NOTICE the first quotation of F. N., (see Voice of November), that of Matt. vii, 21, "Not everyone that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom." In this interpretation of the Scripture addresses to the Professing church or Promiscuous assemblage as addresses to the actual believer and heavenborn-does not F. N. err with the multitude? Here the Lord is indeed excluding from the kingdom, but not defaulters among the saints, but sinners dead, "workers of iniquity." (See ver. 23.) Again, through F. N.'s three quotations, viz. Heb. iv. 1, iv. 11, x. 38, 39, and well might he have added Heb. iii. 6 and 14 and other passages, and well nigh all the minatory and hortatory portion of the epistle, the Scripture is addressing promiscuously the holder fast and the letter go, the believing and the professing, the quickened and the unquickened the Scripture here, and throughout the volume of its utterance, assumes the professor to be believer, and yet warns him not to feed upon a lie, "deceiving his own heart." The Living Oracles, although they declare or convey life to the already quickened or the prepared, and fall blunt and abortive before the heart unopened of the Lord, are addressed to all. : Rom. ii. 1-16 is interpreted as teaching (see Voice of Jan. 1869, page 10) "God will in the coming day manifest His perfect righteousness, and will render to each according to his deeds, but to every soul of man that doeth evil tribulation and wrath." This day is designated (Rom. i. 18) as the Day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God against men that do not obey the truth "-the Day (Acts xvii. 31) which "God hath appointed for the judgment of the world in righteousness by the Man whom He hath ordained "the Day in which (John v. 22, 27-29) all that are in the graves shall come forth. "For the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son." The Day then, whatsoever foreshadowings of it may burst forth at the Advent or Epiphany, (2 Thess. i. 6—10,) is the Day of the Great White Throne and of the standing in judgment of the universal dead that have not obeyed the truth; and that these are not disobedient or slackly obedient saints, but despisers and rejecters of the truth, plain UNBELIEVERS, see Gal. iii. 1 (as explained by ii. 16), 2 Thess. i. 8, 1 Pet. i, 22, and iv. 17, Acts v. 32, Heb. v. 9, Rom. i. 5, x. 16, xv. 18, xvi. 26: obeying the truth, the word, the gospel of Jesus Christ ever signifying BELIEF. Nay, Brethren beloved of God, knowing your election of God, you will not hold yourselves as exposed to "God's indignation and wrath inflicting tribulation and anguish." We next notice the statement (page 9), "Not all who are raised in order to be set before the judgment seat will be counted worthy to enter the kingdom. Some will be dismissed back again to the place whence they came (i. e. back to the grave!) And in page 10, "Will there be any difficulty in unrobing (saints standing in the transfiguration of the glorified body) if not accounted worthy?" Co-heirs with Christ, need we seek for disproof of this? Again, "Rom. viii. itself warns believers, that if ye live after the flesh, ye are about to die Here are a death and a life to take place after the natural life and death." Nay, this warning is against the indulgence of the flesh as the way, in so far as it is pursued, of decline, decadence, and death (is it not?); and the instruction to mortify the deeds of the body through spirituality and vigilant godliness, is instruction as to the advancement and enlargement of the Divine life in which we live it is the teaching of ver. 5, 6; and it teaches not "a death and life (to the offspring of the Living God) to take place after the natural life and death." "Believers are judged as servants," but Believers are not, as servants, charged with a quantum of grace and power, and held to render account for this personal competency: Believers are Sons, never possessing a stock or sufficiency in their own tenure, furnished once for all; but ever impotent and ever strengthened, ever empty and ever receiving, the hourly succoured and supplied and capacitated child of the Father and member of Christ. The stocked and set-up state of the believer in potency and competency may be popular doctrine, but it is unsound and perilous. Three strong texts are adduced as proof-texts of the doctrine of Exclusion, viz, 2 Cor. v. 10, Gal. vi. 7, 8, Col. iii. 25. If these be shown as not admitting such interpretation, the doctrine will fall as unscriptural. Let us