Ver. 1.-Man'a higher sphere qf "being: (1) HtNl'IUffllv aecun,?ile, "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter." Disrobe this chapter of its strange metaphorical costume, brush away all the symbols, and. there appears a·supermundane world, here called heaven-man's higher sphere of being; a world this, unseen by tru, outward eye, unheard by the outward ear, untouched by the tactile nerve, lying away altogether from our five senses. That such a world exists is, to say the least, highlj probable, if not morally certain. Universal re&Sdn conducts to the belief in, and the universal heart yearns for, such a scene. He who is so thoroughly acquainted. with the universe 88 to be incapable of a mistake, so inflexibly sincere as to be incapable of deoeptio;o. has said, "ID my Father's house are many. lll&DSioll8; if it were not ao. tia. IV. 1-11.] THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVtNE.. 15t·
I would have told you." I ma.y observe, in passing, that from the first verse of thil ehapter to the first verse of the eighth chapter inclusive forms an interesting paragraph of thought for suggestion. Now, this supermundane ,world, or man's higher sphere of being, we have here presented in two aspects-humanly accessible and spiritually entered. Each of these we shall employ as the germ of a separate homily. In th:e text it appears as hamanly accessible. Notice-- I. THERE u A Dooa TO ADHIT. "A door was opened in heaven." What is the "door" i' Christ says, •• I am the Door : by me if any man enter in, be shall be saved, and shall go ·in and out, and find pasture" (John x. 9). He shall enter into this~- mundane world with absolute safety and abundant provision. Be is "the Way." Chrillt's absolute moral excellence makee him the Door of admission to all that is pure, beautiful, and joyous in the universe. "Beholding u in a glass .the face of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to· glory," etc. Two things may be predicated about this door, 1. It w transparent. He who looks into Christ'■ character looks into heaven. In his spirit we aee the light that animates all heaven, and the principles that set all heaven to mUBic. He who knows Christ experimentally knows heaven, and no other. 2. It i8 ampk. Millions have. passed through it, and millions more will to the end of time ; thouaands are passing through it, and all the men of coming generations will find it wide enough. II. THERE 18 A VOICB TO -WELOOHB. "And the first voice which I heard wu as ii were of a trumpet talking [speakingJ with me; which said [one saying], Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be [come to pass] hereafter." Whither? Up the heights of the eupersensuoUB universe, lying even beyond the stars: Thither in imagination we may ascend. Who, indeed, in the stillness of the night, has noi heard as it w,ere a "trumpet" coming down into his soul from those bright orbs which in teeming legiom traverse the infinite fields above? "Whoever gazed upon their shining, Nor turned to earth without repiuing, Nor longed for wings to fly away, And meet with them eternal day?" "' Come up hither," they seem to say. Let not your minds be confined to your little, oloudy, stormy, perishing planet. Earth was only intended as the temporary home of your bodies, not the dwelling-place of your souls. The great universe is the domain of mind. We roll and shine in our mighty spheres around you to win you away to the serene, the height, and the boundless. "Coll!e up hither,,. immortal man, wing your flight from orb to orb, system to system; count our multitudes, mark our movements, gauge our dimension1,,, breathe in our brightneBS, rise beyond us, scale the wondrou, heavens still far away, revel in the Infinite, be lost in God. But the elevation to which we are called is not local, but moral. "Seek those things which are above." What are they? Truth, rectit\lde, holiness, fellowship with the Infinite. Herein ia true soul-elevation. To this the "trumpet" bids us. Hear this trumpet from the infinite silences around you, from departing saints above you, from the depths of conscience within you, "come up hither." · CONCLUSION. Are we morally ascending? Then we shall experience three things. 1. Increasing dominion over the world. 2. Constant growth in moral force. 8. Augmented interest in the spiritual domain.-D. T. Vera. 2-11.-Man'• hiflhe:r aphe:re of M'll{r: (2) Spiritually entered. "ADd imme-. diately I was in the Spirit: -and, behold, a throne waa set in heaven, and One sat on the throne," etc. We need not suppose that the supennundane world appeared to John's bodily eye in the forms in whioh it is here presented. It was a mental vilion and nothing more, and a 1Mntal visioa is often more real, more significant, more impressive,. than a material. Commentators of this book have treated th~se objects u tl.ose which were addressed to the senses of the apostle, and have thus turned it iDto a wilderness of confusion; and preachers have used it to excite the imagination, stir the sensibilities, and stimulate the wildest and idlest speculations concerning a man'•
as a symbolio puzzle, or even a metaphorical representation, but merely as an UM of two things. ill•,,.._ higher sphere of being. The whole is a mental vision. We shall take the vision not lflO THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. [ea IV. 1-ll,