constituted themselves into Prophets, and have endeavoured to make the Evangelical Prophet St. John the Expositor of their Prophecies.

Still the abuse of the Apocalypse must not tempt us to forget its use. Blessed (says St. John) is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein'.

Every one, my beloved brethren, who endeavours to interpret the Apocalypse, has special need of St. Paul's caution, Let him that prophesieth, (that is, expoundeth,) prophesy according to the proportion of faith. Let him not interpret any one passage so that it be repugnant to the general tenour of Holy Scripture, but let him take care that the sense he ascribes to it be in harmonious unison with the oracles of God3.

You will also carefully bear in mind, my younger hearers, that in the interpretation of Scripture, and especially of its symbolical language, the judgment of the ancient Church is of great weight. In later times, the Apocalypse has been made an arena of theological controversy; and its sense has been sometimes made to vary with the bias of its several expositors. Under these circumstances, it is fortunate for us that we are able to appeal to the judgment of ancient Christian Interpreters, who were exempt from the partialities and prejudices of our own age; and that thus we can retire from the strife

1 Rev. i. 3. xxii. 7.

2 Rom. xii. 6.

31 Pet. iv. 11.

of modern polemics to the calm retreats of Christian Antiquity.

Their judgment, therefore, is of great value; and it is very desirable that it should be resorted to: indeed it is much to be regretted, that many modern Expositors of the Apocalypse have been so much fascinated by their own theories concerning it, that they have overlooked the precious materials which Christian Antiquity supplies for its illustration '.

4. Bearing in mind these cautions, let us now proceed to observe, that the heavenly Visions of the Apocalypse open (in the Fourth Chapter) with a Revelation of the heavenly Church,-typified of old by the Tabernacle and the Temple,-and of the Most High seated upon His Throne. The Throne is canopied, as it were, by a Rainbow, in sight like unto an Emerald: it is flanked on either side by seats, on which are seated Four and Twenty Elders, wearing golden crowns, and clothed in white. Lightnings, thunders, and voices issue from the Throne. This is the Holy of Holies in the heavenly Temple. Seven lamps 2 burn before it, which (we are instructed) are the Seven Spirits of God. Before it, also, is a sea of glass like crystal. These recall to mind the Sevenbranched Candlestick, and the Molten Sea in the ancient Temple. Under the Throne and about it

1 See Note A. in the Appendix, for some notice of the Ancient Commentaries on the Apocalypse.

2 λαμπάδες.

2

are four beasts, or, rather, Living Creatures', as the word ought to be rendered; to suggest a reference to the Living Creatures in the parallel passage of the first and tenth chapters of the Prophet Ezekiel; and also to obviate all possibility of confusion with the two Beasts in the latter part of the Apocalypse. These Four Living Creatures are full of eyes, and each has six wings and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those living creatures give glory to Him that sitteth on the Throne, the four and twenty elders fall down and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the Throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive the glory and the honour and the power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created 3.

In this glorious Vision, the Ancient Church recognized and adored the Triune God, enthroned King of the Universe.

In the arched Iris spanning the divine throne, she beheld an emblem of His severity blended with love; in it she saw the dark showers of His Judgments gilded by the bright beams of His Mercy. The heavenly Bow spake to her of the Deluge, the shipwreck of the world for sin; it spake to her also of calm and sunshine after the storm.

1 (@a, i. See Note to HARMONY, ch. iv. 6.

2 Onpía. Rev. xiii. 1--18, &c.

3 Rev. iv. 4-11.

It spake of hope and reconciliation with God; and of the Day-spring from on high'; and of man's sinful nature irradiated with orient colours by the Sun of Righteousness. It spake therefore of the Incarnation of Christ. Behold I set My bow in the cloud. By the Mystery of the Incarnation, in which man's nature is united in a prism of glory with the Divine, the Godhead descends, as it were, from heaven to earth by an angelic ladder; Mercy and Truth seemed met together; Righteousness and Peace kissed each other. Truth flourished out of the earth; and Righteousness looked down from heaven 3.

Such were the thoughts suggested to her mind by the Rainbow arching-over the throne in heaven.

Again. To her eye the crystal sea symbolized the pure waters of Christian baptism, through which we enter the presence of God. The sea is like crystal, because of inward purity as well as outward washing*. The whole sea of the Christian life must be as lucid as its surface; and the baptismal water is as it were consolidated, by the operation of God's Grace on man's Free-Will, into a precious stone, strong and clear as crystal. The heavenly font is set before the Divine Throne. The new birth of the Christian is

1 Luke i. 78.

3 Psalm lxxxv. 10, 11.

2 Mal. iv. 2.

41 Pet. iii. 21.

5 Bede ad loc. Propter fidem veri baptismi refertur ad vitrum in quo non aliud videtur exterius quam quod gestat interius. Crystallo quoque, quod de aquâ in glaciem et lapidem pretiosum efficitur, baptismi gratia figuratur.

1

effected by Water and the Holy Ghost. And therefore the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, specially imparted in the Apostolic Rite of Confirmation, are before the throne, to prepare the soul for the presence of God. The Seven lamps burn before the throne. The Christian soul is also instructed in God's Law, encouraged by His Promises, and warned by His Judgments. These are signified by the voices, the lightnings, and thunders, which issue from the throne of God: for thunder is God's voice; the Law was given with thunder and lightning from Sinai 2; and our Lord named St. John a Son of Thunder 3, when he called him to his Apostolic office of preaching the Gospel1.

5. What, now, is to be said of the FOUR LIVING CREATURES, with figures like the Cherubim, winged, and full of eyes, upon which God Himself is enthroned?

We must remember that the Heavenly Temple was the pattern of the Temple on earth. In the earthly Temple God was enthroned upon the Ark, where was the Law and the Testimony. Bearing in mind this relation, the Ancient Church beheld in the Four Living Creatures a figure of the Four Gospels. They had been represented under this image by the Prophet Ezekiel, in his vision at the

1 Isaiah xi. 2.

2 Exod. xix. 16.

3 Mark iii. 17.

4 See Theophyl. in Mar. iii. 17. υἱοὺς βροντῆς ὀνομάζει ὡς μεγαλοκήρυκας καὶ θεολογικωτάτους.

5 Heb. viii. 5.

6 Chapters i. and x.