The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 285

with'· the religious life, that the latter should partake more of the former· than tlie former of the: latter. This is no imaginary peril, but one actual and visible, and yielded to in cases not a few. And another is thB fa,iltwn,j faith. Ah, what trouble canie to Israel of old from thi!! one fatal fountain I Their miserable record of sinning and ,nwent,:. ing, which went on almost from the day they left Egypt till th& 11~ tbey,iltitered- Canaan, caused that all that time .should be 'branded with the reproacltful 'iulJne ·of "the day of provocation in the wilderness." And it was all owing to their persi'stent unbelief. And the like peril exists still. Without doubt the difficulties' of 11nbelief are greater thanrthose of faith; but these latter are so great and :presiiing; oftei;itiuies, that faith well-nigh suffers shipwreck. It is easy, comparativety;for•~.e tximfb~ble and well-to-do, in whose even tenor of life little occurs to ruffle or· disturb, much l • distress-it is easy for such to Bay fine things about faith, and to censure and condemn those for not believing whose whole life is one long trial of faith; but let those wb.o 11awi @ndemn be themselvu likewise tried, aud then it ilJ •probablt1 that their·coa:. ~ THE . REVELATION Oll' BT. JOHN THE DI'V1N:lt. toa. :m. 1-11. detmJ.ations will gradually change into comprehension, and that into sympathy with, and that into actual sharing of, their brothers' unbelief. Yes, this is a real peril of our wildernesa-condition, and it is one which, if we do not conquer, it will conquer us. It is this which gives force to another peril-the temptation to go back to Egypt, to return to the world which we have avowedly forsaken. Israel was on the point of doing this, and often looked longingly back to the lives they had left. And some yield to it. Bow many are there who apostatize-leave the Church of Christ, and become, to all intents and purposes, what they were before they entered it, if not worse I Such are some of the perila of the wilderness, from all which may God in his great mercy deliver usl But- . ill. THE PBIVILKGES and blessings of the wilderness-condition are far more than either its privations or perils. Look back to that ancient record which tells of God's favour to· Israel when they were in the wilderness, for the types of the like favour whioli he .shows towards his people now. 1. 'l'hink of their -,-ity. 'l'he fretcair of the wilderness played upon them instead of the stifling heat of the valley of the Nile. 1'hey w11re on the high mountain plateau of Sinai, wandering over its grassy Alps, on which their fiock.s and herds freely fed, and over which the mountain breezes played. And they had seen their enemies dead on the sea-shore; they had no longer any fear of them. Their bondage was over, and they were free. And if we be the Lord's redeemed people, and have trusted in Christ our Passover, who was sacrificed for us, if we be of that blood-besprinkled band, then we, too, are free. 'l'he guilt of sin, the tyranny and torture o( sin, torment us no more. Ours is "the glorious liberty of the chullren of God," and we stand fast in "that liberty wherewith Christ has made his people free.'' 2. Unfailing suatimance, too, was theirs, and is ours. He fed them with angels' food; he gave them bread from heaven to eat. The manna fdl morning by morning, and they all drank of the water from the smitten rock, which, for its perpetual, free, full-flowing streams, was so fit a type of Christ, that St. Paul says of it, " which rock was Christ." The antitype of all this in the spiritual sustenance-the bread of life, the water of li(e, the communion of his body and blood, and the manifold means of grace- are manifest, and his people know them, and r~joice in them day by day. 8. Guidance, too, was theirs. 'l'he pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night,-" so it was always." And he guides us by his counsel. His Word is "a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path." By the promptings of his Holy Spirit, by the indication.of his providence, he cauSEs us to "know the way wherein we should walk," and makes "plain our path before our feet." None who seek that miss it; for those who "commit" their "way unto the Lord," he does "bring it to pass." 4. Instruction, more- Qver, was given IsraeL God gave them his holy Law. 'l'o them were wmmitted "tha <i.raclea of God." And so likewise to us, in his Word, the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us" wise unto salvation." 5. Nor must we forget that great privilege-the preserice of God with them. God "taberoacled amongst them." In that sacred tent, hovering over the ark of the covenant, rested the cloud of glory, the visible sign of him who "dwelt between the cherubim." St. John teaches us .that this was the type of the. yet more blessed fact, the incarnation of him who was " made flesh and tabernacled amongst us," and who now, by his Spirit, is with us evermore. In our hallowed moments of communion do we not know that he is with us? Cannot we see his face, hear his voice,.feel t.he touch of his hand, behold the radiance of his countenance? It is so, and we know it. 6. Finally, they bad a bright, sure, and ever-nearing hope of the rest God had promised them. Every day brought them "a day's march nearer home." :More surely is this true of us than it was of Israel. For they were made, for their unbelief, to turn back and go over the way again, which can hardly be said of us. And ours is no earthly Canaan, but the heavenly rest, the "inheritance of the saints in light." CoNOLUSION. Shall, then, the privations or perils of the wilderness make us think lightly of these wondrous privileges ; much less shall they make us abandon them ? Ah no! Gladly will we bear all that now may pain or distress, comforted-as surely we ought to be-by the presence, the promise, and the power of God.-8. 0. Ver, 11.-The holy war. "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb," etc. Without •ttempting to identify " Michael and his angels," or " the dragon and hu oa. DL 1-11.l THE REVELATION 011' ST. JOHN THE DIVIN& 3t1