comprehends not the light; and from causes inherent in the mind, like mist rising from the earth, our perceptions of God's holy word are often dim and indistinct. There is a veil, a cloud, upon the heart. And the eye of the mind is as tender an organ, and its perception as easily disturbed, as that of the body. And difficult to be comprehended, and darkly to be seen, as are the ways of God, by man, who had lost the knowledge of him who dwelleth in the light, it is not to be wondered at, that men should have missed the meaning of the Revelation of the things that were to be thereafter, till the very things should be accomplished, and the predicted time be come that the judgments of God should be manifest. Observation is the only guide; ingenuity would only deceive. All that the human lips can tell, is to repeat what the Lord hath spoken; and all that the hand of man can do, is to point to the things that have been done upon the earth. And if ever genuine humility be a virtue, or proud arrogancy a crime,-if ever there be an occasion and a time, as there can never fail to be, for abjuring all vain boasting and rendering unto God the glory, it is with a humble heart, and with a trembling and uplifted hand, that it behoves any erring mortal to enter on the grave, but not hopeless, task of interpreting any portion of that Book, which is the theme of angelic praise, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four living beings saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer.-Chap. vi. 1, 2.

The scene throughout is laid in heaven; and the the things seen were to pass upon the earth. On that night in which he was betrayed, and in his last

discourse to his disciples, Jesus said, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore, said I, he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. Were any supposition warranted, it might not, from hence, be the most unreasonable to imagine, that in shewing things to come, the fate and interests of his church, which he died to purchase, and lives to purify, would be the first object for Jesus to reveal, and for the apostle to record. In shewing the things that were to be thereafter, as well as those that were, the precedence might well pertain to the things that are Christ's; and the first sign from heaven, might well signify his church. But independent of any such presumption, the figure speaks for itself; and many scriptures shew what it is, and what alone it represents.

On the opening of the first seal, the object seen was immediately in view, and I saw, and behold a WHITE horse. Whatever the symbol might represent, whiteness is the mark appropriated as its own. The term white oceurs in seventeen other instances, in the book of revelation, and with the exception of two, descriptive of angelie purity, it can only be applied in every one of them to Christ or to his church. Nor can this be a sole exception: for the same figure, under the same character, or designation, is again introduced, towards the close of the revelation, in a manner that can be descriptive only of Christ and of his church. As the Lord Jesus himself was seen in the vision by the apostle, his head and his hairs

were white like wool, as white as snow ;*-even as on the mount of transfiguration, John, Peter, and James had before beheld him when his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. It is a white cloud on which he comes;† a white throne that is his; and, emblematically, it is also the same white horse on which he sits, after the victory is accomplished, on which he first went forth to conquer.§

The calling of his people is to be like unto their Lord, to have the same mind in them that was also in him, and to be holy as he who hath called them is holy. It is faith which both purifies the heart, and overcomes the world. The sprinkling and the purifyings under the law, that touched but the skin, are not without their significancy under the gospel, as the power of making white reaches to the heart. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. He loved the church,which, looking down on earth, is still, in token of that love, the first object in his view, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Every Christian duty, thus inculcated on every Christian principle, was the sound doctrine which the primitive and purified Christians could bear to hear, while yet they grew exceedingly in the faith once delivered to the saints. And these were things which an apostle, writing by inspiration, commanded a preacher of the gospel to speak, and ex

*Rev. i. 14. † xiv. 14.

xx. 11.

§ xix. 11.

*

hort, and rebuke with all authority. But it is in the blood of the Lamb that his followers are made white;t-of him that they have to buy white raiment, that they may be clothed ;-and under him that the work has to be done, the warfare to be wrought, that pureness may be attained, and the victory be won. And, in like manner, in conformity to their calling, and the changed aspect of their spirits even in his sight, they that are holy are holy still; and while he thus marks them as his church on earth, under the same character, he will acknowledge and reward them as his own in heaven. To him that overcometh will I give a white stone, and in the stone a new name written.§ Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment. Lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands.** What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made the in the blood of the Lamb.++ The marrin Lamb is come, and his bride hath made h And to her was granted that she should in fine linen, clean and white: for th the righteousness of the saints. T is of faith: it is the church, in en that is white.-And looking

eyes of angels while they look unto our world, could be viewed from heaven itself as white, like unto those men of understanding, and others who have the same spirit of faith as theirs, who, as the prophet Daniel marked the time and drew their character, knew their God and instructed many, at the time when Judaism was overthrown and Judea left desolate, and the church of Christ established on the earth,—of whom the world was not worthy, who fell by the sword, and by flame, by captivity and by spoil many days, and of whom also, or of those who followed in their footsteps, maintained their character, and shared their faith and their fate, it is said—they shall fall, to try them and to purge them, and, in the one same word, to make them WHITE, even to the time of the end : because it is yet for a time appointed.

Such, in its purity and truth, is the church that is Christ's. And blessed are they who read and understand and practically know the meaning of the leading symbol of the book of revelation; and who know what, as members of his church, a peculiar people unto him, they are called to be white,-made like unto the raiment of their righteous Lord, exceeding white as snow, and themselves clothed with fine linen, white and clean, the righteousness of the saints, —which no fuller on earth could whiten.

But if such be its significancy, such an emblem could not by itself have been seen on earth by any heavenly spectator of a world like ours.

It is as pertaining unto Christ and purchased by him, and as directed, reined, and ruled by his hand alone, that white is the word of an angel concerning any people upon earth.

And I saw, when the Lamb opened one of the sealsand behold a WHITE horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer. These,