worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they

are and were created.

THE single idea which we have given of this book is, that it containeth what its name declares, a revelation of Jesus Christ; whose person, and whose working, have since the days of his assumption been hidden within the veil of heaven; and because Christ's person and office are very large, and, as we may say, many-sided, this discovery or disclosure is made by successive efforts and acts of revelation, whereof the first, occupying the three preceding chapters, doth present in great fulness and distinctness, by Divine devices of wisdom, the aspect of Christ as our great High Priest, the only Head of the church, the true Shepherd of the sheep, the universal Bishop of all the churches of the Living God. That vision of the redeemed from the earth, of the whole church militant, is deservedly placed at the head of the whole book; both because the church is the beginning and the end of all revelation, but also because every thing which follows of good and ill to the earth, and the kingdoms thereof, hath its law and its measure from the condition and character of the church in that time and place where it falls out. And with all speed, therefore, because time presseth, and the combination against him strengtheneth apace, we do now proceed to open the second aspect of Christ's person and office, which extendeth over the four following chapters; and which, as in the former case, may be divided into two parts: First, the scene of glory represented in the fourth and fifth chapters; and Secondly, the act of power repre

sented in the sixth and seventh.

It is at the same time to be borne in mind, that the fourth and fifth chapters represent the scene of glory and power within the veil, out of which cometh not only the action of the seals contained in chapters vi. and vii., but likewise the whole prophetical action of the book; being, in truth, the introduction to all which follows. For example: in the action of trumpets we have (chap. xi. 16) an allusion to this heavenly scene; although that vision of trumpets hath an introduction and a scenery proper and peculiar to itself, which is the scenery of the

temple. In like manner, in the vision of the church and the apostasy or anti-church, we have continual reference to this same common prologue or preface to the whole Divine mystery (xiv. 3). And the vision of Babylon's overthrow (xix. 4) hath respect unto the same secret observers and actors within the veil of the heavens; and with respect to the last consummation of the church's glory, and the new earth, her redeemed inheritance, contained in the last three chapters, I hold it to be nothing else than the letting down of this heavenly scene unto the earth, and the constituting it thereon under the form of an earthly polity. So much the more necessary then, seeing the whole book is suspended from this vision of the heavenly throne, the elders, and the living creatures, is it that we go into it with a patient and pains-taking examination and this we will now do, if God permit.

First, as concerneth the scene: It is laid in heaven; whereas the act descendeth from heaven to earth. The moving powers within the veil, the secret and spiritual machinery whereby the visible acts, changes, and revolutions on the earth take place, are first delineated to us; just as in the former aspect, Christ the High Priest, and the seven stars the preaching overseers of the churches, and the seven candlesticks the churches, are first presented to us, before any communications of any kind take place between the invisible and the visible. But whereas in that vision of the Head of the church the place where he appeared, and the out-veil raiment in which he is arrrayed, and every thing else, did declare that vision to be wholly of the church terrestrial; this, upon the other hand, doth in all its circumstances, as we proceed to shew, declare itself to be of things celestial, as well as of things terrestrial. For after the former vision had been concluded, the seer beheld, and a door was opened in heaven; whereas, in the other case, the thing which he beheld was behind him where he stood, upon the earth (chap. i. 10). This opening of a door into heaven can mean nothing else than the purpose of God to reveal something concerning the invisible state. And seeing the title of the book, and its purport, is to reveal Jesus Christ, this door opened into the invisible must be, not to satisfy vague curiosity, nor yet merely to teach knowledge concerning invisible spirits, but to unfold the

glory of Christ, and the person of Christ, as the same is beheld and felt within the veil of the heavens. Yet forasmuch as we have seen that he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning of the creation of God, for whom and by whom are all things visible and invisible, we may expect that this door opened into heaven should manifest much of the mystery of the invisible world. And this I will say, that in these two chapters, though they be but as it were introductory to the act of seals in particular, and to the use of the book in general, is contained more insight into the invisible world than is to be found in all the rest of the Scriptures put together. Therefore let us, with the more diligence, peruse them carefully, that we may obtain correct information concerning that heaven, and those heavenly things, of which so much is vaguely spoken according to men's fancy, and so little understood according to the revealed mind of God.

