I. WHEREFORE ARE THEY CALLED "NEW"? The heaven, the earth, the holy city, are each called "new." Now, this may be because, in part, they are:

1. Physically new. We do not think this earth will be "burnt up," nor the elements "melt with fervent heat," nor that there shall be, literally, "a new heaven and a new earth;" all such representations we regard as metaphorical, and as telling only of great moral and spiritual changes that shall take place. But in so far as this earth has been marred and defiled, injured and degraded, by man's sin - as it has been - in that respect and degree will it be made new. The thorns and briars, the poisonous and hurtful herbs, and all else that is significant, and the result of sin, will disappear; the pestilence will no longer walk in darkness, nor destruction waste at noonday. So far will it be new. There will be:

2. A new manner of dealing with us on the part of God. This may be intended by the expression on which we are commenting. For "heaven and earth" is an expression used in Scripture to denote the dispensations of God. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth" (Haggai 2:6). The prophet is telling of the whole Jewish economy, which was to disappear and to give place to another and better. So it had been in the past; the patriarchal gave way to the Mosaic, and that was to give way to the Christian; and that, in its turn, will give way to the new heavens and new earth - a new order of things between God and man.

3. And, assuredly, it will seem new. For "no truth is more clear than this, that the world is to a man according to the state of his mind." To the voluptuary, it is a scene of animal gratification; to the worlding, it is a scene for barter; to the poet, it is beauty; to the philosopher, it is science; to the saint, it is a temple. Change a sinner's mind, and you change the world to him. He feels, and. sometimes says, "The world is a new thing to me" - "a new heaven and anew earth." And may we not, therefore, be sure that, to the new, regenerated, and perfect nature, all things will wear another aspect, the heaven and the earth will be as new?

II. WHEREIN WILL THE NEWNESS APPEAR? There will be, according to these verses:

1. A newness of absence. Much that we have known here we shall not know there, for they will no longer be. See the things of which it is here said they shall be no more.

(1) The sea. It is the emblem of all unrest. Here there is, indeed, much of this, and its causes are manifold. But there, "no more sea."

(2) Death. (Ver. 4.) Here it may be said, "death reigns." His might, past, present, or near at hand, is scarce ever unfelt. What a change, for there to be "no more death"!

(3) Pain. "Neither sorrow nor crying." That will indeed be a new world where these are not. Here, where are they not?

(4) Night. Twice is it told "there is no night there" (ver. 25 and Revelation 22:5). As to the meaning of this, cf. homily on ver. 25.

(5) Sin. (Ver. 27.) Here sin rushes as a raging river down our streets; but there, "there shall in no wise enter," etc.

(6) The curse. (Revelation 22:3.) Here it is everywhere. On health and wealth, home and friends, business and pleasure; for there is no one of them that may not be a source of sore sorrow to us, and a very fountain of tears. Paradises are still turned into thorn beds as of old. The curse does it. "I will curse your blessings." But there, no more.

2. And there will be newness in what is present. Take only these opening verses as proof. They assure us of:

(1) A new revelation of God. The holy city, the new Jerusalem - the place where of old God revealed himself - "having the glory of God."

(2) A new revelation of the Church. "As a bride adorned," etc. Fair and comely, rich and honoured, blessed because perfectly satisfied. Never has it been possible to describe the Church in such way before.

(3) A new realization of God. In intimate fellowship; as a tent shall he shelter and enclose them, tabernacling over them. This abiding, "He shall dwell with them." As to the depth of his love to them, "They shall be his people, and he... their God." - S. C.

1. Its vapours. The corn harvest is really the harvest of the sea. For the sea yields up her strength in the form of vapour. These create the clouds, which, touched and tinged by the sun, are so exquisite in their loveliness. And these discharge themselves upon the earth in varied form, and so come the rivers which water the earth and make it bring forth abundantly.

2. Its currents, bearing along the sun-heated waters of sub-tropical climes, far away northward and southward, and giving to regions like our own that mildness of climate which we enjoy; whereas, but for the warm waters of the sea, our shores would be bleak, inhospitable, barren, all but uninhabitable, like the shores of Labrador.

3. Its breezes, so health giving, imparting fresh life to the feeble and the sick.

4. Its beauty, ever presenting some fresh form of loveliness in colour, movement, outline, sound, fragrance. Oh, how beautiful is the bright, bounding sea!

5. Its tides, sweeping up the mouths of our great rivers and estuaries, and all along our shores, washing clean what else would be foul, stagnant, poisonous.

6. Its saltness, ministering to the life of its inhabitants; by its weight aiding in the transmission of those warm currents of which we have spoken; preventing corruption; and much more. But what we have said is sufficient to show that the sea is indeed a gift of God, "very good" and precious; and therefore, as the future shall preserve all that is good, we believe, notwithstanding our text, that there shall be still the blessed, beautiful sea. But we are glad and grateful to know that those facts, of which to the Jewish mind it was the emblem, will not be hereafter. Of those facts were -

I. UNREST. The sea tells of that. Cf. "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest" (Isaiah 57:20). "There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet" (Jeremiah 49:23).

"Thou troubled sea,
Oh, troubled, fretful sea!
What can the causes be
That thy soft, silvery breast
So rarely is at rest?

"E'en when there wind is none,
And thou art let alone,
Thy heart, self troubled, will
Keep palpitating still.

"Ah, well may thy unrest
Emblem the human breast,
Yea, the great world around,
Where troubles so abound!" Yes; such is our life now. "Man is born to trouble;" and were it not that there is One who is able to hush the waves and say, "Peace, be still!" our hearts would know no rest. But yonder we shall rest. Quies in coelo.

"There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest,
And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast."

II. PAINFUL MYSTERY. So was the sea to the Jew, though it be not so to us. Scripture so speaks of it. "Thy way, O Lord, is in the sea; Thy judgments are a great deep; Thy path is in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known." The "depths of the sea" tell of that which can never be discovered; hidden from all knowledge. Now, that there is much of such mystery here, we all know. It is part of our trial and discipline, designed to educate us in the blessed lessons of trust in God. So that, in view and in spite of such mysteries, we may be able to say, "I will trust, and not be afraid." But yonder we shall know even as we are known. Here "we see as through a glass, darkly; but then face to face." Therefore let us "rest in the Lord, and wait," etc.

III. SEPARATION. The sea of old was a complete barrier to intercourse. It was to St. John, and, even now, it so separates that many shrink from emigration to lands where life would be far brighter for them. But of old, to be "far off upon the sea," to "dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea," was indeed to be cut off almost from the land of the living. Only God could make his "way in the sea, and his path in great waters." It was possible only to Christ to walk upon the sea that he might go and succour his disciples. But to men the sea was an impassable barrier, a separating wall. Therefore a fit emblem of separation. How many such barriers there are to our intercourse with Christ and with our fellow men! The power of this present world, the things seen and temporal, this body of flesh, - these, and yet others, separate between us and our Lord. And between man and man. Distance, time, diversity of language, habits of thought, position in life, uncongeniality, ignorance, and many more. But in Christ and with Christ we all shall be one. Drawn to him, we shall be drawn to one another also; and as nothing shall separate us from him, so nothing shall separate us from each other. "There shall be no more sea."

IV. REBELLION AGAINST GOD. "The noise of their waves, the tumult of the people" (Psalm 65.). The one stands for the other. The same thought lies in the words in Psalm 93., "The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." The rebellious heart of man, therefore, is that which under this imagery is set forth. And here in this Book of Revelation: "The waters... are peoples," etc. (Revelation 17:15). The multitude of the ungodly and rebellious - these are likened to the sea. Now, in this sense, there shall be no more sea. No more ungodly people, no more rebellious hearts. And my heart, O my God, shall, then and there, rebel no more. - S. C.

I. THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM IS REPRESENTED AS HAVING ITS BASIS IN AN ENTIRELY NEW CONDITION OF THINGS. "I saw a new heaven and a new earth;" "the sea" - the wild tumultuous sea of the raging peoples - "is no more" (ver. 1).

II. THIS KINGDOM HAS ITS SPECIALLY DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC OF SANCTITY. It is "the holy city;" it comes "down out of heaven from God." It is "made ready as a Bride adorned for her husband" (ver. 2).

III. ITS MOST PROMINENT FEATURE IS FOUND IN THE INTIMATE COMMUNION OF GOD WITH MAN. His "tabernacle is with men." He dwells with them; they are his people, and he is with them, and is their God (ver. 3). This is the supreme blessedness.

IV. THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE SWAY OF THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM IS THE REMOVAL OF HUMAN SORROW. "Every tear" is wiped from the eyes of men. Death, mourning, crying and pain are no more (ver. 4).

V. ALL IS ACCOMPLISHED BY DIVINE AGENCY. "Behold, I make all things new" (ver. 5).

VI. THE WHOLE PROMISE IS SUPPORTED BY SPECIAL PLEDGES relating:

1. To the Divine Name (nature) of the Church's Head. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End."

2. To the promise of eternal life and blessing. "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely."

3. To the final inheritance of the utmost possible blessedness in a Divine relationship. "I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Thus "he that overcometh shall inherit all things;" for he shall be the son of the great King.

4. To the inevitable conditions of punishment which fall upon the subjects of the evil kingdom. This stands in contrast to the former, and is a word of warning and admonition. - R. G.

I. THAT IT WILL BE IN A SENSE A NEW STATE. "A new heaven and a new earth," and a "new Jerusalem" (vers. 1, 2). In what sense will it be "new"? I can conceive of three senses in which it will be new.

1. It may be physically new. There is reason to believe that a great change will take place in the material creation. Indeed, there are forces which are constantly changing the earth, and the heavens, and the atmosphere in which our clouds swim and stars shine. The inorganic, the vegetable, and the animal worlds are constantly changing. The belief of the ancients, the doctrine of geology, and the testimony of the Scriptures, favour the opinion that the fires which burn in the centre of the globe will one day burst into a universal volcano, mantle the earth in flames, and reduce its fairest forms to ashes. Out of this ruin may rise "a new heaven and a new earth."