consider these truly solemn announcements in the light of such passages as 1 Cor. iii. 13-15, Gal. vi. 4, Ph. ii. 16, and iv. 1 in connection with 1 Thess. ii. 19, 20, 1 John ii. 28, 2 John 8., Rev. iii. 11 and xvi. 15. By these we are taught that, as distinction and elevation shall be conferred upon the Saint who was eminent on earth for obedience and righteousness, so loss, shame, and confusion of face will be incurred by the Saint who was an evildoer or earthly-minded or world-conforming. Honour bestowed and proclaimed by the Supreme Majesty-is it of light account? Honour withholden or rebuke uttered, or howsoever signified or indicated, by the now wholly Beloved and with heart and soul Adored-is it, ah! is there a comparison with which to compare it? Again, exaltation and superiority in the Kingdom and inferior position in the Kingdom :-how are these accounted and accepted by the spirits now standing perfect in truth and purity and likemindedness with the Judge? Is not Humiliation within the Kingdom fully seen and deeply felt as involving the "corruption" which it was revealed the sower to the flesh should reap, and the "evil " which misconduct in the body should incur, and the "wrong" ("the harm and loss ") which should be adjudged to the doer of wrong? This suffering of loss, shame, and confusion of face, this gaining of harm and loss (see Acts xxvii. 21) within the Kingdom of glory, is amply reaping of "corruption and evil and wrong: meanwhile, may the mighty power of the God of our salvation accompany the denouncements and dehortations of those godly men, who, although under the menace of Exclusion, would show the shame and sorrow and damage, in which unfailingly issue the Saint's unrepented, and thus unforgiven, transgression, fleshliness, and earthlymindedness! Second Advent Melodies. No. IX. THE VICTORY WON, Air.-"The Minstrel Boy." HE battle of the soul is won By the Victor God who fought it, By the Saviour Lord who bought it. Its glory shall be all Thine own, No creature brow can bear it. The Captain fell, but His death was gain, And sin and death unite in vain To conquer His own hereafter; The mighty one to heaven has gone, John iii. 13. "Heaven," The question of A. W. is not so easily disposed of as T. W. P. supposes. The word is in the singular number, true; but this fact just disproves T. W.P's position. "Heaven," in the plural number is used for the immediate presence of God in the New Testament. Matt. vi. 9, Acts ii. 34. In the singular number it is generally supposed to refer to the "air," or "space." Rev. xii. 7. The argument from the Hebrew is equally untenable. T. W. P. writes: "In John, the word is in the singular number-the heaven; in 2 Kings it is in the plural." Now, nothing is seen thereby, for the word heavens or heaven is always plural in the Hebrew. Sha-ma-yim. This word is used indiscriminately for the firmament and the throne of God. Gen. i. 8; Isaiah lxvi. 1. In this case A. W. must dive deeper than the mere verbal criticism to satisfy an intelligent unbeliever. I believe it to be a fact that no man had then ascended into the immediate presence of the Father; but it cannot be proved from the text in question. The force of the verse is in the ellipsis. No man hath ascended up (in any sense) in order to come down again with the news from above; but (εun-this does not imply exception any more than Matt. xi. 27, or John xvii. 12.) He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. Elijah did pass up into the heavens: but he never returned to reveal the secrets of the Father's bosom. John i. 18. J. B. L. Do we not read that it is given to antichrist to make war with the saints; how then can the church be taken away before His reign? R. W. The word saint, meaning separated person, it applies to separated Israel, as well as to the church. Daniel writes about his own people Israel, and with that people the man of sin shall have war in that fearful day that is coming. EDITOR. NOTICES OF BOOKS. We only notice such as are sent for the purpose. "Christadelphians not Christians." By R. Govett. London: James Nisbet and Co., 21, Berners-street. Norwich: Fletcher and Son. Price sixpence. This is a most valuable tract. It is a revised copy of Mr. Govett's articles in the Voice upon the Mountains, and the testimony for truth which it contains was loudly called for by the rapid spread of the Christdishonouring heresies which it exposes. In reference to the subject we have had a somewhat remarkable experience of the difficulty of pleasing