not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

"He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah liii.)

"AND I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept

much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

“And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and

of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne." (Rev. v. 1-7.)

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He, who appears in the midst of the throne as a Lamb that was slain, is the first and the last, who liveth and was dead, and behold he is alive for evermore. He is identical with him who saith to his servant Jacob; “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." (Isaiah xliii. 25.) “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins : return unto me; for I have redeemed thee." (Isaiah xliv. 22.) "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." And because he hath poured out his soul unto death; because he was slain, and hath redeemed us unto God by his blood, he, and he only, is worthy to open the seals.

The book, therefore, which none but the Lamb can unseal,—and which the Lamb opens by virtue of his atoning death, may be "the book of the living" in which the righteous are written:-it may be "the Lamb's book of life;"-the book in which all those must be found written, who enter the pearly gates of the new Jerusalem :-that holy city of which the Lamb is the bridegroom and the everlasting light. (See Ps. lxix. 28; and Rev. xxi. 27.)

"Come hither," said one of the seven angels, to the beloved disciple, and "I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away," said John, "in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

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And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day : for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing

that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." (See Rev. xxi.)

By one of the elders, the divine opener of the book is called, the " Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David." And of himself the Lamb saith,- "I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." (See Rev. xxii. 16.) He is "therefore Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh."

“Behold, he is given for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. (See Isa. lv. 4.) He is the Root of Jesse, that shall stand for an ensign to the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek and his rest shall be glorious. (Isa. xi. 10.) He is the "Star" that Balaam said should come out of Jacob, and the "Sceptre" that should rise out of Israel. (See Numb. xxiv. 17.)

And he shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." (See Luke i. 26—33.)

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Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them

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in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

"I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

"Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." (Psalm ii.)

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God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

"For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be

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