In the absolute impossibility of certainly ascertaining what definite historical events were in the mind of St. John when he penned these mysterious chapters of his Apocalypse, we are driven, as perhaps it was designed we should be driven, to take them as an inspired parable or allegory, and so gather from them lessons for our own times. We have done so in regard to the "little book" told of in Revelation 10.; and in regard to the measuring of temple, altar, and worshippers, told of in the first ten verses of this chapter; and we purpose dealing with this record of the two witnesses in a similar way; for we know of no other in which our consideration of them can be of any service to us. This entire episode, stretching from Revelation 10:1 to Revelation 11:13, has to do with these witnesses; Revelation 10. showing their preparation by means of the book; Revelation 11:1, 2 showing the people before whom they would witness; and now the vers. 3-13 tell more especially of the witnesses themselves and their witness for God, and then that of God for them. It might seem as if in ver. 4 we had an authoritative explanation of these two witnesses, as it points us back to the prophecy of Zechariah 4:1-3, and tells us that what he saw was now fulfilled. But Zechariah's symbol merely tells of the characteristics of these witnesses; that they were to be as the olive trees were - supporters and sustainers of the life to which they ministered. The olive trees so ministered to the lamps, and these witnesses so ministered to the people of God. They were also to be as lamps, letting their light shine in such wise as should glorify God. St. John's word, "These are," etc., therefore means no more than that these are represented by, and correspond to, the two olive trees, etc. But we may, we believe, find the antitypes of those ancient symbols and types of St. John's allegory in our Lord Jesus Christ and his Church. They are the two witnesses, and are one to the other as the trees and the lamp; but before the world, both witness. Look at the life of our Lord and the history of his Church; all that is told of here may be read therein. Christ himself is called in this book, "The faithful and true Witness;" and he himself said of his Church in her ministry, "This gospel shall be preached for a witness in all nations;" and it is written of old, "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord." Hence in Christ and his Church we may find these witnesses, and in what is here recorded of them we may see the mutual fellowship that exists between them. See this -

I. IN MINISTRY. For both that of Christ and his Church was a ministry:

1. Of prophecy. Not in the sense of predicting the future, but in uttering forth the will of God - preaching and proclaiming God's message to mankind. In both there were works of Divine power, signs and wonders; but these were of but subordinate importance as compared to their ministry of the Word. Our Lord was the great Teacher, and he bade his disciples "preach the gospel."

2. Of brief duration. Who knows what precisely is meant by these mysterious twelve hundred and sixty days? It is the same period of three years and a half whether told of as days here or as months in ver.

2. It is the half of seven, the number denoting completeness and perfection. There may be allusion to the time of our Lord's ministry on earth, or to that of the investment of Jerusalem by the Romans, or, taking the year day theory, to some twelve hundred and sixty years during which this ministry is to be carried on. We prefer to take the numbers as telling of a time limited and brief. Such was our Lord's ministry; such the duration of the Church in Jerusalem ere it fled away to Pella; such, in comparison with the eternal ages in which the blessed results of their ministry shall be realized, is the ministry of the Church of today and all past and future days.

3. Characterized by much of sternness and sorrow. "Clothed in sackcloth" - so is it described. Was it not so with our Lord? He was "the Man of sorrows." And has it not been so with his Church oftentimes, just in proportion as they have been faithful to their Lord? See the life of Paul, of Peter, of the martyr Church in many generations, under both pagan and papal Rome. How can it be otherwise when we think of the ends that are to be secured - so momentous - and of the tremendous hindrances in the way of securing these? Such ministry is no holiday pastime, no decorous profession merely, but one that for our Lord and his apostles, for his martyrs and for all his faithful, seems oftentimes to be "clothed in sackcloth."