all readers in the conducting of a magazine. A few we think four-wrote and expostulated with us for putting in so much about a new sect, of which no one knew anything. But, on the other hand, about twenty letters were received, and three persons called upon us, all thanking us for the bold and faithful testimony against the fearful evil. The present publication we commend to our readers, in the full assurance that it is one which the Lord will bless. That portion of it which refers to "man's eternal existence" is especially valuable at the present time, when so many, of whom we expected better things, are giving in their adhesion to the theory of the non-eternity of future punishment. "The Divine Verdict. England at the Bar. Ezek. xxi. 27; Acts iii. 21." London: J. Nisbet and Co., 21, Berners-street. Bristol: W. Mack, 38, Park-street. Price sixpence. A very bold and faithful warring as to present things and future prospects. The solemn truth as to the present condition of the church at large in Great Britain must, before long, force itself on the attention of the most careless amongst 18. The signs of the times become more and more ominous. We trust this pamphlet may be extensively read and very seriously considered. "God's Tenth. A Fact for the New Year." Seventeenth thousand. London: John F. Shaw and Co., 48, Paternoster-row. In the form of a little simple, but interesting story, there is here set forth the privilege of giving to the Lord's work. Two sisters in business determine to devote a tenth of their income to the Lord. After a few years their income decreases, and then it became a question whether they should continue their practice. They determine to persevere, and the very day they laid aside the usual amount, a registered letter arrived containing bank notes with the word, "A gift from the Lord." The amount was just that required to make up their usual income. The book is very good as far as it goes. It would make a complete revolution in the history of Christian effort, if each child of God gave even a tenth; but that would not be up to the standard of New Testament truth. 1 Cor. vi. 20, 1 Peter i. 18, 19; 2 Cor. viii, 4, 5; Romans xii. 1, 2; give us a higher standard than "the Lord's tenth." It is the whole person, with all he is and all he has all to be given up to the Lord as a reasonable service. INTELLIGENCE. We have had even more than our usual number of letters from various parts, both at home and abroad, and had marked several for insertion. We are obliged, however, to give only a brief summary. Hatherleigh, Devon.-" I am glad to inform you that the Lord is reviving His work amongst us. We have had meetings for prayer every night for the last month, and saints have been quickened in their course, and I trust the Holy Spirit has converted sinners.' From another Brother in Devonshire. "The great want is brethren, with the gift and the grace to exercise pastoral oversight, and I rather think this is the lack all through the kingdom. There are plenty of preachers, and many true evangelists; but not so many pastors. I notice that when an itinerant evangelist comes round, numbers go to listen to the truth, sinners are converted, and Christians are roused up; but the evangelist having departed, things settle down to what they were before his visit; so that we need a constant succession of these stirring meetings Is that a healthy state of things?" Hull, Yorkshire.-" Lord's day evening last closed two month's work in the mission room. We intend to continue it so long as the Lord sends the means. Last Sunday a Christadelphian came to our meeting; he had come, he said, to testify that the Jesus whom we said was coming, had already come, and that all the dead had been raised; he wanted to lend us some books, but I declined to have them. Last night he came and stayed two hours with Y-. God gave power in His own Word to set all their wicked statements aside." From another Brother in Yorkshire.—"I am glad you intend to give at length your notes of twelve years evangelizing; this is just the opportunity. A work of faith like yours is calculated to bring glory to God, if a simple unvarnished relation of it is given; for such a relation will prove the reality of the walk of faith. This is very little understood, and where even Christians are concerned, many deride it as fanaticism, saying that such things only be longed to scripture times. I suppose you will also give a full account of your work in London, including the sad things which compelled your recent change. The history of a work of faith ought certainly to include the trials of faith which God permits." Falmouth, Cornwall.