only we now catch a glimpse of, and God throned in the midst of them; the ear of earth to hear the voice of God, the mind of the earth to know God,-the heart of the earth to love Him; and all this that he may be the priest of the earth to devote, in ceaseless offering, all its treasures to Him whose will called them into being, and like the priests of Levi, to have no portion, save God, the portion that includes all besides. To Him who thus loved us, we give all the "glory."

Ours is the enjoyment of the blessing. His is the glory; this is the light of heaven, this the language of the redeemed, the key note of their songs, the expression of their inmost hearts. Not one voice in that innumerable multitude will be lifted up in praise of itself; were there such a voice, it would be intolerable discord. All the inhabitants of heaven feel that they can never overpraise "Him who loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood." There are no Socinians in heaven, for all there adore and worship the Lamb. Nor are there any Romanists there, for the undivided glory is given to Him who sits upon the throne; all tribes, and nations, and people, and tongues are there, but in virtue of the sacrifice of Jesus, circumstantially different as tongue and tribe can make them; essentially one, as the blood of Christ alone can constitute them.

Dwellers on the Mississippi and Missouri, and in the back woods of Canada, and the prairies of the west, are there. Millions from the Andes, and the isles of the Pacific, from the mountains of Thibet, and the cities of China, from every jungle of India, and from every pagoda of Hindostan, the untutored Arab, and the uncultivated Druse, and the "tribes of the weary foot," the children of Salem are there, and Abraham, and Job, and Isaiah, and John and Peter, and Augustine, and Wickliffe, and Luther, are there also, and many we in our uncharitableness, or bigotry, or exclusiveness, or ignorance, excluded from heaven, will be there also ; and our sires, and sons, and babes, and parents will be there, completed circles never again to be broken, and their united voices will give utterance to their deep and en

during gratitude, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God, even the Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen."

Dear brethren, do not say the Book of Revelation is not the gospel.

John and those associated with him show their sense of the obligations and mercies of which they are the happy recipients, by ascribing unto the Fountain of them all "the glory and the dominion for ever." We thus show our gratitude on earth by ascribing audibly to our Eternal Benefactor the glory of all. We cannot be silent even in this world, as the children of such and so countless benefits. We will not consent to wrap our blessings in a napkin, or bury them in oblivion. We are not so unaffected by them that we can easily forget them, nor so ashamed to acknowledge them that we shall refuse audibly to proclaim them. While we never forget on earth the sins by which we have dishonoured God; we can never forget the rich grace in the exercise of which He has most graciously forgiven them. The recollection of the former will keep us truly humble, and the recollection of the latter will preserve us eminently thankful. It is related that when the Greeks heard that the Macedonian invader was overthrown, a whole nation raised to the skies so loud a shout, σwing, σwrηp, Saviour! saviour! that birds upon the wing dropped down. Fable should become fact in our case. They felt such overpowering gratitude at a temporal deliverance: what gratitude ought we to feel, what songs ought we to raise in order to express our obligations to Him that "loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood!"

Of this we may be assured, that unrecognised blessings are always unprofitable ones. What is nothing in our eyes exercises no sanctifying influence on our hearts: slighted mercies provoke the sharpest judgments. God will no more endure his kindness to be slighted than his holiness to be trodden under foot, and hence he will not be a long or a quiet possessor of blessings, if it be possible to be such a possessor who does not acknowledge them. But it never can be the characteristic of a Chris

AN

tian to be loud in asking, and dumb in acknowledging; to recognise God when we are in want, and to forget God when we are full-to be Christians when prayer is our duty and privilege, and Atheists when praise becomes us. The gospel unveiled in the Apocalypse teaches us far different things. Saints on earth and saints in glory audibly express the gratitude they deeply feel, in ceaseless songs, "Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen." John had so impressive a recollection of mercies, that he reverses the usual order, and begins, as embodied in the text, with praise and ends with prayer, as in chap. xxii. 20, "Even so come, Lord Jesus."

Brethren, it is one thing to learn that the gospel is contained in the Apocalypse; it is quite another to feel its transforming power in the depths and recesses of our own souls: we may pass to the very outermost darkness of hell, versed in all the visions of the seer of Patmos,we may perish from the midst of Apocalyptic studies. The only thing that can save us, is the application of atoning blood to our hearts and consciences; and the only evidence of its realization is found in the peace, and purity, and joy, and hope, which grow and bloom in that heart which the blood of the Lamb has sprinkled, and the Spirit of the Lamb has taken possession of. I cannot for one moment conceal from you, that there is no room for you to entertain questions in prophecy till you have first opened your heart to the personal reception of Him who is the only Saviour. Yet some repudiate the name and gospel of Christ, and live as if Calvary and Gethsemane, and judgment and eternity, were dreams and phantoms, and not the most solemn realities that history records, or the universe unbosoms. "There is none other name given among men whereby we can be saved." "No man cometh to the Father but by Me." "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish." Some neglect the gospel: they admit it is true in words; they deny it in their life and practice. This is emphatically criminal. It is worse than rejecting-it is insult added

to infidelity: it virtually says, "that which engaged the wisdom and expressed the mercy of God-that which necessitated the atonement and all its awful accompaniments, is not worth our attention." "How shall we

escape if we neglect so great a salvation!"

Some abuse the gospel. Because grace abounds they think sin may abound also: this is grievous perversion. Some obscure the gospel; they mingle with the truth the traditions of men: this is very sinful, and very mischievous. It is brightest in its own original lustre,-it needs no ornament from without. But others embrace, admire, and love it,-celebrate the love they respond to, and spread, according to their means, among others, the blessings they have tasted themselves. Every Christian becomes a missionary. It is, indeed, utterly impossible that any can taste the blessings of the gospel of Christ, and fail to make efforts corresponding to his means, to circulate the tidings which have sounded so musical to his ear. He feels that he has the unction of the saint only that he may enter on the duties of the servant. The moment he ceases to be a steward for others, that moment he ceases to act like a son of God. Grace, like the human heart, ceases to live the instant it ceases to circulate. It is, in its essence, diffusive, it has no sympathy with selfish monopoly,-it glories in self-sacrifice, it grows by giving,-like the widow's cruse of oil and barrel of meal, it increases ever as it is expended; till none become so rich in grace as they who have spread around them, with the most unsparing liberality, its glorious treasures. The labours of the living, and of those who have preceded us to immortality and glory, will not be lost: the seed they sowed, and watered with their tears, cannot die. Tokens of these ultimate triumphs are already looming into view. In many a land the altars of Paganism are crumbling to ruins, and the shrines of Popery parting with their remaining meretricious splendours. The cloisters of the Priest, and the alhambra of the Moslem, will soon hear the voice of the Son of God. Christianity is on her colossal march.— Her sentinels are awakened by the first rays of the approaching sun.-The song that has been sung by the

few by the rivers of Babylon will, ere long, be sung by a mighty multitude whom no man can number. "Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us priests and kings unto God and his Father, unto Him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen."

Brethren, do not say the Apocalypse is not the gospel. The name of Christ lies under every symbol, and the blood of the everlasting covenant gives its colouring to every truth. It may happen that where the gospel, as uttered from the lips of the Man of sorrows in the streets of Jerusalem, has not been productive of its just effect, the same gospel sounding forth from the Lord of glory, wearing many crowns, and seated on the throne of the universe, may create deep, saving, and indelible impressions. We thus pray. We patiently wait.