LECTURE XV.

THE REAPING AND THE WINEPRESS.

REV. XIV.

And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy · sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

REV. XV.

And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are

Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: and the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

DOES this vision also, I shall be asked, belong to the first century? Are we then to lose the fear and the hope which cleave in all our minds to the thought that the Son of Man will indeed come to judge the quick and the dead? Is there to be no future harvest of the earth? Is no angel to thrust in his sickle and reap it?

My brethren, it seems to me that the expectation of a judgment is far too weak in every one of us; that the preacher who could deepen it into a firm and abiding conviction, would be the greatest of all preachers; even as he who does anything to diminish what there is of it in any man, is to that extent most mischievous. I find that John the Baptist, that our Lord himself, that every one of His Apostles, was a preacher of judgment, of a judgment nigh at hand, of one coming upon the generation of which they were

speaking. I think it is because we have not taken their words literally enough, that we have been unable to speak in their spirit, to feel and make others feel that there is a judgment overhanging us, that the Son of Man will indeed appear in the glory of His Father, and that every one will have the secrets of his heart, the deeds he has done, laid bare before him. No book, it seems to me, would bring this truth so home to us, as this book of the Apocalypse, if we read it simply. While I do not try to torture any of its words out of their obvious sense-while I accept them as explaining the sense in which John the Baptist, and our Lord and His disciples uttered their words—I am forced to feel and confess that the judgment is set, and the books are open; that nothing can be hid from the eyes of Him with whom we have to do; that, every good and evil seed in every man and every society is ripening to its harvest; that the fruit of the one must be gathered into its garner, the fruit of the other burnt up.

I. We have just heard the message, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours ; and their works do follow them.' I supposed these words to sound very cheerily in the ears of one who was looking out upon a world which was worshipping the beast and his image. It assured him that there was

a region in which another worship prevailed, and that there was a passage from this region into that. Then he looks, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.' The first thought of the prophet might be that the blessing of the dead consisted in this, that they left a world, not in which the Son of Man was not recognised, but one in which He was not reigning. This sight scatters that dark delusion. On a cloud that has been drawn up from earth, though the whiteness of it testifies of light and of heaven, he sees no strange form, but the form of Him who always claimed that human name to Himself, who in His birth, in His passion, in His resurrection, His ascension, had vindicated it as His. That the earth was passing through a fearful crisis was evident enough, Wise heathens saw it, and thought that the gods were busy in taking vengeance on men, and cared nothing for their safety or deliverance. To St. John the Saviour of man was revealed as Himself the reaper of the earth. He has won His crown; the Divine glory rests upon Him. But in His hand is the symbol that the work which is doing upon earth is His doing. It was that revelation which the exile in Patmos wanted. It is that revelation which we want. He did not need to be told that there was a consuming process going on;

every one could perceive so much. But to learn who was directing that process, to learn that it was for the destruction of the destroyer, this was precious lore indeed. If we accepted it-if we interpreted by it the events which are passing in our age, and which will form the history of it for the ages to come, would not the lore be of some worth to us? On the white cloud sat the Son of Man then, on the white cloud He sits now. If the mists were scattered from our spirits, we should discern Him, and that would be an encouragement and a warning in our work, which nothing else could be.

II. 'And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the time is come for Thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.' This voice issued from the inner temple; it expressed the Divine purpose and will. That purpose and will the Son of Man had been fulfilling before the worlds were. That purpose and will He fulfilled in the act of creation, when all things came forth at His word, and man at the head of all, and lo! the whole was very good. That purpose and will He fulfilled in His agony and cross. That purpose and will He fulfilled in His triumph over death, and space, and time. And now that purpose and will is to be fulfilled in an act of judgment. All that He has wrought upon the earth for men, has not