-"My Bethel Chapel is still crowded with attentive hearers on the Sundays, and largely attended on week day evenings. We have had some truly blessed seasons. Last Thursday six dear brethren (capt and seamen) addressed the congregation and offered pra What a precious season it was for upwards of two ho We have had such a large influx of vessels of late, the have held ten to thirteen services a week, afloat and asho South Australia.-" As a fellow-labourer, and teach the same glorious truths as set forth in "The Voice," I w to mention for your encouragement, that I have been grea cheered with the numbers I have seen. It is just the Lord's people, and its cheap price brings it within periodical we need to circulate at the present time amo reach of all. I am convinced that much may be done circulate The Voice' in this province, and I am going introduce it wherever I can." The writer then gives an ord for copies to be sent. We have two other orders fro Adelaide in South Australia. We have likewise receiv two letters from British Guiana. One (through Mr. Stron from our brother Mr. R. Kingsland, the other from broth Alfred Gardner, we cannot give them this month; but hop to do so in the next number. DR. BELL'S CHRISTIAN WORK. Dr. Bell thankfully acknowledges the following offering received since his last lists: For the General Evangelizing ::-"For Jesus' sake," 2s. 6d "A steward of the Lord's money," £2. W., Teignmouth Devon, 4s. E. F., Cork, 2s. 6d. F. H., Newport, 10s. 66 Given to the Lord, put no name," 5s. A. H., Walham, 2s. 6d. W. R., Exeter, 2s. Stamps, Plymouth post-mark, 1s. "A thankoffering towards gospel preaching in country places," 53. Mr. R., Weymouth Dorset, £1. "A friend," Wellington, Somerset, 2s. 6d. T. B., York, 10s. G. W. London, 5s. For the Circulation of The Voice, and Tracts on the Lord's Coming, amongst Ministers and others--W. D., Newport, Monmouthshire, 2s. 6d. E. F.. Cork, 2s. 6d. "A friend," London, S., 5s. S. W., Margate, 2s. 6d. A thankoffering, use it in mak ng known Scripture testimony as to the Lord's personal coming," 10s. S: P., Huddersfield, 2s, "A friend," Plymouth, H. T., 1s. Mrs., B. 5s. Mr. D., Manchester, 2s. 6d. Mrs. V., Gravesend, 2s. 6d. T. W. S., Exeter, 2s. Hymn books, &c., sold by Mr. Russell, £2 16s. Dr. R., 5s. J. W., Hastings, 5s. S. T., London, E., 2s. 6d. 2s. For the Poor.-Barnstaple, Devon, 5s. T. W., Ilfracombe, 2s. 6d. Lieut.-General for a special case, £5. "A young Christian," for a special case, 10s. From Miss M.'s class in the Sunday-school, 3s. 6d. "Savings for the Lord's sake," 5s. 6d. Mrs. C., 1s. 6d. W. F. D., Holywood, Belfast, 10s. Collected by a friend for a special case, £2 15s. Messrs. C. and B., Chancery-lane, for special case, £1. A steward of the Lord's money, for two special cases, £3. Mrs. D., £1. "A Widow's mite," 1s. 6d. "For the poor of the flock," 10s. From the Mitspa meeting of believers, Jersey, for destitute Christians, £2. "Omega, for poor believers," £1. Proceeds at Sale-room, £18 15s. 34d. M. A. V., St. Helier's, Jersey, £1. "From a few friends, collected, £1 16s." For the Work in Circus Street Room.-" The Lord gives me great blessing under the Word in the new room, and I praise His holy name. I wish I could do more to help you in carrying on the work. I have named it to a few acquaintances, and collected the enclosed 8s. 6d. I think if each one in fellowship was to do the same, you would soon have, by the Lord's help, a large sum." Mrs. C., 1s. Miss T., 2s. 6d. Hymn books, &c., sold by Miss Smith, £1 4s. 6d. A brother in Christ," 5s. In boxes, Jan. 31, for ministry, £2 8s. 9d.; for expenses, £1 4s. 01d. Mrs. M., one who receives much blessing in your ministry," 4s. Mrs. C., 1s. A new convert, 5s. S. S. C., £1. From Victoria, Australia, £1. "A sister in Christ," 2s. 6d. "A working man," 5s. Mr. C,, 1s. "A token of love in return for 66 much building up in the faith," 10s. "A babe in Christ," 2s. 6d. In boxes Feb. 7, for ministry, £2 3s. 9d.; for expenses, £2 9s. 3d. Miss E. S., Oxford-square, £1 10s. "I was deeply interested in coming to one of your meetings lately when visiting town, and especially in what I heard of your work amongst the poor. Accept the enclosed £1 for your own use; as the Lord may enable me, I hope to send something for poor saints in a short time." W. T., 2s. 6d. Addresses, &c., sold by Miss Smith, 11s. 2d. "A sister in Christ," per Miss Smith, 2s. Plants sold by Miss Smith, £1 16s. "With Psalm xxxvii., first three verses," 5s. "From a Christian brother," 1s. "A young disciple," 2s. 6d. Put into my hand after a meeting, 5s. The same by another the same night, 2s. 6d. Miss Smith, for plants, hymn books, and addresses sold, 14s. 94d. W. G., 2s. 6d. Mrs. S., 2s. 6d. Mrs. B., 5s. Miss W., 2s. Mrs. M., £1. "A friend," £1. Mrs. S., 5s. In boxes, February 14th, for ministry, £1 163. 