without. (/) No night thm,, No-pa.1111e' in the aoth,itle11 cf life;, 1'eca'llll8 no .,,..rinel!B will ever be felt. There will be oontlt.ant work and const.ant. worship. (JI) No temple. Not only will hindrances which exil!ted here be baniilhed there, but helps which were precious here. will not be needed there. If, as one-baa said• the most exquisitely tendf-r text in the Bible is, "God shall. wipe away all t.ears from their eyes,» surely the most far-reaching text given through an inspired ru,n is," I sa.w no temple therein." No forms will be wanted when tbe ideal of worshfp is perfect and permanent, No place for lf0111hlp, when every spot is holy ground. No day for worship, when eTery moment is sanctified. No external acts of worship, when every act ill "holiness to the Lord." ,Many a thinker is yearning for Ike pure thing in itself witkom form. Here it is. Their yearnings were anticipated eightoon hundr~d years ago. And toit we are pressing on by stages. (h) No light of the sun. No lamp. No artificial light kiadled by man, nor even the present forms of light created by God. '"l'he city hath no need of the •unt neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the Loni God giveth them light," etc. What meaneth this? Surely nothing less than that created media will not be needed .to intervene-between us and God. We shall need no borrowed light when we see face to face the Light I We shall see him as he wI What life is this I No moon, no sun, no night, no temple, no curse, no pain, no tears, no sorrows, no death I All theiill things will have pa.ssed away. Happy state, even if known only by such negatives as these! (2) 'l'he second set of details includ-the inbnngiflg of whru it, new. Tht1 •heaTenly atate is pictured here not only as one in which we Bhall miss mnch that we now .experience, but also as one in which all that iii true and precious here will be repro-- ducecl, exceededt and perfected. Here, too, as in every other part of the Apocalypse, the scenery is based on Old Testament representations. Six featUlell: (a) The river (eh",. uii. 1). In Eden was a fertilizing stream. Israel drank of the river whicn -followed them, "There is a river, the streams of which make glad the city of God," 'l~he good Shepherd now leads bis flock beside still waters. And in the heavenly world he leads them still by the fountains of the water of life. The water of life shall no .more have its purity marred by ooming through earthen channels; There we llhall be .at the fountain-head. (b) The tree (or trees) of life (see Revised Version, margin). In Eden the tree of life would have counteracted the tendency to decay and death. ,But.from this man was debarred when he fell. Christ has restored it to us. And he will himseif give it to the victor. Full supplies of heavenly food ensuring immortality will be given by Christ's own hand. (c) The throne of God is there. Another ·symbol to indicate the immediateneu of relations to God in the heavenly state. No intervening authority of priest or king; but close and absolute allegia.ace to .the Eternal; (d) The service (eh. ,::xii. 3). Servioe in the sense of worahip. "They ser\Te him day and night in his temple." (e) The sight (eh. xxii. 4). "They shall see his·face" (ef. .1 John iii. 1, 2 ; 2 Cor. iii. 18). Thill sight will have transforming power. (/) The royalty. "They shall reign for ever and ever" (eh. xxli. 5). This "reigning" i1t1ot the preliminary and limited one referred to In eh. XL 4; but the final, the complete one, to which no ending is assigned (cf. eh. iii. 21). Well may we say with one," I ,a.Ill. CQOtent that I have seeD the city, and without weariness will I go nearer to it; not all my life long will l suifer its bright golden gates to disappear from my sight" (Herigstenberg). IV, '.l'BE GLOBT OF THIii Cl'l'T LIGHTS UP WI'l'B 1TB BRIGHTNESS -TIIB LIJl'B THAT NOW Ill. At any rate, it ought to have this effect, for most ssauredlythis is the intent of the disclosures. We shall do our God a wrong, and ouraelves too, if we pursue our oourse here as if it were meant to end in gloom, or as if we were left in uncertainty as to what lies beyond it. or whether there is anything at all. Note: 1. Let us recognize the glory of life's goal, if properly spent, as the working out of Divine grace, love, and faitbfulnese. 2. If we are indeed the children of God, we have even now the earnest of the Spirit, and are being wrought for that selfsame thing. 3. Let ua bless God for the progressiveness of revelation and of redemption, The whole of the sacred Word is threaded by one infallible clue. U opens by showing ua " Paradise lost." It closes by showing us "Paradise regained." And the intervening stages, taken chronologically, tbow us the Divine advance on the first, and the Divine preparation for the last. 4. If even now we have a vision so gloriollB of the holy city, let us go in the strength of il . to work, to toil, to suffer, and to die, pressing forward to the glory yei to be revealed; 'OR. ut. 1-2T.] THE REVELATION 01' ST. JOHN THE DIVL.VE. 61i
5. Seeing that In that future home nothing can ent,,t that defilPtb, ]Pt Utl ever swear eternal enmity -t.o sin, cultivating all the gra.ces of the Spirit, perfecting holines11 in the fear of God, for only eo can we have-any reasonable hope of finding our plaoe at last in the inheritance of the sainta in light..