2. It may be dispensationally new. Heaven and earth are sometimes used in Scripture to designate the dispensations under which men have lived. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth." The reference is, undoubtedly, to the Jewish economy. The patriarchal gave way to the Mosaic, the Mosaic to the Christian, and now the Christian will give way to something else. Christ will deliver up the kingdom to God the Father.

3. It may be relatively new. New in the estimation and feeling of the occupants. No truth is more clear than this, that the world is to a man according to the state of his mind. To the voluptuary it is a scene of animal gratification; to the worldling it is a scene for barter; to the poet it is beauty; to the philosopher it is a school; to the saint it is a temple. Change a sinner's mind, and you change the world to him. He feels, and sometimes says, "The world is a new thing to me - a new heaven and a new earth." Let the men who now people this world come back to it in a perfect state, possessing a thorough sympathy with each other, the universe, and God. Will not the heavens and the earth be new to them? Will not all nature appear entirely different to what it was when they lived here, the creatures of imperfection and sin? Give the soul new moral senses, and you will give the material universe new attributes.

II. THAT IT WILL BE A STATE WIDELY DIFFERING FROM ALL PRECEDING ONES.

1. The difference will arise from the absence of some things which were identified with all the preceding states. There are three things mentioned here as being absent from this state.

(1) Agitation. "No more sea" (ver. 1). The sea is here, undoubtedly, used as an emblem of commotion and distress. It is never at rest. The atmosphere may sink into passivity; no breeze may stir its heart; the clouds may rest on its quiet bosom, and the trees may sleep in its calm embrace. Night outspreads her sable mantle over the world, and all the busy tribes of earth and air sink to repose. But for the sea there is no rest; wave succeeds wave; a restless pulse throbs through all its particles. This is a true emblem of what the human world has been ever since the introduction of sin. Billow after billow of painful thought and feeling has been surging in rapid succession over the spirits of men through all preceding times. But now there is no "sea." The Church, agitated by the storms of ages, is at rest. All the elements of mental agitation will be excluded from heaven. What are they? Pride, ambition, avarice, revenge, doubt, fear, envy, guilt. These lash the soul into stormy billows now. But in the final state these will not be - there will be "no more sea." Another thing mentioned as being absent is:

(2) Death. "And there shall be no more death" (ver. 4). Death has been the terror of all preceding periods; it has reigned through all. But there is no death in this final state. Death beds, funeral processions, cemeteries, are not known there.

(3) Suffering. "Neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain" (ver. 4). All these are excluded forever from this final state.

2. This difference will arise from the presence of some things which have not been in connection with any preceding states. What are they?

(1) A full manifestation, of God. "And I John saw the holy city," etc. (ver. 2). Jerusalem was the special residence of God, and the scene where his glory was displayed. The language, therefore, implies a full manifestation of God.

(2) A perfect fellowship with God. The fellowship will be: Direct. God himself with them; not through mediums. Permanent. He will "dwell with them" (ver. 3). I have, with great brevity, endeavoured to portray the epochs which are disclosed in the preceding chapter and verses before us - the epochs through which redeemed humanity has to pass. I believe that this is a correct interpretation of this passage. But were it not so, the sketch is still true. The ages I have mentioned are ages that belong to redeemed humanity. The first we are passing through now; and the others, though the nearest be immeasurably distant, are approaching with the march of time. Indeed, these epochs dawn in every redeemed soul. Our first stage in the Divine life is conflict; then a partial triumph; then, perhaps, a reaction; then the retribution; and then the unending blessedness. May this unending blessedness be thine, my friend! - D.T.

I. THERE IS NO DIVISION THERE. The sea is the great separator. It divides the great family of man into separate sections. The sea forms the boundary of kingdoms, continents, and races. The more fallen the world is the more necessary for such divisions. Let the race advance in intelligence and purity, and a commingling will become more possible and desirable. Indeed, as the world advances, the sea becomes less and less a divider. Ship building and navigation are making old ocean the highway of nations, and the mighty channel of intercourse between the most distant peoples of the earth. Meanwhile, however, it is a separator. "And there was no more sea." To John these words would have a special significance. He was a prisoner in Patmos, a small desolate island in the AEgean. A treacherous and tempestuous sea divided him from the great world of men and from all the objects of his affection. "A touching tradition pictures the aged apostle going day after day to an elevated spot on the ocean rock, to which, Prometheus like, he was chained, and casting a long look over the wide waste of waters, with his face like that of the captive Daniel in Babylon, steadfastly fixed towards Jerusalem; as if, by thus gazing with all his soul in his eyes on the open sea, he could bring nearer to his heart, if not to his sight, the beloved land and the cherished friends for whom he pined." How much there is in this world that divides men! There are:

(1) Social caste;

(2) national prejudices;

(3) religious sectarianism;

(4) selfish interests;

(5) mutual misunderstandings,

None of these will exist in heaven.

II. THERE IS NO MUTATION THERE. What so changeable as the sea? A pulse of restlessness throbs through every part. It knows no repose. Sometimes it moves in silence, at other times its march is as the roll of terrible thunders. It is not only ever changing in scene and sound, but it is ever producing change in the world. It levels the mountains, it fills up valleys, it creates new land. It is in all the changes of the face of the sky; all the organic and inorganic departments of the world it transfigures. Human life on this planet is, like the sea, in constant mutation. Not only does one generation come and another go, but the life of the individual man is a continual change - sorrow and joy, friendship and bereavement, prosperity and adversity. In heaven there is no such change. The only change is that of progress. Progress in

(1) higher intelligence;

(2) loftier services;

(3) nobler fellowship.

No change in the way of loss. The crown, the kingdom, the inheritance, all imperishable.

III. THERE IS NO AGITATION THERE. The sea is a tumultuous world. What human agony has its furious billows created! Human life here has many storms. Most men here are driven up and down like Paul in the Adrian, under starless skies, by contrary winds, and through treacherous and unknown seas. In how many hearts does deep call upon deep, and billows of sorrow roll over the soul! In heaven there are no spiritual storms. - D.T.

I. CHRIST HAS DONE THIS. First of all:

1. By taking it upon himself. "He himself bare our infirmities, and carried our diseases." So was it predicted concerning him; and when he came here he fulfilled Isaiah's word by the intensity of his holy sympathy, whereby the sorrows, pains, and distresses of those whom he healed were felt by him as if they were his own. And yet more, by himself submitting to pain so terrible that he could say to all suffering ones in all ages, "Come, see if there ever was sorrow like unto my sorrow." Then he took the lot of pain upon himself. He has entered into it not only by Divinest sympathy but by actual experience. So that now the sufferers tread no solitary path; One is with them in the roughest; sternest of its ways, and that One is "like unto the Son of man." They may have the fellowship of his sufferings, because he certainly has the fellowship of theirs. Have we not seen or heard oftentimes how, in the paroxysms of agony with which poor pain stricken ones are now and again seized, they love, when the dread dark hour comes upon them, to have by them some one dear to them, the dearest they possess, and to clasp his or her hand and to feel the clasp of theirs; to pour out to them their cries and tears, and to be soothed and strengthened by the loving sympathy on which they lean? Maybe some of us have taken part in scenes like that. But such blessed aid, and more than that, our Lord wills that every sufferer should have by reason of his sympathy, his presence, and his own dear love. The present writer well remembers how a poor young girl, dying in much pain, told him that she loved to look at a picture, which hung by her bedside, of the Saviour bearing his cross; for, she said, "it helps me to bear my pain better." Yes, every sufferer may grasp his hand, and be assured that, though unseen and unfelt by the bodily senses, he grasps theirs. For just as he went down amongst the "multitude of impotent folk" that lay in the porches of Bethesda, so still he comes down amongst our poor suffering humanity, himself a "Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." And now the Marah-like waters - the bitter wells of human life - he has forever made sweet and wholesome by the healing influence of that cross - that tree so accursed for him, so precious for us - upon which, for us all, he suffered and died. Yes, as it has been beautifully said, "he has done all this. It was for this that he came - for this, among many other reasons. His was pre-eminently, as we know, a painful life. He was acquainted with grief, and a Man of sorrows; and this acquaintanceship was sought and formed for our sakes, because no man knew what to do with grief. Our Lord came hither, and, being made man, entered upon a brief pilgrimage in the earth - brief, yet sufficient to find out what was here, and what had need to be done. And scarcely had he commenced his journey before he met with that ancient form of Grief. She had been walking up and down the earth for thousands of years. She first appeared in the garden of Eden. She stood forth from behind the fatal tree, and emerged from those bounds which, before the first offence, she had never dared to cross; and ever since she had been going about and haunting men. When Christ began his pilgrimage, he met her and she met him, and they looked one another in the face; and she never left him. 'He was acquainted with grief.' And through this acquaintanceship it would seem, as happens when a lower nature feels the influence of a higher, that she became changed. She had been hard and cold, she became tender and gentle; she had been tyrannical and imperious, but under the influence of that Divine Companion she lost her old harshness and severity, and seemed to do her work with a half reluctance, and without the old readiness to add torment to the unhappy. We cannot tell how it happened, but Grief, through her acquaintance and familiarity with the Son of man, became like a new creature. In her were seen a certain softness and pensiveness which she never had before; her form became altered and her footsteps light; until she seemed to take the air of a sister of mercy, and to breathe forth a wondrous benediction while she walked with him. Doubtless it was his influence that worked the change. It was he who turned that scourge of small cords, which she had carried from time immemorial, into a cross, and gave to her eyes that tender look which seems to say, 'I do not willingly afflict nor grieve you, O children of men.' Thus they went through the world hand in hand, until he went out of it by the gate of the grave, tasting death for every man. And Grief has been acting ever since as one of his ministers, and representing him, and doing the work of mercy in his kingdom. She has given to men in these latter days more than she ever took away. She is a dispenser, not a spoiler; her hands are full of goodly gifts, and though her discipline be painful, yet it is ever merciful; and, as a gentle almoner, she offers and bestows, wherever faith and love dispose the heart to receive them, new and perfect pledges of eternal blessing and glory." Thus has Christ transformed Grief and Pain, who is one of her chief ministers. Pain is still like the rough ore dug out of the heart of the earth; but it need no longer be used, as it so long has been, to forge harsh chains of bondage, but it may, it shall he, if only we be willing, fashioned into crowns of glory, yea, diadems for the blessed themselves. And:

2. By his acceptance of our pain as an offering we may present to him. We often feel and say that all we do may and should be consecrated to him, and, without doubt, he accepts it. But this is not all that he is willing to accept. All that we have to bear he will also, and as willingly, accept. Was not his own offering unto God one in which he suffered'? His submission rather than his activity constituted the very essence of his sacrifice. Not alone were the gold - symbol of all man's wealth - and the frankincense - symbol of worship - presented to him; but the myrrh - symbol of suffering, of sorrow, of pain, of death. For it was used in the embalming of the dead and for ministering relief to sufferers in their agony, and hence it was offered to our Lord upon the cross. And so, from its constant association with scenes of sadness and distress, it came to represent and symbolize all pain. And this was offered to the Lord, and may be and should be still. In our moments of most terrible pain there is nothing better to do than to offer it all to him, for his glory, and so to lay it at the feet of the King of sorrows.