93d, for expenses, £1 2s. 10 d. Put into my hand after evening meeting, 5s. M. D., Cobham, Surrey, 10s. "A thankeffering for blessing in the Circus-street room," 2s. 6d. "With earnest prayer for the Lord's blessing," 5s. In boxes, February 21st, for ministry, £2 4s. 9d.; for expenses, £1 Os. 10d. "Take this as from the Lord," £1. Miscellaneous.-O. T. R., a parcel of tracts. L. B., Winchester, parcel of little books. Mr. B., 2,000 tracts. Mr. M., Anerley, a parcel of old clothes. Three book-post packets of tracts. Mrs. S., Clifton, parcel of articles for Sale-room, valued at £1. Misses B., articles for ditto. J. H., Hereford, parcel of tracts. Sent anonymously, per parcels' delivery, parcel of gospel tracts. Mrs. B., Pointington, several scrolls, antimacassars, &c., for Sale-room. H. T., pinafores, frocks, aprons, &c., for Sale-room. Dr. D., a volume of "The Rainbow" for Sale-room. A reading desk purchased for Dr. Bell by the subscriptions of a few friends, for his use in Circus-street Room, and a beautiful large pulpit Bible, in which is the following inscription: "Presented to Dr. Bell, by one who values his faithful ministry, and prayerfully sympathizes with him in all his Christian labours, and trusts that at a time when a persecuting spirit is being manifested, it may be comforting to Dr. Bell to be assured that the kindly feelings which have prompted this presentation are shared by all to whom he so faithfully administers the word of life. February, 1869." F. B., Uchfield, Sussex, 500 tracts. Anonymous, a book-post packet of Dublin tracts. Mrs. B., Pointington, articles for Sale-room. E. C., packet of bread and coal tickets. Parcel of articles for the Sale-room. Whatever Miss Smith's Report.-I desire to acknowledge to the glory of God, His continual care and manifest blessing in the work I have been engaged in for two years. change comes in the creature, not one of God's promises have ever failed. I commenced looking only to Him, and so long as it is His will for me to continue, I hope still to be looking to Him alone. I am not however by any means unde valuing the sympathy and help of those dear Christians whom our heavenly Father has given the heart to feel it their privilege to help in supplying my every need; when all secrets are revealed, they will have their reward. I will not take up much space, but only name a few things. L. M., 2s, 6d. Mrs. D., 5s. Mrs. R., 5s. One morning by post 3s. for the poor, and 2s. for my own use. R. L. S., North London, 5s. M. M., 2s. 6d. Mrs. H., 1s. Miss H., 5s. A parcel of useful articles for sale for the work, Miss P. Two parcels of needlework from Miss T. 2s. in stamps from Miss T. £1 7s. Od. from several friends for a reading desk for Dr. Bell's use in Circus-street. 6s. in stamps, Miss F. I would desire to return thanks to the dear Christians who have so abundantly supplied us with cast-off clothes for the poor, and for the kindness of other Christians who have so kindly purchased and sent in things to the Sale-room; it has greatly helped in all parts of the work, not only temporal but spiritual, as it has often been in answer to prayer and given us frequent occasions to praise the Lord. This greatly strengthens our faith and encourages prayer. One morning, in particular, I was on my knees telling the Lord that I had used the last of my coal and bread tickets, and just at the time the bell rang, and at the door was a person with a large parcel of coal and bread tickets for me. In the evening of the same day I had another parcel of the same tickets. If I were to write down all such cases of the Lord's dealings with me, there would not be much room for anything else in "The Voice." The greatest of all blessings is, however, to know that souls are converted to God, we have had many such. Amongst others, it has been my joy to visit a dear aged man (Wilkins) who has just departed. I have visited him almost regularly for the two years I have been in London, and have been enabled to minister to his comfort every week through the kindness of a lady. He has gone to be with Jesus, and