4. But it is of resistless force. Like as was the ministry of Elijah and Moses. Elijah literally called down fire from heaven, and Moses did that which is here said of these witnesses. And in a real, though not literal sense, vers. 5 and 6 are true. Was not our Lord's word as a fire to his enemies? How it scathed and tormented them! And were not his words fulfilled when Jerusalem was overthrown? And so of the other witness, the Church. What has become of her persecutors - Rome, Spain, and many more? Has it been well with those who have hurt the Church of God? "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye" - so hath God said, and historic fact vindicates that word. And so of the withholding of the rain. Elijah did this literally; but was not the righteous and universal judgment on the hardened ones whereby, as our Lord said, "seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand" - was not this a yet more real and terrible withholding of the rain and shutting of heaven against them? Christ was "set for the fall" as well as "the rise" of many in Israel; they would have it so. And the words of the other witness have had like effects. "Whose sins ye retain, they are retained," said the Lord to his Church. "What thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven," he also said. And was not this word fulfilled when such as Paul turned from the Jews who had rejected him and went unto the heathen? What would become of a nation, a community, if the good all went away? What became of Sodom when Lot left it; of Jerusalem, when the Church of Christ left it? Parodies of this power of the Church were seen in the interdicts which proud popes and prelates would at times lay on the lands that believed in them. The threat of such interdict seemed like shutting heaven against them, and they dreaded it with a great dread. And the plagues Moses inflicted on Egypt have their counterpart in the sorrows that have come on men in all ages who have sought to hurt the Lord's anointed ones, and to do his witnesses harm. Yes; this ministry of the witnesses has had resistless force accompanying it, before which its foes have fallen again and again. Let none of us be found fighting against God.

II. IN SUFFERING. We seem in vers. 7-13 to have a piece of the gospel history, of the life of our Lord, given to us. For he was met with the hostile rage of hell. The "beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit" did make war against him. And for a time hell seemed to have vanquished the Christ. For he was betrayed, condemned, and crucified. And with contempt like to that of refusing burial was our Lord treated. "He was despised and rejected of men." It was their "hour, and the power of darkness." And the Church, his co-witness, has had fellowship in his sufferings, and been once and again "made conformable unto his death." The same foe, the same rage, the same suffering, the same seeming vanquishment, the same scorn, these have been her lot as well as her Lord's. And over both have been the like short-lived exultation. Herod and Pontius Pilate became friends over the condemned Christ. His enemies breathed more freely when they knew he was dead. How they mocked him as he hung on the cross! Their joy, as well as their hatred and scorn, are clearly audible in those hideous insults which they heaped upon him. And again and again have the persecutors of the Church exulted in imagined success. Pagan and papal, still worse than pagan Rome, have alike flattered themselves, once and again, that heresy - as they deemed it - was completely put down. They have been "drunk with the blood of saints," and in their wild orgies have rejoiced and made merry as the manner of such is to do. Let us, whose lot has fallen in these quiet days, learn lessons of thankfulness that no such suffering as the Church has had to endure falls to our share, and that, when such suffering had to be borne, grace sufficient for the day was given. What an implied promise of ever present help there is in that! And let us be ashamed to shrink from any suffering allotted to us, seeing how incomparably less it is, which, in witnessing for God, we may be called upon to bear. And let us remember, and be comforted by the remembrance, whence and when such sufferings come. Whence? From hell, and such as were the men of Sodom and Egypt, and the murderers of the Lord. If friendship with such would save us from suffering, would we be their friends? God forbid! And when? It was when the evil they could do could do no harm (see ver. 7). The witnesses had finished their testimony. What a shutting of the door after the horse has been stolen! God's witnesses had done their work; it did not matter now what their foes might do against or with them. God's servants are immortal, yea more, are left unhindered, until their work is done.

III. IN TRIUMPH. (Ver. 11.) Our Lord's resurrection, the fear which fell on his foes, his ascension, Pentecost and its marvels, are all referred to here as patterns of the triumph of the witnesses. In these great events are found the archetype and model, and not merely the mere illustration, of what St. John tells of. It is easy to see what answers in the history of our Lord to what is here said. He was glorified, declared to be the Son of God with power, by means of them. And in his triumph his people share, so that, in a very real sense, what is said of him can be, and is, said of them. Church revivals, of which there have been many, are instances of fellowship in Christ's triumph. Often have hell and Satan, and all that are theirs, thought that Christianity and the Church were crushed. Voltaire vowed that it should be his ecraser l'infame, and he thought that by his writings it should surely be done, and in the awful days of the revolutionary terror it seemed as if his vaunt were not vain, but valid. But revival came. In the blessed Reformation times, what a resurrection unto life for the faith and the Church there was! In the Diocletian persecutions it seemed as if all were lost, but in brief while, Constantine avowed himself a Christian, and the faith which was once persecuted was now praised and preferred everywhere. And today in many quarters, it is feared that faith is dead. Perhaps some fear it for themselves. But behold this parable of the witnesses. Over the grave of all such "Resurgam" may, should be, written. "Failure" is a word unknown in the vocabulary of God, but ultimate and complete triumph is absolutely sure.

