·eodte and we undefiled, therefore, are those -t. · God's pl'8110noe .1UDong them. 111>- :who llaTe washed themselves in the blood dwelling with them, is the happineaa o( his .of fll& Lamb, ihtough which ;only their people (of. ,John xvii,, 24, "FMher, I wi,11 ·'rict0JI 'ill .posai.ble or effective. Arethas, that they also be wUh me," etc.; l John.iii. 8 ~ De Lfl'l!o, consider that the robes are 2, "We shall be like.him; for we abaJl- ~bed <4 thOll8 who ha.ve endnred martyr- him aa he is"). . . . .. dom, and·that they are.washed in the blood Ver. 16,-,-The,: shall hwiglr 11.Q more. of the Lamb, becallBI! it :is the blood of hia neither tilint an,: more; no,ither ~ Ula members, 8UJ1 light GD. them, nor any hea,t; Mall the . Ver.·15.-Therefore are Oley before the nn strmB upon tMm (Revised. VeJ11ion). .tJuone 'of God. That is; because they have The paasage is evidently foundl\d upon,~ lbeen 'washed. and · have their robes made xlix. 10.(cf. the. punishment. qf Uie fowth white, they are before the. throne (of. vial, oh. xvi. 8). . . . .. 'Eph. v. 25-27, "Christ loved the Church, Ver.17.-l'or the Lamb whioh ie bi. the and• gave himself for it; that he might midst of the thrOJ10 Bhall,feed them; ,kall llBnotify and cleanse it, . . • that he might blJ t.hsi,- Shepherd. Compare thedesoription present it t.o himself a glorious Chnrch, not of the position .of tho Lamb given. in eh. having spot, or wrinkle," etc;). And serve v. 6. The position here indicated is the film day and night in his· temple. Ae de- same as that. there desoribed, '.l'he Lamb lioribed ill' cw. iv. 8, 11; · v. 8'-14; vii, 12; ,is between Uie throne and those surround!ng ~i:·u►,,eto; ;Tiimpk•(n&,) is here. as in oh. it, towards the middle of the throne. Cli:rist ~ii.12, 'the··" dwelling-place," the shrine,•of is liet forth in the oharaoter of,Shepherd~as God, i.& heaven. Thus are the redeemed in John x. 11 and xxi. 16, . And .iia11 1-d made "pillars" in his temple (eh. iii. 1.2), them unto living fountains of waten.; a;fld 'Ami ·he tllat llitteth on the throne ahaJ.l ,hall guidtt them unto j0t1,nlaim of 11'~ of dwell among them; ahaUBpreati hi& tabemack life {Revised Venlion),; "Of life!'. u an 'Oller them (Revised Version). The same ;addition to .the pas!lagll BB found in Isaiah verb that ooours in John .i. H:; eh. xii. 12; (of. John vii. S7--.1l9, wh1Jre.the expression xiii. 6;· xxi. S. The allusion (not an un- . ie nsed of the,Holy Spirit). ·And God llilall oomtµ~ one wi~ St. John) is to the wipe a.way all t,ian from 'tll~ eJOL A Sheohinah which overshadowed the me:rcy- reference to the wi~_ of ver. 1¼. ~< , • , -.
HOMILETICS. "'Vets. 1._cJ.~The (Jhu;rr;h on earlh, se,aled in the greal trib1'latum. The visiou of tlus (lhapter a.re set between the. sixth and seventh seals. The areat tribulation, to .1'hich:tb:e opening of the sixth Bilal is the prelude, is not that cfthe final day of wrath, fqr we l!,re but at the sixth seal, and not the seveQth. Nor can this great. tribulation be any mer11ly local ·calamity, for according to vers. 9-14 those coming OU& of it are ,of all na~ionsj.and kindreds, .and people, andtongues. - It is so widespread and.terrible aa almost to foi:ce upon us the question, "Who shail ·liva when God doetb this? . What will become of the Church?" To such an inquiry this chapter is our ans war, It 'shows U1 ·the Church in two divisions. The first division is on 1'8rth, sealed in the grea~ tribu- 'lation; •the seeond division is in heaven, caught up out oi the great tribulation•. In this 11:omily we deal with the first division. By the first three verses of the chapter. we are ·clearly taught that the work of destructive convulsion is held in SU8pense, until the work ;or ~e sealing is done. Four angels are "holding the four winds of the earth ;. 11 another, . coming from the sunrising, has the seal of the living God. Until every one of the servants of God are marked off from the rest, no jndgment is to fall. This sealing is iuipr8/!Sed on the hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children oflsrael. Here we have tbe figures of the old. covenant brought forward to illustrate the blessed- n8Slt of those under the new, yet surely the restrictions of the old covenant are not to •be retained. These sealed servants of God~ not the natural, but the spiritual Israel. even "the Israel of God!) Hence our theme is-Th, lllf'tKJntl of God, pt'eurved la >great mbulation; or, good me,a. kept in bad ttmU.1 . . '.!· J. THEBB A11B, IN THE WoBD OF GoD, INTlllATIOlfS OJ!' »ABK·All'D sun 8'1'0BJD :'im~B'l'ING OVEB THE EAR'l"H. The tribulation, during which .these sealed OD88 are . w1ai:ded,is plainly the one referred to immediately befort1,.indieated also in v~r.14: ofthis £hp..pter, as "the tribulation, the great one." , That we mll!t ,regard this as indicir.tive of _1 Dr. Boyd Carpenter's remarks.on ilia' passage are admirablt!- . . CB, vi,. 1-17.] THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. Ill