departed triumphant in the faith; when I last saw him, he said, “ I am going home.” “I long to be home with Jesus; then he closed his eyes, and repeated a verse of a hymn he liked, and had so often spoken about. "I heard the voice of Jesus say, 'Come unto me and rest, Lay down, thou weary one, lay down I came to Jesus as I was, 97, Crawford-street. SUSAN SMITA. [I also had the privilege of visiting dear old Wilkins, though not so frequently as I would have liked. There were many others needing to be visited; indeed, this part of my work might take up every hour. When Wilkins departed, it made the forty-fourth death-bed I had visited within a comparatively short time. O how solemn the work, thus to go about amongst the distressed, the sick, and the dying! One needs much of the grace of God. I could not find words sufficiently to express my deep convictions of the solemn character of our own times in this respect, that the Lord is taking away so many of His people, and so deeply trying many who are left. A few days ago, whilst talking with a Christian brother about the many who were being taken away, another friend came in and said, "And so dear CHARLES HARGROVE is gone too." Yes! dear aged brother, nearly eighty years of age, long a valiant soldier of the Lord Jesus; and yet, at the same time, a very JOHN, a loving disciple, full of patient, persevering grace. He departed to be with his Lord on the 7th of February. The testimony of his latest hours was, "Peace, full and perfect peace!" He also said to a minister of the gospel, "Preach Jesus, Jesus only!"-T. G. B.] Several advertisements are omitted. This could not be avoided, as there were not sufficient for the extra four pages. A few copies of the tract, The Foundation, are yet on sale. Fifteen hundred were sold in a short time. We are sorry at the delay in the publication of Gideon's Broken Pitchers. It will be ready next week. In the next number of The Voice there will be commenced A Work of Faith, and this will be continued in chapters from month to month, if the Lord permits. It is recollections of twelve years' evangelizing labours, in Great Britian and Ireland, with the Channel Islands, carried on in faith, looking to God alone for all temporal supplies. We ask the prayers of the Lord's people, that the Holy Spirit may guide the pen of the writer, and make the simple relation of facts the means of blessing to many readers. THE CHURCH AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION. WILL the church have to pass through the great tribulation; or will it be taken away before the last outpouring of God's judgments upon Israel, upon Antichrist and his followers?" If we refer to Jeremiah xxx. 7-9, Dan. xii. 1, and Matt. xxiv. 21, 22, the "time of trouble" there spoken of as the greatest ever to be endured by a nation upon earth, is clearly a season of tribulation yet to come upon the seed of Abraham, who return to their own land in unbelief, (Ezek. xxi. 18-22), and who for 1,260 days (the first half of the last week of Daniel's seventy weeks) will enjoy the protection and favour of the last head of the Roman earth, the fourth beast (Dan. vii., Rev. xiii.); but who will nevertheless experience during the last 1,260 days of the present dispensation the most bitter persecution at his hands. A faithful remnant awakened by judgments will cry to the Lord God of Abraham to deliver them out of the hand of the oppressor-the wilful king-the last Antichrist. But while the word of God plainly makes known the precise duration of the last persecution, 1,260 days (Dan. vii, Dan. ix. 24-27, Rev. xiii.); the author of this persecution, the Antichrist, the Son of Perdition (2 Thess. ii., Rev. xiii.), and those who clearly suffer most severely during this the great tribulation, namely, the Jews, chiefly those of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Zech. xii., Dan. xii.); have we any scriptural warrant for excluding the Church from this terrible time of judgment? The only additional passage in which the last, the great tribulation, is spoken of, is Rev. vii. Are we to understand that "the great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues,' will form part of the Church, the body of Christ, or believers, gathered in by the Holy Ghost? (Acts ii. 47, Acts xv. 14-17.) If so, then the Church, or rather that portion of it then found alive upon the earth, must pass through the great tribulation, and can in no wise be exempted from it. If, however, the passage be examined carefully, and be compared