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LECTURE XXXV.

THE MARRIAGE-SUPPER OF THE LAMB.

"And after these 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."-Revelation xix. 1.

I THINK I explained to you in a previous lecture, that the era contemplated in this chapter is that blessed era 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 realized 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 multitude, "as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, 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 fe linen white and clean, which is the righteousness of Christ,— then the Lord God himself is our husband, the Almighty his name. If we now bear his name, and sympathize with his mind, and are clothed with his righteousness, and animated by his spirit, then we nothing doubt that we, too, shall be seated at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and shall be glad and rejoice; and shall hear it recorded of us, as it is now true of us if we are the people of God, "Blessed are they who are called unto the marriage-supper of the Lamb.” This saying is the true and faithful saying

of God. I believe, as I have told you before, that the event which is predicted 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. What is now accepted by faith shall then be seen in fruit,—what is now prophecy is on the very eve of becoming performance, 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; from 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." When 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 cry 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 atonement; "It is finished" shall then be true of his intercession. The Lamb shall be then the enthroned Lamb; the Man of Sorrows shall be merged, yet apparent, in the majesty of The Mighty God. This dispensation shall be closed, all things shall be made new, and praise not prayer shall be the constant employment of saints. All his people then, when this era comes, shall be raised from the dead; they shall appear in their resurrection bodies, replete with all holiness, radiant with all beauty, meet homes for sanctified and redeemed spirits, capable of powers and of progress such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man. In other words, we shall then be presented to him as the apostle

tells us: "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it," (i.e. his bride,) "that he might purify and cleanse it with the washing of the word, to 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 before him."

Such, then, is the event here described as the marriage-supper of the Lamb. What news will this be to the universe! What a thrill of ecstasy will vibrate through all holy beings, when the trumpet shall sound, "Awake, ye dead," for the marriage-supper of the Lamb is come! I believe that, from the first patriarch to the last saint, all have anticipated this era; that through all the gloom and darkness of a thousand years-through the eclipse of Calvary and Gethsemane-the scattered rays from this glad and glorious festival shot backward, and lighted up the eye of Abraham; awoke the sleeping tones of David's lyre; cheered the saint in his suffering and the martyr in his agony, and made them rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer for the Lamb's sake. It is evident in this, that the church has cried continually, from the moment of Christ's ascent in a cloud to heaven, "Come, Lord Jesus." No sooner had he left this earth, than she cried and prayed for his return. This, it is true, is the dispensation of the Spirit; but take care lest, in your anxiety to glorify the Spirit, you dishonour the Son. The Spirit is not a substitute for Jesus. John, who lay nearest to his bosom, drank deepest of his affections, and enjoyed the extraordinary and ordinary gifts of the Spirit, was he that cried most eloquently and earnestly, “Come, Lord Jesus." The Spirit is a present substitute, but not a complete compensation for Christ. The Spirit supplies his place, if I might so speak, inadequately for a season; and the church, so far from being satisfied that the Spirit should dwell in her as if that were the ultimate thing, is taught by that very Spirit to break forth into more eloquent and earnest prayer, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." And when the marriage of the Lamb is come, then this church, which has prayed as a widow, shall be introduced as a bride, and so shall she be for ever with the Lord.

This day, which is here called the marriage-supper of the Lamb, will be, as the very phraseology indicates, a day for the manifestation of the greatest possible love. To love God is the

flower and fruitage of Christianity. To love God is the fulfilment of the law; the great end and the object of that love is to restore humanity to its first state. "Whom having not seen," says the apostle, "we love; in whom, though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." And when this marriage-supper of the Lamb is come, then that love which has smouldered in our bosoms here, shall break forth into a glorious flame, and blaze with a pure and permanent intensity, of which we have no adequate conception now. Every thing that damps it will be withdrawn; every thing that represses it shall be removed; every sight and scene that can stimulate it shall be presented to it; and we shall no more say, what we are constrained to say here

"Weak is the effort of my heart,

And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see thee as thou art,
I'll love thee as I ought."

Then we shall love him with our whole heart, and whole strength, and whole soul, for "the marriage-feast of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." Then also will be the manifestation of the greatest joy. Even in this dispensatian, Christians have felt joy in suffering, in sorrow, in sackcloth and ashes, in desertion; not from the absence of feeling, but when feeling was intensest, acutest, deepest. It is not true that Christians do not feel when they suffer: they feel more than others; but the joy that shines forth conceals the depth of the feeling that is within. But yet, all such joy as was felt by the early Christians in the spoiling of their goods-all such joy as we feel at the communion festival-all such joy as we may have felt when the Lord has passed by and manifested his glory to us-will be but the dawn in comparison of the noon-the dim shadow in contrast to the full light. Then our joy shall expand into the infinite, the eternal, the immense; and our joy, like our love, shall have fulness as its characteristic, and be without suspension, alloy, or end. When the marriage-feast of the Lamb is come, then there will be a scene of the greatest love, there will be a spectacle of the greatest joy. "I will come to you again," says the Lord, "and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you."

In this world, when a man tries to rejoice, he feels there is nothing in which he can root his heart, in order to let it bloom in joy. When you have put forth your affections upon some created thing, you find that created thing soon, fail to supply and satisfy them. It is not possible for any thing below to satisfy the wants or create and sustain the joy of an immortal spirit. But when you come to that blessed festival-when you are introduced into the presence of the Lord himself—when you shall gaze upon that countenance that was "more marred than any man's," and hear the beating of that heart which loved you with an everlasting love-then you shall find an object on which your affections can repose, you shall be introduced to a fountain of joy that shall ever overflow; then, indeed, your joy shall be full, and that joy no man taketh from you. "Let us be glad and rejoice," will be the invitation then, "for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and the bride hath made herself ready." But not only will God's people rejoice, but the Saviour himself will rejoice. Our Saviour is capable of human feelings, of human sympathy, and of human joy. In heaven he continues the God, but he does not cease to be the man. And we read in the New Testament, that "for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame." And the prophet tells us, that "as a bridegroom rejoiceth over his bride, so the Lord will rejoice over thee;" and another prophet tells us, "He will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." And what will be the element of that joy? He shall see his own, gathered from innumerable lands, and from the eddies and the currents of six thousand years, introduced into his presence; not one that was given him lost; not one saint wanting; but all his family surrounding that blessed board on which is celebrated the marriagesupper of the Lamb. Angels, too, shall sympathize with that joy; for if "the angels rejoice over one sinner that repents" now, how intense shall be their joy when a reconciled universe shall surround a rejoicing Lord, and "there shall be one Lord, and his name one!"

But without giving vague and general characteristics of the scene, let us notice some of the special features of it. We here read of her in whom we are most deeply interested—the bride.