238 LECTURE XLIX. REV. vii. 13-17. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb: Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. neither thirst any more; neither midst of the throne, shall feed They shall hunger no more, shall the sun light on them, For the Lamb, which is in the them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. THIS paragraph has been generally viewed as a description of the church triumphant. Many of the figures are so remarkable, it has been supposed that she never can be placed in any condition on the earth to which they will be applicable; and that therefore John was here favoured with a vision of the excellent glory in the highest heavens. But though the description is highly beautiful and sublime, and peculiarly fitted to impress our minds with the great honour and felicity of her condition, we do not meet with any thing here but what accords with the descriptions of the glory of the latter days, in the writings of Isaiah and other prophets. The close of the Ix. chap. of Isaiah is fitted to excite in our minds as exalted sentiments of the prosperity of the church as the verses before us; and you have only to look into the connexion in which that part of the prophecy is placed, to see that its immediate reference is to some happy condition of the church on earth. The same application must be made of the description in the close of the lxv. chap. There is such a similarity in these prophecies to the one before us, that John appears to have selected the greater part of this description from the language of his predecessor. Nor do we meet with any thing here that is more remarkable, than the account which John himself, in a subsequent part of the book, has given of the prosperity of the church in the latter days. When he describes the same scenes he makes use of nearly the same figures and expressions. If the description in chap. xxi., as may afterwards appear, be applicable to the condition of the church on earth, when Satan shall be bound with a great chain, and the beast and the false prophet shut up in prison, there is nothing in the language of the prophecy before us which may not be accommodated to the same period and condition of the true church. It may likewise be noticed, that there are different figures and expressions in this description, which, without violating the most essential rules of interpretation, could not be applied to the condition of the church in glory. In heaven there is no temple; neither have they any night there. But of this blessed company it is said, that they shall serve God in his temple, and that they shall be occupied in this manner by night as well as by day. To them it is promised, that God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; but this certainly supposes some occasions of sorrow, else why is the cheek at any time moistened with a tear? Such a representation is inconsistent with the perfection of blessedness enjoyed in heaven.-This company too is composed of persons in public office as well as of private members of the church; both the elders and the living creatures are introduced. But as they have no need of Bibles, they have as little need of ministers, in heaven; and as they have no enemies in that land of peace, they have no need of guards of angels to protect them. The connexion too in which this paragraph is placed necessarily leads to this inter pretation. The innumerable multitude, mentioned in the preceding verses, are the successors of the witnesses who began to appear at the time of the Reformation from Popery, and who, at the period when the interests of Antichrist shall be completely subverted, will be so greatly increased as to be beyond all calculation: but the persons described in the verses before us are the same with that multitude. The question proposed by the elder necessarily implies this; and, therefore, all this great excellency of privilege described in the verses may be expected by the church on earth. Prosperous as the times of the Reformation were, they afforded only the beginning and foretastes of that which is to be far more fully enjoyed in the latter days. The paragraph is introduced by a twofold question, as in verse 13, One of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? The object of this inquiry could not be any thing personal, or for his own information; neither could he expect that John would be able to give a satisfactory answer; much less can it be supposed, that he addressed him from vanity, or a wish to display his superior attainments. His object was to excite a spirit of inquiry, that an opportunity might be afforded him of explaining the vision, and giving to John all necessary information respecting this multitude. The elders, we have seen, are the hieroglyphics of the private members of the church; and though their station is far inferior to that of prophets, yet this is not the only instance in which an elder is represented as acting the part of an interpreter to John. When he was bathed in tears, because no one was found worthy to open the book, he was comforted by one of the elders, who assured him, that the Lion of the tribe of Juda would perform the task. And now when he stood in silent wonder, gazing upon this multitude, at a loss to conceive who they were, or whence they had come, one of the elders came forward to give him all necessary information. It is not without a special design that one was selected from the society of elders, and not from the living creatures, to be employed as his instructor. The prophecy has an ultimate reference to the most enlightened period of the church, when they will not need to teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they will all know him, from the least even to the greatest of them.' The stock of knowledge that will then be possessed by the private members of the church will far exceed the attainments, even of the ablest and best informed of her ministers, in the days of John. Hence a private church-member is here introduced as his tutor; and, as if the prophet had been but a mere child in knowledge compared with him, he is represented as addressing him in a catechetical form, saying, What are these clothed in white robes? and whence came they? The word translated robes, properly signifies a marriage. robe; and as both this word, and the one translated white, have the article prefixed, it gives a peculiar force and beauty to the expression. The allusion is to a marriage-garment of the richest and most splendid appearance. To take in the full meaning of the expression, it would require to be rendered thus: Who are these clothed in the richest marriage-robes, in robes of the purest white?-The appearance of this company so far excelled any thing that John had seen among men, he could hardly suppose that they belonged to the human family. And as he never had heard of angels being the bride, the Lamb's wife, he could not suppose that they belonged to the angelic world. He was therefore much at a loss to conceive either who they were, or whence they had come, and frankly acknowledges his incapacity to give an answer to the questions; but, at the same time, he intimates his earnest desire to be informed. The reply is contained in the beginning of verse 14, And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. His answer is peculiarly modest and respectful. He does not charge him with impertinence, as if he had gone beyond his proper sphere, when he, who was only a private member of the church, presumed to instruct a prophet and an apostle. Apollos was not offended VOL. II. Q at Aquila and Priscilla, when they took him aside and instructed him in the way of the Lord more perfectly, though he was clothed with public office, and eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, and they were only private members of the church. And instead of taking offence, John tacitly intimates his desire, that this elder would give him all necessary information respecting this multitude. He could easily perceive, that the questions were proposed to excite inquiry; and therefore he refers the answer to him by whom they had been proposed. By far the greater part of the imagery of this book is borrowed from the writings of former prophets; and sometimes the identical expressions of these prophets are employed. We have an answer perfectly similar to the one before us, in the xxxvii. chap. of Ezekiel, verse 3. There the prophet was asked, if the bones could live. And he instantly referred the matter to him who proposed the question, by saying, O Lord God, thou knowest. John answered the questions of this elder in the same way. And, as the ancient prophet had a strong desire to know, whether a resurrection of the bones might be expected or not, John could not fail to be desirous of knowing the origin and history of this remarkable company; and, from what follows, we find that his desire was fully gratified. Here a particular account is given,-of their origin,—of the way in which they came to make this singularly splendid appearance,—of the place which they occupied, of the exercises in which they were engaged,—and of the invaluable privileges which were secured to them.-These different heads of information may be considered in the order of the verses. First, Their origin: And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation. It could hardly be said of the hundred and forty and four thousand, that they came out of great tribulation; the times in which they lived never had a parallel in the history of the church. Though they were not uniformly bad, there was no part of them which could be called good. The storm of the four winds beat with greater or less violence during the whole period of their existence, and |