the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented for ever-he continues," And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it; from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God: and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works;" (Rev. xx. 10, 11, 12 ;) one being a register of these perhaps, and another of their duties. Then the old creation is formally abolished, a new creation determined, and the Almighty Fiat pronounced by "Him that sat upon the throne," "Behold, I make all things new." Wherefore it appears that

1. The new King or Creator, understood in the first term, "He that sat upon the throne," is the Judge of the passing or present world, as well as the Lord and Creator of the world to come: which other passages attest to be Jesus Christ, the Son of God, or God by him; as it is said, "By whom also he made the WORLDS," (Heb. i. 2,) that is, both the old and the new. And so sinners will find to their cost; as St. Paul observes, "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ," (Rom. ii. 16,) and their works shall come to be compared with their duties and professions out of the two several books to which St. John alludes. It seems the dead generally, "both small and great," are to be judged by their report; no matter who nor what they may have been. And this is their universal Judge: they who have not known either law or gospel will be equally judged, and by the same rule with them who have. For God's word is as universal as the light; having been handed down from age to age by tradition, and diffused through the world by preachers of righteousness in every nation under the sun, from its first appearance: as we read; "Their sound is gone out into all lands, and their words

into the end of the world." (Ps. xix. 4.) And not only so, but examples and judgments too have gone or been sent into all lands; shewing by a temporary chastisement, as in the case of Cain, (Gen. iv. 13,) what may be suffered permanently through the judgment of "him that sitteth on the throne," if his wrath be kindled,—yea, but a little, (Ps. ii. 12,) by men who will persevere in such parts and practices as their conscience naturally disapproves. "For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness: because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." (Rom. i. 18-20.)

But in speaking of heavenly objects we can only avail ourselves of earthly expressions; as beings of that other world must have done in speaking of this before it existed, seeing their world is as much uncreated to us at present as ever ours was to them. And from this necessity there arises a disagreeable, not to say RIDICULOUS confusion, which carnal minds are liable to. We know, that in the present state there are many shadows of good things to come," and that the earth is sprinkled throughout with patterns of things in the heavens purposely ordained, in order to keep up the remembrance of those things among us: for where is the nation deserving that name upon earth which has not its altar, priest, and some divine rights, whatever they may be? But many are unable to compare the patterns with their originals, either for want of understanding the subject, or from not apprehending the use of a comparison: and not a few are gross enough to confound their patterns with "the heavenly things;" as if the real Heaven was material, and all that belongs to it equally obvious to the eye, the ear, the touch, and the palate, with any material things. There

was a time indeed when he who sits upon the throne at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead; at whose sublime presence the earth and the heaven will be ready to flee away,when he, I say, was himself subject to the hearing, sight, and touch, as St. John avers, "That which was from the beginning; which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life." (John I. i. 1.) And a time may also come when we ourselves shall be like what he now is, if he be not visible again: for "we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is," being again created by God in his own image: (John I. iii. 2, and Gen. i. 27:) but in the meanwhile we should learn to apprehend and contemplate spiritual or invisible things in the material patterns or figures by which they are denoted. And thus

2. As we understand generally by the Throne of an earthly king the fountain of justice within his dominions, so may we by the White Throne here, that spotless tribunal of conscience, which God has established in every man's heart, either by nature or revelation, and before which every man, whether he be Jew or Gentile, must appear sooner or later, and better if both, to give an account of his works. "For we must all appear (at last) before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad;" (Cor. II. v. 10;) and "if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged," (Cor. I. xi. 31,) says St. Paul. By submitting at the tribunal of conscience, while there may be room for repentance and forgiveness, is the way to escape that final condemnation before him that sitteth on the throne, from which there is no appeal.

We may also understand another, and I think, rather more probable and apposite, as well as more important

allusion in the White Throne, than the tribunal of conscience, without foregoing that, and in a much higher relation. For we know, that by the throne of an earthly monarch, his power and dominion are also figuratively denoted, as well as the fountain of justice within his dominions this, indeed, is what we generally understand in talking of earthly thrones: we understand the means of doing, for which kings are considerable, rather than the apprehension of their justice or hope either, which are the elements of a civil conscience. So that, continuing the use of the metaphor, while we transfer its meaning to another object, we may understand by this White Throne, the peculiar power of God, consisting in his Holy Spirit: which being promised gratuitously by our Saviour to his disciples, (Acts i. 8, &c.,) becomes to them, what is entitled by St. Paul, "The free gift," or "the gift by grace." (Rom. v. 15.) It is of this precious jewel, therefore, the Gift by grace, that I propose to speak, as of the first means or beginning of our new creation: considering the same 1, in relation to the Giver, him that sat upon the throne; 2, in relation to the receiver, the blessed object of his bounty; and remembering that the Giver of the jewel who was heard by St. John in his vision to say, sitting upon his throne, "Behold,

It may be thought a solecism by many, to talk of hearing in a vision, which properly means a sight. But this difficulty is soon removed, by understanding an intellectual sight or perception like the vision of angels, which is combined of every sense and motion, as hearing, seeing, smelling, feeling, and every general or personal, as well as partial or organic motion drawn to a focus. And it may here be useful to have such an idea of St. John's ecstatic vision, in order to conceive the manner, or possibility at least, of an angel-existence, or of a spiritual and intellectual being, endowed with all our modes of perception without the material means. For only in a common dream, though the organs of sensation may be impressed, they are commonly as inert as if they did not exist: and as the dreamer sees with his eyes fast, so would he hear, smell, feel, and seemingly run about without the slightest motion of either his ears, nostrils, hands, or person. Then supposing all this to be really and truly performed, not imagined merely,

I make all things new," is, as I have already stated, our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten or immediate Son of God, and his express image, or the nearest and most immediate presence of God that can possibly be approached or apprehended by one of our mortal species. For, as St. John says in his gospel, "no man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him :" (John i. 18:) and his glorious throne, signifying, as I said before, the Holy Ghost, or God in power and Spirit, is a gift of the Father's to him; as it is a gift of his to all who are blessed with its perception and enjoyment; only being given without measure to him, (Ib. iii. 34,) and also marked with another peculiarity in his case, that of being immediately derived from the Father, like his divine existence; whilst all other men derive it through him, his prayers, or prayers in his name. (Ib. xv. 26; xiv. 16, 26.) For "all things are of God," (Cor. I. xi. 12,) says the apostle: "One God and Father of all; who is above all, and through all, and in you all," (Eph. iv. 6,) says he; meaning ALL who are associated to his ineffable majesty by the medium of the Holy Spirit.

1, Therefore whenever mention is made of our Saviour's throne of grace, or the Holy Ghost in relation to the Giver, as it is particularly in the Revelations, we are not to understand such throne either as a transferred, or delegated, or a partnership authority; but as a single authority, and singly enjoyed, to wit, first by God in all who enjoy it, and next by all who enjoy it in God: as our Saviour prays-"that they all may be one; as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe, that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have

in a vision, we may have some idea either of an angel's common operation, or of a prophet's ecstatic perception, with the manner of our Saviour's ubiquity, as denoted in several texts, (Luke xxiii. 43; John i. 18; iii. 13,) and other mysteries too abstruse for our present speculation.