We have lying before us the Bible. I have proposed to deliver a series of discourses on the last Book of the New Testament; but, in order to understand the last Book, it is necessary that we should pay some attention to the first.

The Bible is a history of all time, from the morning of the first day until time on earth shall end. It is a history of all nations--of all great empires of earth--from the beginning to the end. It has in it a history or biography of some of the best men that ever lived, and, I presume. some of the worst. It gives an unvarnished statement of facts as they were, as they are, and as they will be hereafter. Two thousand years, or nearly that, had passed away before the first line of the Bible was written. Two thousand years passed away while the Bible was being written; and nearly two thousand years have passed away since the last line of the Bible was written.

We have, in the Bible, as we said before, a history of the time before Moses wrote, and we have, in the last Book of the New Testament, the history of all the time from the date of John's exile, w hen he saw the Vision in the Isle of Patmos, down until the Lord shall come to judge the world

I know it has been thought by some that this last Book of the New Testament is very hard to be understood, and some have even gone so far as to think it wrong--if not wrong, at least unadvisable--for a man to say or write any/42/thing on this last Book of the New Testament--called the Book of Revelation. I know this has been common, and some of the wise men of past ages, since the Christian Dispensation commenced, have said and written that it is a mystery that the Lord never intended men to understand. For my own part, I do not believe that; I think it was given for our instruction. I do believe it is for our good, and I purpose to notice, in a few discourses, the things which John saw in the Isle of Patmos--to find out, if possible, the meaning of the Vision; and I submit this proposition at the start: that there is but one way to ascertain 'he meaning. First, to find out the Scriptural meaning of each part of the Vision that John saw--what it really means in the Word of the Lord, and then look for its historic fulfillment; determine the meaning of the things seen, by the Bible, and then, when we ascertain by the Bible that the Vision means, look in history's page to see its fulfillment. And if we can not determine by the Bible the meaning of the Vision--the hieroglyphics, if I might use that expression--if the Bible does not determine the meaning, none can ever understand it.

The reason I say this is, men differ so widely. One man concludes it means thus and so, and another differs from him. Then, if the Bible does not settle the meaning, we are left forever in the dark.

But if the Bible does settle the meaning of all the Vision John saw, and w e look over the page of history and find no fulfillment, again we are lost. So the Vision explained by the Bible, and the fulfillment seen on history's page, settle the matter.

The order of the Book we will notice first of all. The Lord has arranged it himself. In the nineteenth verse of the first chapter, we have the divisions made out by the Lord. He says to John, "Write the things which thou hast seen." That is Part the First. "Write the things /43/ which are," Part Second. That was present tense at that time.' Write the things which shall be hereafter," Part Third. These are the three divisions of the Book of Revelation--the things John had seen, the things as they then where, and the things that were to take place in the future after that time. Don't you understand that? But v-try say, "Write the things which you have seen, the things that are, and the things that shall be hereafter," if no man can understand it ? In the name of my Master, I appeal to every candid listener, is there any propriety in the Lord himself--if I dare use such an expression--saying, "write down," if men can not understand it, and he never intended that they should? But he intended that we should understand it, and it will do us good to understand it, from the fact that in the first part of the first chapter we have this declaration from the Lord: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy of this Book." Who would say that it is much of a blessing to read a book we can not understand? Who would dare, before the Almighty, to say it is a blessed thing to read that which is obscure, dark, and beyond our comprehension? Still the words of Jesus are here: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy of this book, and keep those things which are written therein."

But at the first verse of this first chapter we have the expression--'` the Revelation of Jesus Christ." The word revelation is there. Something that is dark, obscure, that can not be understood? Are these the definitions that apply to the word "Revelation?" Hardly. It is a revelation--something made known. But what? It is stated here, I only know as the Lord himself has given it. "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his/44/servant John." Jesus, the Son of the living God, has revealed to his servants things which must shortly come to pass. For a mortal man to rise up in the face of the word of the living God, and say, we can not comprehend it, is too absurd. But as he has revealed the things which are to come to pass, well might he add, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy of this book, and keep those things that are written therein."

The First Part of the Book of Revelation is noticed first. John introduces, after he has asked the blessing of the Lord on those that read or hear these prophecies, by saying, "John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen."