CONCLUSION. Witnesses for Christ, does not this bid us be of good cheer? Enemies of Christ, does not the word of his witnesses "torment" you? Does it not rankle within you, driving away your peace, refusing to let you alone in your sins, however much you might wish it would? It scorches and burns inwardly, as if the fire unquenchable were already kindled. Blessed be God that the witness of the Word doth torment, pricking you to the heart, and causing perpetual pain. Yield to it, as did Saul the persecutor, who, by yielding, became Paul the apostle. "The Word is quick and powerful;" it goes straight to the conscience, making many a Felix "tremble" and many an Agrippa resolve "almost to be a Christian." But remember, it may do all this and not save your soul. Oh for that one little step which yet remains to be taken! that actual "arising and going to your Father"! that real coming to Christ that you may have life! If the Word torments, it is only that it may arouse you to listen; it is only that you may take it to you as your guide, your light, and your comforter. Trifle not with that Word which must one day judge you. May Christ give it entrance while it is still light and not fire - "a light to cheer and to enlighten, not a fire to burn and to consume"! (Vaughan). - S.C.

I. We shall regard it, first, As A SUMMONS SENT AT THE APPOINTED HOUR TO EVERY SAINT. When the time shall come, fixed by irreversible decree, there shall be heard "a great voice from heaven" to every believer in Christ, saying, "Come up hither."

1. This should be to us — each one of us, if we be in Christ — the subject of very joyful anticipation. To some Christians it will be not only joyful in anticipation, but it will be intensely delightful when it arrives.

2. To change the note a moment; while this should be the subject of joyous anticipation, it should also be the object of patient waiting. God knows best when it is time for us to be bidden to "Come up hither." We must not wish to antedate the period of our departure. I would not wish to die while there is more work to do or more souls to win.

3. As this "Come up hither" should excite joyous anticipation, tempered by patient waiting, so it should always be to us a matter of absolute certainty as to its ultimate reception. I can understand a man being in doubt about his interest in Christ, but I cannot understand a man's resting content to be in these doubts.

4. I think very often, besides joyfully anticipating, patiently waiting, and being confidently assured of it, the Christian should delightfully contemplate it.

II. We will take the text this time, not as a summons to depart, but as WHISPER FROM THE SKIES TO THE BELIEVER'S HEART, The Father seems to say this to every adopted child. Nor will your Father and my Father ever be content till every one of His children shall be in the many mansions above. And Jesus whispers this in your ear. "I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I elm, that they may behold My glory." Jesus beckons thee to the skies, believer. Lay not fast hold upon the things of earth.

III. These words may be used as A LOVING INVITATION TO UNCONVERTED PERSONS. There are many spirit voices which cry to them, "Come up hither; come up to heaven."

1. God our Father calls thee. Sinner, thou hast many troubles of late; business goes amiss. Dost thou not know, sinner, this is thy Father saying, "Come up hither"? Thy portion is not here; seek thou another and a better land.

2. But more, the Lord Jesus Christ has also beckoned to you to come. Thou hast heard that He made a way to heaven. Is not a road an invitation to a traveller to walk therein?

3. The Spirit of God strives with thee and cries, "Come up hither." The Spirit of God wrote this book; and wherefore was this book written? Hear the words of Scripture, "These are written that ye might believe," etc.

4. Moreover, does not thy conscience say the same?

5. And, last of all, the spirit of your friends departed cry from heaven to you to-night — that voice which I would you could hear, "Come up hither." I adjure you, ye sons of saints in glory; I adjure you, daughter of immortal mothers; despise not now the voice of those who speak from heaven to you.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

And we, too, hear voices from heaven, saying unto us, "Come up hither." Did we not, how grovelling our desires, our pursuits, our very natures would be!

1. There is, first, a voice even from the lower and material heaven, calling on our souls, and urging them to ascend. The stars of the firmament, and the sun, and the moon, speak as well as shine. They "utter forth a glorious voice"; a voice which not only declares the glory of God, but exhorts the spirit of man. Come up hither! Come up into the vast domains of space, and count our numbers, and compute our size, and bathe in our brightness, and learn what we can tell you of height and of depth, of splendour and of power. Stay not always below. Breathe not always in mist and vapours. Regard not earth so exclusively and so long, as to rest in the conclusion that earth is all.

