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an unreal, at least of a distant and an inactive heaven; shall not these things to a Christian eye be signs rather of a hastening than of a procrastinated end? Shall we not see in them all so many indications of the appearance of the white cloud and of the approach of Him that sits thereon? Shall we not hear in every sound the voice of the angel crying unto his fellow, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe?

God grant that it be not needful in this congregation to speak of the individual ripening for the vintage of wrath and judgment! Yet there is such a process and it is carried on side by side with the individual ripening for the harvest. There is such a thing as a man being matured for punishment, as well as a man being matured for glory. There are Ps. 69. 22. those in whom all things that should have been for their welfare turn into occasions of falling. There is an obstinate hardening of the heart against conviction; there is a resolute returning again and again to an evil way; there is a hearing with sealed ear and a seeing with closed eye; there is a refusal of mercy, and there is a daring of judgment; there is an increasing neglect of the means of grace, and a growing skill in using the means of grace without using them; there is a deepening darkness upon the understanding, and a thickening film upon the con

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science, and a progressive insensibility to remonstrance, and (the words must be spoken) a gathering dislike and at last hostility towards God Himself; which, like the opposite symptoms of grace in the soul of the Christian, indicate the approach of an individual end, and define to the eye of the beholder the nature of that end which is hastening on. It is to the sickle of the vintage that these signs point, even as the others pointed to the sickle of the harvest. Let us look earnestly each one of us into the secrets of these veiled and cloked hearts of ours, as they lie this night before the eye of our Judge! As yet, through His grace, the saddest, the most fatal sign may be reversed, and the vintage of wrath changed for any one of us into the harvest of glory. But the time is short. Death waits not for our tarry- 1 Cor.7.29. ing and dead souls have been chained erenow in

open

living bodies. Let the dead, while yet there is time,

hear in their living graves that voice of the Son of Joh. 5. 25. God which whosoever hears shall live. So shall we

hear that voice with joy and not with grief, when Heb-13.17′ it sounds at the last day through the sepulchres of many generations, and summons all who hear to resurrection and judgment.

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY,

January 19, 1862.

LECTURE XXVIII.

REVELATION XV.

I AND I Saw another sign in the heaven, great and marvel

lous, seven angels having seven plagues, the last [of all,] be2 cause in them was fulfilled the wrath of God. And I saw

as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who conquer out of the wild beast and out of his image and out of the number of his name standing at the sea of glass, hold3 ing harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses, servant

of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty : just and true are 4 Thy ways, Thou King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? because Thou only art holy; because all the nations shall come and worship in Thy presence; because Thy judgments were manifested.

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AND after these things I saw, and there was opened the 6 shrine of the tabernacle of the testimony in the heaven. And

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there came out the seven angels who had the seven plagues, clothed in linen pure [and] bright, and girt about round 7 their breasts with golden girdles. And one of the four living

creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of 8 the wrath of God who liveth unto the ages of the ages. And

the shrine was filled from the smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one could enter into the shrine until the seven plagues of the seven angels be accomplished.

LECTURE XXVIII.

REVELATION XV. 3.

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.

WE enter to-night upon a new section of this Divine Book. The last passage of the 14th chapter brought down the inspired disclosure to the very end of all things. After the vision of the harvest and the vintage there can be no later transaction upon the defiled and desecrated earth. The next revelation in order of time must be that of the new heavens and 2 Pet.3.13. new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

But though this must be the sequence of events in order of chronology, there are parts of the picture still to be completed before we are prepared for the descent of the holy city from heaven to earth, and the final establishment amongst men of the tabernacle of God. In particular, we have yet to learn in fuller detail the fate of the three enemies described

Verse I.

in the last section. We have heard in the 14th chapter in general terms that their overthrow is destined and certain. But the particulars of the overthrow have not yet been disclosed.

The vision of the seven Vials, occupying the 15th and 16th chapters, commences but does not exhaust this disclosure. We will read the opening of that vision this evening, and draw a few lessons from it, by God's help, for our own instruction and admonition.

And I saw another sign in the heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues, the last of all, because in them was fulfilled the wrath of God.

A sign is a signal. It is not a mere portent or prodigy. It has a meaning: it points to something: it indicates a purpose and a design.

A plague is a stroke. It is something inflicted by a person and upon a person as a punishment or judgment. We shall hear more of its meaning on a future occasion.

These seven plagues are further described as the last of all. Therefore this vision, like so many which have preceded it, will be found to carry us down to the last end. It is not a mere repetition of former visions which have brought us to the same point: nor will subsequent visions bringing us to the same point be mere repetitions of this. Each one has its own scope: each one has its own fea

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