if we put our trust in him, we shall never be put to confusion. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with us also in all our conflicts and trials. Our Lord has told us, " In this world ye shall have tribulation." Many persons fret and complain because they have not all the peace, and joy, and assurance, which they think they ought to have. Eut we must discriminate ; we are not to expect to have the peace and happiness of heaven below ; we are here as members of the church militant, not of the church triumphant. It is as unreasonable to expect the dispen- sation that now is, to be without conflict, as it would be to expect the dispensation that shall be, without rest. Conflict is the characteristic of the present ; rest, satis- faction, and repose are the blessed characteristics of the next. Grace does not make us cease to be soldiers ; but makes us, as soldiers, to be more than conquerors through Him that loved us. In this world we must have trials : thanks be to God that we have them! The family in this congregation that has the fewest trials, is the family that is most to be pitied, and that has the greatest reason to suspect its state in the sight of God. The law of this dispensation is, "Through much tribulation ye must enter into the kingdom of God." The prophecy of our blessed Lord is, *'In this world ye shall have tribula- tion ; but in the end ye shall have peace." I believe that if we had no trials, we should forget that there is a God ; we should cease to anticipate heaven ; we should fail to make preparation for it. God loosens the roots of a tree previous to its fall. God lops off the branches that exhaust its nutriment, that it may be stronger, healthier, and hotter. And it seems to me that those 5G8 APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. trials whieli ^ve feel most bittcrl}-, — when God takes away from us tlie relatives, the fathers, the mothers, tlie babes that we love — are but loosening those ties that knit us to the world that now is, and multiplying and strengthening those which draw us to the world that shall be. *'It is well," as the mother said when her babe was snatched from her bosom, *' It is well ! " There is a needs-be in it. Christ will n8t extract the thorn, but he will give us grace to bear it. He will not take us from the midst of«the furnace, but he will be with us when we are in it. He will not spare us the afflictions that we need, but he will strengthen us under the afflic- tions that he sends. AYe shall not have too few, or too light, or too short, as our carnal nature would demand ; we shall not have too great, or too many, or too long, as Satan would suggest. But we shall have what Infinite Wisdom has devised, and Infinite Love has tempered — just what we need, and are truly expedient for us. His grace shall be with us also, not only in our afflic- tions, but the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be with us, and has been wdth us, in aU our blessings and enjoyments. I solemnly believe there is more danger to us in our prosperity than in our trials. It needs more grace to hold a full cup steady than it ever does to drink a bitter one. It needs more grace to keep us in the sun- shine than ever it did to keep us in the storm. Without grace, our best blessings may be curses ; with grace, our greatest calamities shall be blessings. The grace of Christ has been with us, and -svill be with us, in all the ordinances of his appointment. Many of us drew near the table of the Lord this day. It was grace that instituted that communion on the eve en which its Author was betrayed. It was grace that has spared us through another year to commemorate his dying love ; it w^as grace that enabled us to surround that table, and solemnly to subscribe ourselves by his name ; and it was grace that has made that communion to be anything more than a form — to be to us a ch«jincl of virtue, a means of grace, a pledge of glory. And it is grace alone that will enable us, as becomes those who coxn.rsiox 569 hiiYo been the subjects of countless mercies and nn- bounded love, to shine as lights in the world, that men may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven. And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ has been with us, and will be with us, in all our duties. It is b}' grace that the heaviest cross becomes light, and the hardest yoke becomes easy ; and the man who feels that what he undergoes is the appointment of Him that died for him on the cross, will bear it with the giTatest patience and sub- mission. "1 can do all things," says the Apostle, "through Christ, who strengtheneth me." It is grace whereb}' we serve God acceptably ; and of his grace have we received all, and grace for grace. But the closing prayer of the Seer in this passage is not only that grace may be T^'ith us in all these various particulars — grace in the pardon of our sins — grace in our sanctification — grace in our adoption — grace in our assurance — grace in our conflicts — grace in our trials — grace in our blessings — grace in our ordinances — and grace in our duties ; but he prays that this grace " may be with us all.'' AYith ministers of the Gospel, for they specially need grace. The Apostle tells us that it was grave that he specially asked; for he says, ''the grace of God given unto me, that I should be a preacher of the Gospel." Again he says, " grace given unto me as a wise master builder;" and again, " Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Grace in a minister's heart Avill be the eloquence of his sermon, the influence of his life, and his most persuasive language. You must pray, not that your minister may have the greatest gifts which the natural man can have, but that he may have the greatest grace, which the Christian man alone has. If it needs grace to be ^\-ith our ministers, it needs grace to be with our people also. You need grace to hear, as well as does the minister to speak. It is prac- tically the feeling of multitudes, that they must look to 570 ArOCALYTTIC SKETCHES. the pulpit for gifts and graces and everything, and they must look to the pew for nothing at all. My dear friends, the reason "why there are so many dead pulpits, is just because there are so many dead pews. The reason why there is not so great power in the pulpit, is that there is not such fervent prayer in the pew. I believe that all the presentations and patrons, all the parish and popular elections, will never suj^jDly the place of fer- vent prayer in the closet, and persevering prayer in the pew. And if your souls do not grow in grace, blame indeed the minister, for he may deserve it, but blame not him only ; blame yourselves. In order to produce good fruit, it needs not only good seed sown and scat- tered, but it needs also a good soil in which to plant it. And if the soil be bad, or if Satan come and catch it away the moment it is sown, or if thorns and the cares of this world choke it, then, remember, you are not to blame the sower, who has sown good seed and has sown it carefully, but you are to