3. And by the revelations he makes to us concerning it.

(1) He has told us whence it came. Hence we know that it is not an inherent, a constituent, part of our nature, as joy is; but it is a stranger, a foreigner, an alien, and an intruder. It came in with sin and shall go out therewith.

(2) That it is rendering high and holy service. Cf. St. Paul, "Our light affliction which is," etc. (2 Corinthians 4:17). "In these verses it is not merely asserted that one day we shall be rid of pain, but also that meanwhile it is working out for us 'glory.' It not merely precedes, but produces, is the mother, the progenitor, of glory." Does the mariner grieve over the rushing wind which fills his sails, and bears him swiftly on to the haven where he would be? No more should we over pain, since it is our helper forward, homeward, heavenward.

(3) That it will one day certainly and forever cease.

II. CHRIST ALONE DOES THIS. "Human wisdom has from the first been helpless before what may be called the problem of pain. It has no explanation of suffering; it cannot give it a satisfactory position in the scheme of life. To philosophy sorrow is an anomaly and an offence. Philosophy hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars, and she hath acquainted her heart with all wisdom; and yet there is a skeleton in her house, a spectre glides through her pillars, and a presage of hollow, final failure is in every effort to keep up appearances. She cannot contrive what to do with that problem of sorrow, suffering, and pain. She has but two things to which to trust, and she can trust in neither. The first is stoicism, the second anodynes. With stoicism she tries to meet the question on the spiritual side; with anodynes, on the physical. In each direction she encounters defeat. She tells the sufferer to harden his heart and set his teeth, and bear it if he can, not in faith and love, not in hope and trust, but in stern, stiff defiance. And when she finds it useless to try and help him that way, and hears his shrieks repeated, and meets his reproachful and despairing eyes, she has but one expedient more, in the anodyne and anaesthetic. She exhibits the drug or the subtle vapour, and thereby stills the pain. In this she admits defeat, and flies before the foe. She has relieved the body indeed, but it is at the expense of the spirit. The sense of pain is gone, but the light of the soul is also extinguished. The dying flesh feels no more its own agony because the heaven born flame of reason is quenched, and the man is drugged and crazed into stupefaction and unconsciousness. Thus does Philosophy deal with the terrible problem of this painful life. She has no spiritual medicine for it; while physical remedies amount at last to the suspension and temporary destruction of conscious existence." But we have seen our Lord's more excellent way - a way so blessed that it is an insult to compare the one with the other. Glory be to his Name forever for that which be hath done!

III. WHAT WE ARE TO DO. See to it:

1. That when suffering comes on you, you have Christ near you to turn your pain into blessing. Come to him now, that he may come to you then.

2. Think of, sympathize with, pray for and succour those who now are suffering. Ask him to be near them, and go you near them yourselves with loving help. So join with him in his merciful work, and there shall come on you the blessing, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto my brethren, ye have done it unto me." - S. C.

I. Pain is not needed there to STIMULATE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. Who shall tell how much the cause of science is indebted to pain? As a rule, men's love for truth is not strong enough to urge them in the search of it for its own sake. Natural history, botany, anatomy, physiology, chemistry, owe to a great extent their existence and advancement to pain. The proverb says, "Necessity is the mother of invention," and no necessity does man feel more than to deliver himself from pain. Pain is the power that whips all the faculties of the soul into strenuous exercise. Without it would there be any intellectual action? Would there be any development of our mental powers? When we are told, therefore, that there will be no pain in heaven, we infer that men will not require such a strong stimulus to inquire after truth and so search after knowledge. Supreme love for the Creator will give all these such a delightful interest in all his works as will make inquiry the highest delight of their natures.

II. Pain is not needed there to test the REALITY OF MORAL PRINCIPLE. Were there not pain in the world, by what means could we ascertain the reality and the strength of our love, our integrity, our faithfulness? Pain is the fire that tries those metals and removes the dross, the fan that winnows those grains and hears away the chaff. Pain tried Abraham and Moses. Pain tried Job. It came to him in its most torturing character; but his principles stood firm before it, and he said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." Pain tried Paul. Hear his description of his sufferings: "In labours more abundant, in deaths oft; of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one," etc. (2 Corinthians 11:26). Now, in heaven there will be no need for such a trying test of principles; the character will be perfected. The gold will be purified from all alloy.

III. Pain is not needed there to PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER. Pain is needed here. First, in ourselves, to promote patience, resignation, forgiveness. "Our light affliction." Pain is needed here, secondly, in others, in order to awaken our charities. Were there no suffering about us, generous virtues, which are essential to the Christian character, would have neither scope nor stimulus. The naked, the hungry, the imprisoned, the afflicted, - these famish a field for the exercise of our benevolences. In heaven the character being perfected, no such discipline will be required. We shall be made like Christ, "changed into his image from glory to glory."

IV. Pain is not needed there to aid us in APPRECIATING THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. Christ proved his love by suffering. He suffered poverty, contumely, persecution, ignominy, crucifixion. He "made himself of no reputation." He took on him the "form of a servant," became "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Now, to estimate suffering, we must know what suffering is, know it experimentally. Every man must bear a cross in order to know what the cross of Christ really was. In heaven we shall not require this. We shall have learnt it in our measure, and be qualified to sing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!"

V. Pain is not needed there to IMPRESS US WITH THE ENORMITY OF SIN. The first thing for a sinner to feel in order to renounce sin is a conviction of its terrible consequences. It is the cause of all sorrow, suffering, and death. But in heaven, sin having been done away, the consequences and effects will be done away also; sin being pardoned, it will be unnecessary to impress us with its enormity. What a blessed place is heaven! A world without pain of any sort - physical, social, intellectual, moral. - D.T.

I. OUR CONCEPTIONS OF GOD WILL, BE NEW. Frequently does our Lord speak in this book of his "new name" - "a name which no man knoweth saving 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 Corinthians 15, St. Paul enlarges on this theme - the spiritual body, the corruptible exchanged for the incorruptible. 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 wheat, or of some other grain." In the blade, the ear, the full corn 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 dispositions and habits; or, if not new, so intensified and exalted in their force as to be practically new - in degree, if not in kind.

IV. AND A NEW SOCIAL CONDITION. Probably nothing will be more marked in the kingdom of God than the total reversals of the judgments of the world. That which the world highly esteems will be as naught, that which it despises honoured (cf. Luke 16:15).

V. AND THERE WILL BE A NEW DWELLING PLACE. Not literally do we understand the words about the new heavens and new earth; for there is no need that we should, and much reason why we should not. But we take them as telling of the great moral changes that shall take place, and the physical changes that will result therefrom. For during all the past man's material habitation has been largely dependent upon, and the result of, his moral character. Psalm 107., "The fruitful field becomes a wilderness because of the wickedness," etc. 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 aids to the faith, that, given a new moral character, there will be a new dwelling place. Look at Palestine, the Holy Land. Once her fields flowed with milk and honey; but now, and for long centuries, through, the cursed misrule of Mohammedanism, vast regions of that land are but desert. Again, go over the Campagna of Rome, once thronged with human life and wealth, but now for the most part a deadly plain in which men cannot live. And, on the other hand, where men have obeyed the laws of God, there the reverse has been everywhere seen. In the great missionary ages of the Church companies of God fearing men would go to some desolate district, often wild, bare, and miserable in the extreme. In the heart of forests, in the midst of fens, on rugged cliffs, or in lonely islands; and there they would alternate their prayers and psalms, their sacraments and other sacred services, with hard labour and diligent toil, until they had made the wilderness to rejoice and blossom as the rose. And now, rabid Protestantism sneers at those old monks because, it is said, they always knew how to choose the best and fairest of earth's dwelling places. But it was their fear of God that led to the regeneration of the earth on which they dwelt. And when Psalm 67, is fulfilled, and "all the people praise thee, O God; then shall the earth yield her increase; God shall bless us, and all the ends of the world shall fear him." Now, of all this, and much more this blessed spring tide tells to those who have ears to hear its prophecies. But, remember, spring tide can do nothing for things that are dead. Have we, then, the seed 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." - S. C.

1. Christ is invested with the government of our world. "He that sat [sitteth] upon the throne." "He is exalted far above all principalities," etc. Glorious fact this. It explains the continuation of sinners in such a world as this, and encourages us to take a deep interest in all the operations of Providence.

2. The other fact suggested is, Christ in the exercise of his authority is engaged in the work of moral creation. "He that sitteth upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." The spiritual renovation of our world is here represented as a creation. Notice two things: the resemblance and the dissimilarity between the spiritual reformation of man and the natural creation.

I. THE RESEMBLANCE. There must be a resemblance, or else the figure would not be employed as it is here and elsewhere (see Isaiah 65:17-19; 2 Corinthians 5:17). What are the points of resemblance?

1. In both there is the production of a new order of things. From chaos of old, God, by his creative fiat, brought life, beauty, light, etc.; and from the corrupt soul of man, by his redemptive power, he evolves high spiritual virtues.

2. In both there is the production of something new by the Divine agency. Who created the heavens and the earth, etc.? God, and he only. Who creates a soul? The same glorious Being.

3. In both there is a production of the new according to a Divine plan. Every part of the universe is created on a plan. Science discovers this. In conversion it is so (Ephesians 2:10).

