sures the Sanctuary, and so exhibits to us the sufficiency of Holy Scripture.

11. Yet, further, in the connexion of the Olive Trees and the Golden Candlesticks we behold a true picture of the relation of the Church to Holy Scripture, and of Holy Scripture to the Church.

This, as you well know, is, and long has been, a much-controverted matter; and perhaps no better, no more vivid, representation can be given of it, than in the Candlesticks fed by the Olive Trees'.

The Church of Rome, you are aware, would persuade us that we owe the Scriptures to herself, and that if we would believe in their Inspiration, we must acknowledge her authority. She even affirms that Scripture derives its validity from her sanction. It is Scripture, she says, because she has canonized it. So that, according to her theory, the Word of God owes its existence, as such, to the Church of Rome 2.

What is this, but to invert the right order of

1 Primasius, x. p. 314. Ecclesia duorum Testamentorum lumine radiata formatur. And Bede, p. 385.-Anonym. ap. S. Aug. Opp. iii. p. 3130. Duo Candelabra Ecclesia est; pro Numero Testamentorum dixit duo ita et ex Septem Candelabris una Ecclesia est. Nam Zacharias (Zech. iv. 2, 3) unum Candelabrum vidit Septiforme; et has duas olivas, id est, Testamenta, infundere oleum Candelabro, id est, Ecclesiæ. See also Bishop Andrewes, (c. Bellarmin. cap. 11,) who concurs in the opinion that the two Witnesses signify the two Testaments. See APPENDIX I. p. 176-187.

2 See the quotations from Roman Divines in "Lectures on Inspiration," p. 15, note.

things? It is not to draw light into the Candlestick of the Church from the divine Olives, but it is to attempt to light up the living Olive Trees of Scripture from the dead Candlestick.

Again: the Church of Rome will not allow the divine oil of Scripture to flow freshly, freely, and fully; no, she clogs up the pipes, and thickens the liquid stream of pure doctrine with the coarse and clotted admixture of corrupt traditions. What is this, but to mar the Candlesticks, to make the wicks fungous, and the light dim, and the air noisome, and the sky gloomy, and the nations blind; and to incur the Wrath of Him Who walketh in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks', and to tempt Him to remove her from her place?

My beloved brethren, let us pray for her, and let us watch for ourselves. Almighty God, let us be sure, does enlighten His Church by the holy oil of His Spirit poured from the Olive Trees of the Two Testaments. He is the only source of light: He is the Father of Lights. In His light we see light. Let us not imagine, then, that we can illuminate ourselves; much less that we can illuminate His Word! The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

He has also set the Golden Candlestick of His Church Catholic in the World, to be the recipient of His light, to keep it ever burning, and to convey and

Rev. i. 13. ii. 1. 31 Cor. ii. 11.

2 James i. 17. Psalm xxxvi. 9.

diffuse it far and wide. We receive Scripture from Him through the Church; and what has not passed through its sacred Pipes, even from the beginning, -what has not come to us by the golden tubes of the faithful testimony of the Church,-we do not acknowledge as Scripture'. But the Church has no light of her own. If God should withdraw the supply, or if she obstructs the channel, her light wanes and dies. But He is graciously pleased to pour forth a perennial stream of the oil of spiritual truth and grace in His Written Word; and the Son of Man, the Great High Priest, is ever walking in the midst of His Church, warning her to keep her lights burning; and we are sure that the light so given, though it may be dimmed, will never die.

12. Lastly, the irreverent and contemptuous treatment which the WORD of GOD will receive, and which, alas! it is now receiving, from the World, is pourtrayed by St. John in this divine prophecy; and the final triumph of that Word is revealed also. Let us, therefore, be on our guard; let us be made wise thereby.

The Two Witnesses prophesy in sackcloth. The Two Testaments are assailed by Satan, and im

2

1 Thirty-nine Articles, Art. VI. "In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church."

2 Anonym. ap. S. Aug. iii. 3129. Dabo Testibus meis, id est, Duobus Testamentis; et prophetabunt diebus MCCLX. numerum novissimæ persecutionis et futuræ pacis et totius temporis a Domini passione. Here,

pugned by men, as the One Testament was by the type of Antichrist, Antiochus Epiphanes, and as Both were by Diocletian. Their warnings may be despised; their commands may be broken; they may seem as dead; their carcases may be trodden under foot (as the Apocalypse prophesies) in the streets of the great City, the figure of a rebel Church. They that dwell on the earth may rejoice over them, because the Two Witnesses tormented them. The Kingdoms of this World may imagine that the Word of God slumbers; that all its precepts are obsolete; its lightnings extinct, and all its thunders spent. Nations may enact Codes, and frame Constitutions, which treat that Word as dead. Men may busy themselves in endeavouring to prove that the Two Witnesses are not inspired; they may proudly dream that they have reduced them to silence by scoffing sneers and sceptical sophistry. Churches may withhold the Word of God, and prohibit its circulation, and stifle or adulterate its testimony by human traditions and legendary fables. But the Scripture cannot be broken; the Two Witnesses are immortal.

They may appear to be dead, but, as St. John declares in the Apocalypse',—they still live and

it may be observed, is a refutation of their assertion who affirm that the ancient Church always understood the 1260 days literally, i. e. 3 years, and that this would be the exact duration of the last persecution.

1 Rev. xi. 10-12.

breathe; they will rise again; the Spirit of God will animate them; they will stand again on their feet, and they who see them will fear'. They will be raised in triumph to heaven, like Elias, on a chariot of fire. All flesh is grass: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the WORD of our GOD shall stand for ever. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but CHRIST'S WORD shall not pass away 3.

1 Rev. xi. 11.

3 Luke xxi. 33.

2 Isa. xl. 6-8. 1 Pet. i. 24.