church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than that of Abel." Happy are such souls; "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;" all this is true of you, if you are upon the rock Christ.

The apostles laid the foundation of this city, and have their names engraved thereon; and had formerly the keys of it, to let all in that were loosed on earth by their ministry; and we must be partakers of the same spirit, and receive the same truth in the love of it which they delivered; for it is the spirit and the word of truth which are the keys, and it is the word and spirit that make us free; "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Thus you find the spirit and the word let us into liberty; when this is the happy and blessed case with us, we are freemen of this city. Isaac was by the freewoman; Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all; "So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free;" if so, we are freeborn sons of this mother, and have a right to the inheritance given of God by pro

mise to every heir of promise, and shall never be shut out of this city, as the bondwoman and her children will be.

As freemen we may trade in this city; all the elders will encourage us in it; and, as the Lord says, we may go in and out and find pasture. Thus these four and twenty elders, consisting of the offspring of Abraham, the twelve literal builders of the house of Israel, and the twelve spiritual builders of the church of God, have their names on the gates and foundations of this city; and as a complete senate or parliament they represent the children of God in all their privileges as Israelites, and as followers of the blessed Redeemer in the regeneration, till the world ends. Which leads me to my next general head, which is to consider, Fourthly, The object of their adoration, the Lamb; and why so called.

every one idolaters; Thou shalt have no

If Jesus Christ be not really, essentially, and eternally God; if he be not the self-existent and independent Jehovah, they are "I am the Lord thy God. other Gods before me." For thou shalt worship no other God; for the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God. But the testimony this faithful and true witness bears to his own proper deity is sufficient; "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty;" and again, "I am Alpha, and Omega, the first and the last," Rev. i. 8, 11. If so, there is none

before him, nor shall be after him, which is proof of his eternity; and though this be denied by many, yet he will let all his enemies know that he is the all-seeing and heart-searching God; "I will kill her [Jezebel] children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will give to every one of you according to your works." Strange language this for a creature.

The essential deity of this blessed object of faith, seems to be the main stone of stumbling, and rock of offence, that the unbeliever is to stumble at: "Behold ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you," Acts xiii. 41. But those that are led by the Spirit to see and believe this essential article of our faith, namely, the personal divinity of the Saviour, they will see the privilege, and soon feel the blessed effects of calling upon him as the object of worship: "It shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved:" But "how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?" It is in vain to call on his name as an object of prayer, if thou dost not believe his deity; call him not good unless thou believe his Godhead; "There is none good but one, that is God." But if thou believe him to be both Lord and master thou doest well, for he is so,

Blessed be God, he does not leave his own elect to stumble at this rock of offence; he sends the

comforter, the spirit of truth, from the Father, to testify of him, and to convince us of our need of him as one mighty to save.

To talk of an eternal

salvation from sin and Satan, death and hell, by a creature, is mere nonsense; "Vain is the help of man." "He that is our God is the God of salvation, and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death." And this God of salvation is Jesus; for there is salvation in no other name, Acts iv. 12. These elders know what they are about; all the hosts of heaven pay divine worship to him, though there are so many in this world that withhold it, being wiser in their generation than the children of light. "When he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him ;" and the command is the same to Zion, "He is thy Jehovah, and worship thou him," Psalm xlv, 11.

I will never believe that there ever was an Arian that could give any true account of a work of regeneration on his soul, or of his being born again of the Holy Ghost; and as they are sensual men, having not the spirit, nothing can be expected from them but lies and confusion; "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The Saviour will ever be glorified by the Holy Ghost wherever that Spirit comes; and he will be glorified as God and Saviour by no other spirit, nor by any but those that have the Spirit: "When the Spirit of truth is come, he

will guide you into all truth: For he shall not speak of himself; he shall glorify me," John xvi. 13, 14.

The first powerful command that was attended with a divine ray to my soul was this, 'Go and pray to Jesus Christ;' I went in obedience to the heavenly vision, and in answer to the first extempore prayer put up to the name of the Lord Jesus, I came out of as much real and imaginary horror as any mere mortal could bear up under. I would bear this testimony, and swear to it with my dying breath. He that denies the Saviour's being the self-existent and independent Jehovah, is in his natural state, in a state of unbelief, and in a fair way for a share in the damnation of hell: "If ye believe not that I am ye shall die in your sins;' and if they die in their sins, where Christ is they cannot come, John viii. 21. This I see, that the saints of God are every way instructed, and the word of God is every way fulfilled; "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."

It is clear, from the chapter out of which my text is taken, that these spiritual worshippers worship the Lamb with equal adoration to that of the Father; "And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts