hour shall arrive, then, woe to the Preachers of the Gospel, if they have not taken up the warning of St. John, and sounded the trumpet of alarm in the ears of their hearers, Come out of her, my people, and be not partakers of her sins, lest ye receive also of her plagues'. Another caution is here given by St. John. Some may now be in danger of being deluded by the confident language and bearing of Rome. They may imagine that a cause pursued with such sanguine reliance must be good. But remember the parallel -Babylon. Its streets echoed with music; its halls resounded with mirth and revelry; the king's guards were intoxicated, at the gates of the city and at the very doors of the palace, and the vessels of God were on the tables at the royal banquet, when the fingers of a man's hand came forth from the wall,and Babylon fell! So Rome may be most infatuated, when most in peril. She may exult with joy, and be flushed with hope, and be elated with triumph, her Princes and her Prelates may vaunt her power, and make new aggressions, and display new corruptions, and be entranced in a dream of security, when her doom is nigh. And, as the great river, the river Euphrates, the glory and bulwark of Babylon, became a road for the conqueror of the city, so the swelling stream of Rome's temporal and spiritual supremacy, which has 1 Rev. xviii. 4. K k now flowed on so proudly for so many centuries, and has served for her aggrandizement, may be in God's hands the means and occasion of her destruction and final desolation. Two remarks, and we have done. The sins of Rome are to be avoided; but this is not all. Love of the truth is something more than hatred of error. We shall not be saved by the de struction of Rome. Here is another use of the Apocalypse. XI. It not only guards us against error, but it teaches us the truth. It exhorts us not to receive the mark of the Beast on our foreheads and on our hands'; and it also teaches us that we must profess the faith and do the work of the LAMB. We must wear the cross on our foreheads, and bear it on our shoulders. We must not worship the False Prophet, and we must obey the True. We must flee from Babylon, and dwell in Sion. We must avoid the Harlot, and belong to the Bride. We must imitate the purity of her attire, and her virgin modesty. We must not sully our Christian robe with sin; and when sullied, it must be washed with tears of repentance and in the Blood of Christ. We must walk in white 2. Otherwise, we have no part in the heavenly city— Blessed are they that do the commandments of Christ3. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; but There 1 Rev. xix. 20. xx. 4. 2 Rev. iii. 4. Rev. xxi. 7. shall not enter into the holy city any thing that defileth or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life'. The unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and all liars, these, says St. John, shall have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death. XII. Lastly, we have seen how signally those wonderful prophecies which concern one Church have been, in a great measure, already fulfilled; and from the divine character of the Apocalypse, and from the fulfilment of those prophecies, we are sure that the other awful predictions of the Book of Revelation which have not yet been fulfilled will, one day—we know not how soon-have their perfect accomplishment. Of that day and of that hour knoweth no man". It is, indeed, a solemn thought, that very little of the Apocalypse remains to be fulfilled, and that, therefore, the time to the end is probably very short, compared with that which has passed since St. John wrote. And in the time which remains, severe trials are foretold by him. The suns of mighty empires darkened; the stars of the world falling from heaven, like unripe figs from a tree tossed by the wind'; the Third and last WOE-the most dreadful Woe-still remains. The great Earthquake, such as never before Rev. xxi. 27. 2 Rev. xxi. 8. xxii. 15. was felt, still remains. Physical calamities still remain, and, what is more dreadful, the league of mighty powers conspiring against Christ. Therefore let us be prepared. Let no form of danger seem strange to us. Let no evils affright or confound us. Let us not be daunted by the vast array and by the proud exultation of irreligious forces; rather, let us recollect that these things are predicted by St. John; and let us see in them another proof of the truth of these prophecies, and, consequently, of the truth of Christianity. Let us remember that we are warned by the Apocalypse that men and nations will combine against Christ and His Church in the last age of the world, as they did on the eve of the crucifixion, and as the Kings of Canaan fought against the armies of God; that they will rise up against the Lord's Anointed for the last conflict of a fierce Armageddon, and that Christ will scatter them all, for He is KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS 2. He will vanquish the Powers of this World, which will flee from His face, and say to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb. He will take the Beast and the False Prophet, and will cast them into the bottomless pit1; and, finally, He will consign Satan for ever to the same prison; and He will reward His faithful soldiers with endless glory. 1 Rev. xvi. 8. 2 Rev. xix. 16. 3 Rev. vi. 16. + Rev. xix. 20. “ Harmony," § 48. Rev. xx. 10. Harmony,” § 52. In which camp will ye Whom will ye follow? In which serve? Under which banner will ye fight? Whom will ye obey? Christ, or Antichrist? Which will ye choose? Victory, or Shame? The crown of Angels, or the chains of fiends? Judgment, Heaven, Hell, and Eternity are foretold in the Apocalypse. The Apocalypse is from God. God is true. Therefore Judgment is certain, Hell is certain, Heaven is certain, Eternity is certain. Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him'. I saw a great White Throne, and Him that sat upon it; 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 they were judged every man according to their works. And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord: Even so saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours; and their works follow them. They shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more; and God shall wipe all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor pain3; they will be glad and rejoice; they shall be satisfied with living fountains of heavenly joys; and the glory of God shall lighten them, and they shall reign with Christ for ever |