4. In both there is the production of the new for his own glory. "The heavens declare his glory." The conversion of men reveals the glory of God.

5. In both there is the production of the new in a gradual way. Geology and the Bible show that the work of creation is a very gradual work. It is so with the work of spiritual reformation - very gradual.

II. THE DISSIMILARITY.

1. The one was produced out of nothing; the other from pre-existing materials. In conversion no new power is given to the soul, but the old ones are renovated and wrought into right action.

2. The one was effected without any obstructing force; the other is not. in creation God had only to speak, and it was done. Not so with conversion. There is the principle of free agency and depravity to contend with.

3. The one was produced by mere fiat; the other requires the intervention of moral means. Nothing in the creation came between the work and the Divine will. In spiritual reformation it does; hence God had to bow the heavens and come down and become flesh.

4. The one placed man in a position material and insecure; the other placed him in a spiritual and safe abode. Adam was placed in a material paradise, and from his original position he fell. Conversion places men in a spiritual paradise, from which they will fall no more. They are "kept by the power of God."

5. The one develops and displays God as the absolute Spirit; the other as the Divine Man. In spiritual manifestation he is "God manifest in the flesh," full of condescension, tenderness, love.

CONCLUSION. The subject presents:

1. A solemn question for us all. Are we "new creatures in Christ Jesus"? Have we been brought out of the moral chaos?

2. A bright prospect for the world. Christ is on his throne, and the work of moral creation is carried on, and will one day be completed. - D.T.

I. HE IS IMMUTABLY TRUTHFUL. "For these words are true and faithful" (ver. 5). What words? The words that had reference to the things that had already come to pass. What he had promised and what he had threatened had come to pass. What he has spoken not only has been done, but is being done, and must be done. He is the Truth, the unalterable Reality, the one Rock that stands immovable amidst all the fluctuations of creature thought and speculation. Whatever in creature opinion is conformable to him is relatively true and beneficent, and whatever disagrees is false and pernicious.

II. HE IS EVERLASTING. "I am Alpha and Omega [the Alpha and the Omega], the Beginning and the End" (ver. 6). He is without a beginning, without a succession, without an end; the Cause, the Means, the End of all things but sin. All that exist throughout immensity are but evolutions of him; ever multiplying and growing branches from him, the eternal Root. The capability of forming such a thought is the glory of our nature; the power of properly entertaining it is the only means of possessing true mental life and progress.

III. HE IS INFINITELY BENEFICENT. "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely" (ver. 6). Souls are ever thirsting. Of all animal sensations, none is more agonizing than a burning, unquenched thirst. But soul thirst unquenched is far more agonizing and destructive. And soul thirst seems to be almost the mainspring of all human actions. "Who will show us any good?" This seems to be the cry of all. This thirst there is One and only One who can quench, and for this he is ever working. He pours forth in all directions the refreshing and crystal streams. And all this "freely," without any coercion, limitation, partiality, or pause; freely as he gives the beams of day and the waves of vital air. From the heavens above, and the earth beneath, and the waters under the earth, there goes forth from hint, as from an ever-acting, fathomless, and inexhaustible fountain, that which can quench the thirst of all human souls.

IV. HE IS SURPASSINGLY CONDESCENDING. "He that overcometh shall inherit all [these] things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son" (ver. 7). Two things are here stated which suggest this amazing condescension.

1. This recognition of every individual man who does his duty. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things." That he should notice man in the mighty aggregate may well impress us with his condescension, but that he should notice individual man, how much more! Here we have the universe won by self conquest. Notice:

(1) Self conquest as the grand work of man. What is it overcomes self? A man may overcome others by violence, overcome difficulties in his secular pursuits, overcome the forces of nature so as to make them subserve his will, and yet not overcome himself. Self conquest includes at least two things - the subordination of the body to the soul, and the subordination of the soul to sympathy with God. The soul may rule the body, but it may rule it for selfish, or sceptical, or ambitious ends, Such a rule would not be self conquest. The soul should be ruled by sympathy with God, sympathy with his character, his operation, his plans. In these two things self conquest consists, and such conquests require battling - resolute, brave, persistent, invincible battling.

(2) Self conquest as winning the universe. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things." The millions of men who live in the universe do not inherit it; it inherits, possesses them, uses them, plays with them, absorbs them, But the man who has conquered himself comes under the control of sympathy with the great God - inherits all things - gets the universe. He gets the whole of it; he penetrates its meaning, appropriates its truths, admires its beauties, drinks in its poetry, revels in its spirit, exults in its God, and says, "The Lord is my Portion." He gets the whole of it to enjoy forever.

2. The affiliation of every individual man that does his duty. "And he shall be my son" (ver. 7). The conquering of sin and the rendering of the external universe into subservience of the higher interests of his nature is the grand duty of every man, and every man that does this God will make his son. Are not all men his children? By no means. They are all his creatures, his offspring, but not his sons. A man may have a dozen or more offspring, but not one son. He only is a son who has the true filial instinct, involving trust, love, obedience, acquiescence. The great mission of Christ into our world was to generate in humanity this true filial disposition, enabling them to address the Infinite as "our Father." This is the true adoption, He, then, who conquers evil becomes a son of God. He does not receive "the spirit of bondage again to fear, but... the Spirit of adoption," etc.

V. HE IS ESSENTIALLY SIN RESISTING. But the [for the] fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part [their part shall be] in the lake which [that] burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (ver. 8). All these hideous characters are but the creatures of sin. Sin is cowardice, sin is faithless, sin is abhorrent, sin is murderous, sin is lascivious, sin is deceptive and idolatrous. All these productions of sin are abhorrent to the Divine nature. "It is the abominable thing" which he hates, and he consigns sin to irretrievable destruction, and it is destined to have its part in "the lake which burneth with fire."

CONCLUSION. Such, then, is that ever blessed One who is engaged in the new moral creation of our world. The creative work has begun; its progress seems to us slow, but its consummation is inevitable. - D.T.

I. MEN ARE SLOW TO BELIEVE THIS. Of course, those who are not "athirst" don't think anything at all about the matter. They don't care for salvation, and, therefore, the conditions of its bestowal are no concern to them. But there are those - many, thank God - who "thirst," but who are slow to believe in this "freeness" of the gift of the water of life. Now, why is this? Perhaps it is:

1. They cannot feel that God is good. They know he has a right to be "hard" with them, and they think he is so. Earthly fathers would be hard with children who have behaved as they have done, and so it is concluded the heavenly Father will be likewise. They are slow to forgive: will not he be?

2. Their pride. They would like to bring something in return - character, conduct, gifts, prayers.

3. The laws of their common life tell against this belief. Nothing for nothing is the law of life. In the sweat of their brow they must eat bread. They must pay the price for whatsoever they want. And they think so is it with this blessing that they desire.

4. The mass of mankind everywhere and always have disbelieved. Certainly there is no religion, and never has been anywhere, whose terms are like those in the text. And the mass of those who profess this one explain these terms away. The opinion of mankind is, and ever has been, against this freeness. Such are some of the reasons why many who "thirst" are yet slow to believe.

II. BUT YET THERE IS GREAT REASON WHY THEY SHOULD BELIEVE. All God's best and greatest gifts are free.

1. Life itself. We certainly paid nothing for that, but is it not precious to us? How we struggle to preserve, adorn, and prolong it!

2. And all the essentials of life. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the light and warmth of the sun, the land which produces our food, - these were all freely given, though, indeed, man, in his selfishness, has hindered that freeness so far as he can, and, doubtless, would far more were it but in his power.

3. And all that makes life blessed. The mind, with all its powers; the affections, which are the solace and sweeteners of life; the sense and love of the beautiful, in art, in nature; conscience, the guide of life; - all these are given freely, and they are God's best earthly gifts, and are free. Therefore this gift - the "water of life," which is more precious than all - may well be free likewise. Furthermore:

4. It is the Lord who giveth. Shall he descend to bargain with man, to let man transact with him his salvation? For him there can be but one relationship in which he stands to us in this matter. He must, because he is what he is, freely give.

5. And the gift itself, how could it be purchased? If it were but of slender worth man might, perhaps, find a price; but being what it is, what can purchase it?

6. And we being what we are, altogether without righteousness, merit, or claim, whence have we that which we could bring as compensation for this gift? Therefore, if there be that which may make us question the freeness of this gift, there is far more to make us believe therein.

III. AND HOW BLESSED THE BELIEF! For:

1. There are none to whom we may not go with the gospel message. Were there limitations, terms, and conditions, we could not invite all.

2. It kills the power of sin. To grieve One who has shown such mercy and grace is felt to be impossible. What he hates we must hate, and what he loves we must love.

3. It inspires us with holy purpose. It is a continual spur to all Christian endeavour. It is ever prompting the question, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"

4. It imparts a blessed satisfaction. "He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him," said our Lord, "shall never thirst." He will thirst for ore of that water, but never for aught beside.

5. It fosters humility, and frowns upon and forbids all pride. "Where is boasting? It is excluded." So said St. Paul, and reason and experience prove his saying true.

IV. BUT THE QUESTION IS - DO WE BELIEVE? Believing, according to a good theological, if not etymological, definition, is what a man "lives by." Therefore a mere mental assent is not believing. But if we believe, if we live by this faith, then we shall be joyful, holy, strong, beneficent. These will be the natural outcome of a life sustained by this belief. What shall a man say if at the last he be found unsaved when he might have freely partaken of this living water had he chosen so to do? Let us go at once and take thereof. If never before, then now; if before, then again and yet again. - S. C.

I. THAT ONE HERE NAMED - to encourage the persecuted, much tried Church, into whose hands the book first came, to continue patient, to increase courage, to endure still the trials of their lot. For this were all its awful warnings, its vivid pictures of judgment, its entrancingly beautiful promises - so exceedingly great and precious. They all aimed to deepen in the mind of each member of the Church the conviction of Romans 8:18, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy," etc.; and to convince of the truth of the Lord's words (Matthew 19:29), "Every one that hath forsaken," etc. Such was the primary purpose of the book. But there are others.

