ea.nnot apealt to otbere of the virtues of heavenly food when we have not fed 'OD it ·oul'IBlvea. Nor can we tell to others the soul-thriving power it conveys when. we ourselves are spiritually starving. The assimilation by reading, thinking, faith, and prayer ·le nece883ry if God's Word is to be the support of our souls. 1 None should aim at this more earueatly than those who have a Divine impulse to tea.eh and preach Jesus Christ. IV. THE LITTLE BOOK, WHEN EATEN, PRESENTED A STRANGE MIXTUIIB OJ' 8WEBT- RIJ8 .um lll'M'ERNEBS. The words of the Bible, says a late eminent divine,1 "nourish him by their bitter qualities as much as by their pleasant; he needs both and accepts both." "There must be a sweetness unspeakable in the actual living taste of a Divine communication; in the assurance ••• that the love which lies beneath all law ••• .is Bhowing.itself forth in our very selves ••• But then the sense of this law defied in .,the world, defied in ourselves? ••• Is there no revulsion in that? Does not the book become the bitterer afterwards, in proportion as it was delicious at first?" Even ao. Tonica are. often bitter. The working out of God's grace in the salvation of those that believe are sweet enough. Bnt the woes which must follow the rejection of grace are bitter indeed, and yet the prophet must be prepared to accept both, to feed on both, and to speak forth both • . V. WHEN THE BOOK IS EATEN, THE W8RK OP PROPHESYlNO 18 TO troLLOW. "Thou I11Q$ prophesy again over many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings" 8 (ver. 11). 1. Tlie:work of God under the ,New 'l'estament is to be carried forward by the prophet, not by the priest. There are no official priest!! now. Those who call themselve!il such are shams, All belierers, indeed, as such, are priests unto God; but there is n9 .order of a priesthood under the Christian dispensation. Even under the old ecoliom:y God sel;Jlllide the pi;iest, again and again, so that the prophet might come to the front. 2. ';['hen, too, the prophet can only do. his work rightly when God's message has been BO digested tbat it is a part of himself. No one to whom God's Word is merely a some- tlung outside of him can ever show the people the way of life. 8. See the breadth over which the Divine Word is to be promulgated. "Many nations and tongues." Eve~ child of man is to hear the Word. 4. See the entire social scale included: "peoples and "kings." From the lowest to the highest. The Word is as needed by, and as suited for, the palace as the hut. It is a common message for aU. 5. There was to be a reissue of the pr9phetic Word under the Christian economy. Such we take to be the meaning of r~. Of old the prophets had borne witness for God. But now the institution of prophecy is to recommence under Christ, and to be extended over a wider field than ever it had been before. 6. This open book entrusted to the .prophet's care is paver to be handed to any who would close it up again. Rome forbids the use of the Bible by the common people. Why? Because with her the prieet smothers the prophet. Ever let us insist on keeping "the little book open;" and, in letting its contents, sweet or bitter, as they may be, be known to all the people. The theme of this homily is a most appropriate one as a basis for opening up either the value of a Christian ministry or the essential principle of Protestantism, that" the little book" should ever be kept open, and its contents unfolded to the people. · Ir. sµggest two queries. 1. What ha& come out of the principles of this chapter, historically 7 1 "Elliott regarded this little roll as the Bible opened anew to mankind at the period of the Reformation. The period affords many magnfficent illustrations of the vision, but it does not exhauat its truth, since in every age the reverent study of the Word of God baa given freshness and strength to forgotten truths, and has saved men from the bondage of tra- ·llitional notion11. From among such students have a.risen God'11 witn8l!ses" (Bishop Boyd Carpenter). 1 Bev. F. D. llaurice, • The Apocalypse,' pp. 185, 186. • On this clause Dr. Macdonald stre.ugely remarks, "This is another of the proofs, found in the Apoea.lypse itself, that John's imprisonment could not have taken lace under Domitian, for he would then be too old for the extreme work here carried out." 0 f course this asswnes O) the ncn-symbolio nature of the reply; (2) that John's prophesying murt be flif/8 1'00e, Bot (1) whatever John's age at the time of the Apocalypse being writt.eu, he never fulfilled this injunction by word of mouth ; (2) by means of tho writings he hBB left behind he ia pn,phesying before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings, in a way he certainlr, ooutd not have done at any period of hie earthly lifetime. So toot Dr. Macdonald'• "proof' totally falls &o the ground. cm. :r.1-11.J THE REVELATION OV ST. JoJm,TitE-if>IVlN'E. '181
(1) The demand. for a ·free and. open Bible, in ·the ·languaga of the people. · (Z) ~ institution of jlreaching as an: ordinance of God. (3) The oontentioa for• Jibertf of im.5phesyirig according ·to God's order, apart from the rest'tiotions impoii_e.d 'l>y man. (4) The incessant publication and republication of it as the ·'Will of God:::..Th&t:DODll should walk in darkneu, but should know the Word of light'and life. · It· WW MOllld oom, otil of them, practically1 (1) A perpetual protest against the closing,· lri$h- ·holding, or n'eglect of "the little book." (2) The constant ·prliyer that prophets may ever be raised up and qualified to go e-terywhere; preaching the Word. (8) Every teacher and preacher should ta)[e care to' $t the· book, and to ·digest its eont.enta, in o.rder that he may fulfil his function of prophesying. (4) That which the prophet must digest in order to prophesy, the people themselves must feed upon in order that they may live and grow and thrive. God's Word in the heart ii- the oo.ly certain nutriment of a noble life. ·