come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk; and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with water, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim,' Joel iii. 18.-As this prophecy corresponds with the new Jerusalem state of the church, the same figures are introduced into the description in the close of the book. There we read of a pure river, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb; we read also of a tree of life in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded its fruit every month, chap. xxii. 1, 2. Only in the one description the church is represented under the emblem of a flock, and in the other under the emblem of a city; but both are provided with every thing that can minister to their protection, subsistence, and comfort.

It is added in the close of the description, And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. The same thing is promised, chap. xxi. 4, and in the very same words. Here it is necessarily supposed, that, even in this happy period of the church, she will have some occasions of sorrow. Her best state on earth is not her rest and inheritance. There is always something to remind her of this; and hence, even in the latter days, her cheek will be occasionally moistened with a tear. Indwelling sin will always remain to be an occasion of sorrow. Though the measure of their holiness will be great, it will not be perfect; they will feel a law in their members warring against the law of their mind.' And, indeed, the more holy a person becomes, he is always the more sensible of the prevalence of an opposite principle, and is the more deeply affected at the thought of a principle of iniquity subsisting within him.—But whatever be their occasions of sorrow, they will know that they have much cause of gladness. With the compassion peculiar to a father, God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. By his good hand upon them, they will be led to a daily improvement of the blood of Christ for cleansing; and as they will feel

its happy influence in promoting their sanctification, they will each day be comforted with the satisfying evidence that their salvation is nearer than when they at first believed.

6

How widely different this future condition of the church from her present attainments! Now the daughter of Zion is covered with a cloud; the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground; all that pass by clap their hands, they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?' But in the latter days there will not be those occasions of sorrow, nor will this taunting and reproachful language be used. Even the Heathen shall say, The Lord hath done great things for them; the sons also of them that afflicted her shall come bending unto her; and all they that despised her shall bow themselves down at the soles of her feet; and they shall call her The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel,' Is. lx. 14.

OBSERV. 1st, The weakest believer may sometimes be of essential advantage to the strongest. Here a private church member was much more fully instructed upon some points than John. While the latter could form no conceptions of this multitude, the former speaks like one who was at no loss to detail their whole history.

2d, A very copious measure of sound evangelical knowledge will be the attainment of all the members of the church in the latter days. Why is an elder, rather than one of the four living creatures, selected to be the instructor of the prophet, unless it be to intimate, that in the period to which the prophecy refers, the gifts and attainments of the lowest member of the church will be of the highest order? The ministry of that age will be less needed for instruction than for conducting the devotional exercises of the church. For then the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun as the light of seven days seven-fold.'

3d, The spirit of religious inquiry is followed with high gratifications. The questions of the elder were stated in order

to excite a spirit of this kind; which was no sooner done, than all necessary information was given: When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, the God of Jacob will hear them; he will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the vallies.'

4th, When religion prospers, particular attention is paid to the work of sanctification. Special notice is taken of the robes of this multitude having been washen, and made white in the blood of the Lamb. Religion prospers only as the work of sanctification advances; and the progress of this work will always be proportioned to the believing improvement of the blood of Christ as the only fountain of cleansing.

5th, The attainments of the church in the latter days will be very remarkable. remarkable. And as they are secured by exceeding great and precious promises, let us try to penetrate the gloom with which we are presently surrounded, and anticipate something of the joy of that happy period. The vision was given for the consolation of the prophet; and the history of it has been committed to writing for the comfort of the church in all succeeding ages, till the storms of the trumpets be blown over, the judgments of the vials be exhausted, and the Millennial glory shine forth.

256

LECTURE L.

SEVENTH SEAL.

REV. viii. 1-6. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.

And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden

censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar,

and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

And the seven angels, which had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound.

THIS chapter is introduced with a general notice respecting the seventh seal, and a deep silence in heaven at the time it was opened. When the preceding six were opened, the different rolls to which they were attached were presented in succession to the prophet. Accordingly, when the seventh and last seal was taken off, and the roll presented for his inspection, all the contents of the book with seven seals were disclosed. But, as the events of this seal are far more numerous, and run through a much more extended duration, than any or all of the foregoing, it was necessary, in order to his being able to form distinct and suitable conceptions of them, that they should be exhibited under a greater variety of emblems. The events of each of the former seals were presented in a single

group of figures; but here the period of the seal is divided into two great portions of time, in which the numerous and interesting events are symbolized by two different sets of figures, viz., Trumpets and Vials. Each of these is subdivided into seven lesser periods, which are described under as many different emblems. Hence, notwithstanding the multitude, the novelty, the variety, and singular character of the objects of this seal, John was able to form as clear and distinct conceptions of them as of those upon which his attention had been previously fixed. The detailed account of these mystical signs is given in the same order in which they were presented to his own mind; and we may now reap the same advantages from the inspired account of what the prophet saw, that could have been expected from the representations themselves. In some respects our advantages are superior to his. We do not run any risk of being overwhelmed either with the glory or terrific appearance of the symbols, because what we have detailed here is only a description, and not a re-exhibition, of the symbols. Here too, we have certain epochs where we may pause without losing the connexion of matter, and look back upon the ground over which we have travelled, to assist our recollections, or unbend the mind for the more vigorous prosecution of the remaining part of the journey.-The series of predictions is continued under the form of a history of the blowing of seven trumpets, and of the pouring out of seven vials.The verses proposed at this time for explanation are introductory to the account of the trumpets.

When the seventh seal was opened, or rather when the Lamb was in the act of opening this seal, John was struck with the profound silence which was observed among the inhabitants of heaven.-The allusion, it has generally been supposed, is to the stop or pause of the music in the temple, when the officiating minister was burning incense in the sanctuary. But, as this symbolical silence did not accompany, but preceded the burning of incense, afterwards mentioned, the allusion in the text must be borrowed from some other scene of

VOL. II.

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