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sway-you will point to Christianity filling the length and breadth of the earth-you will point to all enemies being gradually subdued under his feet, and heaven and earth re-echoing the triumphant song, "Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

Immediately, μeтà Taûтá, after the sealing of the 144,000 "of all the tribes of the children of Israel," defined chap. xiv. 3. as the "redeemed from the earth," Judæa, St. John beholds "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds, and people and tongues." This innumerable multitude is evidently contrasted with the specific number, the 144,000, as the gathered from "all nations and kindreds, and people and tongues;" i. e., from nations which were not Jews, are put in apposition to the "redeemed from the earth," Judæa. The Church at that time, it must be remembered, was composed of "devout men out of every nation under heaven.” No land so remote or barbarous but had some candidates for the "white robes," and the "palms" of victory. "Neither

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I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; . . . And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one."1 Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom (the Jews, compare Matt. xxi. 43.) shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 2 It will be noticed, that they who "shall come from the east and west to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God," (and surely this sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, cannot be referred to the gathering of the Gentiles into the Christian Church,) are said to do so at the time of the rejection of the "children of the kingdom." So St. Luke xiii. 23–25. 28-30. "Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, When once the master of the house is

and shall not be able.

1 John, xvii. 20-22.

2 Matt. viii. 11, 12.

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risen up, and hath shut to the door (evidently referring to his coming, Matt. xxv. 10.) . 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. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And behold there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last." It is, then, only in accordance with the analogy of Scripture, that at "his appearing and his kingdom" "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," should be gathered unto Him, as well as the elect jewels of his own Israel, should enter into his kingdom, and should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God.

One class of these risen and glorified saints attracts the peculiar notice of St. John: "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white1 robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are they which came out of great tribulation ;” ('Εκ τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης, out of the tribulation, the great one, the tribulation foretold by our Lord,—" 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,") "therefore are they before the throne of God." They are not removed to such an inconceivable distance from the glory of the Godhead, that through the infinity of space, that glory seems but like the glimmerings of some distant star, but before the throne of God," and serve Him day and night in his temple, and He that "sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them; they shall hunger no more, neither thirst 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."

1 "Tunc nuntius Domini coronas jussit adferri; allatæ sunt autem coronæ velut ex palmis factæ, et coronavit eos viros nuntius . . . dato eis sigillo ; nam vestem eandem habebant, id est, candidam sicut nivem." - Hermæ Pastor, Similitudo, 8.

Oh, what a glorious contrast to the symbols presented in the earlier part of this seal! From scenes of desolation and terror, shadowed forth by the sun black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon as blood, and the stars falling to the earth, from the confusion and dismay attending upon the dissolution of things human and divine-from vainly-uttered shrieks addressed to inanimate Nature to hide the enemies of God from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb-we are caught up to the throne of God, radiant with glory and strength, to the multitude which no man can number, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands—to the 144,000 with his Father's name in their foreheads, standing upon Mount Sion; we hear the echo of their chant of victory, as in strains of deeply flowing and majestic harmony it reverberates along the aisles of eternity-"Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."

Let us now take a brief review of this seal. Miraculous phenomena indicative of calamity and desolation are the harbingers of the wrath of the Lamb. The enemies of God hide themselves in terror and dismay. Destruction is about to overtake them. But there are servants of Christ in Judæa and in Jerusalem of whom the Lord said, "In your patience possess ye your souls; there shall not an hair of your head perish." These are exempted from the approaching slaughter. 144,000 are sealed in their foreheads. The angel ascending from the East commands the four angels whose province it is to hurt the earth, saying, "Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."

These sealed ones are not only saved from that desolation, but they are represented as glorified in heaven; God not only did not "appoint them to wrath," but to obtain salvation 1

1 Thess. v. 9. "to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." - That this salvation does not merely mean temporal deliverance from that wrath to which the Jewish nation were appointed, but also heavenly glory, is shown from the consideration, that they who wake, and they who sleep, are equally to be partakers of it. Compare 1 Thess. iv. 13-18. To this salvation our Lord alludes (Luke, xvii. 30—37.) "Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. ... in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women

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through their Lord Jesus Christ, who died for them, that whether they wake or sleep, (i. e., whether they should be "alive and remain unto his coming," or whether they should be the "dead in Christ") should live together with Him. Christ sends "his angels, and gathers his elect from the four winds." They are seen standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palms in their hands; they are described, chap. xiv., as "the redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and the Lamb."

For this deliverance, this "better resurrection," they pour forth the unceasing song of praise: "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever, Amen."

I submit this interpretation as more reasonable than that which, in accordance with a supposed system of chronology, which has no other foundation than the imagination of its advocates, refers the events of the Sixth Seal to the fourth century, which discovers, under symbols expressive of terror and despair, the triumph of Christianity over Paganism,— which gathers a Christian Church out of the twelve tribes, 300 years after the twelve tribes had been scattered to the winds,which locates these twelve tribes in the bosom of the Roman empire,—which discovers the Puseyism and Tractarianism of the fourth century in the circumstance of the servants of God being sealed in their foreheads, to say nothing of the monstrous leap of seventy years during which the real Church is being gathered out of the nominal Church. To me it is a marvel that such statements should be tolerated, and that such books should be so extensively circulated, and it confirms me in the supposition, that either very few ever think of the subject at all, or else follow blindly in the beaten track which others have laid down.

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shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body (the Jewish nation) is, thither will the (Roman) eagles be gathered together."

And before I close this Lecture, I desire to express my firm conviction that the Church has not acted well or wisely in practically excluding the Apocalypse from her services. It is by no means improbable that it is mainly owing to the want of enlightened critical study with regard to this book, added to the hesitation with which it has been received, that much of the folly of modern interpreters is to be traced. Now, if the Apocalypse is worthy to occupy a place in the Sacred Canon, it is worthy of being as frequently read as other parts of Holy Scripture; and if permitted to be read in our churches at all, it ought to be studied by those who minister about holy things. If it is not worthy of such a position, let it be excluded altogether from the rank of canonical books, but let not the Church be placed in the anomalous position of recognising a book as canonical, which she does not read, and of upholding the inspiration of an Apocalypse which she practically rejects.

Now, surely, it does not follow because much that has been said and done on this book is mere guesswork, much nega tively ridiculous, if not positively mischievous, much to the disgust of reason and common sense, and, not least of all, much in defiance of the legitimate rules of Scriptural interpretation, that no meaning is ever to be found, no clue ever to be discovered. If it was necessary for the Apocalypse to be written, we may suppose it was necessary for the Apocalypse to be read, and if a special blessing, nowhere else promised to readers of Scripture, was promised to the hearers and readers of the Apocalypse, we may suppose there was some urgent reason for their compliance with the terms of the blessing. My impression is, that the Apocalypse was perfectly intelligible to those to whom it was first addressed, that the symbols with which it abounds were of frequent use amongst the Christians of those days, that the definitions and explanations of these symbols which pervade the book, must have removed all doubts from the minds of those who heard and read them, and that its figures and tropes were not a whit more difficult of comprehension than the allegories of our Lord in the Gospels. If we have lost the key, just as we have lost the knowledge of some sciences with which antiquity was familiar, it is because we do not put ourselves in the situa

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