By thus comparing scripture with scripture, or what the Spirit said unto the churches with the sayings of God subsequently recorded, it is manifest that there is not one of the promises to him that overcometh which has not its completion in the things which John saw in the subsequent but separate visions of the blessedness of the saints.

These are written,

I. In the last six verses of the 5th chapter, or in the new song, in which the four living creatures and the four-andtwenty elders, as they fell down before the Lamb, poured forth the golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of saints, in anticipation of their certain blessedness, before one of the seals of the book was opened. As in many other scriptures the end was thus declared from the beginning.

II. In the last part of the sixth seal, which opened with the fearful judgments of the great day of wrath of the Lamb. The saints are there seen and heard, as they render their own song of praise, "Salvation to our God-and to the Lamb;" and a heavenly witness testifies to the apostle and to all-who they were-from whence they came-who dwell with them, and what their blessedness was.

III. In the 11th chapter, from the 15th verse, on the sounding of the seventh angel, or of the seventh trumpet, the first sounds of which are great voices in heaven, proclaiming that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of God and of his Christ; and under which intimation at once is made that Christ hath taken unto himself his great power and reigned, and that the time is come that he should give reward to his servants the prophets, and to the saints, &c. and destroy them that destroy (or corrupt) the earth.

IV. In the first nine verses of the 19th chapter, in which are recorded the Alleluias of much people in heaven, on the judgment passed on the great whore; of the four-and-twenty elders, and of the four living creatures; and also of a great multitude in heaven, glorying in the reign of the Lord God Omnipotent as come, and rejoicing because the marriage of the Lamb was come, and his wife had made herself ready.

V. In the vision of the first resurrection, 20th chap. 4–6, in which saints are seen, as they sit on thrones, and judgment is given them, and as they live and reign with Christ. -himself, the resurrection and the life.

VI. In the two concluding chapters, in which a new heaven and a new earth appear; and both of which are

chiefly occupied with a description of the riches of the glory of Christ's inheritance in the saints, that passeth all understanding-as one of the angels which had the seven last plagues of the wrath of God showed to John the bride, the Lamb's wife, or, by another figure-identical with her, and her glory-that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light like unto a stone most precious-clear as crystal.

So clear is it that unspeakable glory awaits the saints when, in the appointed time, the prayers of the saints shall be changed into their own songs of triumph and of praise; when, at the appearing and kingdom of their Lord, the vision of the sixth seal in all its import shall be realized; when the seventh trumpet shall have sounded; when the marriage and the marriage supper of the Lamb are come; when judgment is given to them that sit on thrones, and they live and reign with Christ, as they form the first resurrection; and when the new heavens and the new earth appear, wherein dwelleth righteousness; and all the promises shall be fulfilled, as thus seen in their combination, and he that overcometh shall inherit all things.

Of those whom God hath begotten unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them that are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time; it is written, "Wherein ye greatly rejoicethat the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried by fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ; whom having not seen ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." That joy, even now, is not to be spoken of as if it were not unspeakable. But this may be said of it, that at his appearing, when every eye shall see him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, and ever after-the thought of the rejection of such a Saviour, and the neglect of so great salvation, then forever lost, might of itself form the worm that never dies, and the fire that never shall be quenched.

That salvation thus obviously constitutes the repeated theme of all these visions of the revelation of Jesus Christ;

1 1 Peter i. 3-8.

and blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are written therein, for the time is at hand. From things that are written therein, and the light which they impart, the structure of the Book of Revelation may be further seen. Of that only do we now speak. Many other scriptures will afterward be compared with the testimony which these visions impart.

That some of the promises to him that overcometh are seen in each of these visions as realized, and that they are all comprehended in them conjointly, though not in any of them singly, is not a matter for argumentation, but an object of sight. But their identity-as descriptive, though in different visions, of the same blessedness, is manifest at a glance, as these visions are compared together in the First Table.1

Great and terrible as are the judgments of the Lord, not less exceeding great and precious are the promises to them that fight the good fight of faith, and are conquerors and more than conquerors through him that loved them. In illustration of these visions, or of the things that are shown in them, multiplied unerring testimonies will be adduced, ere the close of this volume, from the most copious of all scriptural themes-the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. That that restitution is again and again testified of also, as seen in these passages, in the Book of Revelation, as well as in every other book of the New Testament, throughout which it is a constantly recurring topic that which is written in each of them makes manifest to the eye of faith.

