believe that they are not revealed, not written, not studied and pondered, in vain, if they convey to us, in tones of serious and solemn admonition, these two reflections with which I will close this discourse. I. God has a purpose, an end, in view in all His dispensations; a purpose real and definite; an end which He will surely reach and realize. 2. And God counts as an enemy of His Gospel and of His Son every man, high or low, rich or poor, who is not, by choice and will, in spirit and in life, embracing that Gospel, and serving that SaMat. 12.30. viour. He that is not with me is against me. The form of that last outbreak of evil, the circumstances of that last discomfiture of evil, are still, even after the word of prophecy has spoken, amongst Deu. 29.29. the secret things which belong unto the Lord our God. But of this be we well assured; that in the camp of evil, then as now, will be found the unbelieving, the profane, the hard-hearted, the immoral, the deceitful; that in that last conflict, as in the conflict ever waging, there will be no neutrals; the undecided for Ja. 4. 4. good is on the side of evil, and the friend of the world Ex. 32. 26. is the enemy of God. Who is on the Lord's side? Mal. 3. 2. for he and he only shall be able to stand when Christ appeareth. LECTURE XXXIV. REVELATION XX. AND I saw an angel descending out of the heaven hav- 1 ing the key of the abyss and a great chain [laid] on his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, [who is] the an- 2 cient serpent, who is the devil (slanderer) and Satan (the adversary,) and bound him [during] a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and locked and sealed [it] 3 above him, that he may not lead astray the nations any more, until the thousand years be finished: after these it is necessary that he be loosed [during] a little time. AND I saw thrones, and [some] sat on them; and judg- 4 ment was given them: and [I saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and whosoever worshipped not the wild beast, no nor his image, and received not the mark on to their forehead and on to their hand: and they lived and reigned with Christ [during] a thousand years. The 5 rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years be finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy 6 [is] he who hath a part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath not authority, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him [during] a thousand years. 7 AND when the thousand years have been finished, Satan 8 shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come out to lead astray the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together unto the war; 9 whose number [is] as the sand of the sea. And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city: and there descended fire out 10 of the heaven, and devoured them: and the devil who was II leading them astray was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where [are] also the wild beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented by day and by night unto the ages of the ages. AND I saw a great white throne, and Him who was seated thereon, from whose face fled the earth and the hea12 ven, and place was not found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before (in presence of) the throne; and rolls were opened: and another roll was opened, which is [that] of life: and the dead were judged out of the things that had been written in the rolls, 13 according to their works. And the sea gave the dead who were in it; and death and Hades gave the dead who were in them: and they were judged each one according to their 14 works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of 15 fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if any one was not found written in the roll of life, he was cast into the lake of fire. LECTURE XXXIV. REVELATION xx. 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. NEVER did we more need the help of God than in entering upon the interpretation of the chapter now before us. Your prayers, my brethren, will not be wanting, that we may be enabled rightly to divide 2 Tim.2.15. the word of truth, and wisely and powerfully to apply it to the uses for which it was written. And first let me read to you the word itself. Some fancies concerning it will be dissipated by laying the literal message full in view: we will then endeavour to open the windows wide above, that the bright light and the healthy air of inspiration may shine and breathe upon it. Verse 1. And I saw an angel descending out of the heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain laid on his hand. The abyss is that of which we read in the miracle of healing the demoniac, when the legion of evil spirits who had possessed him besought our Lu. 8. 31. Lord not to command them to go out into the deep. The deep there, the bottomless pit here, in both pas sages more exactly to be rendered the abyss, is the Mat. 25.41. present home of the devil and his angels; that from which they come forth on their errands of mischief and ruin, and to which they return from each as their assigned abode and prison-house. Verse 2. 2 Cor. 11.3. And he, the Angel with the key and the chain, laid hold on the dragon, of whom we read so much in the 12th chapter; the ancient serpent, whose operations began so early in the human history, when it Gen. 3. 13. Was the serpent who beguiled the woman to break God's command; who is the devil, the slanderer or calumniator, and Satan, the adversary, of God and His saints; and bound him during a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and locked and sealed it above him, that he may not lead astray the nations any more, until the thousand years be finished: after these it is necessary, to fulfil the counsel of God, that he be loosed during a little time. Verse 3. Verse 4. And I saw thrones, or seats; it is the word used in the 4th chapter for the seats or thrones on which the four and twenty elders sat around the seat or |