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CHAPTER XII.

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"AND there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars (xii. 1.) This woman is the Church. See the types in the Old Testament,-" Where was a great woman (2 Kings iv. 8); her son, too, was a type of the Son of this "woman" of the Apocalypse. Esther and Ruth, too, were types of the same; and it is very remarkable that the history of Ruth, a type of the Christian Church, follows immediately after that most extraordinary type of the dissection and dispersion of the Jewish Church, in Judges xix., as this chapter of the Christian Church follows after the vision of the dead state of the Jewish Church in the 11th chapter. And I would urge upon the world the wickedness of not receiving this book as inspired, when it is thus seen to be rooted in the sacred writings. "There appeared a great wonder in heaven." The world is almost indifferent to "the mystery of the seven stars," to the mission of God's ministers to the world, and to the progress of the Church; but heaven

is not indifferent: she was a great wonder there before time began. Who can have a faint thought of the nature of the Being of an omniscient, omnipresent God? The Church was as present to his view at the beginning as at the close of time. Oh! unfaithful servants of our God, how will you meet Him to give an account of lost souls?

Everything in Revelation is typical, and of definite, deep meaning; so, I believe, "Woman taken out of man," and brought unto him to be his wife, was a type of the Church, taken from the Divine nature to return to Him,-"That by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature." (2 Pet. i. 4.) There is fulness in that ocean of Spirit to fill all, to subdue all, to destroy, to blot out the nature of the devil from universal space. "There appeared a great wonder in heaven.' "Clothed with the sun" signifies the light, holiness, and glory of "the Sun of Righteousness," in which she is clothed. "The moon under her feet" signifies herself; as the sun is called the king, and the moon the queen of heaven," Fair as the moon, clear as the sun. (Cant. vi. 10.) The figure is very beautiful; the light of the moon is a reflected, borrowed light, and so is that of the Church; the moon has her changes, her eclipses-and so has the Church; the moon is often hidden by clouds of tempest and of storm, and so is the Church; but she has all these

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under her feet. The sun has her eclipses when our earth passes before her, and "the Sun of Righteousness " was eclipsed when the dark shadow of our earth fell upon Him: but all shadows, changes, and eclipses will be lost in the splendour of his brightness. And thus He said of her, "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountains of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense." I love very much those two expressions in the Bible, "A great woman," and "A woman clothed with the sun." And there is in her another phenomenon, not less divine, not less mysterious: "Upon her head a crown of twelve stars." These stars are the priesthood, the twelve apostles, the representatives and foundation of the Christian Church, "Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone." (Eph. ii. 20.)

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"Write the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven Churches" (i. 20). The mystery of the commission of the priesthood is, by the light, life, and power of "the Spirit of truth," so to reveal God to men, as that they shall accept the salvation He offers, and accept Him as their Sovereign Lord; so to reveal the foul plot of the evil spirit against the throne of God, as all shall join heart and hand to overcome Satan

in the heart and in the world.-"The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven,"-the world must be leavened by the Spirit of truth, and by the means of the seven stars, of the twelve stars in Christ's right hand (i. 16). And hence this beautiful exposition of the subject in this 12th chapter, opening to us as it does, and as it does no where else so clearly in the Bible, a page of a past eternity. The curtain seems to fall again upon that mysterious scene, lest the soldiers of the cross should fear before a warfare so deep laid, so mysterious, and so appalling; and hence this 66 crown " of encouragement at the commencement of the vision. "A crown of twelve stars," what a glorious constellation!

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See these crowns distributed now. (Zech. vi. 11-14.) See them around the throne of God," Upon the seats I saw four-and-twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment ; and they had on their heads crowns of gold" (iv. 4). And thus it was said to the angel of the Church of Philadelphia, "Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown (iii. 11). And hence the great Apostle could say, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown." And so this same Distributor of crowns said to Daniel, They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" (xii. 3). The priesthood may not know their privileges, and not

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knowing, they may miss the prize; but to the angel of the Church of Smyrna it was written, and therefore to the body, relatively, which he represented, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (ii. 10). Many are seeking a corruptible crown, and lose thereby the diadem that is incorruptible.

"And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." The Church was the mother of Christ, "Her seed." (Gen. iii. 15.) "Thy seed which is Christ." (Gal. iii. 16.) This verse is very expressive of the bitter cry and travail of the Church before the Messiah came, there was a body of prophets and holy men, whose cries, and prayers, and tears amounted to this travail of soul. In the 53d of Isaiah we have it; and then she breaks out in a song of thanksgiving and praise as though she had received the promise,-"Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child." And what must have been the expectation and silent waiting of Simeon for him to exclaim in the temple, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace."

"And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head." These seven heads signify the dragon's dominion during the seven dispensations: the ten horns signify ten particular

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