"The higheet angel n&Ter 11&W" So much of G:>d before." ln creation there is 1ee11 the work of his hands. In. providential government, the 'wisdom th&t controls. In redemption, the grace that saves and the out-gushing fulness of a mighty heart that loves! ''That was not first which was spirituaJ, but that which was natural, and after that whlch was spiritual." The first creation vivified earth; the second vivified man. And •ot only so, but the song will be ever new. Its theme will never tire. Its strains will never weary the ear. · So long as saved men love to recall how much they owe unto their Lord, 80 long as they love to contrast what they receive with what they deserve, the song will be ever new to them. And ·u long as holy beings in all worlds delight to celebrate the noblest disclosures of the heart of God, 80 long will redemption's song be new to them aU I Note: We need not, we ought not to wait till we get to heaven ere we begi.D that song. Nay. we ·cannot. We cannot help singing it now. ' ·w E'er since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, :Redeeming love bas been my t.heme, Aud shall be till I die I''
HOMILms BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. · :Vers. 1..-.,l4.-17ie ad<)ra.tion oJ the .Lam1>. The thecphany of eh. iv. is continued in ~ We are permitted to see more of the high court of heaven, and. to witness the parpol!!l of its session,. the centre of its adoratiun,.and the transactions in wbjch it.a members share. We have surveyed the throne and him that sat thereon, the rainbow above the throne, the crystal sea, the burning torches, the el4ers and the cherubim, and their worship of Goo. But now the vision is enlarged, and we behold the seven- aes.led book, or scroll, held in the right hand of him that sat on the throne; then the eoming forth of a mighty, 1mgel, who challenges all in that august assembly, and all everywhere, be they who they may, to open the book. Then follows the hush of 'awful 11ilenoe, which is the only response the· angel's· challenge receives;. wherea\ ·St. John weeps much. Then is heard the voice of one of the elders, bidding him .c, Weep not," and at once the chief portion and purpose of the whole vision is di:sclosed~ ·St. John sees, fronting the throne and attended, as was he who sat thereon~ by the living ones and the elders, the "Lamb as it had been slain." Strange, incongruoUB, and almost inconceivable is that figure, with its seven horns and seven eye& Great painters, as Van Eyck, have tried to portray it, but they have rather lessened than 'enlarged our conceptions of the truths which the symbol as it stands here in this 'Yi,ion so vividly sets forth. Hore, as everywhere in this book, it ia the ideas, and not the forms which symbolize them, which are of consequence. And, then, the Lamb. is represented as coming and taking the book out of the hand of him that '•t upon the throne; whereupon the first adoration of the Lamb takes place. The ;a living ones" and the elders, each now seen ~th harp and censer of gold full of -Odours-they, togetlier, sing the "new song." And, lo, on the outskirts of this ·heavenly scene, gathering round and enclosing the whole, appear now myriada ·of angels, and they lift up their voices in like holy adoration· of the Lamb. And now a third burst of praise, and from a yet more varied and multitudinous choir, is heard by the enraptured seer. From the ,heavens above, from the earth beneath, and from ·the regions of the departed-from those whom the earth covered over in the quiet ·grave, and those whom the sea had swaHowed up,-there arose their anthem of praise ·to God and to the Lamb. And with the united "Amen" of the four living ones and ·the elders, as they prostrate themselves iD worship, this vision of the adoration of ·ihe Lamb ends. Observe Christ as- I. 'l'llE CENTBB OP ALL REVELATION. We behold him: 1. In hu premundane glory. ,We <l$nnot know, and yet less comprehend, much of this. Only that he came forth ·1rom God, was in the beginning with God; tha.t he dwelt in the bosom of the Fa.ther, in 6).011 whlcli he had with the Father ~fore the world was. But what words ~ouljl ea. v. 1-H.] 'l'im REVEL.ATION OF .ST• .JOHN THE DIVINB. 1'11