with other scriptures, it will be found that the Church is not spoken of at all in Rev. vii. It speaks of the twelve tribes of Israel, the sealed servants of God, and of a great multitude from all nations found alive upon the earth during the reign and persecutions of Antichrist (Zech. xiv., 1-3, 16; Matt. xxv. 31-46), and doubtless converted during the period alluded to in Rev. xiv. 6-16, when multitudes (“ the harvest of the earth") shall be gathered in. But the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the translation of the living saints, to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. iv. 13-18; 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52), are not alluded to at all in Rev. vii., neither are the blessings promised to, or bestowed upon, the saved Gentiles in that chapter, such as appertain unto the Church, the body of Christ (Eph. i. 22, 23); but differ exceedingly from them: e. g., Rev. vii. 9-15. The saved ones are seen standing before the throne and before the Lamb, with palm branches, as ordered (Lev. xxiii. 40) during the feast of tabernacles. (Zech. xiv. 16.) The Church is on the throne with Christ (Rev. iii. 21); Christ in the midst of the twenty four crowned elders. (Rev. iv. 4.) Twenty-four courses of priests were appointed by David (1 Chron. xxiv. 1-19; Rev. vii. 15: "They serve Him day and night in His temple." Clearly the earthly Jerusalem and its glorious temple are here spoken of (Ezek. xl. to xlviii.); for the Church is with Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem, the "Jerusalem that is above," or over the earthly Zion, and there is no night there, no temple there; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it; "for the glory of the Lord did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." (Rev. xxi.; Isaiah iv. 6.) Margin: The glory-cloud, as "a covering," or nuptial canopy. The trees of life are on each side of the river; the new fruit every month, for meat, and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. Surely the Church, "the members of Christ's body, of His flesh and of His bones" (Eph. v. 30), will require no leaves for the healing of bruises or sores (Ezek. xlvii. 12, margin), or fountains of living waters to quench their thirst. Thus we clearly perceive that the earthly promises to the great multitude of the saved out of all nations, differ very much from the heavenly blessings promised to the Church in glory. 7; Again, when Christ comes visibly in the clouds, as David's Son (Isaiah ix. 6, 7), as Israel's King and Deliverer (Luke i. 32, 33), as well as Son of Man (Dan. vii. 13, 14); and his feet shall stand again on the Mount of Olives (the mount of ascension), Acts i. 12, ALL HIS SAINTS COME WITH HIM." (Zech, xiv. 3, Matt. xxvi. 64; Rev. i. 7; Rev. xix. 11-16); and they behold the destruction of Antichrist, (Isaiah xi., 2 Thess. ii), the deliverance of Israel, and their national conversion and restoration (Zech. xii. and xiii., Ezek. xxxvi. and xxxvii.); but those gathered from all nations are seen by St. John in Revelation vii, standing before the throne after the elect from the twelve tribes of Israel are sealed, and therefore are clearly to be distinguished from the sealed Jewish tribes, and from the twenty-four crowned elders (Rev. iv. 4, 5) who represent the Church of God; kings and priests sitting in the glory with Christ; the crowns having been given to them by Christ at His appearing. (2 Tim. iv. 1, 7, 8; 1 Thess. iv. 13, 18; John xiv. 2, 3.) This proves that the vision refers to a period subsequent to Christ's meeting the Church in the air. Thus we may safely conclude that THE CHURCH, represented as the crowned elders, must be clearly distinguished from the sealed Jewish tribes, and also from the great multitude which came out of the great tribulation. If this be so, then the Church must assuredly be removed from the earth before the great tribulation shall commence. Hanley, W. S. V. EDWARDS, B. A. [Our readers will find the above argument at greater length in a little book by the writer, in which he also treats upon the "Foreshadows of Antichrist," and a "Key to the Apocalypse." We add the title of Mr. Edwards' book, which we very cordially recommend. We wish we could hear of many thousands of it being circulated. "The Sure Word of Propheey. A Light in a Dark Place. By the Rev. S. Valentine Edwards, B.A., Chaplain, Central London District School, late Vicar of Newnham, Herts. London: S. W. Partridge and Co., 9, Paternosterrow. Price one penny.] |