II. TO VINDICATE THE CHARACTER OF GOD. It has ever been the trial of the thoughtful in all ages how the present condition of the world could be consistent with the conviction of the character of God as holy, just, and good. This Apocalypse of the end and issue of all things does not a little to reassure and re-establish the tottering faith. When we know we are being conducted to a glorious and beautiful city where we would fain be, we do not heed overmuch the discomforts of the way.

III. TO ENNOBLE LIFE. It does this:

1. By revealing a noble destiny. The elevating power of such a revelation cannot but be, for it always is, great.

2. By inspiring scorn for what is inconsistent therewith.

3. By uplifting our desires and aims.

IV. TO IMPART PATIENCE IN SUFFERING. If I believe in the issue of suffering, and know the good it is to "work out," must not this minister patience?

V. TO MAKE US "ALWAYS ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD," because here we have shown to us "that our labour is not in vain in the Lord." No faithful effort is thrown away, or can be.

VI. TO FURNISH US WITH A GOSPEL FOR THE POOR. Because, when here we have done what we can for those who need our help, ministering to them to the best of our power, if we have nothing else to say to them, our all is but little. But this Apocalypse gives us much else - much indeed.

VII. TO MEET AND MINISTER TO THE NATURAL DESIRE FOR BLESSEDNESS. Man is made to be blessed. His constitution demonstrates that, and his incessant desire for happiness is that which lends greatest force to the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Now, in such revelation of the future of God's redeemed as these chapters give, there is the response to that hunger of the soul which others falsely promise, but which this alone can give.

VIII. TO MAKE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST PRECIOUS TO US. For he it is who, having "overcome the sharpness of death," has opened "the kingdom of heaven to all believers." We owe it all to him, and by him alone can we keep in that "patient continuance in well doing," which by his grace lands us at last on that blessed shore. Such are some of the ends contemplated by this book. Are they being fulfilled in us? - S.C.

I. OF HER GLORY. (Vers. 11, 23.) This is named first in order, as it is first in importance. It means that the grace of God which is ever in his Church shall appear, be manifest, conspicuous. It is likened to the most precious of stones - not the jasper which we know, for that was never most precious nor otherwise such as is here described; but probably the diamond, which does answer to what is here said. Now, this 6, glory" is the all important thing (cf. Isaiah 60:19). In the ideal Church, which comes down from God and is according to his mind, its gracious character, the Christ within her, will be the all conspicuous thing.

II. HER SECURITY. (Vers. 12-14; cf. Isaiah 54:14.) The Church is likened to a city for its strength. Isaiah 26:1, "We have a strong city," etc. The perfect Church shall be impregnable. "No weapon formed against her shall prosper." The Church of today is exposed to all manner of attack, and here and there succumbs. But it is because she lacks this wall. The holy city has many gates, but all are angel guarded. There is freedom of entrance for those who should enter, but none for those who should not. The angel guards keep watch and ward. Believers - the seed of believing Abraham, the true Israel of God - these, whose names are written on the gates, have right of entrance. But they shall come from no one nation. On either side are three gates. They may, they will, come from every quarter of the earth (cf. Luke 13:29). And this Church is the "city which hath foundations" (Hebrews 11:10), and it is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (ver. 14). The blessed doctrine which they taught will be the basis of the Church's security - the Christ they preached, the gospel they proclaimed. (Ephesians 2:20; Matthew 19:28).

III. HER FAULTLESSNESS. As in Revelation 11:1 the measuring meant inspection and test, so here (vers. 15-17). This city will bear Divine scrutiny; in regard to her people, "the city;" her conditions of entrance, "the gates;" her confident security, "the wall." The whole corresponds to the Divine ideal. What contrast to the Church of today! And this city is built in perfect symmetry. The square was regarded as the symbol of completeness and all perfect proportion (cf. Ephesians 3:4, "comprehend... the breadth, and length, and depth, and height," by which St. Paul meant the symmetry and fair proportion of the Christian Church and character). And not perfect only in proportion, but vast in extort. "In my Father's house are many mansions." The heart of Christ shall "be satisfied," not alone with the beautiful form of his Church, but with its greatness. Such seems to be the meaning of the fifteen hundred miles square which, is said to be the measurement of this city. There never was or could be a literal city so vast. It surpasses all human conception - as shall the reality, the Church. The height of it is named only to intensify the ideas of proportion and extent. The wall, compared with the height of the city, is but low. Sufficient for security, but not for obscurity. It would not hide the magnificence of the city as it stood on the sides of the vast eminence on which it was built, but yet the wall would well defend it. "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth," etc. (Psalm 48.). Translated out of metaphor, the meaning is that the Church which fulfils the Divine ideal will commend itself by its moral and spiritual symmetry, its correspondence to the plan of the great Architect - its "Maker and Builder," God.

IV. ITS ADORNMENTS. (Vers. 18-21.) The symbolism of these verses is taken from Isaiah 54:11, 12. The walls and city flashed with light, as the diamond, and like to burnished gold. So that the vision of it would attract, fix, and delight the mind of the beholder (cf. "Let your light so shine before men," etc.). If the jasper or diamond tell of Christ, he being the Cornerstone, elect, "precious," then the Church's glory (ver. 11), her defence (ver. 18), and her adornment (ver. 19), are alike Christ. And this is so. And the city is like pure gold, for all spiritual riches and treasure are in her. To bring her to this condition involved much refining work. But now no fire can harm her, for her dross is all gone. But the foundations also have their adornment. The apostles were adorned, as are all true ministers of Christ's Church, with the gifts and graces he bestows upon them - many, varied, and all precious; and with the converts to Christ whom they have won. "Ye are our glory and joy," said St. Paul to the Thessalonians (cf. Daniel 12:3, Revised Version). These converts also are all "living stones," but all precious, though varied in every way in which human souls can be varied. The Church of Christ has her bride like adornments (ver. 2), in the grace of spiritual character, the goodly gifts, and in the power to bless others, with which he endows her. Nor must we forget the glory of her gates (ver. 21). "I am the way," said our Lord. He is the Gate of entrance, and he is as a Pearl of great price. Bunyan notes that whilst we are told the measurements of the city and the wall, we are told nothing of the gates. And, he says, "it is because Christ, the Way, is beyond all measurement." And the "unsearchable riches" of his grace are also set forth by the figure of the gates of "one pearl." Who could compute the price of such a pearl? It will be the glory of the perfect Church that "one pearl," and that "the Pearl of great price," even Christ himself, is presented to every man at every entrance to the Church, so that none can come save by him. And even "the street" was of "pure gold." The street, the places of concourse, the ways in which the people of the city walk, are golden. That is, they are ways of holiness, godly ways, ways good and precious, ways of pleasantness and paths of peace. The spiritual glory, beauty, and riches of this way are what is meant, and what each heart knows to be true.

V. ITS MATURITY OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. As the ordinances of the tabernacle and temple gave way to the ordinances of Christ, so these ordinances will themselves give way to the worship "in spirit and in truth," which shall be the most perfect worship of all. "When that which is perfect is come, then that which is imperfect shall be done away" (1 Corinthians 13:10). The temple was to the Jews the means of access to a revelation of, and a place of instruction concerning, God. But in Christ's very presence no medium is needed, for access is direct to God. And in a Church that aspires after this model there will be not a discarding and rejection of all ordinances and forms, but there will be a growing independence of them. Whilst prized and used, they will not be indispensable. Being what we are, we may be thankful that still the ordinances of religion - sacred seasons, sanctuaries, and services - are continued to us still. But there, in the holy Jerusalem, they will not be needed. And like as the shrine, the most holy place in the tabernacle and temple, was lit up with no earthly light, but with the Shechinah cloud, the visible glory of God, so shall it be in the city of God. Translated, this means that in the perfect Church the glory of the grace of Christ in her shall render unnecessary all lesser glory, though in the eyes of men such glory should be as the sun and moon for greatness.

VI. HER ATTRACTIVENESS. Nations outside the city are clearly supposed. "Nations," not "nations of the saved," is the true reading (see Revised Version). The heathen are meant. Then will be the true missionary age. Then shall be fulfilled, as cannot be now, the promises of the universal spread of the knowledge of the Lord (cf. Isaiah 60:11). The heathen shall come and their kings, and they shall consecrate their all to Christ. And this shall continually be going on. For (ver. 27) the gates shall never be shut, but kept ever open for this blessed inflow of all to Christ. She is likened to a city, for cities are centres of influence, and affect for good or ill all around. Think of what London and like cities do in this way. And "the holy Jerusalem" shall thus influence and attract "the nations," who shall gladly walk in her "light." The blessing of God, the absence of which is the meaning of "night" in St. John's language, shall be ever present (cf. John 13:30, "And it was night"). Hence the blessed power of this city over the heathen around.

VII. HER HOLINESS. (Ver. 27.) Note this frequent form of expression. Denying one thing and asserting its extreme contrast. "There shall not enter any," etc., but there shall enter those in the book of life (cf. Revelation 3:5, "I will not blot out... but I will confess," etc.; Revelation 20:6, "the second death... but they shall be priests," etc.). The darkness of an evil condition is named to be denied, in order to serve as a foil to the glory of the blessed condition which is affirmed. And so it is here. The perfect holiness of the city is rendered more conspicuous by the denial of entrance to all abomination. Let us remember, therefore, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."

VIII. HER PROVISION AND BLESSEDNESS. (Revelation 22:1-5.)

1. As to the first, this consists of the river (ver. l) and of the tree of life (ver. 2). The provision is plenteous, as is a river for they that would drink, and as are the trees bearing its twelve harvests year by year, and standing on either side the river. Accessible, also; for the river flows through the street of the city, and the trees are on either side. No flaming sword now bars access thereto, but it is in view and in reach of and for the enjoyment of all. By these symbols of the river and the tree are meant - as when we read (Isaiah 33:16) of bread and water being sure - all necessary food. But as all here refers to spiritual things, we take our Lord's own interpretation, and read in the river the fulness of the Holy Spirit's blessing. Here we receive that blessing as a refreshing dew or as drops of rain, but there it shall flow forth as a river from the throne of God and the Lamb. For the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son; and when Christ spoke of the water that he would give, St. John adds, "This spake he of the Spirit." And as to the tree of life, Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;" "I am the Resurrection and the Life;" and repeatedly, "I am the Bread of life." Himself, then, in his sustaining, strengthening grace; and the Holy Spirit in his sanctifying, refreshing, reviving power; - all this in abundance shall be the spiritual portion of the inhabitants of the holy city. And though none there ever have to say, "I am sick," yet there are those outside the city who are, and the leaves of this blessed tree are for their healing. So that it not only blesses those who eat of it, but makes them a blessing to others also.

