tude. Anything strange on the face of those heavens has always a power to strike terror on human souls. Christ is represented as coming on the clouds. Daniel, in a vision, beheld him thus (Dan. vii. 13). Christ himself declared that thus he would come (Mark xxiv. 30; xxvi. 64). Angels have declared the S!tme (Acts i. 11). John beheld him on a "great white throne," so effulgent that the material universe melted away before it. How unlike the despised Galilrean I 3. His coming will be universally observed. "Every eye shall see him" (ver. 7). H is an event in which all are iuterested. Men in al.l ages and lands, from Atlam" to the last of woman born." Men of all social grades and mental types are all vitally concerned in this stupendous event. Hence all shall see him. (1) All shall see him immediately. Now we see him representatively by his words, ordinances, and ministers, But then we shall see him. (2) All shall see himfully. Not one shall have a partial view, a mere passing aspect, but a full, complete vision. His full Person will fall complete on every eye~ll. . (3) All shall see him impressively. The universe had never had such an impres~1ve _sight of him before, 4. His coming will be differently regarded,. (1) To so~e it will be a scene of poignant distress. "They also which pierced him: and all k111clrede [the tribes] of the earth shall wail bacause of him [mourn over him]" (ver. 7). What inexpressible and inconceivable anguish will the rejecters of Christ experience _then I (2) To others it will be welcomed with delight. "Even so, Amen." The good, mall ages, have said, "Come, Lord Jesus." To his true disciples it will be a period in which all difficulties will be explained, all imperfections removed, all evils ended for. el'~r. But it is not in an outward or objective sense that this appearance of Chnst 1.S to be ctt. t.1-20.] THE llVELATIO:N OF ST, JO~N THB lJIVIN:l!l. -i9 '
practically regarded.I It is a subjective appearance. The heayen ~ which he is to appear is the individual soul, and the "clouds of qea::ren,. are the clouds of thought and feeling thai roll within us.-D. T. · . Ver. 5.-The work of urorl:s. "Unto hlm that loved 11t1, and washed us from our lins in his own blood 1" W 1111hing in blood is an incongruity. The word translated. •washed" should be "looB81led," and the general idea uniloubtedly is, "Unto him that loosed ua from our sins by his own life (or, •by himself'] be glory.• The words refer to the work of works. L THIS 1B THE lf.OST IMPORTANT 011' ALL WOU:L Loosing a soul from sin. Sin is a chain of darkness, a chain that enslaves, not the mere body, but all the facul.ti~s· of the soul, and confines it in the cell of moral ignorance and oorruption. Fallen aD(Jels are represented as manacled in this chain of darknesa. What a chain is this! It 11 (1) heavy, (2) galling, (3) strong. and (4) becomes 11tronger with the coniQlission of evi7. T~s, THE :11os~r' IMPORTANT 01" ALL WORXS. I8 llll'll'EOTJ:D BY Cmns~, Aifu , ; HIM' ONLY. He is here represented ll8 doing it by his own "blood." Sometimes the work is ascribed to-" water," to the" Word:' to" truth," to " grace," and to the "Spirit." 'fhe word is here used as a symbol of bis self-sacrificing ministry. This is the work to which Christ gives his life. There is no other being in the universe that can break this chain sa,ve Christ. He came into the world to open the prison doors, and to ·set the captives free. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set yon free.•. · III. That for this, the.most important of all works,CHRIST RECEIVES TaB ~ O J ' ETBBNI'n:. · I' Unto him that loved us." True gratitude implies a belief in three t;bings; 1. A bel.ief in the value of tM smriu rendered. Where the service is trivial, and of no im:portance, gratitude will not be very stirring.or strong. 2. A bel,isf in thtJ kind- ness qf tM motit1e ·whM impwed the service, If a man renders us a service, and we feel that his motive .was sordid and selfish. we could Sll&rC8ly feel gratitude, however greatly he benefited. us. 3. A belief in Uie undeserved'neas of fhe Ml'llicf on our part. If we feel that the service rendered was merited by us, and that the author was bonnd iii. justice to render it, we could feel but little if any gratitude. Now, for these three reasons gratitude to Christ must rise to the highest poin~ greater service could not be render~; a kinder motive could not be imagined; a more undeserved benediction could no~ be conferred. "Unto him that loved us," etc. !-D. T. · ·