would have become the blade and the springing eorn as we now see tbem. We ahould gaze with admiration, but with wonder, at the glorioua garment of fo1'88t and of field. ApLrt tiom our knowledge, all this new creation which the returning apring presents would have l:Jeen as incredible to us as the resurrection of the dead was· to the AtheniaDB. And that which, but for long experience, we could not have believed of the natural worldt we, for want of such experience, .are slow to believe in regard to the spiritual world, to which the words of our text do, of course, refer. We read of the new heavens and the new earth, of the freooom from the manifold evils and distresses with whicL we are .«> sadly familiar here ; but because we know not these things by experience they are not real to us, they do not affect us as they would were we as sure of them u we are of the new creation of spring. For here and now, in this poor present life of ours,. we are for the most part in a spiritual winter. " It doth not yet appear what we ahall be," any more than it appears in the winter-time, to the uninstructed eye, what ~be earth shall be. Life, looked at in the mass,,is so sombre, so drear, so cheerl81!8· and cold, notwithstanding a. bright gleam here· and there, irradiating now this home circle !1,nd now tha.t; yet for the most part life is one long winter, and its spring-time is not yet. And hence all discourse about the other a.nd better life has, more· or- less, the semblance of unreality and va.gueness about it. We smile sadly as we hear or rea.d what men have thought on the subject, and we say, "How does he know? It is but a perhaf,8; we cann.ot really know." The best we can say is, "It may be, and we hope it is so.• And none realize so clearly, or grasp so firmly, as they should, the promise of the blessed future spiritual spring whioh io affirmed in our text. But may we not do something to reanimate and strengthen our faith? May we not listen to the Lord God 1&ying to us in this spring-tide, "Behold, I do ma.ke all things new; believe, 0 my children, that.even yet, in far fuller and more glorious way, I will, as I have said in my Word, again and perfectly make all things new"? And let us a.newer back, "Lord, we believe; help thou our unbelief. Lord, increase our faith." Now, help ma.y come to us through letting our thoughts dwell a while on some of the characteriatics of the new creation told of here. L Ous CONCEPTlONB o:r Goo WILL BB NEW, Frequently does our Lord speak in thia book of his "new name"-" a name which no man knoweth sa.ving he that receiveth it." And from this we gather that none of us here, not even the saintliest and most devout, knows God as he is to be known. . II. AND THERE SHALL BE A NEW BODY. In that great Scripture, 1 Cor. xv., St. Paul enlarges on this theme-the spiritual body, the corruptible exchanged for the incom1ptible. And if any doubt, he points them to the new body which God is' ever fashioning out of the " bare grain, it may chance of whea.t, or of some other grain." In the blade, the ear, the full com in the ear, he bids us behold the pattern, type, and analogy of our resurrection-life. III. AND A NEW CHARACTER. The impartation of new moral disposition& and habits; or, if not new, so intelldifi.ed and exalted in their force as to be practically new -in degre~, if not in kind. IV. AND A NEW BOOIAL CONDITION, Probably nothing will be more marked in the kingdom of Godthan the total reversals of the judgmenta of the world. That which :the world highly esteems will be as naught, that which it despises honoured (cf. Luke xvi. 15). · V. AND THERE WILL BE A NEW DWELLING-PLACE. Not literally do we understand the words about the new heavens and new ea.rth; for there is no need that we should, and much reason why we should not. But we taka them as telling of the great moral changes that shall take place, and the physical changes tha.t wiU result tberefrom. For during all the past man's material habitation has been la.rgely dependent upon, and the result of, his moral character. Ps. cvii, " The fruitful field becomes a wilder- D88B because of .the wickedneBII," et.c. And then again, " He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and the dry grounds into water-springs." So is it for the righteous. So many are the a.ids to the faith, that, given a new moral character, there will be a new dwelling-place. Look at Palestine, the Holy Land. Once her fielda llowed with milk and honey; but now, and for long centuries, through the cursed misr'ule of Mohammedanism, vast regions of that land are but desert. Again, go over tu Camll"'na of Rome, once thronged with human life a.nd wealth, but now for ffl 'PHE REVELA.TION OP ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. (on. -xx1. 1--21.
the most part a deadly plain in which men cannot live. 'Andr on the other ·bend, where men have obeyed the la.ws of God, there the reTerae• ha& been• ewr,rwlrere aeen. In the great missionary ages of -the Church eompaniee of ~fearing men w:.iuld go to soma desolate ciistrict, -often wild, bare; and mi118'1&lmdn the extreme. In the heart of forests, in the midst of fens, on rngged ,clifla, or in lonely ·mams; and there they would alt.ernate their prayers and psalms, their 1aemment. anil otlier la!lTild services, with hard labour and diligent ·toil, until they had· made the wildernees to rejoice and bloSBOm as the rose. And now, rabid Proteatslitism ·sneers at those old monks because, it is said, they always knew how to choose ,the beat and fairest of earth's dwelling-places. But it was their fear of God that led to the· re~enera- tion of the earth on which they dwelt. And when Ps. Ii.vii. is fulfilled, and'" all the people praise thee, 0 God; Lhen shall the earth yield her iuerease; God ·shall blesil us, and all the ends of the world shall fear him." Now, of all this, and much ·mere this blessed spring-tide tells to those who have ears to hear its prophecies. •But, remember, spring-tide can do nothing for things that a1-e dead. Have we, then, the se11d of the life of God within us? "I am come," said the Lord," that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.'1-S. O.