2. And now, finally, the exceeding blessedness of the people of the holy Jerusalem, God's servants, is set forth in a series of striking statements.

(1) "There shall be no more curse." Here, again, note the form of expression - naming the evil, whilst denying it, to set off more vividly the exceeding good which is affirmed. The "curse" is everywhere here - on man, and on the earth, his dwelling place, alike. Death, the most awful form of the curse, "reigns." "But there," etc.

(2) "The throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it." The will of God, his holy Law, his righteous authority, shall be confessed and rejoiced in.

(3) "His servants shall serve him" - with ease, alacrity, delight, and effect. Not, as here, with a poor, maimed, marred service, and even that too often rendered reluctantly, or from impure motive.

(4) "And they shall see his face." The joy of intimate fellowship shall be theirs.

(5) "And his name... foreheads." They shall be confessed before all, sealed and owned, manifested, as the sons of God.

(6) "And there shall be no night." When the Lord was betrayed, St. John tells that "it was night." Here, in the city and scene of his triumph;he tells us repeatedly that "there is no night." The light of God's love shall never be lacking.

(7) "And they shall reign forever and ever." What sentences these are! how full, how inexhaustible in their meaning! "Reign" - so also our Lord said. Yes, the chosen Church shall be the aristocracy, the ruling class, exercising wise, holy, and beneficent rule over the masses of mankind in the kingdom of God. Such rule is ever the greatest blessing to men - their real need and right. Wise rule - that is what is wanted, and that shall be. It shall be no selfish blessedness which the elect of God shall enjoy, but one that shall flow forth in beneficence for which they will have both the wilt and the power.

"Come, kingdom of our God,
And raise thy glorious throne,
In worlds by the undying trod,
Where God shall bless his own." S.C.

I. ITS FIRST CHARACTERISTIC IS HOLINESS. It is set up in the midst of evil and in opposition to it. It is holy, for it is "from God;" it is holy, for it promotes holiness in its subjects; all who pertain to it are called to be saints. Whatever is not in harmony with true ideas of holiness can have no part in the holy city.

II. ITS ORIGIN IS DIVINE. "It cometh down out of heaven from God." The true Church has its fount in him. He calls the first band out of the surrounding darkness. All is of his grace. He gives the Word which is the seed of the kingdom, he is the Father of all. The Church's grandest idea is that it is of God.

III. IT HAS ITS HIGHEST ADORNMENT IN THE MANIFESTATION OF THE DIVINE GLORY. But "the glory of God" is the symbol of God himself. We approach the true Shechinah. The glory of the Church is the presence of God. How near is that manifested glory brought to us in the Incarnation! how near in the abiding Spirit's presence! This is the true light that shineth over the city.

IV. ITS STABILITY, HARMONY, AND ORGANIC UNITY ARE REPRESENTED IN THE FIGURE OF THE CITY. Here are taught the intercourse, the fellowship, the safety, the mutual interest, of the holy ones. What is here ideally presented may not always be actually found. We deal with the patterns of the heavenly things.

V. THE FREEDOM OF ITS ACCESS TO ALL NATIONS is here declared. The gates of the city, ever open, stand to the east, the west, the north, the south. But one city; but all may enter.

VI. THE CHURCH IS BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS. All the living Christianity has its basis here.

VII. THE SPLENDOUR, BEAUTY, PERFECTNESS, STRENGTH, AND GREATNESS OF THE CHURCH OF GOD - the living Christianity of ours and of every day, and the whole idea of the same - are set forth in the utmost wealth of symbolical extravagance.

VIII. THE INTIMATE ALLIANCE OF THE DIVINE SETS ASIDE THE EARTHLY AND IMPERFECT ELEMENTS. There is no visible temple. "The Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it." The illumination of the whole city is found in the life and grace of Christ.

IX. THE UNIVERSALLY DIFFUSED BENEFICENT INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY is declared. The nations walk in the light of it, and -

X. THEIR RECIPROCAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT is found in that they "bring their glory and honour into it."

XI. ITS IMMUNITY FROM THE CONTAMINATION AND DEFILEMENT OF EVIL is indicated. Nothing unclean, nothing untrue, nothing of evil nature, enters it. It is ideal. True. Yet no evil elements shall ultimately be found in the Church of Christ; and, as at first we stated, the earthly is lost in the heavenly, of which it is at once the beginning, the type, and the pledge. - R.G.

I. HEAVENLINESS. Heaven reveals it to man. "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which [who] had the seven vials [bowls] full of the [who were laden with] seven last plagues, and talked with me [he spake unto me], saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife [the wife of the Lamb]" (ver. 9). Ministers from the celestial world are represented not only as talking to the author about it, but as inviting him to look at it. All the ideas of men concerning a perfect social state have come to us, not as the deductions of our own reasoning, but as communications from heaven. Heaven enables man to see it. "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem [showed me the holy city Jerusalem], descending [coming down] out of heaven from God" (ver. 10). It is not until we are elevated into the higher modes of thought and feeling that we have reached a standpoint from which we can command a view of this supernal state. Down in the valley of worldliness, under the shadow of the hills, and amid the exhalations and fogs of sensualities, it would be impossible to catch a glimpse of the King in his beauty, in the land that is afar off. We must climb the mental Pisgah, and reach the Mount of Transfiguration. Heaven brings it down to man. "Descending [coming down] out of heaven from God." This perfect social state must come down to us from heaven, if we are ever to realize and possess it. Men from ages of false religious teaching have come to regard heaven as something at a distance, as something yonder, not here; something in a certain locality in the universe, not something in a certain state of mind and character. Hence the cry, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I flee away, and be at rest!" But he who would have heaven in the soul, its perfect state, must bring it down, its sympathies, purposes, down into his own heart. His prayer should be, "Thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

"In sacred silence of my mind,
My heaven, and there my God, I find."

II. DIVINITY. "Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like [as it were] a jasper stone, clear as crystal" (ver. 11). As the Shechinah lit up the holy of holies in the temple, God's presence radiates through every part of this spiritual communism of the good. He is its Essence and its Inspiration. He is its [Light, transparent as the crystal and beautiful as the gleaming shot from the precious jasper. A poet has spoken of "looking through nature up to nature's God." He should have said look down on nature through God. God is in his great social system of order what the cloudless midday sun is to our globe. All other lights are buried in the brightness of its rays, and from it all life, and beauty, and motion, and order proceed. Human systems of government, what are they? Black, battling, boundless chaos. But the perfect social order is Divinity itself, all filled with God; he is All in all - the Centre, the Circumference, the Beginning, and the End of all. God is the Light of it.

III. SECURITY. "And had [having] a wall great and high, and had [having] twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels," etc. (vers. 12-14). The metropolis of this spiritual commonwealth is abundantly protected. It had a wall "great and high," impregnable and unscaleable. It had "twelve gates," three for each point of the compass - "north," "south," "east," "west." "Twelve foundations" also it had, and all the twelve gates guarded by "angels," that excel in strength. The systems of government and social order that men construct, how flail and transient they are! They are constantly changing, breaking up in confusion, and themselves sinking into ruin.

"Here a vain man his sceptre breaks,
The next a broken sceptre takes,
And warriors win and lose;
This rolling world can never stand,
Plundered and plucked from hand to hand,
As power decays and grows." But here is a kingdom that cannot be moved, a "city that hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God."

IV. SYMMETRY. "And he that talked [spake] with me had a golden reed [had for a measure a golden reed] to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof" (ver. 15). The metropolis of this commonwealth is not reared capriciously and without plan. Every material is properly measured and put in its right position. The Architect is of unerring skill. Is there any symmetry in our schemes of government, whether political, social, or ecclesiastic? What one generation has constructed, and admired as just and wise, the next, blessed with a higher education, pronounces both unrighteous and unwise. The Architect of this city measured the whole by "the golden rule." "Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself."

V. AMPLITUDE. "The city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large [great] as the breadth" (ver. 16). The city is of vast dimensions. The walls that enclose it stretch ever about fifteen hundred miles. "The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal." There is nothing limited or narrow in the scheme of social order which God has established for the government of communities; it embraces all, of whatsoever tribe or land, secular condition, or grade of intellect or culture. Look at the political schemes that men formulate! As a rule, they are ever in favour of the rich and the powerful - the few, to the disadvantage of the multitudes. Look at the religious schemes! As a rule, how miserably narrow! Officialdom has turned temples into shops, preachers into traders, and the God of infinite love into an object whose approbation is to be obtained by fulsome flattery, whining cajolery, and cringing servility, expressed in prayers and hymns that shock the common sense and conscience of the unsophisticated amongst mankind. Oh that we could "comprehend with all the saints what is the height, the depth, the length, the breadth, of God's love"

VI. COSTLINESS. Things that men regard as the most precious and costly are here mentioned as belonging to this wonderful social edifice. "And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold," etc. (vers. 18-21). In the description we have "jasper," "gold," "precious stones," "sapphire," "chalcedony," "emerald," "pearls," etc. The pearl was regarded by the ancients as of all things the most precious. Elsewhere God's truth, his Word, his moral system, is represented as "more precious than gold, yea, than even fine gold." It is the transcendent good.

1. The greatest thing in the universe is mind. Mind is the maker and manager, the owner and lord, of all material systems.

2. The greatest thing in mind is love. Pure, disinterested, self-sacrificing, Christ-like love, this identifies us with God, makes us one with him. "There abideth," says Paul, "faith, hope, charity;... the greatest of these is charity." This love is the essence of that social order which God has established in his moral creation. All the precious stones, the gold, the pearls, etc., of the creation, are puerilities compared to this. - D.T.