When the seer beheld the door opened in heaven, he heard at the same time a voice, the first of many which afterwards proceeded from the same heavenly region. The voice was as of a trumpet speaking with him. Such also was the voice of the Son of Man, in the former vision,-a great voice as of a trumpet; upon which text, when discoursing, we shewed that the voice of Christ the Head, and the voice of the church the body, were continually set forth by the same similitudes because, though there be a head and a body in every person, of which both are necessary to the utterance of intelligent speech, yet is there but one voice between them. (See Lecture iii. pp. 198, 199.) The words which the voice spake were these : "Come hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter." The person here I take to be "the angel which shewed me these things (chap. xx. 8, and i. 1). He calls upon John to ascend up into heaven, which, by the power of the Spirit, he straightway doth; for so I understand the words of the next verse, "And straightway I was in the Spirit." (Lect. iii. pp. 197, 198.) I believe John was in his senses; his ear heard a true sound like a trumpet; his eye saw a door opened in heaven, in the blue vault over our heads, and, like Philip under the power of the Spirit, he was transported into the heavenly region and saw the things which he narrates.

When, I say, that John saw them and heard them with his senses, I do not mean to say that the things shewn to him are sensible things which exist in the invisible heavens, but that they are symbols presented to the sight which are capable of hitting the sense; symbols of things which, in themselves, are invisible, and incapable of hitting the sense. This is not difficult to understand; it is the case of every one who is present in the theatre. Conceive that some one gifted with the knowledge of futurity should be setting forth by a dramatic representation in the theatre, the condition in which Great Britain shall stand some few years after we have incorporated the Papacy into our constitution, with haply a papal king, a papal parliament, a papal church, and every thing papal predominant. Conceive a mimic throne, with mimic legates, cardinals, and others; a mimic parliament uttering speeches, a mimic people giving expression to their sentiments: conceive the whole body of future time to be depicted, as our great tragedian hath depicted the body of time past; and that I, or any one else beholding the same, should from the window, or any other part of the theatre, call to any passer by, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things to come,-this, to compare great things with small, would be exactly parallel with that which was spoken to John by the trumpet voice of the angel: for in both cases it is necessarily but a representation of future things; but in both cases, the representation is really made to the eye and ear of the beholder who is in his senses, and hath the representation submitted to his

senses.

From the expression "I will shew thee things which must be hereafter," or, as it is literally, I will shew thee what must be after these things, we gather, that the facts set out under this vision are subsequent to the facts set out under the former vision; that all in the former vision which cometh within the conditions of time, is anterior to all in this vision which comes within the same condition. Now, as we have seen, the only thing put forth under conditions of time are the ten days' persecution threatened unto the church of Smyrna, likewise the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, from which the church of Philadelphia was to be preserved. These, as we have shewn, give a limitation of time to the

matter-of-fact part of the former vision for as to the general truth concerning Christ and his church therein contained, it is spiritual and universal, and not under conditions of time; and as to the promises made to the churches by the Spirit, they have their accomplishment not until time is no more; that is, in the eternal age, which is about to be, at the coming of the Lord. Now these ten days of tribulation I refer to the ten persecutions of the Christian church (Lecture V. pp. 460-464), and the temptations which shall come upon all the world, the last and greatest of them all, which endured likewise ten prophetical days, which is the same as ten common years. If this interpretation be just, it gives to the former vision this specific object with respect to time-namely, to confirm, establish, and crown the church with victory, under the persecutions which God had appointed her, at the hands of Paganism; and surely to prepare the church for that fiery proof, was an object worthy the care of her great Bishop. To make her triumphant over Paganism was an act in the great purpose of God, of which much is made in the sequel of this book. To the faithfulness of the martyrs under those ten persecutions is "salvation and strength, and kingdom and power, brought unto our God, and unto his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God, day and night; and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives, unto the death: therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them" (chap. xii. 10-12). Most worthy therefore, whether as respecteth the mystery within the veil, or as respecteth the mercy and loving kindness to the church without the veil, was it that Christ should set apart a portion of this revelation to the object of confirming and strengthening his church against the ten-fold persecutions of Paganism. Now, then, if the former vision. of Christ refer to this as its temporary object, as I believe it doth, then must the temporary object of this vision be the things which immediately succeed; for it is expressly said to the seer, by the trumpet voice of the demonstrating angel, "Come up hither, and I will shew thee what must be after these things." If these things be the things which happened to the churches in their state of persecution under Paganism, as we have shewn good rea