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royal than the royalty of the earth is the spiritual dignity of a Christian minister, yea and of a Christian man; greater than all earthly potentates is the least member of the spiritual kingdom of Christ. And why? because the spiritual is above the earthly; and the church is the spiritual body of Christ, in whom, and through whom, he holdeth the dominion over both heavenly and earthly things. The New Jerusalem, which is the spiritual body of Christ, is the head of angels, and principalities, and powers; of all invisible creatures, as well as of all earthly and visible creatures. Wherefore the Jew, in becoming a Christian maketh as high a step in advance of dignity as doth the Gentile. The church of Christ is the highest estate of created being, whether invisible or visible-whether celestial or terrestrial. It is the body of the living God: it is God embodied; it is God enjoyed; it is God uttering himself forth in all his comprehensibility; it is God putting himself forth into action in all his manifested and manifestable power. The church is the mystery of a human will, its dignity above, and its power over all creation, made manifest. The church is the will, the heart, the mind, the hand, the word of God revealed, and for ever revealing itself. Whose head the eternal Son of God thinketh it no dishonour to be; whose spirit and life the eternal Spirit of the Godhead thinketh it no disparagement to be. Ah me! that it should now be a question in this very church, whether the church should have supernatural power or not, which is no other question than whether there is a church or no; for a church without supernatural gifts is a piece of nature, and not nature's redeemer, nature's governor, nature's continual sustainer in blessedness. Ah me! these disputers of this age need to be taught what the word church means; which word the Apostle Paul wrote all his Epistles to explain, and Jesus gave the Apocalypse to reveal its pre-eminent destiny and surpassing glory. There be many mysteries in heaven and on earth; but the greatest of them all is the church: and he who doth by his speech, or life, or reverential obedience, or patient suffering, or communion of saints, or supernatural power, set forth the least portion of this mystery is doing the highest destiny of a mortal creature upon this earth. I feel mine honour to be greater in having been called

upon of God to express in words, and somewhat also in deeds, the excellence of the church, than if I had been crowned in the capitol or hailed in the senate as the saviour of my country; and I feel assured, that I shall live to see the reward of my labours, in the regeneration and restoration of the church to something of her ancient fulness. This now is the reason why these Jews will come. bowing at the feet of the Christian minister, because they will recognise, that we are set for the testimony of the spiritual and glorified flesh, as they are for Christ's flesh crucified and lying in the grave: their sign is Jonas in the whale's belly, and their countersign is Christ in the heart of the earth: our sign is David and Solomon on the throne of Israel, and our countersign is the Son of Man ruling with the seven Spirits in the throne of God.

Now, because the Lord hath wakened again the music of David's lyre, and made the songs of Zion to be again full of spiritual melody; now that the mystery of Daniel's numbers hath been disclosed, and the vision of Habakkuk hath begun to speak; now that the clouded glories of Ezekiel, and his cherubim, and his temple are beginning to display themselves full in our view; now that the great chamberlain of David's house is bringing forth the treasures which have been therein hid for ages, and the mighty voice of knowledge, and of truth, which rendeth the cedars of Lebanon, is beginning to speak forth again from mortal men; behold, Ŏ ye despisers, and perish; behold, O ye believers, and give glory to God in the highest; behold, and God will give the sign, and the sign shall be that the force of truth will seal up the Gentiles in darkness, who have blinded their eyes that they might not see the glory of God,-while it strikes off the fetters of the Jew, and accomplisheth the thing which is written in these words: "Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee."

3. The third expression of love and favour which the Universal Bishop of the church bestows upon this his faithful vicegerent, is expressed in these words: "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon

all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth (ver. 10). Very beautiful, and very wise is the order of these successive benefits. First, a door opened to him for entering into the truth, and uttering it forth for the glory of God, and for the good of the church;-next, a gift of souls, in consequence of the new truth bearing abundant fruit in the hearts of men; and, lo! to mark of what kind the truth is, they are disbelieving Jews who are brought to humble themselves at his feet, and acknowledge that God had loved them. O what a reward, to deliver the seed of Abraham from blaspheming Abraham's seed, and David's people from blaspheming David's Lord. But this reward is not without its painful and patient labour, in which having travailed, like the primitive Apostles, and borne reproach like the Man of Sorrows, behold how the merciful High Priest, and the bountiful Rewarder of his saints, comes with help and deliverance in that fearful hour which is to try the whole world. The language in which this third benefit is expressed, is well worthy of our careful perusal, as casting a great light upon the time to which the Philadelphian church, with its great benefits, refer. There are three points to which it is necessary to direct our attention in order :- First, the

hour of temptation:" Secondly, the extent of the temptation," which shall come upon the whole world" (habitable): and, thirdly, The end of it," to try the inhabitants of the earth." With respect to the first point, it is to be observed, that there are in this vision divers expressions for time, such as times, months, days, and that before us, an hour, or the hour. Now, each of these hath its distinct significance, to be gathered from a patient study of this book itself. It is called the hour of that trial or temptation, which is as wide as the world. Now, at first sight, and beyond question, this has not yet come, there hath been no such universal visitation as yet, and then ariseth the inquiry, whether there be any mention in Scripture of such a universal visitation of God's judgment upon the earth and its inhabitants. The answer is, Every where in Scripture, from one end of it to the other, is this catastrophe of the earth and its inhabitants foretold; but especially in the xxiv th chapter of Isaiah, from which I have little doubt that the language of the text is taken.

My desire would be to transcribe the whole chapter, as the best commentary upon the expression in the text, and I earnestly request my reader to peruse it as a whole, if he would obtain adequate ideas upon the fearful doom which is yet to be executed upon the earth, not for its annihilation or perdition, but for its purgation and presentation in that holiness which is described in the three following chapters. The two following passages, however, I cannot refrain from transcribing. "The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left......Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage, and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall and not rise again (Isai. xxiv. 4-6, 17-20). And, at what time this judgment takes place, is manifest from the concluding verse: "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." It is the same time of the Lord's coming, to which we have so frequently had occasion to refer in these Lectures, as the time of great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, no nor ever shall be (Matt. xxiv. 22); the time when he shall come with clouds, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him: and there is no other universal tribulation to the earth, and its inhabitants, save this only.

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What further information is yielded in the Revelation

itself concerning this hour of tribulation, this day of darkness and gloom? It is twice mentioned in the xiv th chapter. First, of the angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell upon the earth. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters" (vers. 6, 7). And just after they had received this warning, and this preaching of the eternal good news, the Son of Man comes as a reaper, sitting on the cloud with the sickle in his hand, and is thus bespoken by a certain angel: "Thrust in thy sickle and reap, because the hour of the reaping is come to thee, because the harvest of the earth is ripe." Now, if this be compared with the xiiith of Matthew, it will be found that this harvest time, or end of the age, when the Son of Man comes to gather his own, is attended with direful effects to all the wicked without exception. "The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (vers. 41, 42) These two passages, being taken together, do yield this comfortable information, that immediately before the direful judgment of the quick, and of the world where they dwell, there shall be a great going forth of preaching over the wide world, to the special effect of declaring that the hour of the judgment is just at hand, and the eternal Gospel, the Gospel of the eternal age, about to be revealed. Now, I have a strong suspicion that this going forth is the same with the open door which he, who hath the key of David, giveth in the days of this Philadelphian church; to wit, prophetic insight into what is on the eve of coming to pass, and prophetic boldness to proclaim it in all lands for the deliverance of all who will believe, from the impending calamities: and to this compassing of the wide world with the note of coming judgment, many of the

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