blame yourselves. There is a great deal of Popery in us all. AYe look to our minister to pray for us, to preach for us, and, if he only could, to be responsible for us at the judgment-seat of God. jSTo man in the universe of God can be responsible for another. Not the greatest angel of those around the thi'one of Deity can denude me of my obligations, responsibilities, and duties. You and I must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, and amid that glory which shall make thoughts to be legible and character to be transparent, just as clearly and vividly as the printed book is legible and transparent now. And we must all stand at that judgment-seat, each feeling the intense and unutterable solitude of being alone. Dear brethren, try often to be alone; try to realise solitude except with God. Y^ou must die alone. Have you ever seen a death-bed ? Nothing can help it. The physicians retire, relatives hide their countenances and weep, and the man dies alone. Nobody can help him ; they must leave him when the soul is about to separate from the body and begin its long journey; every re- lative remains behind. \Ye must die alone ; we must COXCLUSTON. 571 stand at the judgment- seat alone ; we must be answer- able alone; and may God grant that we may now realise what it is to be alone with God as our Father, lest we be alone with him once for all as our Judge. Grace, then, we pray may not only be with all minis- ters, but with all the congregation. But more than this is in ^' Grace be with you all." Grace be with all true Christians, of every name, denomination, and class, I have learned what true Catholicity is since I began to study the Apocalypse. I have learned how poor and evanescent are all the distinctions of sect, how real and substantial is the grace of God, I have learned how unimportant it is before God to be Churchman or Dissenter, how unspeakably precious it is to be a Chris- tian. I have seen upon the stage of that mysterious drama, that all distinctions, except those of Christ and antichrist drop away : these alone appear upon the scene, and these alone are cast up before the great white throne. Grace, therefore, be with all the minis- ters of all the sections of the Christian Church. Grace be with tliose whom neither bishops nor presbyters can make, but only the Lord of Glory. Grace be with all those who arc called by the Holy Ghost, whether con- secrated by man or not. Grace be with all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth, whether they can pronounce our shibboleth or not. It is this grace being with them, not mechanical laws and rules and distinctions alone, shall bind them into brother- hood, and make them feel how lasting is the com- munion of saints, how transitory is the discipline and the distinction of sect. Grace be with them at all times. May it be with them in prosperity and in. ad- versity— when they are few and when they are many — when they are persecuted and when they are pros- pered— grace be with them. In all places — when, peasants are their auditory, and lowly rooms their cathedrals — grace be with them still. And then the Seer concludes this precious book with this word — '' Amen." A word it is short in utterance, sublime in signitication. Let me give you some spe- 0/2 ArofALYPxrc sketchi's, ciiuens of it. The word is applied to Christ in several passages in the Gospel of John; for instance, ''Verily, verily, I say unto J^ou : " literally, ''I, the Amen, the Amen, saj unto j'ou." I only wish our translators had kept the word wherever it occurs : they have kept it in the Apocalypse, but they ought to have also retained it in many other places. For instance, in 1 Sam. ii. 35 : " I will raise me up a fiuthful priest, and I will build him up a sure house:" literally, ''I will raise me up an Amen priest, and I will build him up an Amen house." Again, Isaiah xxxiii. 6: ''Bread shall be given him: his waters shall be sure," as it stands in our translation: but literally translated it is, "Bread shall be given him, and his shall be Amen waters." His shall be living water, that proceedeth from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Again, in Isaiah xxviii. 16: "I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious stone, a sure foundation : he that believcth shall not malce haste." In the original it is, "Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation stone he that says to it. Amen, shall not make haste." And in Genesis xv. 6 : "Abraham believed God ; and he counted it to him for righteous- ness:" literally, "Abraham said to God, Amen ; and God counted it to him for righteousness :" Amen thus connecting Christ and faith in Christ, as the sum and substance of Christianity. In concluding these lectures on the last two chapters of the Apocalypse, let me state, that if you cannot say Amen to aU my views of prophecy — if you cannot acquiesce in all my expositions of the past, or in all or any' of my auguries and anticipations of the future — if you cannot agree with me that the six fh^st seals refer to the Eoman empire — nor in my explanation of the sounding and application of the trumpets — if you can- not concur with me as to the scenes of the seven vials ; that the last has been poured into the air, that the lirst throbs of the last earthquake have begun, that voices and cries are sounding from the nations of the earth, that great Babylon is coming into remembrance before God, that the first scorching contents of that vial are coxclujsiox. 573 being poured u])oii its liead, the antichrist, Pius IX., the chief Pontiff, Avho is now a refugee under its in- fluence— if you do not believe with me that the next sound that shall reverberate from the skies and be re- echoed in glad songs from the earth will be, '' Behold, I come quickly" — if you cannot believe "s^dth me that in tlie course of a very few years '^ every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him" — ^if you cannot believe with me, what chronology has proved, that in the course of less than twenty years more the seventh millennium of the world begins, or the seventh thousand year, or that it is the rest that remains for the people of God — if you cannot say Amen to all these things, yet there are some things to which you can say. Amen. *'Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and made us kings and priests to God and our Father for ever, to Him be glory and honour for ever and ever:" to this you can say. Amen. " Salvation, and glory, and blessing, and thanksgiving, be unto our God, and to the Lamb for ever and ever; and they said, Amen." To these words also you can. say. Amen. "Worthy is the Lamb to receive power, and riches, and Avisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And they said. Amen." And many — I pray that many that hear, and more that shall read, may have grace to say Amen too. THE END. VIATCE A.Vi) CU., nUMtUH, CITV UOAD, LCVSOS* 3^E t- ; ' 1 m M m BS2825 .C971 v.2 Apocalyptic sketches ; or, Lectures on Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 00069 2261 i m hi la 4