St. John would teach us. The Lamb is said here to prevail to open the book of the divine purposes. We often suppose that He prevailed by His sacrifice to alter those purposes. We often say that the divine will, or justice, or purity, demanded something of man which he could not render; that he was doomed to destruction for that failure; that the Lamb interposed to avert this sentence; that He paid the creature's debt; that so He satisfied the mind of Him who sat on the throne. That many threads are woven into this theory which are drawn from the practical faith of men, from their experience of their own wants, from the lessons they have learnt in Scripture; I gladly own. But that that practical faith has suffered, and does suffer cruelly, from the speculations which have been mixed with it; that the hearts of men crave for a satisfaction which this scheme of divinity does not afford them; that if they would listen to the teaching of Scripture they would find that satisfaction; I must maintain also. How naturally men conscious of evil wish to change the purpose of a Power which they think is ready to punish this evil; how eagerly they seek for mediators, who they suppose may effect this change; how they may arrive at last at the conception of a Kehama, who by prayers and sacrifice can bend the will of the gods wholly to his will; the mythology of all nations proves abundantly. Christian

theology scatters such dark imaginations, by revealing the Highest Ruler as the All-good, Him who sits on the throne as a Being like a jasper or a sardine stone to look upon; by revealing the Lamb that was slain as the perfect sharer of His counsels; the perfect fulfiller of His will; the perfect revealer of His designs to mankind; the perfect Redeemer of the world from the dominion of false, hateful, cruel gods which they had imagined, and which upheld all falsehood, hatred, cruelty in the rulers; the perfect Atoner of man with the Father of Light, in whom is no variableness nor the shadow of turning.

This, I think you will find, is the spirit of that song which the prophet heard in his lonely island. 'And when He had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.' We have here a grand confession from those elders who represent the law of the world that the Lamb is the author of that law, and has perfectly fulfilled it, not set it aside or

changed its operation in the least degree; from the living creatures who represent the divine nature that the Lamb has perfectly manifested it, and has in no respect given it a new feeling or direction. The vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints, are the cries that have gone up from all the sorrowers and sufferers upon earth, for its deliverance from its oppressors, for its true King to appear. And the song is a thanksgiving that He has appeared; that He has submitted to die with those who were under the sentence of death; that by His own blood which He has poured out for them He has delivered them from their bondage; has made them kings and priests to His Father; has given them a pledge and assurance that the earth shall be possessed by the meek, and not the proud.

IX. And lest we should think of limiting Him who is in the midst of the throne by the benefits He has conferred upon the earth-by the redemption He has wrought out for the fallen and the sinful-lest this natural tendency, which has prevailed so widely in Christendom, should mar the very gratitude which seems to be the excuse for it, and should divide again the creatures which the Lamb has united-the ear of the prophet's spirit is opened to take in another acclamation: ‘And I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders and the

number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands: saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.' That which is the highest act of love towards whatever persons it was manifested -from whatever calamities it saved them-must be the highest manifestation of the Divine character and will; therefore must be the cause of delight to all creatures fallen or unfallen. If the Revelation is true, there can be no breach in the sympathies of any part of God's voluntary and intelligent Universe. All must have one centre, one object, one inspiration, that each may perform his own tasks with freedom and joy, that each may be attaining to higher knowledge of the works of God, and of God Himself. Nor these only. Voluntary and intelligent beings are but the priests of the Creation. The whole of it must partake of the redemption; all creation must be continually ascending from under the law of death; there must be signs everywhere that the wings are expanding within the chrysalis; all must be aspiring to enter into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Not he only who has kept weary watch o'er man's mortality, and has hoped against hope amidst the wrongs of nations and the sorrows of friends and the sins of his own heart; but also the student of

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nature, who discovers a wonderful order and beauty through the universe, and yet is tortured continually by the strangest visions of death and destruction; he also bears his part in this thanksgiving: ' And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever.'