broken-off island, reunited, and made one blessed dwelling-place for ever and for ever. Such is the picture

here sketched.

What is worth notice, and what perhaps explains some misapprehensions of the passage, occurs in these words: "I saw thrones, and they sat upon them." Who are the they? In this sentence, "I saw the souls of them," the words I saw are not in the original; they are in our version in italics, and I need not add that is proof there is no original expression for it. The verse runs: "I saw thrones, and they ;" the question is, who are the they?"they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them ;" and in the van of this glorious phalanx, in the forefront of this noble army, were the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus. Who are the they? Just that same "they" that runs like a silver thread through the whole story of the Apocalypse. You will find the first mention of the they, if I may use so strange an expression, in the 7th chapter of this book: "What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they?" And what is the answer? Here is the definition of the they:"These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple." After this read the 4th verse: "And I saw thrones, and they," the same they, "sat upon them.' If we want, again, another explanation of the they, let us turn to the 11th chapter, at the 15th verse: "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the

time of the dead, that they should be judged." Read also the sequel of the 20th chapter, and you hear the fulfilment of the last echoes of the seventh trumpet: "and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants;' here is the they ; "the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." This is another picture of the they who sat upon thrones. We have the last sketch of the same bright and happy group in the 14th chapter of Revelation, at the 1st verse, the very reading of which is almost like a strain from heaven: "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him"-here are the they-"and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps; and they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders; and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand;" because that song was thanksgiving for spiritual things, which are foolishness to all besides; "but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These "the same they-"these were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God." Here you have the picture of the very same they that sit upon thrones; that suffered, many of them, for their faithfulness to Christ, and that constitute what are called in the concrete throughout the Apocalypse the bride of the Lamb. She has emerged from the persecutions, the sorrows, the obscurities, of the world; she has laid aside her weeds of widowhood, she has put on her bridal garments, her Easter robes; and now she hears the beautiful, and exquisitely poetical, but though poetical not less true, language of David in the 45th

Psalm: "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy Father's house; so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him. And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour. The king's daughter"-now here is the picture of the they, of the bride "the king's daughter is all glorious within;" not by external or gorgeous architectural magnificence, not by ritual, or artistic ceremonies and rites; but morally and spiritually inlaid with that exquisite mosaic, the graces that compose the Christian character and have their birth in the Christian heart. "The king's daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework; the virgins her companions""—the ten virgins, five wise, five foolish-" that follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought; they shall enter into the king's palace," that is, Christ the King. stead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever."

"In

Thus we have before us that holy and glorious group constantly delineated in the Apocalypse, in contrast to those who have apostatized from the truth, and received the mark of the great apostacy of the earth. This church, this bride, this company of living Christians, is traced from the days of Paul through the catacombs of Rome, where their memorials still survive through the dens and caves of the earth, where their remains are still treasured in the hope of the resurrection morn-along the dens, and rocks, and recesses of the Alps-in Smithfield-on the grey moors of Scotland-wherever the truth has been preached and a martyr for it has suffered-there this bright continuity of Christian witnesses, this true apostolical succession, has constantly appeared, till at last they culminate in the glory of the millennial day, occu

pying thrones; having suffered with Christ they also reign with him and rejoice a thousand years, until the vestibule of a thousand years is merged in the grand temple of eternity; and past, and present, and future, are lost in the splendours of one illuminated, everlasting, and glorious now. Such are they.

But what is meant by the expression, "I saw the souls of them that were beheaded ?" The obvious exegesis of the text is this: John describes, first of all, the whole body; they, the bride, the whole company of believers; but, struck with the exceeding splendour and magnificence of the van, he adds, And I saw in the forefront of these, in the van of this great army of the living God, those that had been beheaded; those that had wrestled with superstition; those that had protested against the dominant error; those who had suffered because they would suffer rather than sacrifice to them that were no gods; these occupied the van, more resplendent, but not more worthy, than those that were behind them, that sat upon thrones, and were glorified also with Christ. I have already explained that soul is constantly employed in Scripture in the sense of individual. For instance, Nineveh, in which are so many souls; Abraham, and the souls that have come with him; meaning the individuals. Of course, if these were souls, spiritually and strictly so called, it is not probable he could see them; as far as we know, our present definition of the spirit of man is that it is invisible; and the very statement there of John that he saw them is evidence that they were not disembodied spirits, but souls in their resurrection robes, raised from the dead, throned in glory, resplendent in a light that is never shaded, and clothed in garments that never perish. They occupied the foremost ranks; the noble army of martyrs, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the glorious company of the apostles, were in the front rank of the church throughout all the world that doth acknowledge and serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is stated here that "this is the first resurrection ;" it is called here the first resurrection. The resurrection

from the dead is the distinguishing tenet of Christianity itself; and I am persuaded that whilst Christians justly look for the glorification of the soul, and rejoice in that blessed hope, they do not sufficiently realize the equally certain and glorious hope that this very dust now formed fearfully and wonderfully, one day to be decomposed and disintegrated in the grave, shall just as surely as the soul attains its glory experience its resurrection change, and be recomposed, and glorified, and lighted up with all the splendours of heaven; preserving its identity, and yet leaving behind it all the traces of infirmity, mortality, and decay. To show how important is the resurrection, and what a space it occupies in the teaching of the ministers of Christ and in the Word of God, we find that in the early teachings of the apostles it Iwas the dominant theme. For instance, in the room of Judas "must one be ordained to be," what? "to be a witness of his resurrection." Again, the charge against Peter and John in the temple was, "That they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead." Again, it is said concerning the apostles: "With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus." Athens, the metropolis of the world, the university of Europe, the seat of all that was æsthetic in philosophy, art, literature, poetry, music, architecture, science, the charge against the apostle was, what proves it had been his main theme, that "he seemed to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection." Again, we read that when Paul was accused he said: "Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am called in question." And when he wrote to the Corinthians, so important did he regard this truth that he said: "If Christ be not risen from the dead, then is your faith vain, and our preaching is vain, and ye are yet in your sins." Then if we turn back to ancient days, what do we find? Abraham understood the resurrection from the dead; for he accounted that God was able to raise even Isaac from the dead. Again, Joseph believed in the resurrection of the dead;

At