2. We do not stop, however, but only begin with these works, all bright and eloquent as they are. They introduce us to Him who made them; to Him from whose fountain they draw their light, and of whose voice their own is but an echo. God delegates not to His creatures, but reserves as His own right, the highest converse with His likeness, the human soul. He is the Father of spirits, and He will speak Himself to His children. And from the heaven where He dwelleth He says to them, Come up hither. Come up into the spiritual dwelling-place of your Creator, and birthplace of your own souls. Remain not so constantly in your temporal residence, as to forget the way to that abode where My children are to live for ever. Come up hither by faith now, that hereafter you may come in by sight. Come up by hope, that when hope shall disappear, it may be Swallowed up in fruition. Come up by charity and good works done in the body, that when your bodies are resolved into dust, your souls may be prepared for that happy and holy kingdom into which sin and impurity cannot enter. Come up hither by the exercises of piety and the strength of Divine love. Come, and see My face, and be to Me as sons.

3. But there is another to whom we are dear, even His own Son, who dwells with His Father; and He also calls us from the same heaven, saying unto us, Come up hither l Here are the mansions which I have been preparing for My disciples. Cause not My labour for you to be vain. I earned My reward, that ye might share it with Me. I would not lose one soul that I once bled to redeem. Come up hither. There is room for you, and for all.

4. And now we hear other great voices from heaven, saying unto us, Come up hither! They are the voices of "the glorious company of the apostles," "the goodly fellowship of the prophets," "the noble army of martyrs," the innumerable multitude of saints and sealed servants of God, which no man can number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues. Come up hither I they cry, and witness our joys, and be encouraged by our success.

5. There are few to whom I am speaking who do not hear other voices yet, which, though not more animating than the last, are, by the provision of God, nearer to the listening ear, and dearer to the soul. There are few who do not number in their families those whose places are vacant at the table and the hearth, but who are not reckoned as lost but only gone before. And when the business of daily life is for a while suspended, and its cares are put to rest — nay, often in the midst of the world's unheeded tumult — their voices float down clearly and distinctly from heaven, and say to their own, Come up hither! Our infirmities are relieved; our strength is renewed; our fears and doubts are flown away; our sins are forgiven. Hearken to us, and be comforted! Come to us, when your journey is done!

(F. W. P. Greenwood, D. D.)

No argument is needed to show that the word "up" is used in a figurative and not in a literal sense, What heaven is we do not know. The truth is that between physical and moral relations there is often a close analogy. The physical world in which we live is the type of the world to which we are going; the conditions of being, the relations of matter in which we are practised here — motion, rest, distance, nearness, weight, buoyancy, power, resistance, birth, life, growth, death — all these are physical ideas; yet we cannot talk about spiritual or heavenly things without employing these terms; and they were meant to be used by us in this way. Of course the essential excellence of heaven consists in the moral purity and perfection of which it is the home. And between moral purity and perfection and physical elevation there seems to be a constant and, perhaps, a necessary relation. Perhaps the human mind is so constituted that it will associate these ideas. The fact is worth noting, because we are not always aware that when we seem to be speaking in the soberest prose we are often using words poetically. We talk of the higher life, meaning, of course, the purer and better life; we describe one whom we know as possessing a lofty spirit, as governed by an elevated purpose, as having a high standard of conduct. The analogy between physical height and moral excellence is most clear and vivid. We go down into cellars and dungeons, into caverns and morasses, into sloughs and pitfalls, into floods and depths of ocean. A great part of our physical discomforts and dangers are encountered in going down. We go up to solid footing, to pure air, to wide prospects; many of our more pleasurable sensations are the result of ascending. The voice from heaven which says, "Come up hither," means to us a great deal. It means, Come up out of the fens and quagmires, out of the cellars and the dungeons, out of the miasma and the darkness — up to the heights where the sun always shines, where the air is always pure and sweet, where the eye sweeps a wide horizon that girdles fertile plains and shining lakes and winding rivers and glorious summits. "It is only a figure, then," somebody may say. That is as if one should stoop to pick up a pebble and should exclaim, as he held it in his hand, "Only a diamond!" How much more rich and precious is the figure than any mere literalism could be! We conceive of heaven rightly both as a state of being and as a place of residence. Holding, then, both these conceptions of heaven in our thought, let us listen to the great voice out of heaven saying unto us, "Come up hither!" Heaven as a state is not beyond the reach of those who dwell upon the earth. Heaven came down to earth when Christ came. It had always been coming, indeed; but there was more of it here when He came than ever before. The announcement of the Saviour's coming by the Forerunner — what was it? "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." There is a life that springs from the earth and that clings to the earth; a life whose central motive is appetite or passion, or some form of selfishness a little more refined; a life that is ruled by material ideas and forces; a life whose maxims and methods are all earthly and sordid. There is another life that has its inspiration in heaven, and that lifts us up toward heaven; a life whose central motive is love; whose source is the indwelling of God's spirit in the soul; a life that enthrones the nobler faculties and makes the grosset nature serve the higher; that holds the appetites in check, and subordinates material things to spiritual; a life whose joy is found in giving rather than in getting. These two realms of experience — the upper and the lower — lie close together, and both of them invite us by motives of their own. There is that in us which responds to the solicitations of the realm of sense, and there is that in us which answers to the call from the spiritual realm. Unhappily many of us, I fear, spend most of our days down below. Our affections are set on things on the earth, rather than on the things above. Now and then we make an excursion into the heavenly realm, but we do not stay there long.