1. A statement of those things which are not there, but which are found elsewhere within their sphere of observation.

2. A statement of those things which are found in them in common with those scenes with which they are familiar.

3. A statement of those things which are peculiar to them, and which are found in no other scene within their knowledge. These three methods are employed by the sacred writers in order to present to us the heavenly Jerusalem - the eternal inheritance of the good. The verses before us are a specimen of the first method. Certain things are here mentioned which belong to our earthly sphere, but which have no existence there, and this very negative description has a power to make on us a deep impression that heaven is a scene of transcendent blessedness. Looking a little closely into the negative record in the text, we may infer -

I. THAT IN THAT STATE THERE IS NO SPECIALITY IN THE FORMS OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. "And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it" (ver. 22). A city without a temple would strike the common notions of men as atheistic. To the Jewish mind especially it would give the idea of a city to be avoided and denounced. The glory of the metropolis of their country was its temple. When the Prophet Ezekiel would cheer and animate them in their Babylonian bondage, he presents to them a graphic description of the temple that was to be reared in their city, with its ornaments and ordinances, its chambers for the priests, its altars for the sacrifices. Still, whatever might be the popular notions of men about temples, with their methods of worship:

1. Their existence implies spiritual blindness and imperfection; they are remedies for evils.

2. Their history shows that men, in many instances, have turned them to a most injurious account. They have nourished superstition. Men have confined the idea of sacredness and worship and God to these buildings. They have nourished sectarianism, the devilism of Christendom. Different classes have had their different temples and modes of worship, and often regard with sectarian jealousy and loathing those who kneel not at their altar and adopt not their theory of doctrine and ritual of worship. When it is said, therefore, that there is "no temple in heaven," it does not mean that there will be no worship in heaven, but that there will be no temple like that on earth, always implying imperfections and often used to foster the superstitious and sectarian. The reason assigned for the non existence of a temple in heaven is a very wonderful one: "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." God and his holy Son are not only the Objects of heavenly worship, but the very temple of devotion. All there feel not only that they have to render to God and his Son worship, but they are in them in the worship. All there feel that "in him they live, and move, and have their being;" that he is the very breath of their existence. Where he is - and he is everywhere - there is their temple, there is their worship. The doctrine of worship propounded by Christ to the woman of Samaria is there felt in all its intensity and developed in all its perfection. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." The "no temple" in heaven really means "all temple" - worship everywhere, under all circumstances, and forever. Brethren, are we learning a worship here to prepare us for the worship yonder? Is our worship a thing of buildings, liturgies, ritualisms, and sects? Such worship will not do for heaven. Our conventional worship, in the light of the worship of eternity, is as contemptible as a rushlight in the beams of the noonday sun.

II. THAT IN THAT WORLD THERE IS NO NECESSITY FOR SECONDHAND KNOWLEDGE. "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof" (ver. 23). Moons and suns are but secondary organs of light. The moon borrows from the sun; the sun, perhaps, from another orb; and that from another. The Fountain of all light is God himself, the is "the Father of lights." The grand central orb in the material universe catches his radiance, and flings it abroad on the million globes of space. When we are told, therefore, that the city will have no need of the moon and the sun, it figuratively expresses the idea that the holy tenants of that blessed state will have no need for any secondary means of knowledge. Here a secondhand knowledge is indispensable to us. Most of the knowledge we have is derived from others - parents, teachers, ministers, books. Knowledge about our own being and relations, about Christ and God and worship, come to us, not directly from God, the great Fountain of light, but through a variety of secondary agencies. Even the higher light of the Bible comes to us in this way. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved." It is moon and sun light; the light of secondary orbs we have here, and we cannot do without it. Not so in the celestial world. That spiritual intelligence in that blessed state will be derived from communion with spirit can scarcely admit a doubt. In that society, as here, there will be the teacher and the learner. But the idea symbolized by the verse is that that secondhand knowledge will not be needed, will not be indispensable as here. Here, like Job, we hear of God by the hearing of the ear; there we shall see him as he is, and be like him. He will be the Light, the clear, direct, unbounded medium, through which we shall see ourselves, and our fellow worshippers, and the universe. "Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face." This light will he enjoyed by all the saved. "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it" (ver. 24). Observe:

1. The saved will be numerous. "Nations." "The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising," etc. (Isaiah 60:3-5).

2. The saved will be progressive. "They shall walk in the light," ever onward.

3. The saved are self-surrendering. "The kings of the earth do bring their glory." All the honours, even of kings, shall be laid in reverence at his feet. "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him."

III. THAT IN THAT WORLD THERE WILL BE NO APPREHENSION OF DANGER FROM ANY PART. "And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there" (ver. 25). Never shut by day, then never shut at all, for the day there is eternal. Fear, which bath torment, and which often shakes our spirits here, as the wind shakes the leaf in the forest, will find no place in any breast in heaven. An unshaken consciousness of safety will reign universally. No fear of temptation; here we are bound to watch and pray lest we fall into temptation; we are surrounded by tempters on every hand. No seductive serpent will ever find. his way into that Paradise restored by Christ. Why should we say so? Has there not been a fall in heaven? Did not a host of bright angels leave their first estate? And may not such a rebellion again break forth? Never! Why? Because of the great amount of motive that now exists in heaven to bind the virtuous to virtue, the Christian to Christ, the godly to God.

1. There is a motive from a contrast between the present and the past.

2. There is the motive from the appearance of the Lamb in the midst of the throne. The memory of Calvary is a golden chain, linking all to the eternal throne of purity and love. There is no fear of affliction. We are told in the fourth verse that there shall be no sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. The countless ills to which flesh is heir will never find their way thither. There is no fear of death. Death here is the king of terrors. Through fear of death we are all our lifetime subject to bondage; but death will never enter there. The gates, then, might well be left open, for there is no fear.

IV. THAT IN THAT WORLD THERE WILL BE NONE OF THE INCONVENIENCES OF DARKNESS. "There shall be no night there."

1. Night interrupts our vision. It hides the world from our view, and is the symbol of ignorance. The world is full of existence and beauty, but night hides all.

2. Night interrupts our labour. We "go forth unto our labour until the evening."

V. THAT IN THAT WORLD THERE WILL BE NO ADMISSION OF IMPURITY OF ANY KIND. "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life (ver. 27). Observe:

1. The excluded. All impurities of all kinds and degrees.

2. The included. All who are "written," etc. All who are registered on the grand roll of redemption. What a roll is this! - D.T.

I. BETTER MEANS THAN THE PRESENT OF REVEALING WHAT IS TO BE KNOWN. The sun is our revealer here. Its light is that which makes all things manifest. All light, artificial as well as natural, comes from one central sun. Either from the sun's direct rays, as in daylight, or from those rays stored up in primeval forest products, and now liberated again for our use. But when we see things in the light of God's glory, we shall see far more than we do now. Our judgments of what is seen will, after such vision, be changed not a little.

II. BETTER MEANS OF GROWTH. The sun is such a means. Harvests spring and ripen beneath its beams. And because "growth" will belong to the better world - for we cannot conceive of an everlasting halt and standstill - even more than to this, there must be means of growth. The sun here represents all such means, whether in things material, mental, or moral. But if these means are superseded, then the glory of God must be - and in things spiritual we can well understand this - a better means.

III. AND OF ADORNMENT. It is the sun which, touching, tinges with all loveliest hues even the dullest and dreariest things. Out of the dreary rain it calls forth the gorgeous "bow in the cloud," the seven-hued arch that spans the heavens, so unspeakably lovely that St. John makes it again and again the symbol of the glory that over arches the throne of God. But in the light of Christ and God, told of here, we shall become spiritually beautiful. Here we may see all manner of beauty, and remain foul at heart -

"Where every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile." But that light likens those on whom it falls to him from whom it comes. What, then, is the adornment of the natural sun compared to that?

IV. AND OF SERVICE. "Work... while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." So, and truly, spoke our Lord. Sunlight and strength alike fail us, though service needs to be rendered and work waits to be done. So is it here. But there the essentials of service will be present in degree and kind such as here we have not known.

CONCLUSION.

1. In order to our possession of all these, we must use the means we have. They that cannot bear a weak light, will yet less bear a strong one.

2. As there are better things provided for us, we may be sure that we shall be made better likewise, so as to be fit for them. Our future home is a prepared place for a prepared people. - S.C.

I. THE NIGHT A COMMON EMBLEM OF THINGS EVIL. The Bible notices of it are, like this of our text, almost always of a disparaging and deprecatory tone. It is represented as undesirable, and as telling of things that are evil. Sorrow (Isaiah 21., "Watchman, what of the night?" - speaking of Edom's affliction). "Songs in the night" mean songs in sorrowful seasons. Ignorance. "Darkness shall cover the land, and gross darkness the people." And concerning this land it was said that "it sat in darkness," so dense was the ignorance of the people. Sin. "Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil;" "We are not the children of the darkness, but of the light." Death. "Work... while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." The power of Satan. "This is your hour, and the power of darkness." And there are many more of a like sort. And yet -

II. THE NIGHT IS ONE OF GOD'S GOOD GIFTS. In plant-life it is essential to their growth. Night - so naturalists tell - is the time that the root of the plant feeds. During the day the light acts as a force upon the lining of the bark of the plant or tree, by which the nutriment is drawn up from the root. Now, at night that action ceases, and the root is able to thrust itself downward, deeper and deeper into the soil, wherever it can gain the nourishment it needs, and which it will have to supply when again the light comes, and yet more when the spring comes. The night is needed for this. And it is the time when the plant rids itself of that which would be hurtful to its life. The sap that the light and warmth of day have drawn up from the roots returns thither at night, but changed because charged with elements that the root will reject. It is these rejections of the root that render necessary the rotation of crops. The soil is poisoned for the same plant, but is ready for others. Now, for this, and much more in vegetable life, the night is needed. And for animal life. Psalm 104. sings, "Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God." Night is their feeding time, the sleeping time of most of their victims. Thus much suffering is avoided, and yet "the young lions" are fed. And for human life. The body is compelled to rest if its powers are to continue in vigour, and the night time is plainly given for that end. They who turn night into day and defraud the body of its due rest, frustrating the purpose for which night was given, violate the Creator's laws, and must pay the certain and severe penalty which such violation involves. And the mind owes much to the night season, for it gains enlargement and instruction by the spectacle of the starry heavens; they, then, declare the glory of God. And the soul is uplifted by the contemplation of that glory. Thus, and for yet other reasons, is night to be regarded as one of God's good gifts to met. Nevertheless, in the new heavens and the new earth it is said, "There is no night there."

