great fear fell upon them which saw them, and they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither, and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them."

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Everywhere in this wonderful book the same scene is sented. "And I looked, and behold a Lamb stood on Mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads;" they are said to be the "redeemed from the earth," "the redeemed from among men,' "the first fruits unto God and the Lamb." "Who are those," asks St. John, "which are arrayed in white robes, and whence come they?" and the answer is given, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and they have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, therefore are they before the throne of God." "I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, aud judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or upon their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."1

Such are the arguments on which we build the doctrine. of a resurrection at that time. It would seem to be no valid argument against a spiritual mystery that the gathering of

ance until the redemption of the purchased possession" (Ephes. i. 13.). We "which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body (Rom. viii. 23.). "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom. viii. 16.). Is this any evidence to show that they who were partakers of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit shared in the first resurrection? "Accipiet enim mercedem omne corpus purum ac sine maculâ repertum, in quo habitandi gratiâ constitutus fuerit Spiritus Sanctus." Hermæ Pastor, Similitudo 5.

immortal souls into the presence of the God of the spirits of all flesh should be a fact which need not have been visibly manifest to flesh and blood; neither does it appear necessary for us to be able to define, with minute exactness, the nature of those new and glorious bodies which are suited to their high and heavenly condition. As they cannot be flesh and blood-for corruption cannot inherit incorruption-so we may safely and scripturally believe, that the ever changing matter of our present material bodies is not the stuff which forms the imperishable abode of life and immortality. It would seem to be proved that such of the ancient fathers who lived before the coming of Christ expected an immediate resurrection; and that such as succeeded to those times spoke of the blest as already gone to the place due to them from the Lord. It would seem also to be made out, with tolerable distinctness, that the prophets who spake of Israel's hope associated the doctrine of a resurrection with the close of the Jewish dispensation, and that our Lord unequivocally, and with the greatest minuteness of time and place, said there should be at that period a gathering of his elect from the four winds. This is further confirmed by the writings of the Apostles, and reduced to certainty by the confirmation of the Apocalypse.

It remains with those who are desirous of doing so to disprove these assertions, to show they are erroneous, and not in strict accordance with the tenor of God's holy word. They are not adopted hastily or lightly; they do not stand on isolated and solitary texts, neither do they do violence to any essential truth. If they present new and hitherto-unheard-of interpretations of Holy Scripture, their mere novelty entitles them to some consideration. They are based upon the foundation that our Lord came, as he said, to close the Jewish dispensation; and if he did so come (which I have never yet heard refuted, and which I confidently assert cannot be refuted), then he also gathered his elect at the same time.

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May they establish us more and more in the faith of the Son of God! May the consideration of his Almighty power in quickening whom he will," teach us to honour the Son, even as we honour the Father! May his gathering of his own into his barns of joy and peace induce us to strive and pray that we too may enter into the joy of our Lord! May the assurance of

their present exalted condition affect us more deeply than the expectation of their future felicity! May the actual glory shared by the saints now stimulate us more powerfully than the prospect of a glory yet to be revealed! May we lift up the eye of faith with the martyr of old, till we see Jesus, not standing alone at the right hand of God, but the "Lamb standing on Mount Sion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand;" and then may we go on from faith to deeds of mercy, holiness, and charity, and so "follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of his heavenly kingdom!"

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LECTURE XII.

THE SEVENTH TRUMPET AND THE SEVENTH VIAL.

The preceding lectures on the subject of the Open Book and the resurrection of the Two Witnesses, seem to be a departure from that synthetical principle upon which we have hitherto conducted the exposition of the trumpets and vials; and yet, as is common under this duplicate form of symbol, the idea presented in the one is only carried out under a greater variety of costume in the other. Thus, under the trumpet, the prominent notion put forth in the figure of the Open Book and the Two Witnesses is that of a resurrection in the midst of those troublous times. The echo, under the vial, answers, "Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame." And that this metaphor is descriptive of the resurrection is evident, not only from the corresponding charge to the Church of Sardis, where it is associated with the promise of being "written in the Book of Life," but from the earnest desire expressed by St. Paul to partake of this resurrection, and to be clothed with the house which is from heaven, "if so be that being clothed, he should not be found naked." It will be seen that the same idea is exhibited under the trumpet and vial; the only difference being that the picture faintly sketched in the one is expanded into full and finished proportions in the other.

And here I pause to dwell for a moment on the amalgamation of mercy and judgment, mixed up as it were in strange and unearthly confusion, under the trumpet and vial, which we have last considered. Amidst the mourning of that terrific Armageddon there is an "Open Book" of deliverance. Open Book" of deliverance. Amidst "the confused noise and the garments rolled in blood," of the "battle of that great day of God Almighty," there is a resurrection blessing to those that "watch and keep their garments.

"Even thus shall it be, (said our Lord,) IN THE DAY WHEN THE SON OF MAN IS REVEALED. "I tell you in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken and the other shall be left. Two women 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 is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." 2