character. (1) It is a necessity to all man 'kind, It is the supreme neceSllity of unregene- rate mankind the world over and the ages through. If a man is to be happy, he must have it. It is not merely adapted to him, it is essential to him. (2) It is equal to all mankind. It is not like a feast, prepared for so many and no more; it is more like a perfect piece of music, having in it an exhaustless power-a power ns capabl{! of chami.- ing all souls aa one, pouring its thrilling and inspiring influence over all lands, down through all times with unabated power. Such, then, is the theme which the ideal preacher has to propound; not the speculations of the theologists or the crotchets of the sect, not the eruditiee of his own brain, bul the "everlasting &ospel." What a sublime mission I IL THAT ms MOVEMENTS ARE EXPEDITIOUS. "Fly in the midst of heaven.• He is to move, not like the ordinary terrestrial beings on the earth, but rather like the swift fowls of the air-impulses excited, eyes dilated, pinions expanded, darting on their ethereal way, It is characteristic of an ideal preacher that he is-expeditious. He ia not a drone; he is on fire. He is "instant in season and out of season," like his _great Original; he worketh while it is "called .to-day," knowing "the night cometh when no man can work." Why thus expeditious? 1. §7iemessage is t1rgent. The world is guilty ; it bears pardon. The world is diseased, about dying; it bears elements of life. 'l'he world is enthralled .a captive of the arch-enemy of the universe; it bears liberty. 2. 7'he time is short. Short, when compared not merely with a future life, but with the work neces~ary to be done. There is not a moment to spare. " 'l'o-day, saith the Spirit." 'l'he Spirit knows the urgency of the;work, and the time necessary for its ful- filment. S. Life is t1ncertain. Uncertain both for the preacher and for his hearers. "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest n9t what a day may bl'ing forth.• Hence the necessity of thi3 expeditious movement. HI. 'l'BAT ms srnERl!l IS &LEVAT&D. "Fly in the midst of heaven,• or "in mid- heaven." It is the characteristic of all truly regenerated men that they are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit; that they set their "affections on things above i" that though "in the world," they are " not of the world ; " that they live in heavenly places. .All these representatiollll mean that they live and move on a level high up and distinct from the level on which worldly men live and work. Like Christ, they have" meat to eat" that the world knows nothing of. They are "separate frcim sinners." This ia pre- eminently the case with the ideal preacher. He moves above the highest; he does not mind earthly things; uuinfiuenced by worldly motives, despising worldly aims and fashions, towering like an angel above them alL Ah me I how different this ideal to the actual conventional preachers I Do they move through mid-heaven? Do they not rather crawl-on the earth, trade even in the gospel, and make gain of godliness? 1'he great reason why preaching is so ineffective now is because we preachers move .)lot. in this elevated spber~ but are down with the common herd in spirit. CoNOLUSION. Such, then, is the ideal preacher, and al\ Church history shows that the men who have approached nearest to this ideal have achieved .the greatest victoriea for souls-Paul, Auguatine, Savonarola, Tanner, Whitefield, Wesley, etc.-D. T.
Vers. 9-1!.-Soul-prostitution and sovJ.:toyalty. "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud vuice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in.his forehead, or in bis band, the same shall ddnk of the wine of the wrath of God," eto. In this part. of John's wonderful mental vision, ot dream, on the island of l'atmos, we can find illustrations of two great subjects. .I. SouL-P&OSTlTUTJON, "And the third angel followed them, saying with II loud [great] vofoe, If any man worship the beast and bis image, and receive [receiveth] his mark in his forehead,andin his hand," etc. (vcr, 9). The" beast and his image." What meuneth this ? Does it mean 11ome king or pope? Or 11ome great wroug institution, civil or religious? No one knows, and it matters not. I take the expression as a symbol of t11rong in its spirit. and-forms. Two things are suggested in connection with this. 1. '!'hat the prostttution of \he soul to wrong is an alarming crime. Here is 11 warning. "The angel followed, saying with a loud voice." .Amongst the teeming popu- lations of this earth there iB nothing more terrible and alarming than to see human 11ouls made in the image of God, rendering a pr~ctical devotion of all its spiritual powers to the morally unworthy," the world, the flesh, and the devil;" beca11Se, according to 878 THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. [ca xiv. 1-20.