III. HOWEVER UNDERSTOOD, THE TEXT IS A BLESSED PROMISE.

1. Suppose we understand it figuratively. Then the promise is that all those varied ills of the mind and the soul which night has been the symbol of - as in the declaration that there shall be "no more sea" - shall be absent from the saints' eternal home.

2. Or if we take the words literally - and it is possible that this may be meant - then they involve other glorious elements of the future which God's Word leads us to look for; e.g. a new physical nature. For if there be no night, then no need of rest. Indeed, we are told "they cease not" in their high employ "day nor night." But for such unresting and yet untiring occupation a body not limited, frail, and easily fatigued, like our present body, must be given; a physical nature altogether different from the present. And that which we should have inferred is clearly stated in other Scriptures. "There is a natural body," such as we now have, "and there is a spiritual body," which is what we shall have. But if there be a new and a more glorious body, that is the index of a new and more glorious spiritual nature. The external is the fit clothing of the internal. There is congruity between them, so that we argue, and for the most part rightly, from the outward to the inward, and we gather much as to the character of any creature from its external form. If, then, there shall be a new and glorious body, what shall be the spirit within, which is furnished with so glorious an instrument for the carrying out of its purposes? But if a new physical and spiritual nature, then there must be a new mind towards God. For it is plain that the embargo laid upon our present nature, by which it is "made subject to vanity," has been taken off. That limitation was because we were not to be trusted with larger powers. "And now," said God, "lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" (Genesis 3:22); "so he drove out the man." Man was, because of sin, made as he is, because if more had been given him he could not be trusted to use it aright. That is the teaching of the verse in Genesis. But the possession of the new physical and spiritual nature proves that that restriction has been removed. But that proves that a new mind is in man towards God. No longer a rebellious disobedient mind, but "the mind of Christ," of "a dear child." But if this, then there must be a new social state; no longer discord and strife, because there is one mind towards God, and hence all are one. But this is the Paradise of God, the kingdom of heaven itself. That we may have ever-growing surety that we shall come to that blessed home of God's saints, let us look within the region of our own hearts, and see if there be no night there - no darkness of sin and unbelief. If there be, then at once let us turn to him, who giveth to all who seek, that he may "shine into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." - S.C.

(1) constant luminosity;

(2) unclouded beauty; and

(3) uninterrupted favours.

I. CONSTANT LUMINOSITY. Night draws her veil over nature, and hides from mortals the world in which they live, and it is therefore the symbol of ignorance. Never, of course, shall we see all things in heaven. There will always be universes lying beyond the ken of the most penetrating eye. The elevation that lies today at the utmost boundary of an angel's horizon he may perhaps reach in the course of time, and one day stand upon its lofty brow. But even from this towering apex he may find other elevations concealing the infinite beyond. The finite intellect will never grasp the Infinite. Nor do I believe that different minds will ever have exactly the same view of things, see things exactly in the same light. This seems to me impossible, from the fact that no two spirits are exactly alike, nor can any two occupy exactly the same points of observation. Our views will necessarily be relative. They will be true to us, but not necessarily true to others. God alone can see the whole of a thing. We only see sections and sides. Not only does it appear impossible, but also undesirable. Diversity of view gives a freshness and charm to society. A city where all the citizens had precisely the same views on the same subjects would be characterized by a drowsy monotony. A loving comparison of views, a generous debate, a magnanimous controversy, are amongst the blessings and charms of social life. Still, our range of vision, though relative, and our views though relative, will be clear and accurate. Here, in a world of nights, our most correct conceptions of things are clouded more or less with error. We see now through a "glass, darkly," says Paul. The glass he refers to was not like our window-glass, offering no obstruction to light, but a semi-transparent horn. How different the landscape looked through such a thick medium, as looked at directly with a clear, strong eye! Notwithstanding this, all will be light enough to make the path of duty clear. The depravities of our nature, the Carnal and selfish inclinations of our hearts, often throw the darkness of night upon that course of life which is true and just. But in that world without a night, eternal sunshine will settle on the path of duty; it will lie straight before us, and we shall move on with the steps of certitude. God's will will radiate on everything without, and will express itself in every impulse within. In that nightless sphere all will be morally pure. Moral impurity reigns in the night. It is the season in which great sins are generally committed. The thief and the assassin go forth with stealthy tread on their mission of wickedness in the night. The gambler, the debauchee, and the serfs of carnal appetites meet and hold their revelries in the night. "They that be drunken are drunken in the night." The prince of darkness and all his ghostly legions win their most terrible victories in the gloom and the silence of nocturnal hours. The day is the emblem and the minister of purity. How pure is the light! In heaven all is pure. There are the holy angels whose natures, through the ages of their being, have never been clouded by one impure thought or touched by the thrill of one unholy passion. The redeemed of all ages are there.

II. UNCLOUDED BEAUTY. The negation implies that it is a realm ever beautiful in aspect. Darkness hides the beauty of the world, but light is the creator and minister of beauty. All the variegated colours of the summer's landscape we owe to the sun; and all the exquisite forms of life owe their existence to his renewing power. The sun is nature's great painter. All the pictures of loveliness that charm us as we walk the galleries of life have been photographed by his smiles and tinged by his hues. What, then, will be the beauty of a world where there is "no night" - a world of perpetual sunshine? All the beauties of nature will be clear. The very distant shores and the seas, the meads and the mountains, the rivers and the ravines - all, in fact, beneath, around, above - will be one grand universe of beauty. All the beauties of artists will be clear. The very instinct of genius is to invent, imitate, and create, and there genius will flourish in perfection. May it not be that numbers will there be employed in copying the forms of loveliness around them with pencils more delicate, lines more life like, hands more skilful, than our Raphaels and Rubenses, our Da Vincis and Correggios? May it not be that we shall see numbers there employed in weaving the sounds of nature into melodies more soul stirring and Divine than ever struck the lyre of our Handels and Mozarts? May it not be that numbers will he there hymning their praises in strains of seraphic poetry, compared with which the epics of Milton and the lyrics of Cowper are but the vapid fancies of childhood? Genius there will undoubtedly be active, and all her productions will be distinguished by the highest perfection of beauty. All the moral beauties will be clear. The beauty of holiness, the beauty of the Lord, will adorn every spirit. All will be endowed with those attributes of moral loveliness that will command the admiration of each and all. Thus all will rejoice in each other, and all rejoice in the Lord, whence all their beauty came.

III. UNINTERRUPTED FAVOURS. Night checks the progress of life. The processes of life, it is true, go on in the night, but they are slow and feeble. Life cannot bear the darkness long; pulse grows feeble under its ebon reign. Its tide ebbs under its cold breath. Take a vigorous, blooming plant, and shut it up in the dark. How soon will it lose its vitality, become delicate, colourless, and die! Were our sun to shine on without setting from year to year on this earth, who could tell how high the tide of life would rise in every living thing? Where there is "no night," there will be no check to the advance of life. The vital energies will always be increasing. Sinew and soul, character and conscience, will be ever growing in force. "From strength to strength" all these proceed. No blight to wither, no shadow to chill, there. But all the influences that play around existence there inspire, invigorate, and uplift. Night checks the progress of labour. We "go forth unto our labour until the evening;" then night shuts us in. We retire to unconsciousness and inaction. "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him." "The night cometh, when no man can work." But in a world where there is "no night," there is no checking of labour. Our range of action would be unrestrained. We shall be always abounding in the work of the Lord. Night checks the progress of happiness. Darkness is depressing. Hence it is often used as the emblem of misery; the scene where the wicked one,is is spoken of as "outer darkness." Even the irrational creatures around us feel the depressing influence of a gloomy day. Under the dark clouds and murky sky, the cattle cease to gambol on the hills, and the fowls of heaven cease their music in the groves. All feel the pressure of darkness. Light is the condition and emblem of joy. A bright day sets the world to music. What happiness, then, must there be in a world where there is no night! In what does its happiness consist? The context answers the question - the absence of all evil. No pain, no sorrow, no death, no hunger, no thirst, no temple, no night. The presence of all the good: the river of life, the tree of life, companionship with the holy, fellow ship with God, oneness with Christ. This is heaven. Such are the ideas suggested by this nightless condition. It is a scene where the vision is ever clear, where the character is ever pure, the aspect is ever beautiful, life is ever advancing, joy is ever rising. The sun never sinks beneath the hills, nor does a cloud ever intercept his rays. - D.T.

I. THE WRITING - the book itself. "The Lamb's book of life." It is the heart of Christ.

"The names of all his saints he bears
Deep graven on his heart." As the high priest of Israel bore on his jewelled breastplate the names of the twelve tribes, so the record of Christ's people is Christ's heart. He forgets no name and no "work of faith and labour of love" done for him; not even the "cup of cold water" given for his sake. Is it hard to believe? Why, do we not know how he is remembering us every day? - our wants, our weaknesses, our sorrows? And he supplies all our need. These facts of experience may well make us trust this record more than any book - the heart of Christ, the true book of life.

II. THE WRITER OF THIS BOOK. It is Christ himself. Ministers cannot enter your name there. Sacraments and sacred services, though often observed, have not this power. Birth and parentage, creed and profession, likewise fail.

III. THE WRITTEN THEREIN. We have spoken of the record and the Recorder; we speak now of the recorded ones - those written in the book. And who are these? We reply - All save those whose names have been blotted out of that book. When any child of man is born into this world, at once his name goes into this book; and because it is there, Christ's representative, his Church, through her ministers, lays claim to the child at the very beginning of its life. Children are baptized in the name of the Triune God, because they belong to him, are his by creation, redemption, and the gift of his blessed Spirit. So have we "learned Christ." But will the name stay in the book? We are clearly taught that a process of erasure as well as entry goes on in regard to that book. "Lord, blot not out my name!' should be the prayer of each of us. And what will ensure its permanence in the record? Faith, love, obedience, - these three. And where one is, the others are never far off. - S.C.