To that restitution the prayers of the saints had respect, as the four living creatures and the four-and-twenty elders fell down before the throne of the Lamb, and poured them forth from golden vials full of incense-even as Christ taught his disciples to pray-Thy kingdom come; thy will be done 'on earth as it is in heaven. As the end was seen from the beginning, ere the first seal was opened, John heard every creature in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, ascribing blessing, and honor, and power unto God and to the Lamb This is the restitution of all things.

1 See Table I., p. 59.

That the prayers of the saints are heard and shall be answered, each of these subsequent visions show, as John saw in them the termination of every other, and of the things which first must come to pass upon the earth.

The sixth seal, which opens with what the record which John bare declares to be the great day of the wrath of the Lamb, his enemies being witnesses, closes with the glorious vision of an innumerable multitude, the redeemed out of all nations, as they stood before the throne, and before the Lamb. The four living creatures and the four-and-twenty elders poured not forth anew the prayers of saints. These prayers are all answered. And all the angels, their ministering offices unto those that were called to glory now past, join with the four spirits of the heavens and the elders, as, beginning with Amen, they render blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might unto God forever, &c. The restitution of all things shall assuredly be come, when he that sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among his saints, and when God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Not less clearly is the restitution of all things told and shown, when, on the sounding of the seventh trumpet, great voices in heaven testify that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of God and of his Christ; and the four-and-twenty elders are heard to bear witness that the time is come that reward should be given to the saints.

The marriage supper of the Lamb, when come, is associated with the Alleluia of a great multitude, as the voice of many thunderings; and the cause is, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

The sight of thrones, and of those that sat on them, to whom judgment was given, proclaims the first resurrection, and the reign of Christ with his saints, while Satan, who before was the god of this world, is shut up in the bottomless pit. All things are restored when he deceives the nations no more; and the subversion of his kingdom is followed by the reign of the Lord.

Of the restitution of all things the Prophet Isaiah spake, when he testified of the new heavens and the new earth; and as he thus closed his testimony, that of the last of the apostles is also closed in testifying of the same things in the same words, but in more bright, and full, and glorious vision than any prophet of Israel ever saw.

When the Apostle John, as commanded, had written the seven epistles to the seven churches that were in Asia, as recorded in the second and third chapters, it is farther written, in the first verse of the fourth chapter, "After this I looked, and behold a door was opened in heaven; and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me, which said, 'Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.'"

The promises to him that overcometh have been seen to assim late with the revealed blessedness of the saints, as shown in the other visions already quoted. These have also been compared together in farther demonstration of their identity, which, without any argument, is alike obvious to the sight. The prayers of the saints, and the praises of angels, which conjointly speak of the universality of the Redeemer's reign, are transcribed verse by verse in their order, in the first column (a) of the table. In it these are seen to be parallel, in line upon line, with the things also shown in the concluding part of the sixth seal, and under the seventh trumpet, and the descriptions of the marriage and the marriage-supper of the Lamb, of the first resurrection and of the bride, the Lamb's wife, or the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. The separate visions of these things that must be hereafter, may be read as they are written, so that all the points of coincidence between them may at once be seen.

It will thus be no less obvious to those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the sayings of this book, that the sixth seal and the seventh trumpet embrace judgments as well as blessings-that, as the one opens with the day of wrath, the other proclaims the destruction of the destroyers of the earth; and that all the other visions in like manner are preceded or intermingled with judgments of God, as universal in their range, which, as the following pages will amply show, are uniformly in Scripture the heralds of the kingdom of God and of his Christ-the restitution of all things spoken of alike by all the apostles, and all the prophets, since the world began. Whatever human imaginations may devise-these are the witnesses that God has chosen; and, speaking as they did by the Holy Ghost, their testimony was not given to be superseded or set aside.

After this (the sealing of the servants of God in their foreheads), I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no