That is a plain matter, my brother. This chapter of the Revelation is asking the blessing of God to rest on them, and says that Jesus will come again. It is not hard to understand; it is a plain statement. Jesus w ill visit this earth again, as certain as there is truth in the Word of God. And the propriety of His asking the favor of the Lord to rest on the churches, on the servants of the Lord, is shown in this same connection, where he says, Jesus is the "prince of the kings of the earth," and the "first begotten of the dead." His favor is worth securing, my brother; he is no mean mortal, no low, groveling creature whose favor John asks upon his servants. He is the prince/45/of the kings of the earth. They may believe it or not-- it stands here, it is truth. Some have doubted it. One man, in talking to me some time since, said that he had no idea that Jesus had anything to do with the kingdoms of this world. His idea was that he exercised a general providence over all his creatures, in making it rain upon the fields of the just and the unjust, and in giving, daylight to all the nations of the earth But further than that, he had no idea that he concerned himself! I must add here a remark I made to him. He was a preacher). I told him that an old king, a long time since, had the same views of the matter, perhaps, that he had. That that old monarch said, "This is great Babylon which I have built for the house of my kingdom, and for the glory of my majesty, with the might of my arm;" and with that old monarch-- Nebuchadnezzar--it was I, and I, and I, all the time. He was the monarch of the whole earth, in his own estimation. But while the thought was in his heart, and the words were dropping, from his lips, a voice from heaven said: "Unto thee, O King, it is spoken: the kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, ant seven times shall pass over thee until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of me,. and giveth it to whomsoever he will." And the same hour it was fulfilled upon him, and he was driven from the face of men. Ho had the heart of a beast, and ate grass like an ox for seven years; and at the end of the seven years his understanding came to him, and he said: "The Most High rules in the kingdoms of men, and gives them to whomsoever he will." And he issued a decree that all his dominions should acknowledge the God of heaven and that he was the ruler. I said to this preacher, "All you lack now is a return of your understanding. You have the heart of a beast, at present! while/46/you say that Jesus is not the prince of the kings of the earth--the rightful Monarch of the world. As soon as your understanding returns to you, you will say that Jesus is the rightful Ruler. "That is the great lack in the world now; people do not acknowledge the right of Jesus of Nazareth to rule in all the nations of the earth. John declared, nearly eighteen hundred years since, that Jesus was the prince of the kings of the earth, and asked his grace to rest upon those that might read the words of the prophecy of this last book ever given to man by the Lord.

But when he had thus said, he said that Jesus would come again The man that had been despised and set at naught, the man that died the ignominious death upon the cross, that he would come again with clouds, and every eye should see him. That Jesus, the prince of the earth, would make this earth another visit; and we need not ask our old sisters and brothers to tell us when the Lord comes,--we will see him.

I know that some have concluded that the coming of the Lord, spoken of in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, and in the other portions of the New Testament, had its fulfillment at the destruction of Jerusalem. But John writes, more than twenty years after Jerusalem was in ruins, and speaks of the coming of the Lord in the future. Then that old, false notion is wiped out, is it not?--that the destruction of Jerusalem was alluded to as the second coming of the Lord; for John wrote after that time, and said, "Behold, he cometh;"--he did not mean Titus or the Roman army, as some have concluded; but the Prince of the kings of the earth, the Son of the living God. He said, "Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. "That was not a Roman general, my /47/ brother, that washed us from our sins in his own blood "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him" - that One that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.

The question would naturally arise, How will he come ? He was here once; Jesus visited this earth a little more than eighteen hundred years since. He was tempted; he was mocked; he was derided; was a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." He was persecuted and afflicted; went about with poor worms of the dust, as one of their number. And will he come again to weep and mourn; will he visit this earth once more to mingle with mortal men as a man among them ? This is rather a leading question in this age of the world. John immediately describes His appearance at the time he saw the Vision.

He says, "I am Alpha and Omega," or the A and Z in plain English, "the beginning and the ending saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." That settles it, my brother; it is the Lord Almighty that is to come again. And every eye shall see him. Language could not be more definite than Jesus has given it through John to his servants.

