works have been those of faith and love, which,-though in many caial-Iorgotten.. by the worker, shall be remembered by the great Saviour-Judge. IV. A COMMAND m GIVEN TO PUT THIS ON BEOOBD. The t.tuth contained ln ib.is verse is-too precious a one to be left to the uncertainty of a merely verbal tradition, We know- not to what shreds and patches our glorious gospel might by thia time .have been reduced, had it been thus left at the mercy of floating reports handed down by word of mouth. It was ~safe" to write this. The value of this truth is simply unspeakable, L It ,how, us that death ii not a terminw ,f life, but im ffiCitlent in livitig. It is a change of states under the guardian care of a Divine Redeemer, who loves his own too much to let them perish. 2. In the liyht r,f sucA a tndh, WI! ,hcndd dread death less. Nay, more; we ougbi not to dread it at all. Ollr Saviour has passed through the gates of the grave himself, that he might deliver them who through fear of death have been all their lifetime subject to bondage. 3• .A right _mi, of tM, truth will prepare m for etiduring with more calmn613 and·· bravery lh. lrial, antl hardship, of thia life. · Persecution. Insult. Martyrdom, What· fretfulu88'! ~er l!Ol'row is often shown by. those who .abandon the evangelical faith l . Life of Carlyle; a man who; though a prodigy of intellectual acquirement, lived a life which was one continuous whine. , 4. IAt us not grieve unduly over thostJ who are gond. H they have died in the Lord, and if we are living in the Lord, we shall go to them, but they shall not i-eturn to us. We can rejoice in the thought of the incre&1ing wealth. of our treasure in the lieavenly state, al! saint after saint is caught upward into .light. 5. Let us lookfurward.hopjvlly and cheerfully to our own fut,,re. What work the Master .may have appointed for us w1naunot foresee, nor do we at all know when we •hall be called up tojoin the "meu who are made perfect." Dut we need not; wiBh to bow. It ill enough for us that they and we are one. "The l!Rints on earth and all the dead Bot one ,;,omomnion make ; . AI[ jpin in Chrfat, their living Head, And othis gmoe partake." · 6. Knot1nng ko1D well we are cared for m life and in death by our blessed Lord, W us toneffitra~ all wr energies on glorifying our Lorrl. This is the conclusion to which the Apostle Paul himself arrived. ,Knowing that when we are ab;ent from the body we shall be at home with the Lord, we should ruake ii the object of our supreme ambiiion to be well-pleasing to him. •· 'l'bis, indeed, is our one concern. To work, and love, and obey, and wait. And in time our Ma..ter will come and fetch us home, and we sha.ll be for ever with him.
Ven. 14-20.-Harvest-lime. Any attempt to interpret the visions of this book sa if they followed each other chrouologica.lly -only, will inevitably fail. Sometimes, at any rate; the visions a.re such that they overleap the n1t.1r future and glauce fonrard. to one far more remot.e. ·1a fact, speaking generally, the order of them is far moru moral than it is temporal, following not so much the order of years as the evolution of principles and the growth of souls. It cert.ainly is 10 in the paragraph before us, in which we are carried forward iu thought and symbol to Heaven's great harvest-day--a day of which our Lord had himseif spoken, not only in a parable, but in an exposition of that parable (Matt. xiii.), in which terms that were figurative and symbolic are exchanged for such as are plain. lt will be a study of no small interest to see how our Lord, in his communication to his apostle from heaven, sets forth the same truth which he had taught to his discirles when on earth. Ver. 14, "I saw, and behold, a white cloud." 'Ibis is the symbo of the Divine presence, so that we are not surprised when we read further, "On the cloud I saw one sitting like unto the Son of man "-emblem of the Lord appearing in his glory-" having on his head a golden crown "-in token of royalty-" and in his hand a sharp sickle "-settiug forth the work for which he will come in his glory, viz. to reap "the harvest of the earth." Ver. 15, "Another angel ••• crying ••• Send forth," etc. That this angel came forth out; of the temple speaks his authority as from thence. Nor should it seem strange that thence should come the commisaion to the Son of man to reap. For a.,the Son of man, t}Ur Loi:ti haa his a.\lthority 81!-d avpoiulmeat from the Father (John v. 22, 26, 27). Ver, 16, 858 n!E REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. [CH. nv.1-20.