158 In what spirit to be studied. [LECT. Holy Spirit has "written for our learning," that special promise of blessing which, in entering upon this course of inquiry, I pointed to, as the Divine sanction for such investigations, if only they be conducted in a reverential and self-distrusting spirit. "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." "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." Only let him who would undertake such investigations, adopt and make his own, out of deep and unfeigned feeling, the prayer with which the pious and learned Mede entered upon the study of this mysterious volume of Divine Prophecy. "Thou that sittest on the throne, and Thou, O Lamb, the Root of David, who alone wast worthy to take this book and open it; Open the eyes of thy servant, direct his hand and his mind, that in these thy mysteries he may discover and draw forth something, to the glory of thy Name, and the benefit of the Church 5," The first chapter of the book of the Revelation describes the vision of glory and majesty which 4 Rev. i. 3; xxii. 7. 5 Works, p. 419. "Tu qui throno insides, Tuque Agne, Stirps Davidis, qui solus dignus eras librum hunc accipere et aperire; aperi oculos servi tui, manum ei mentemque dirige, ut in hisce mysteriis tuis aliquid cernat promatque, ad Nominis tui gloriam et Ecclesiæ emolu mentum." Clavis Apocalyptica, Prænoscenda. "Quod superest, Lector, en tibi ordinem et seriem juxta res gerendas omnium in Apocalypsi Vaticiniorum... Retegat Deus oculos mentis utriusque nostrûm, ut intueamur mirabilia ejus. Amen."-p. 431. "Christe, Dei Sapientia, cui Apocalypsis à Patre data est, ut indicares servis suis res futuras, illumina jubare suo mentem meam, immunditiem sanguine deterge. Da, Te favente, Spirituque duce, abdita hæc mysteria perlustrem, aliisque pandam."-p. 437. VI.] Opening vision of the Revelation. 159 appeared to St. John in the isle of Patmos, when he 66 was in the Spirit on the Lord's day ;" and which, with a voice as of a trumpet, bade him write in a book the things which he saw, and send it to the seven Churches of Asia. The Divine and awful Form which he beheld, strikingly resembles, while it surpasses it in glory, that which, in the last vision of Daniel, appeared to the prophet upon the waters of the river Hiddekel'. In other points of the description we are reminded rather of that which had been given, in a former vision of the same prophet, of "the Ancient of days 3" whom he beheld seated on His throne; and to whom, as the prophet "saw in the night visions," "one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion an everlasting dominion which" should "not pass away, and his kingdom that which" should "not be destroyed "." The mystery thus dimly shadowed out to the prophet, was revealed more fully to the apostle. He beheld "one like unto the Son of man," yet, at the same time, appearing in the form as of "the Ancient of days;" One who was invested with high dominion as "the prince of the kings of the earth;" of whom it was declared, Behold, he cometh with clouds 2;" and who is revealed as the "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." 66 160 Vision of the Divine Throne. [LECT. Having thus made known Who it was from whom the message came, the beloved disciple proceeds to record the words of mingled commendation and warning which he was commanded to write, severally, to the seven Churches. These epistles occupy the second and third chapters: in the fourth, the main vision opens, which continues to unfold through the remainder of the book. "I looked," says St. John, "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 shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven 4." It had been foretold, in the Divine interpretation of the first vision contained in the book of Daniel,-Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the image, that, "in the days of those kings" whose successive empires were represented by the several parts of the image, "the God of heaven would set up a kingdom which" should "never be destroyed "." And in the vision of the four beasts, revealed to the prophet himself, he "beheld till thrones were set” for so, as we have already had occasion to observe 6, it should be rendered,-" and the Ancient of days did sit "." In like manner, St. John beheld a "throne set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald"." Here again we are reminded of the language of a vision of earlier prophecy,—that which appeared to 4 Rev. iv. 1, 2. 7 Dan. vii. 9. vi.] Visions of Ezekiel and Daniel. 161 Ezekiel "by the river of Chebar," when "the heavens were opened, and " he "saw visions of God"." Having described the mysterious form and appearance of the four living creatures which came out of the whirlwind and cloud, and the brightness, and the appearance in the midst of it as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire', the prophet tells us that "above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw," he says, “as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it. . . . . As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord 2." But the apostolic prophet of the Revelation goes on to describe further the vision of the heavenly kingdom. "And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders "—or rather," the four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold "." And here we must revert again to the scene described in Daniel's vision, when he "beheld till thrones were set, and the Ancient of days did sit," and "judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom +." For, according to the interpretation given him by "one of them that stood by,"-one of the angelic minis 9 Ezek. i. 1. 1 Ver. 4. 2 Vv. 26-28. 85. Rev. iv. 4. 4 4 Dan. vii. 9. 22. Cf. sup. p. M 162 The four and twenty Elders, 5 [LECT. ters in the heavenly courts," the saints of the Most High" were to "take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever"." For the interpretation of that vision of the prophet Daniel, St. Jerome refers to the passage before us. "The many thrones," he says, "which Daniel saw, seem to me to be those which John calls the four and twenty seats. And the Ancient of days' is He who in St. John sitteth alone upon the throne.” St. Jerome refers also to that passage in the Gospel, in which our Lord promised to His Apostles, that "in the regeneration when the Son of Man" should "sit in the throne of his glory," they also should "sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel "." The mention of "the four and twenty elders" seems to contain a reference to the councils of elders who sat for judgment in the courts of the temple of Jerusalem, and in the chief cities of the Jews; but specially to the four and twenty courses of the priests and Levites, like unto whom, in their white raiment, these four and twenty elders are arrayed. It has been supposed, also, that the doubling of the number of the tribes of Israel might be designed to represent the new kingdom and Church of Christ, as composed of Jew and Gentile, made "one kingdom of priests," one "holy nation';" or, again, the joining together in one of the old and the new dispensations, represented by the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel, 6 |