'I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; and, what thou seest (Part First) write in a book." Here we have a description of what the First Division of the Book of Revelation was. "And send unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto/48/Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." In the first division we notice, he was to write the things he had seen, and here they are distinctly stated: "And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in tile midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

Then come in the divisions as named. Write what you have seen. It has just been described. John had just seen the Lord Jesus in his glory - had not only seen him glorified, but had seen him in that glory and majesty walking in the midst of seven golden candlesticks, and saw him too holding seven stars in his hand. Send word to the churches, John, what you have seen. You have seen the Redeemer despised of men glorified. I am glad that Jesus has had it written by John. I am not serving, am not calling on men to serve that which is degraded and low down - but the glorified Son of the living God. His face is like the sun, his eyes like flames of fire. He is so glorious that John fell at his feet as one dead. John not only saw him glorified walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks, but holding seven stars in his hand. It may be that this is a matter of very little moment; but Jesus said, Write just what you have seen. A/49/matter of small moment it would be to us for Jesus to be seen walking in the midst of seven golden candlesticks and holding seven stars in his hand, if it were not that we are so intimately concerned in this matter.

I said we have to determine the meaning of the Vision by the Bible. "The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sanest are the seven churches." The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. In plain English, the messengers of the seven churches, or, as we more commonly say in this age, the overseers of the seven churches. Not angels up in glory, not holy angels up in heaven--the word angel meaning, as almost every school-boy knows, messenger only. They are the messengers, servants, or overseers of the seven churches; "and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." Here we have the matter described by the Lord. I saw Jesus glorified in all his Father's glory, walking in the midst of the seven churches of Asia, and holding their conspicuous men in his hand. Not only seven congregations, but all the churches of Jesus are included in this full number seven, as we will be able to prove. Jesus, then, my dear brother, is walking in the midst of the congregations; and, solemn as may be the thought, He is here. A revelation made by the Son of the living God himself, is that he is with his people; he is in their midst, though glorified in heaven. How many prayers it would spare if people would only keep the words as John said!

When men say, "Lord Jesus, do come now, O, come-- make one in our midst! Do come now, Lord, among your people here."If they would but remember the revelation that Jesus made, it would save them all that kind of praying. He is here. /50/

Write that you have seen me walking in their midst. Write, too, that you have seen their illustrious men in my hand. Jesus is able to dash down the most haughty proclaimer that ever uttered a word, or to uphold and sustain in the humblest preacher. O, that we could realize it. There is not a bright star in all the kingdom of Christ on earth, but what is in his hand. That is a revelation worth treasuring up, keeping and remembering--and blessed is the man that remembers it.

But the things that John had seen are certainly worthy of our attention. When John has thus given the First Part, the things that he had seen, the Lord glorified in the midst of the churches, and holding their conspicuous men in his hand, to dash them down into the dust or hold them up at his pleasure, he writes in the very next chapter the things as they then were--the condition of the religious world at that time. And I said that these stars are men.

PART SECOND is taken up with the first of the second chapter; and now for the proof that I was right when I said that these stars that were in the hand of Jesus, were conspicuous men in the churches here on earth. "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write."Write a letter to the star of the church at Ephesus; for the stars were angels. To the angel or overseer of the church at Ephesus write a letter, John. Do you not know it would be absurd for the Lord to command John to write a letter to a heavenly angel, or to a star up in the firmament? Write these things, said he who holdeth the seven stars in his right hand; as much as to say, "As I hold him in my right hand, write to him, and through him to the congregation, write, of course." These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh ill the midst of the seven golden candlesticks: "I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience."He could not have written this of a literal star up in the firmament, or /51/ of a heavenly being that had been born before the throne of God in light celestial. "I know thy works, and thy works, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil; and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars; and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored , and hast not fainted. "It certainly was a man he was writing to, was it not ? May be not. It may have been a heavenly being doing all these good things, laboring for Jesus' sake here. But the fourth verse settles the matter. It was not Michael or Gabriel; it was not a heavenly angel that John was thus writing to by the direction of the Lord. Not a literal star up in the sky, either. "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. "Good Lord , have mercy upon those who have their first love! That was the condition this congregation was in, and that one the very best informed, if I dare use the expression. "Write the things that are." And now he is doing it. ' I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come to thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent."

