it, he is describing the judgment of the great day; the Lord is bringing all the nations of the earth before him and separating them, as sheep from the goats. No one can tell where the description of the destruction of Jerusalem ends, and where the description of the end of the world begins.

This eschatological, apocalyptic discourse of Jesus Christ furnishes the key by which we are to interpret the book of Revelation. As all the Epistles of Paul may be called only an inspired commentary upon Christ's last discourse to his disciples in the Gospel according to John, just so the whole book of Revelation may be called nothing but an inspired commentary upon Christ's apocalyptic discourse before he suffered. Notice two or three things with regard to Christ's discourse. The first is this, that it is vain to say that our Lord Jesus was describing there simply things that were taking place in his generation. It is perfectly plain that, although he begins with describing things that are taking place in his generation, he does not end there. He does not end with anything short of the end of the world; and so I think that our Lord's discourse furnishes a reason why we should completely give up the Præterist interpretation of the book of Revelation, which regards it as only a description of things that took place in the day of the apostles. doubtless refers to some such things, but that is not the end of it. There is much more than that.

It

Again, if we take our Lord's discourse for a guide, we must equally throw out the view that the book of Revelation all belongs to the future. Our Lord's discourse certainly spoke of things that were then present

or were going to be within a few years after his death. We cannot accept the interpretation of the book which makes it all refer to things that have none of them yet happened; but then, on the other hand, it is equally true that the continuous or historical method has very much against it, when we look at what Christ has said in his discourse about the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world.

Our Lord does not attempt to fill up all the intervals between the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world. I infer that those who think we have, in the book of Revelation, a complete map of all the events that were to take place from the destruction of Jerusalem to the end of the world must be mistaken. Prophecy passes over vast intervals, and sometimes gives no account of the incidents that are in them. It may be, therefore, that large intervals are passed over in the book of Revelation, and that no account is taken of them.

I think I hear you say: "If you throw out all the interpretations, pray, what interpretations have you left?" Well, I say I have them all left; I mean that I have all the good in them left; and the interpretation which I would propose is substantially this: We have in the book of Revelation, as we have in the discourse of Christ, an exhibition of principles rather than of events, of principles illustrated here and there by events, but without intention to give us a continuous map of the whole. My general idea of the interpretation of the book of Revelation, then, regards it as an exhibition of principles.

As our Lord speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem

and the visitation of punishment upon his opposers, he elucidates principles of God's retributory judgment, which apply to the end of the world as well; the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world are both mentioned, simply as illustrating those principles. So we have great principles laid down in the book of Revelation, together with isolated illustrations of them.

Let us now take up the book of Revelation a little more in detail. We have, first of all, the prologue, in which the greatness and glory of Christ are set before us. The foundation of our hope is the fact that our Lord reigns, that he is a risen Saviour, that he has the keys of hell and of death, that he supervises his churches, that he walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks. This truth serves as the foundation of all that comes after, whether of doctrine or of duty.

There follows a description of the church which Christ is to supervise, with all its infirmities, with all its weaknesses, with all its dangers, yet with the life of God in it. It is, notwithstanding, a sevenfold lamp that is set up to burn here in the world.

After this we have a sort of summary, in which heaven is opened; there is a book before the throne; and that book or roll is sealed; no one can open the seal, until at last the Lion of the tribe of Judah prevails to open the seal, and all heaven rejoices.

I call this the summary of everything that is to come. The meaning of it is just this: The book is the book of God's decrees. That book no one can open; that is, no one can understand, except the Saviour himself, the Lamb of God, who executes these decrees in human history. He can understand and explain,

because he has himself formed the decree and he himself will execute it. So, one after another, he opens the seals; that is, he unrolls the book, breaking one seal after another as he unrolls it; and as he unrolls it he reads or explains it by the revelation that he gives to the apostle.

You remember how the revelations that follow succeed one another. First, the seven seals, then the seven trumpets, and finally the seven vials, or bowls. Do these represent successive periods of human history, or are they simply different representations of the same events?

I am inclined to this latter view, and for the reason which I intimated only a few moments ago. We have no sufficient reason for believing that, in the book of Revelation we have a continuous account of all the main events between the time of the apostles and the end of the world.

I am rather inclined to believe that we have here representations of the great future which are parallel to one another. In other words, the seven trumpets are parallel, are the same things represented in a different way, with the seven seals; and the seven vials are the same things, represented in a still different way, as the seven trumpets and seven seals.

The twentieth chapter, which intervenes, is a wonder in the book. In this chapter the first resurrection is distinguished from the second resurrection, as spiritual resurrection is distinguished from literal resurrection. In other words, in the first resurrection we have described a mighty movement of the Spirit of God in his people all over the world, a movement so mighty

that it would seem as if the prophets of old had risen again to testify for their Lord, while, at the same time the opposing spirit of enmity and unbelief has itself a day of rest. In other words, the millennium that is spoken of is a millennium that precedes, not follows, the second coming of Christ. My view is the postmillennial view, rather than the premillennial view. Christ comes at the end of the millennium. He comes literally at the end of the millennium instead of at its beginning, because the second coming of Christ is coincident with, and cannot be separated from, the resurrection and the general judgment. He is to come the second time to judge the earth. He is to come the second time unto salvation. No interval of a thousand years is intimated between the coming of Christ on the one hand and the resurrection of the wicked and the general judgment on the other. The first resurrection is spiritual, and now is. The saints who have been raised from the death of trespasses and sin shall have their last conflict with the powers of darkness, but the conflict shall end in victory. The second and literal resurrection will follow, when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven to judge the earth. The book of Revelation ends with those wonderful chapters which depict the final rest and glory of the people of God.

Let us be thankful for such a book as this. Our hearts need it. Human beings in the midst of persecution and trial and trouble, which are at times unspeakable, need some assurance that there is to be an end of these things. Otherwise human nature would be forever longing, but never blest. Our nature would never reach the end for which it aspires. God has not left us