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been slain from the foundation of the world. If any one 9 has an ear, let him hear. If any one [is destined to go] 10 into captivity, into captivity he goes; if any in [the use of] the sword [is destined to perish,] he must in [the use of] the sword be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

AND I saw another wild beast rising out of the earth; 11 and he had two horns like [those of] a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. And he does (exercises) all the authority of the 12 first wild beast in his presence. And he made the earth, and them that dwell in it, that they shall worship the first wild beast, the stroke of whose death was healed. And he does 13 great signs; that he may make even fire to descend out of the heaven upon the earth in the sight of mankind. And he 14 leads astray those who dwell on the earth, because of the signs which were given him to do in the presence of the wild beast; saying to those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the wild beast that has the stroke of the sword and lived. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the 15 wild beast, that the image of the wild beast might both speak, and make [that] as many as worship not the image of the wild beast be slain. And He makes all, the small and the 16 great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bondmen, that they should give them a mark upon their right hand or on to their forehead, and that no one is able to buy 17 or to sell, but he who has the mark; the name of the wild beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let 18 him that hath an understanding count the number of the wild beast: for it is a man's number: and his number is six hundred sixty and six.

LECTURE XXIV.

REVELATION XIII. IO.

Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

THE season of Advent is one of special preparation for the coming of Christ's kingdom. And the special call of this day is to aid the work of those who are labouring to promote the cause of Christ's kingdom. Mat.24.14. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come. It seems not unsuitable either to the season or to the occasion thus described, to continue our examination of that section of this holy Book which tells us of the enemies of Christ's kingdom; tells us, in other words, what are the powers and influences which oppose its coming; and directs us to the proper means of counteracting them, both individually and collectively; both in our own hearts,

1 A Collection was made on this occasion for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.

and as members of that Church which is Christ's Eph. 1. 23.

body.

The enemies here pourtrayed are three. We have dwelt in the last four Lectures upon the first and chief of these; the great spiritual adversary, the devil or Satan. The chapter now before us describes the other two. I approach the subject not without anxiety. The interpretation is not easy; in some respects, it may be, less than certain. Still more do I fear lest to any of us it should be more curious than profitable: lest any of us should miss its deep spiritual lessons: lest he who speaks to you should ever forget that his business in this place is with souls, not with minds; or if with minds, yet only so far as the mind acts upon the soul, informing it, enlightening it, directing it, so that it may conduct its warfare more wisely, with a clearer insight into its enemies' plans, and a more accurate chart of the country through which it must fight its way to glory. In this sense, and in this sense only, may he who ministers say legitimately, I will speak to the spirit, 1C0.14.15. and I will speak to the understanding also: I will preach with the spirit, and I will preach with the understanding also. God grant us all grace thus to speak and thus to hear!

And I was set upon the sand of the sea. St John Verse 1. is still in the spirit; and still in heaven: but at this point the scenery of his vision embraces the great

restless ocean, as he had seen it many times from his island prison; and he is standing upon the sand on which it dashes. It was thus with the Prophet Daniel in the case of that vision of his 7th chapter to which we shall have occasion so often to refer in

Dan. 7. 2. the interpretation of that now before us. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. The sea is the emblem of human multitudes; of the nations of the world in their vast expansion and in their busy unresisting agitation. We shall notice, as we advance, how suitable to the opening subject is this position of the seer.

And I saw a wild beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. The horns are first mentioned, as first visible in its rising. The ten horns are collected upon the seventh head. And they are crowned; in token of dominion and sovereignty. Upon the heads are inscribed names of blasphemy. Blasphemy has two senses: sometimes it is reviling God, speaking irreverently or rebelliously against His revelation or His Providence; sometimes it is the assumption by a creature of the attributes of the Creator, the arrogating to oneself of an honour or a power which belongs to Joh.10.36. God only. The Jews said, Thou blasphemest, when our Saviour declared Himself to be the Son of God.

In both these senses, but especially in the latter, the word is here used.

And the wild beast which I saw was like a leopard, Verse 2. and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth was as the mouth of a lion. Thus it combined in itself the characteristics of the several animals seen in the corresponding vision of the Prophet Daniel. The first was like a lion...And behold, another beast, Dan. 7. 4,5, a second, like to a bear...After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard.

6.

And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. The dragon, the prince of this Joh.12. 31. world, does not assume a bodily form; but he prepares for himself an agent and a representative. The second enemy is thus the viceroy of the first.

And I saw one of his heads as if having been Verse 3. slain unto death: and the stroke of his death was healed. The wound was not deadly only, but fatal: it was unto death. And that death was the death of the animal itself: the wound of his death: the mortal wound inflicted upon one of the seven heads, is the death of the wild beast itself. But the fatal stroke is recovered from. And the whole earth wondered after the wild beast; wondered, as it followed him, at his supernatural vitality.

And they worshipped the dragon, because he gave Verse 4. the authority which has been described, such authority, to the wild beast; and they worshipped the

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