And it is just as true now as it was then. It makes me mourn, makes me grieve, fills my heart with sadness, while I read the revelation of Jesus, and remember that he is an unchangeable being; and that what he held against a congregation or individual then, he holds against a congregation or individual now. And he had somewhat against the church at Ephesus and their overseers there, because they had left their first love. And he did declare that he would remove the candlestick out of its place unless they repented and did the first works. And now, in the name of my Master, I make the appeal; would he not do it yet'' /52/ It makes me shudder for the present Reformation, while I know this fills too well the character of many congregations. Left their first love! Lord , have we not, as a people, left our first love ? And nothing but this revelation from the Son of the living God can ever bring us back to the point from which we started. I am glad from my heart to-day, however, for the encouragement we have in this same book, that if we repent and do the first works, there is hope. Brethren, it is the only chance to save ourselves in the cause of Jesus. So cold we are!

This star that John wrote to, this angel of the church at Ephesus, and the congregation with him, and doubtless under his instruction, as we sometimes remark--"like priest, like people;" they were wise in some things: they labored for the cause of Christ. Jesus said, "I know your labor, I know your patience, I know that you have tried those that say they are apostles, and are not, and have found them liars." This matter Jesus approved. He knows yet all we are doing for his cause--he is in our midst as much now as he was then. He knows all about our opportunities for advancement in the knowledge of divine things. He knows whether we have tried false pretenders to the apostleship; he approves of that; it was right then and is yet. I have heard some men say they were apostles, some that they were embassadors for the Lord! One man said, in my hearing, that the Lord converted him miraculously. The proof was, he went to meeting, and slept all the time the preacher was preaching, and just as he closed the sermon the Holy Ghost struck him on the thumb-nail and ran through it like a red hot knitting-needle, and immediately his tongue was loosed and he went off preaching the gospel. I heard another say and another declare, that they were apostles for Jesus, that the Lord had sent them out to preach. But do you know, my dear brother, that when a monarch sends an em- /53/ bassador to another nation, he gives him some sign? When a monarch sends ambassadors, he gives them a certificate--gives them the seal of the nation or the monarch that sends them. And the business that they enact is then authoritative, as the affairs of the nation or monarch that sends them. So with ambassadors for the Lord. If a man were to come to this country from France or England, and declare to the authorities at Washington that he was an ambassador, do you suppose they would receive him if he had no certificate ? And when a man says the Lord has sent him as an ambassador, we want the Lord's signature. Paul says: "God bears his ambassadors witness with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will. "And as a proof, they opened the eyes of blind men, cured the sick, and raised the dead to life. They healed the lame man, cleansed the leper, and caused the deaf to hear. They said, "We are ambassadors for the Lord," and gave proof that they were ambassadors. When men say now, we are ambassadors for the Lord, we ask them to show their authority. No sick persons are cured, no dead brought to life, no blind are made to see nor deaf to hear. And we say, you are liars, and send them off--and it is right. We have proved them and found them liars. Jesus commended that in the church at Ephesus, and does yet. The church at Ephesus had knowledge of these things and Jesus ~as pleased with it; but he said, I have somewhat against you; there is a little matter standing against you, notwithstanding all your labor, all your patience, and all your detecting of impostors. Notwithstanding all this you have done, I have somewhat against you: you have left your first love. If they had the tongues of angels and knowledge to understand all mysteries, and lacked this love, which is worth more than all, they were gone then and are now. There is danger yet of an individual losing his first /54/ love or leaving, it. There is danger yet of whole congregations leaving their first love. And as certain as an individual or congregation leaves its "first love," that certain will Jesus remove that congregation out of its place, pull it down, or destroy the individual that loses his first love. Is it not a solemn warning?

"But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate." This church had nothing brought against it, only that it had left its first love, and that was bad enough. The good Lord grant that we, as a congregation, and all that read this letter of the Son of the living God may profit by it, and that we may not leave our first love for the Lord and his cause. Hold on to the first love always; be zealous for the Lord and his cause, and rejoice in him as we did when first we commenced the Christian race.

But this congregation hated the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, of which we have some account a little further on. And the Lord said, I also hate their deeds. And this is written for the benefit of the congregations in every age of the world since that time until Jesus, the Son of the living God, changes; and he is not like a man, to change.

"He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." I have introduced for your consideration the glory of the Lord, walking in the midst of the churches, holding their most conspicuous men in his hand. I would say, let us not forget what we have learned in this little lesson. We must be zealous for our Master, and not leave our first love.