earth, as the organ of communication, the instrument of the prophetic spirit. What he says is not from himself personally, as would be the case were he God, or did he speak as God. But he says: "Whosoever hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches." What Spirit? The Spirit of inspiration surely, by which God gave the whole revelation to Christ, according to the first verse. "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him." How' could there be a more conclusive disclaimer that he was God?

The advocate of the Trinity may suppose that he finds strong confirmation of his hypothesis, in the knowledge which Christ represents himself to possess of the state of the churches, and of individual character. "That the churches may know that I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts;" but he will find that it is only the extension of the same power which he had on earth, of knowing the thoughts and characters of men, which was a prophetic gift.

This whole matter is explained in the beginning of the fifth chapter. The source of Christ's knowledge is there symbolically expressed to be given him by God. The whole composition, indeed, is a book of symbols. Everything which is to be represented, immediately takes that form which befits the occasion and the thing to be done. At the pause in heaven, when no one is found worthy to take the little book out of the hand of God, and the Messiah comes forward to He becomes a lion when

do it, he becomes a lion.

he is called upon to act, but he is a lamb when it is his

"And one of the elders Behold the Lion of the

part to suffer with patience. said unto me, Weep not. tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and the seven seals thereof. And I saw in the midst, between the throne and the living creatures, and the elders, a Lamb, as it were slain." He is slain, because it was by suffering death that he became the author of salvation to man ; 66 having seven horns." Horns were the symbols of power in the East, and, strange as it may appear to us, the coins which were struck in honor of Alexander are found to have horns like a beast. So much was power associated with this appendage of the brute creation, that it is introduced into one of the descriptions of God himself, in the Old Testament, which has always been considered as one of the sublimest passages of that book. "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light, he had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood and measured the earth. He beheld and drove asunder the nations. And the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills

did bow. His ways are everlasting."

The Lamb then, though he had been slain, is represented as invested with great power. He has seven horns, the perfect and sacred number, indicating great power. "And seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth." Here, too, is

another symbolical expression. The eye is the symbol of intelligence. The Saviour, in the state of exaltation, has the power of seeing, or knowing, what is going on upon the earth. This has already been signified, by the fact that he was acquainted with the state of the different churches to which he had sent messages. But those eyes do not see all this by their own natural powers, but by power supernaturally communicated. They are the seven spirits of God." Translated then from symbols to plain words, the sentence reads thus: Endowed with great dignity, and enabled by the power of God to see whatever is taking place upon the earth."

But however advanced in power and knowledge he was, all was derived. "He that overcometh and keepeth my works until the end, I will give him authority over the nations, and he shall feed them with an iron sceptre, and as potters' vessels shall he break them in pieces, as I also received of my Father." However exalted, he is not God. So far from it, he has a God. "He that overcometh I will make a pillar in the temple of my God." "To him that overcometh will I give to sit down with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." Such quotations as these ought to settle the question, so far as the book of Revelation is concerned.

But the Trinitarian supposes that he has countervailing testimony farther on in the book. Christ, it is said, is made an object of worship. But worship in the Bible is equiovocal. It is paid not only to God, but

:

to inferior beings. The question for us to decide is this Is he worshipped as God, as the Supreme Being? Let us examine. John represents himself as being carried up to heaven, and as seeing a representation of God as a king, sitting upon a throne, but he is single and undivided. "A throne was set, and ONE sat on the throne." He is worshipped as one, single, undivided Being. The celestial inhabitants cry, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." Here he is worshipped for incommunicable, divine attributes, for self-existence and eternity. Then, for what he alone could do," Thou art worthy to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

Then Christ is introduced, not as God, for God is still upon the throne, but as a lamb before the throne. He approaches God, and takes the book out of the hand of God. Then the host of heaven break forth in his praise." Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation." He certainly is not worshipped as God when he stands before the throne of God, and in the presence of God. He is praised for being worthy to take the book out of the hand of God, not because he possessed divine attributes, but because he had redeemed his followers unto God by his blood, which God certainly could not do. Then they are joined together in an act of worship, but not as equal, not as persons of a Trinity, but one as God, and the other as the Lamb. "Blessing,

and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb." There is no intimation that these two were one, or were equal. One was on the throne, which was Jehovah, and the other before the throne, which was the Lamb, or Christ. Then the martyrs, in their hymns of praise, keep up the same broad distinction: "Salvation unto our God, which sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb." There is evidently no intention on the part of the writer of exalting the Lamb to an equality with God, or of admitting him into the Deity, for it is said, "God and the Lamb." This distinction is kept up through the whole book. Christ is represented as exalted to the highest dignity in heaven next to God, and as watching over the welfare of his church, but everywhere as totally distinct from that unique and eternal Being, who alone possesses the attributes of Jehovah, "who was, and who is, and who is to come, who hath made all things, for whose pleasure they are and were created," who alone held in his hand the book of destiny, who alone knew all the events which were ever to take place, and who gave the revelation to Jesus Christ.

So far is he from being put on a level with God in the worship of heaven, that he is in one place put on a level with Moses, as a worshipper of God. An innumerable company is represented as having been victorious over idolatry, and having arrived at heaven, they there celebrate the praise of God in a hymn, which is called "the song of Moses and the Lamb," either because it was sung by the saved, both of Jews and Christians, or because it was the common object of