^ The Life and Letters of Frederic Shields, 309.
The Opening of the Books.
REV.-
Literature.
Alexander (W.), The Great Question, 95.
Booth (Mrs.), Popular Christianity, 144.
Brooks (P.), Twenty Sermons, 60.
Carroll (B. H.), Sermons, 396.
Fuller (T.), Selected Sermons, ii. 276.
Hatchings (W. H.), Sermon-Sketches, i. 31.
Hutton (J. A.), The Fear of Things^ 94.
Jerdan (C), Pastures of Tender Grass, 421.
Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year : Advent to Christmas Eve 99.
Lambert (J. C), Three Fishing Boats, 53.
Matheson (G.), Sidelights from Patmos, 236.
Mozley (J. B.), Sermons Parochial and Occasional, 337.
Muir (W.), " The Dead, Small and Great," at the Judgment, 1.
„ „ The Book we all Write, 1. Hunger (T. T.), The Freedom of Faith, 339. Norton (J. N.), Milk and Honey, 9. Pulsford (J.), Our Deathless Hope, 148.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vii. (1862), No. 391. Talmage (T. de W.), Fifty Sermons, 1. 388. Thorold (A. W.), The Gospel of Work, 159. Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), ii. (1862), No. 371. Christian World Pulpit, xii. 216 (H. T. Kobjohns) ; xxxvii. 278 (H. S. Lunn) ; xl. 299 (H. H. Snell) ; Iviii. 353 (C. Gore) ; Ixxvi. 68 (J. R. Walker). Church Pulpit Year Book, 1913, p. 243.
Churchman's Pulpit : General Advent Season, i. 252 (R. Vaughan). Contemporary Pulpit, 2nd Ser., i. 129 (G. Salmon). Inquirer, Sept. 10, 1910 (S. A. Brooke).
374
The Opening of the Books.
And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne ; and books were opened : and another book was opened, which is the book of life : and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.— Rev. xx. I2.
1. These words form a significant part of one of the most solemn passages in the Bible. It describes the final judgment, the great assize, in which men appear before God that they may be judged " according to their works." The throne before which they appear is described as the " great white throne " ; great, that is, in con- trast to the thrones which are mentioned in the earlier portions of the Book ; white as emblematic of the stainless purity of Him who sits upon it. The people who stand before the throne are from every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue. They are now assembled to receive the Judge's verdict on the lives which they have lived.
2. The imagery was evidently suggested by Daniel's vision of judgment (vii. 10) : " Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judge- ment was set, and the books were opened." The idea of a special book of life is to be found in the same prophet (xii. 1) : "At that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." But this figure can be traced much farther back. We remember the passionate intercession of Moses for his people (Exod. xxxii. 32) : " If thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." Ajid not to speak of some passages in the prophets, which speak of "those that are written among the living" (Is. iv. 3; Ezek. xiii. 9), one of the imprecations in the Sixty-ninth Psalm (v. 28) is, " Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous." These Old Testament passages illustrate the meaning of our Lord's promise (Rev. iii. 5) to him that ov«r-
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276 THE OPENING OF THE BOOKS
Cometh : " I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." St. John is not the only New Testament writer who has adopted this language. St. Luke (x. 20) records our Lord's words to the seventy disciples when they returned successful from their mission, " In this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." The Epistle to the Hebrews (xii. 23) speaks of " the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven " ; and in the Epistle to the Philippians (iv. 3) St. Paul has the very phrase, " Clement also, and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life."
The Subjects of the Judgment.
1. " I saw the dead," says the Seer, " the great and the small, standing before the throne." It is often said that this judgment is a judgment of the wicked only, and therefore only for condemna- tion. But the context suggests that the judgment is extended to all humanity ; and only in that sense can the wording of the passage itself be taken. The phrase " the great and the small," which is of frequent occurrence in the Apocalypse, is a synonym for all men (except where it is expressly limited, xi. 18). The dead, small and great, will stand before God ; all will stand, all the righteous, as well as all the wicked, from the Apostles down- wards. St. Paul is very emphatic upon the fact that he himself will be judged : " He that judge th me is the Lord." " Who will render to every man according to his deeds : to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life." " For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body" (2 Cor. v. 10). Again, Kom. xiv. 10, " We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." " The Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, at his appearing and his kingdom " (2 Tim. iv. 1).