LECTURE EIGHTEENTH.

THE FIRST FRUITS AND HARVEST.

REVELATION, Chap. xiv.-" And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. 2. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 3. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 4. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. 5. And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God.

6. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 7. Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven and earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters. 8. And there followed per angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, se she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her tion. 9. And the third angel followed them, saying with a

loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. 12. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, 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.

14. 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. 15. 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. 16. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. 17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18. 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. 19. 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. 20. 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."

We have already seen who the " 144,000" introduced at the beginning of this chapter are, -identical as they evidently are with the same number of the sealed of Israel in ch. vii.; and it was also observed (at the close of the Lecture before last) that in the context in which they are here again mentioned-immediately after the vision of ch. xiii.—we see how they come to be here on

the Mount Zion with the Lamb, namely, in reward for the testimony they had been called to bear against the Beast, and the sufferings they had endured from his tyranny. It may be a question whether they pass into the presence of the Lamb after suffering death for his name, or whether they are exempted from death, being changed and translated as shall be the saints alive at the Lord's coming: and to the former opinion I once inclined, chiefly influenced by the statement so absolute and universal in the preceding chapter (xiii. 15), that the false prophet "had power to cause that as many as "would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed," and the assurance, evidently designed to comfort under the prospect of such death, given ver.

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"He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity; "he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the "sword: Here is the patience and faith of the saints." As, however, we know that some of the Lord's people will be alive at his coming and translated-having been, indeed, appointed unto death, but so rescued from it-this statement is not evidence decisive in itself: and then, there is a guiding circumstance and distinguishing peculiarity noted of these "144,000" in this chapter, on account of which, moreover, they are again introduced in this place, which I have since thought is decisive of the latter-their translation. I mean the designation of them as THE FIRST FRUITS unto God and to the Lamb," ver. 4. The question is, In reference to t are they so named ? Not in respect of conversion,

> in this sense the name is given to the converts

in the Apostle's days: (Rom. xvi. 5; James, i. 18.) It must, then, be either in respect of martyrdom or of the Advent-glory; and which it be of these will at once be decided by the consideration of the related term in this chapter (which has been united with this in its Title), namely, "THE HARVEST," introduced at ver. 15. Such as "the harvest" is, and for whatsoever reason so named, such are "the first fruits," and for the like reason so named. Now, the harvest (as we shall presently more fully see) is, as it respects the wheat,-of which alone there is here question-the time of its being separated from the tares and "gathered into the barn," or, in other words, of the translation of the Saints; and that, as the first act of the Son of Man in taking his kingdom-yea, prior to the judgment or vengeance on the Antichristian, in the execution of which the Saints are represented as participators (compare Matt. xiii. 30, with ch. ii. 26, 27, and xix. 14): and "the harvest" being thus evidently by translation, so we must conclude is the taking out of "the first fruits."

Not that I would be understood, in so saying, to express agreement with an opinion recently advanced by some who have given their attention to the subject of the Lord's coming,-that the Saints will be translated at or prior to the revelation of the Antichrist, or Beast of ch. xiii., so as to exempt them from all conflict with him or suffering from him: still less with the opinion, which is connected with this as a necessary consequence, that a Jewish remnant alone have to do with Antichrist. I cannot here go at any length into this question, and

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therefore, would merely say that, after the most deliberate consideration, I believe such an expectation to be contradicted at once by the analogy or Types of Scripture -by the object for which Antichrist is revealed-and by the express testimony of the New Testament, and especially of this Book.

It is contrary to the teaching of those Types of Scripture which most unequivocally prefigure the Advent-day -the judgment of the world in the days of Noah, and the fiery judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. For, when was Noah taken up, and when was Lot withdrawn from the devoted city? They were, indeed, taken timely out of the judgment, but exposed to the conflict and trial to the last moment;-to the last moment that a testimony for God was needed Noah preached righteousness to the old world, and Lot's righteous soul was vexed with the surrounding ungodliness.

It is contrary to the object for which Antichrist is revealed,—which is (as already shewn) not to test the Jews only, but Christendom; and to develope "The mystery of iniquity" in its fulness-all the iniquity previously working in mystery and shall this be done without discovering to view many faithful-a goodly company, whose names are written in the book of life—a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, among the Gentiles as well as Jews, who shall not only faithfully witness for Christ, but continue "faithful unto death."

It is contrary to the uniform testimony of the New Testament Scriptures that those who reign with Christ shall first suffer with him; and, is it reasonable to suppose that in the day of trial so remarkably analogous to the