marked contrast with those who in this life have borne the mark of the beast, which i~ the world., in their forehead and upon their hand. How glad are we, for ourselves and fQr thQSe dear to ns, when it comes to the last solemn moment, to forget that there is any dilltinction between the death of the righteous and of the wicked; between the death of one who has loved and served Christ, and of one who has lived 'without him in the world'? It seems so hard to preserve that distinction" (Vaughan, in loc.). But there it is, and may not be overlooked, though, to the unspeakable hurt of men's souls, it too often is. 'Now, "to die in the Lord," we must first have been" in the Lord." And can any be said to be " in the Lord" if they never think of him, never call upon him, nJlver look to him, and never seek to live to him? "In the Lord" is the constant phrase which tells of a living trust and hope and love towards the Lord; and how can the description be applied where none of these things are? God .help us all to remember this I 2. And theM when they are dead. Just then, when we want to know something of them;- when with atreaming tears we yearn · "For the touch of a nnishod hand·, And the 10und of a voice that is stilL• II. WHAT IT BAYS OF TllEM. 1. ~ t they are "ble.'8ed." What UD!!pll&kable com•. fort there is in this assurance for those who are left behind l Not unconscioUB, for such high epithet as "blessed" .belongs not to mere unconsoiousness. Not in purgatorial pains, for neither could that be called blessed. Doubtless Christ's transforming, assimi- lating power, through the energy of the Spirit or God, goes on in the departed believer, as it is necessary that it should. For St. Paul teaches us that "he who began a good work in us will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil i. 6). Therefore that good .work ia going on still; death does not hinder, but accelerate, it. But the process is not by those hideous .means which medireval monks imagined, and which the very word "purgatory" suggests. But they are blessed; that is enough to know, enough to u).1ljft the mourner's heart. 2. And immediately that they quit thia life. Such is the meaning of the word "henceforth." . "It means substantially even now; not merely in the new Jemsalem which is one day to be set up on the renovated earth, but from the very moment of their departure to heaven" (Hengs.tcnbel'g, in Zoe,). 8. They die to ~- ." Yea, saith the Spirit, in order that (z,,,.) they may rest [or,'that they shall rest'] from theirlaboura." Death, therefore, is for them but the Divine signal that the day's work is done, that the evening hour bas come, and that they are now to go home and rest. '.l'he wearisome work and toilsome trying task, which has often well-nigh wom them out-such is the significance of the word "labours "-all that is over, and death is the Lord's call to them to now lie down ap.d rest. 4. Their works follow with them. Not their labours, tqe element of distress and pain in their work, bllt their works. How do they foHow? . Perhaps: (1) In_ that tMif ':r~ carried on s~ill. 'l'hey were works for tb,(,l hon9cur of their Lord, for the g·ood of their fellow-men-prayers. and endeavours to draw others t,o Christ, intercessions for the Church pf God, all manner of beneficent ,:leeds. Are all these to cease P Is there no room for them where the blessed 'dead now are? Shall the sainted mother who here besought the Lord for her children that they too may be saved-shall she cease that "work"? •The Lord . forbid that she' should; and our tut s~s to tell us that she, and all they lib her, will not, for their, works follow them. (2) For reward. There is the scene, there the day. of recompense. Not .here or now, "Let thine eyes look right on, and thine eyelids straight before thee." . "Oh how ~eat is thy good?-ess which _thou hast laid up for them that fear thee I" (8) In (Mir ejfut& upon their character. We cannot see the soul, we saw only the man, and faulty enough he was, we well knew;. but all the while,as the days of his life went on, and this or that work was pnt. upon him to discharge, the soul was, by means thereof, as the marble by the sculptor's chisel, being wrought into a condition of beauty and faultlessness such as from the first had been in the Creator's mind. (-l) ..t, minister• to tlidr Joy. The joy of gratitude that they were enabled to undertake and accomplish them. The joy of knowing that as seed they will yield blessed harvest, and, perhaps, of witnessing that harvest. St. Paul spoke always of his connrta as hi1 "joy and crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus." Such" works" will be a joy to remember, to look upon in their 1'81!ults and to continue in. They cannot bu, be, ever, way, ministers to our joy. ae:, ~v.1-20.) TllE REVELATION OP ST. JOllN THE DIVINB. V.9
III. TBB 11MPHA81B THAT re LAID UPON rr. 1. It la declared by "a twit» from Maf.llffl." '!'his voice "may well be conceived to be that of one of • the just made perfect,' testifying from his own experience what the true members of the militant Church on earth have to ex.pectin heaven" (Hengstenberg,in loo.). When we remem- ber that the attestations to our Lord's Divine Sonship were made in similar maDDer by a voioe from heaven, this declaration is thereby lifted up to a like high level of authority and importance. 2. It was comnumdecl to b6 'Written. "This command to •write• is repeated twelve times in the Revelation, to indicate that all the things it refers to are matters of importance, which must not be forgotten by the Church of Christ." 3.. It is conformed solemnly .by tM Holy Spirit. "Yea, 11&ith the Spirit." With such solemn sanctions are these words so inestimably precious to the Church, introduced to our notice and commended to our reverent heed. IV. THE PURPOSE OF ITS PROCLAMATION. 1. It was a truth mort necessary for ta. time when U was given. Soo the cireumstaooes of the faithful Church, how fearful their trial, how dire their need of all and everything that would fortify their minds amid such awful temptations to be unfaithful to their Lord. And what truth could be more helpful than such as this? 2. And it ls n~eded still. (1) To comfort us con- cerning our departed brethren in Christ. (2) To strengthen us in mw of. our own departure. (3) To cheer us amid work that often seems thankless and unfruitful, although it be the "work of the Lord." With our hope we ought never to be weary in such work. Noble work has often been done by men who·had no such hope. Think of the three hundred at Thermopyloo. · Think of the holy men of old .to whom the grave seemed to end all, to be the place where they should be" no more," and yet who became heroes of the faith (of. Heb. xi.). (4) To every way ennoble and elevate our lives. (6) To dr_aw forth our love and devotion to him "who having overc11me the sharpness of death, bath opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers." Are theso · purposes fulfilled in us ?-S. C.