new. dissipation, and he tells them that they shall find happiness in these things. His poor deluded victims listen to his voice, and find not until too late, "that they have a lie in their right hand," that they have all along been "labouring in the fire, and wearying themselves for very vanity." † This is nothing The devil was a liar from the beginning, and deceived our parents with the same cheating promise. Turn we, my Beloved, to something more stable, more enduring. "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof." All that our eyes look upon, and our hearts rejoice in, is destined to fade and vanish away. "The heavens are to pass away with a great noise," "the elements are to melt with fervent heat," "the earth also, and the works that are therein," are to be "burned up." "Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."§ Let us, then, look out of the world, and away from the world. Let us leave it as the patriarch of old left behind him the burning cities of the plain, and hasted to his little Zoar. Let us not linger for a moment in + Hab. ii. 13. *Is. xliv. 20. 1 John ii. 17. § 2 Pet. iii. 10, 13. Sodom, even now the cry of the destroying angel thrills upon the ear, "Escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." * Brethren, there are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." * Gen. xix. 17. SERMON VIII. THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. REV. vii. 13-17. "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; on them, nor any heat. in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." neither shall the sun light For the Lamb, which is THERE is perhaps no single book included in the roll of the Volume of Inspiration, which is so little read, or if read, is perused with so little of prayerful study, as the book of the In Revelation of St. John. Although it stands at the very close of the sacred canon, and on this account presents, as one would imagine, to the eye of the spiritual student features of more than ordinary interest, as being the last revelation vouchsafed by Christ to His Church upon earth, we yet find its pages to a very great extent passed over by the Christian Church. We are at no loss to account for this almost universal neglect. We feel, as we enter on the book of the Revelation, that we are entering upon new ground, ground almost untrodden by the foot of man. the Gospels and in the Epistles all is plain and open; there are, comparatively, few rough and stony places; few inaccessible heights, few deep, and difficult descents, and we tread the level and champaign country with a feeling of confidence, with a firm and secure footing— rendered firmer and more secure, as we see before us the foot-prints of many a traveller who has preceded us. But here we are introduced at once into a new region, a region which few have ventured to explore, and we wander on with uncertainty and trembling, our eyes blinded, and our souls bewildered by the awful and mysterious scenery that surrounds us. We would not lose this feeling of reserve which must be more or less realized by all who approach the study of the Apocalyptic vision. We look upon the book as a mysterious book, and we do not desire to strip it of its mystery. But notwithstanding its mysterious character, this, as every other Scripture, was written for our learning, and an especial blessing is annexed to the study of it. It is expressly stated, and we would have you mark the words, that "blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: "* and, apart from the blessing thus attached to the prayerful perusal of this book, the fact that it was given by Jesus as a parting legacy of love to His Church, and that it contains in its pages not only the prospective history of the Church for which He shed His blood, but some of the most precious and powerful exhibitions of the grace and glory of the Saviour to be found in the word of God, should invest it with a double interest in our eyes, and secure for it a double measure of our attention. We would not, then, Brethren, have you * Rev. i. 3. S |