that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?" -of Jesus saying to Martha, "Thy brother shall rise again' -of Martha saying, "I know that he shall rise again at the last day"—of Jesus replying, "I am the resurrection, and the life he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"-of Martha saying, "Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, that should come into the world" of Jesus saying, "The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name" of "the announcement from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again"—of the people who stood by, and heard it, saying "that it thundered, others, that an angel spake to him "of Jesus saying "This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." "He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting; whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father;" "In my Father's house are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you." "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from

me.

hence." "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be ?"-of Pilate saying "Art thou a king then," of Jesus answering, "Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice"-of Jesus, "having lifted up his eyes to heaven, saying, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life, to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do"-and lastly, omitting the many other illustrative voices which present themselves for mention, of the great voice of Jesus, uttered on the cross, "IT IS FINISHED"

thus proclaiming to the world, as he had previously announced to his Father, that the purpose of his coming was accomplished, that the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of grace and truth, was introduced; that "mercy and truth had met together, and righteousness and peace had kissed each other;" and that the Apocalyptic voices, saying, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever," had received their illustration on the earth.

With the "great voices," of the King from heaven, of the heavenly and earthly heralds, of the first citizens, and even of the enemies of the new kingdom, still echoing in our ears, we cannot fail also to recognise the prophetic spirit of “the four and twenty elders," who, on hearing the proclamation of "the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ," immediately break forth, before the throne of God, into the triumphant exultations which, as we have seen, form the theme of the next Apocalyptic record, and the identity of which, with the exultations uttered on earth, will presently be more fully considered.

So plainly have we already heard the majestic utterances

by "the four and twenty elders" triumphantly sounded upon the earth, that we might be almost justified in considering, without further notification, that the veil had been withdrawn from the Holy of Holies, and that the heralds of the kingdom had been permitted to catch, and inspired to reecho on the earth, the sounds of praise and glory, dominion and power uttered before the throne of God in heaven.

It will be therefore seen how interestingly we are led to, and prepared for, the next Apocalyptic announcement "And the temple of God was opened in heaven," and to see its perfect illustration in the gospel testimony of Matthew, who writes:"Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice ["It is finished"] yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto many." And if any one should fail to see in the crucified and risen Jesus, an equally perfect illustration of the next terms, " And there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament," Paul's confirmatory testimony in his epistle to the Hebrews (too copious to be quoted), together with the corroboration which will be presently before us, may be referred to as calculated to remove all difficulty.

Still lingering over the glad tidings of the kingdom-in addition to the voices already heard in illustration of "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ," and which have led us in so interesting a manner not only to anticipate the announcements "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament," but also prepared us to apply at once their illustrations-we hear other familiar voices adding their chorus of praise, and resounding on the earth the exultations of "the four and twenty elders which sat before the throne of God."

In the now opened temple we hear the elders saying, "We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy

great power, and hast reigned. 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; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth;" and on the earth we hear the disciples of Jesus, "lifting up their voice with one accord, saying, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all." We hear Paul also, after rebuking the Athenians for their superstitions, saying, "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." We hear Paul and Barnabas, when the priest of Jupiter brought oxen and garlands and would have done sacrifice with the people, "crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of 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 who in times passed suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.” We hear Peter, saying "For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquettings, and abominable idolatries: wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. .... For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God ?" We hear Peter saying "And he [Jesus] commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." We hear, too, the evangelists, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, freely bestowing rewards and honours on the prophets by proclaiming the fulfilment of the things which they had of old declared should come to pass. Matthew writes, "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us -"For thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda, for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel ""Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not "-" For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight "—"That it might be