(W. Gladden, D. D.)

JohnEgypt, Patmos, SodomAscended, Beheld, Bidding, Calling, Cloud, Death, Desiring, Ears, Enemies, Foes, Heaven, Hither, Loud, Saying, Sight, Voice, Watched1. The two witnesses prophesy.
6. They have power to shut heaven so that it rain not.
7. The beast shall fight against them, and kill them.
8. They lie unburied;
11. and after three and a half days rise again.
14. The second woe is past.
15. The seventh trumpet sounds.

Revelation 11:12

     9414   heaven, community of redeemed

Worship
Eversley, September 4, 1870. Revelation xi. 16, 17. "And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned." My dear friends,--I wish to speak a few plain words to you this morning, on a matter which has been on my mind ever since I returned from Chester, namely,--The duty of the congregation …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

Sermon at the Second Annual Meeting of the Missionary Council in Washington, D. C. , Nov. 13, 1888.
"/The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever/."--REVELATION xi. 15. THESE words are God's surety that the prayers, the trials and the labors of His Church shall be crowned with success. We are living in the great missionary age of the Church. Impenetrable barriers have been broken down. Fast-closed doors have been opened. There is no country where we may not carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Divine Providence has been …
H.B. Whipple—Five Sermons

The Extent of Messiah's Spiritual Kingdom
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever! T he Kingdom of our Lord in the heart, and in the world, is frequently compared to a building or house, of which He Himself is both the Foundation and the Architect (Isaiah 28:16 and 54:11, 12) . A building advances by degrees (I Corinthians 3:9; Ephesians 2:20-22) , and while it is in an unfinished state, a stranger cannot, by viewing its present appearance, form an accurate judgment …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

The Time of the Evening.
The morning was of 270 years' duration. The first form of the apostasy lasted, as we have shown, 1260 years, bringing us to the Lutheran reformation in 1530. Now when we ascertain the duration of the second beast power we will know the time the sun, moon and stars reappear in the evening. One especial text that gives us information on this subject is found in Revelation. In speaking of the two witnesses the Revelator says: "And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, …
Charles Ebert Orr—The Gospel Day

The Second vision "On Earth"
E^2, THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS (viii. 7 - xi. 14). A., The First Four Trumpets (viii. 7-12) Before we give the Structure of this section we must again call attention to the fact that the sixth Seal takes us on to the time of the end; and the seventh Seal takes us back and commences a new series of judgments initiated by the seven Trumpets and followed by the seven Vials. So that the whole of the rest of the Apocalypse comes under the seventh Seal. Whereas the seventh Trumpet issues in and contains …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

The Interest of his Biography.
"John, than which man a sadder or a greater Not till this day has been of woman born; John, like some iron peak by the Creator Fired with the red glow of the rushing morn. "This, when the sun shall rise and overcome it, Stands in his shining, desolate and bare; Yet not the less the inexorable summit Flamed him his signal to the happier air." F. W. H. MYERS. John and Jesus--Contemporary History--Anticipation of the Advent. The morning star, shining amid the brightening glow of dawn, is the fittest …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist

"The Carnal Mind is Enmity against God for it is not Subject to the Law of God, Neither Indeed Can Be. So Then they that Are
Rom. viii. s 7, 8.--"The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." It is not the least of man's evils, that he knows not how evil he is, therefore the Searcher of the heart of man gives the most perfect account of it, Jer. xvii. 12. "The heart is deceitful above all things," as well as "desperately wicked," two things superlative and excessive in it, bordering upon an infiniteness, such …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Almighty
This title is used nine times [12] in the Apocalypse, and only once elsewhere in the rest of the New Testament (2 Cor. vi. 18). [13] It is (...) (pantokrator) and means having dominion over all, and is used in the Old Testament as the Septuagint translation of "Lord of Hosts" (Heb., Jehovah, Sabaioth; see 2 Sam. v. 10; vii. 25, 27). In Revelation the title is used in i. 8; iv 8; xi. 17; xv. 3; xvi. 7, 14; xix. 6, 15, 22. "The Lord of Hosts" means Jehovah of the hosts in heaven above, and on the earth …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

The Third vision "In Heaven"
H3, xi. 15-19-. THE SOUNDING OF THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. The Seventh Trumpet brings us back to Heaven and to the Third Vision seen there by John. For it is "in heaven" that the Trumpet is sounded. After it is sounded, we again hear the heavenly utterances which tell us of the design of this sounding. In xix. 1-16, heavenly voices again tell us of the completion of its effect. After it is sounded, and its object unfolded, there is a break; and an episode occupying chaps. xii., xiii. and xiv.; the effects …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

The Fourth
refers to the books of Numbers and Samuel. The promise is, "to him will give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star" (Rev. ii. 26-28). Here again the literary order in the Apocalypse goes forward with the historical order: for it is in the book of Numbers that we have the basis of this promise given to the same People, who were the subjects …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

A Book for Boys and Girls Or, Temporal Things Spritualized.
by John Bunyan, Licensed and entered according to order. London: Printed for, and sold by, R. Tookey, at his Printing House in St. Christopher's Court, in Threadneedle Street, behind the Royal Exchange, 1701. Advertisement by the Editor. Some degree of mystery hangs over these Divine Emblems for children, and many years' diligent researches have not enabled me completely to solve it. That they were written by Bunyan, there cannot be the slightest doubt. 'Manner and matter, too, are all his own.'[1] …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Desire of the Righteous Granted;
OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S DESIRES. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the state of a man's heart known by his desires. The desires of the righteous are the touchstone or standard of Christian sincerity--the evidence of the new birth--the spiritual barometer of faith and grace--and the springs of obedience. Christ and him crucified is the ground of all our hopes--the foundation upon which all our desires after God and holiness are built--and the root …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Sick Person Ought Now to Send for Some Godly and Religious Pastor.
In any wise remember, if conveniently it may be, to send for some godly and religious pastor, not only to pray for thee at thy death--for God in such a case hath promised to hear the prayers of the righteous prophets, and elders of the church (Gen. xx. 7; Jer. xviii. 20; xv. 1; 1 Sam. xii. 19, 23; James v. 14, 15, 16)--but also upon thy unfeigned repentance to declare to thee the absolution of thy sins. For as Christ hath given him a calling to baptize thee unto repentance for the remission of thy …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Water of Life;
OR, A DISCOURSE SHOWING THE RICHNESS AND GLORY OF THE GRACE AND SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL, AS SET FORTH IN SCRIPTURE BY THIS TERM, THE WATER OF LIFE. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'--Revelation 22:17 London: Printed for Nathanael Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1688. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Often, and in every age, the children of God have dared to doubt the sufficiency of divine grace; whether it was vast enough to reach their condition--to cleanse …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Conclusion.
"From Heaven He came and sought her To be His Holy Bride, With His own Blood He bought her, And for her life He died." "The Kingdom of Heaven," what is it? It is the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ. It is that Kingdom which was prophetically set forth by our Lord in His parables; that Kingdom, the subjects of which were described in His teaching, and redeemed by His Blood to be His own "purchased possession" (Eph. i. 14); that Kingdom which was founded through the coming of the Holy …
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it?

Opposition to Messiah in Vain
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. T he extent and efficacy [effects] of the depravity of mankind cannot be fully estimated by the conduct of heathens destitute of divine revelation. We may say of the Gospel, in one sense, what the Apostle says of the Law, It entered that sin might abound (Romans 5:20) . It afforded occasion for displaying the alienation of the heart of man from the blessed God, in the strongest light. The sensuality, oppression and …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy.
The fact of Covenanting, under the Old Testament dispensations, being approved of God, gives a proof that it was proper then, which is accompanied by the voice of prophecy, affording evidence that even in periods then future it should no less be proper. The argument for the service that is afforded by prophecy is peculiar, and, though corresponding with evidence from other sources, is independent. Because that God willed to make known truth through his servants the prophets, we should receive it …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

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