-" any man." . Very f&T removed, then, is this gospel from that which we commonly understand ·by the word" gospel." • IL BU'f IT 18 A GOSP&L. Any me~sage that announces the destmotion or a power that .I.a cursing the human race, and spreading misery and despair on all sides, must be a gospel. Like the news that a ferocious wild beast that has slain many is at last itself Blain. 1'here have been men who, from their crimes, their ambition, their nnscrupuloos cruelty, and the devastations that they have ca11Sed, have won for them- selves the name of" enemies of the human race." Whm, then, these cruel oppressors Jiave met their fate and been overthrown, the tidings have justly filled men's hearta with joy. In view of similar facts, the nsalms bid us "Sing unto the Lord a ne,, aong: ·sing unto the Lord, all the earth •.. for he cometh to judge the earth." Judgmen1andjoy :.are joined together as cause and Ptfect. And so here this message from God, that " the hour of his judgment has come," is a joyful message, a gospel. In the New Testament Christ's destructive work,his over.throw of Satan and all the power of hell, is, as is right, gratefully antt constantly commemorated. And to the persecuted Church, groaning beneath the opprellllion of .the tiger in human shape, who then ruled the world, and whoBe thirst for blood no amount .of slaughter could slake, must it not ha'f'e been ,a gospel for them .that this angel proclaimed? Ill.. 41'1'D. lT 18 AN "BTEBNA.L" GOSPEL. For not once alone,: but throughout all the agea of the:world, iis message bas been sooner or later embodied in deed. 1'he tyran-ts .and·opprelllOra of. God's people have been burled from their place of power which they pad .ao abuseq, and .have had to roei!t and oodurethe awful.judgment of God. The ·records-ant in 1.he Bible, and-in all the world beside. It is a fea.rful fact for him to face .who, l'haraoh~llke, is hardeiµng· himself; against -God, but a blessed fact for those who .groan .beneath his cruelty, It is the conviction of this eternal gospel which giveil ~tieuce to men who..wltness cruelty .and outrage inflicted on those who cannot defend themselves. TheT know that the God of this gospel Jil'es, and in due time will Nveal.and vindicate himself Iii the Refuge of the diatressed, and the Helper of the .helpless• . IV. Aim rr IB JPOB ALL NATIONS-POii HUMANITY AT LARGB. As In eh., :liil. 7 "the (beast". had po\\·er given him by the devil "over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations," 1IO now this gospel was to be proclaimed from the mid-heavens, where the angel was seen swiftly flying "over [the word, brl, is the same] every nation, and tribe, and tongue, aud people." . God forgetteth none; he knows and is touched with the sorrows of all; he is.the all-Father, the" our Father, which art in heaven." His" chariot-wheels" do doubtlesa oftentime 88em "long in coming;" but he will come. Man anxiously scans the heavens. and frequently fails to see the angel that St. John saw; but the rush. of his pinions shall one day be heard, and the brightness of his countenance shall one day .be seen, and the "great voice" with which he shall give forth his message shall fall upon our listening eare. Let all who hope in God rejoice; let all his foes an.-l ours be in great fear. V. Gou 18 OOlfOl!BNED TO JIAKB IT IOIOWlJ. TM gospel is entrusted to men. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels," said St. Paul, "and he hath committed unto us the word of rt!COnciliation." But this gwpel or judgment is committed to an angel, who is seen flying swiftly to make proclamation. of it far and wide. These facts, that it is an angel to whom it is entru~ted, that the angel files swiftly, that he proclaims his message with "a great voice.,"-all seem to point to the Divine urgency and concern that it should be made known. Nor is the reason far to seek. .Tlwre is nothing so hinden man~s belief in the goodness of God as the experieuce of the cruelty of his fellow-man. The children of Israel would "not listen" to Moses, who came to them with the good news of deliverancP, "by reason of their bondage." Their fellow-man . was the highest placed of any being they knew, and he wu hard and cnwl, and shut out sight and thought and faith of that far other Being, who was their father■' God- the God of Abraham, Isaao, and Jacob. And how many there are who through fear "are all their lifetime &11bj.)ct to bondage" I It ls of no use to proclaim to such a scheme .of merey; they ask fo, justice-justice upon their oppressors, justice for themselves and . those who suffer with them. Men can believe in and respect .justice without merey, but they oan neither resrect nor believe in merey without justice. Therefore, to the pea, llOmpany of fue oppreesed, the proclamation of jt.dgment i1 a goHpel, and m\!3i at XIV. l-20.) THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN TIIB DIVINE. 865
precede the message which we specially call the gospel. And therefore the angel is sent, and on speedy wing and with loud voice the gospel of judgment is proclaimed. VI. WHAT SHOULD BE ITS EFFECTS, 1. The/ear of Go<l. (Ver. 7.) What other could result from s11ch a message? And a blessed result it would be. 2. 7?ie giving '!f glory to God. From the delivered people, and from those who were filled with salutary fear, there would be this giving of glory. And this for God's revelation of his righteous- n:ess; for his deliverance of them from oppression, And on the part of the wicked who had heard and believed God's warning, they would give glory for that they had been spared, and not cut off in their sins, as they well might have been. 8. ,Worship. This, with fear and the giving of glory, had been demanded for" the, beast" by himself, and the demand had been complied with. But it is now demanded for God, who, as the Creator of all things and the Judge of all the earth, alvne has right to worship. Oh thai wherever there be a hardened heart, the message of judgment may come with such power as that there shall be real repentance, revealing itself ill huly fear of God; in giving him glory, and in the wort!lrlp of his Namel-S. C.