for true and righteous are His judgments; for He hath judged the great harlot, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and He hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. And a second time they say, Hallelujah. And her smoke goeth up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen; Hallelujah. And a voice came forth from the throne, saying, Give praise to our God, all ye His servants, ye that fear Him, the small and the great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready."

The preceding Chapter, Rev. 18, opened with an announcement of the final overthrow of the mystical "Babylon," the "city" upon the "seven hills," the gorgeously bedizened Harlot-Church, the idolatrous and persecuting Lamb-Dragon. "After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. . . . And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, My people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. . . . And a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all."1

1 Rev. 18. 1, 2, 4, 21.

"After these things "-after the vision of the final overthrow of the Idolatrous Harlot-Church-the Apostle heard rejoicing in heaven. There was a great Thanksgiving Service before the throne of God. "I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven "— namely the voice of all the hosts of angels-" saying, Hallelujah: Salvation, and glory, and power, belong to our God for true and righteous are His judgments; for He hath judged the great harlot, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication [idolatry], and He hath avenged the blood of His saints at her hand."

"And a second time they say, Hallelujah."

“And her smoke goeth up for ever and ever." That is, her catastrophe is final. There seems to be here a symbolical reference to the overthrow of Sodom, or (perhaps) to the punishment of burning appointed for harlots in the Levitical code.

In response to the second "hallelujah" of the angels, "the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen; Hallelujah."

Then "a voice came forth from the throne" exhorting all the Redeemed to take part in the worship: "Give praise to our God, all ye His servants, ye that fear Him, the small and the great."

There was an immediate response to this voice. "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord God, the Almighty, reigneth."

The principal parts of this worship were: Ist, The Anthem of all the angels, beginning with "Hallelujah :" 2d, after an instant's pause, a second "Hallelujah" from the angels: 3d, an act of reverence, "the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down

and worshipped God:" 4th, in response to the angels, the elders and living creatures chanted their "Amen; Hallelujah" 5th, the voice from the throne, which was the signal to all the redeemed, "the small and the great" to "give their praise," to raise their HallelujahAnthem to God:" 6th, in response to this voice, the "Hallelujah," which, having been twice chanted by the angels, and taken up from them by the elders and the living creatures, is now again repeated by the Church Triumphant, as the opening word of her sublime doxology; "Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth."

We have here, doubtless, but a glimpse, not a full and detailed description, of this great act of heavenly worship. We see, however, that it was not only Responsive worship, but elaborately Responsive. It was also Congregational worship: the elders and living creatures had their part; while the myriads of myriads of angels, and the countless multitudes of saints, responded to each other, in Anthem-Chants, like the answering seas and thunders, to which the Apostle loves to compare them. Again, it was Reverent worship: the elders and the living creatures fell prostrate before the throne. The structure of the worship, each of whose divisions is marked with a "Hallelujah," shows that the entire worship was Musical, as the worship in heaven always is. It was also a Beautiful worship: being enriched with all the beauties and glories of the heavenly world, and of a countless multitude of glorified saints, and of myriads of angelic hosts, and of the Blessed Spirit, and of the Divine Lamb, and of the Everlasting Father.

CHAPTER XII.

THE OBJECTIVE REALITY OF HEAVENLY WORSHIP.

IT is not intended here to raise any metaphysical discussion. When speaking of the Objective Reality of Heaven and its Worship, I mean simply that heaven and its worship are as real, in the popular sense of the word real, as this earth and its worship are. The difficulty which I have in view in this Chapter, is not a metaphysical difficulty, arising from the imperfection of our thoughts. It is a difficulty of a much grosser kind, arising mainly from the imperfection of our lives.

The refined and luxurious animalism of modern civilized life-which has elaborated selfishness and raised it to the dignity of a fine art-utterly stifles spiritual conception, making the spiritual "heart fat" and sluggish, the spiritual ear "dull," and the spiritual eye dim. It darkens the vision of heaven, and causes it to vanish away. Under this influence, religion, if recognised at all, becomes a refined embellishment of this life, one of its many soothing luxuries, by which a vacant hour may be filled: but not a Divine Call to self-denial, spirituality, and a life for eternity. This kind of life generates, for its solace and justification, a philosophy of its own. This world is supposed to be the centre of the universe; and the centre of this world is (I speak metaphorically) the Confectioner's Shop, where all the sweets of the present animal life can be purchased by its children. This kind of philosophy is,

in various degrees and phases, abroad on every side. It is held in solution in a great part of modern literature and thought. It is, so to speak, in the air: the whole atmosphere vibrates with it. This world and this life, and the delights and the riches and the pomps of them, are regarded very much as if they were the only Deity who is supremely worthy of being worshipped and served. And in the midst of these things, which make up his chief divinity, man stands his short hour, well fed, well clothed, sleek, and self-complacent. In his more serious moments, very brief and convenient seasons, he plays with religion, not without some devoutness of manner: but he no way realizes that the fire-bolts of God's wrath and love, which now and then strike across his path, have been launched from one Eternity into another, and that he must hereafter reckon with them. And yet he is not at all an infidel: only, a long-continued, luxurious, selfish, frivolous animalism of life has done its terrible work. The "riches and pleasures of this life," and the "cares" connected with them, have "choked" the Divine energy in the soul, and have cast a mist and a darkness over things spiritual.1

To begin a sketch of Worship by devoting several Chapters to the Worship in Heaven, will seem, to religionists of this kind, like attempting to build a bridge with one extremity on the solid earth, and the other resting on the mimic battlements of a distant cloud. Nevertheless, this is our method: for Heaven and the Heavenly Worship are Objective Realities, real and veritable facts in God's universe; and a sound religious philosophy must take account of them.

The marvellous scientific discoveries which have been made in modern times, and especially during the present 1 Luke 8. 14. Is. 6. 9, 10.