69 LECTURE V. ALL THINGS NEW. "He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful."-Revelation xxi. 5. THESE words indicate the vast material transformation of which our earth will be the subject during the millennial epochour resurrection bodies shall not undergo a greater change. The Creator of earth, who sits on the throne, is here declared to be its Regenerator; and by referring to Rev. v. 6, we ascertain the permanent character in which he sits upon the throne: "And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne stood a Lamb as it had been slain," (ws towaɣpévoy, as if just slain in sacrifice.) It is therefore the Lamb upon the throne who thus makes all things new. This throned one is the most august and wondrous spectacle in heaven or earth. It is the symbol of suffering continued amid the pageantry of royal rank. He who hung upon the tree reigns on the seat of empire; the hand holds the sceptre that once clenched the nail; the brow wears many crowns around which was a wreath of thorns; he who could barely find a grave has found a throne; he whom men execrated rules over all. The crucified is seen in the glorified; the man of sorrows is not hid in the majesty of the King of kings. Thus Jesus retains within the vail, and will retain for ever, the marks of suffering. These traces in Him who is on the throne are the memorials of the most solemn fact ever done in time; the epochal hour of time, the central act of Providencethe crucifixion. His last cry on Calvary is thus perpetuated in multiplied echoes; the destroyer of death is ever associated with the death by which he destroyed it. His sacrifice is too stupendous a fact ever to be forgotten. It remains an eternal phenomenon. This is honour. This shame is higher, holier, brighter than all honour. These wounds were the weapons of his victory; this suffering was the battle that ended in our salvation. Heaven is not ashamed of it, should we? We are thankful he is thus a throned, as he was once a crucified, Christ. If he had never died, no mercy would be possible; if he had never risen and reigned, none could reach us. His death makes our salvation He bestows from the throne possible, his life renders it actual. what he purchased on the cross, so making good as a king what he merited as a priest. It is thus that every blessing we receive is a throne blessing as well as a crown blessing. The cypress and the palm, battle and victory, shame and glory, death and life, cross and crown, are the warp and woof of that robe of righteousness which is the only costume of the Millennium. Humanity in its tenderest aspect is thus in the closest presence of Deity. The Incarnate One is there. My flesh is there. have not only relatives-parents and children-but my Elder Brother, yea, closer than a brother, preoccupying a seat, and preparing all things new for me. It is he who says, "I make all things new.” I "By Him all things were made," sin excepted, which is a blot, an interpolation. All things-rock, mountain, river, sea, star, moon, and sun-emmet, eagle, elephant-heathbell, oak, and forest-all were made by him, and still bear indelible traces of his power, benevolence, and Godhead. We still hear his voice in the thunder, and see his glory in the lightning, and feel the pulses of his life in all that lives. At first all things were made "very good." Sin, however, entered, and death by sin, and these have marred and mutilated the fair face of things. The bright mirror is broken, but its fragments show how beautiful it was. The glorious temple is unroofed, and the shechinah is quenched, and its altars are cold, and weeds luxuriate in it, and all venomous reptiles crawl and breed in it; but its dilapidated walls, and its broken columns, and the live sparks that leap occasionally from the smouldering ruin, indicate in some degree what it was. It shall not be left so for ever. The Creator is to come forth again as its Regenerator. Deity will, as Deity alone can, remake all. He will harmonize all its discords-allay its fever-and expunge the foul blot of sin which was dropped upon Eden by Satan, and has radiated to its circumference. Then his autograph shall be written and made legible on all-the weakest thing shall express his power, and the most defective thing his excellency. The sea, ever gazing upward, shall mirror on its sleepless eye the immensity of God. The dew-drops on every acre of grass shall sparkle with his love, and earth itself shall be the bright jewel on which his Name shall be visibly engraven; and tree, and plant, and flower-oak, and hyssop, and mountain daisy, shall show whatever beauty they wear is borrowed from his smile, and whatever fragrance they exhale is derived from his breath; and they shall render to him their thanksgiving, by consecrating all they are to beautify the place of his feet; and these new heavens and new earth shall be one grand Eolian harp, over whose strings the Spirit of God shall sweep, and draw out inexhaustible harmonies. Thus Creation shall become a meet supplement to Revelation, and Providence a commentary on both. The temple shall be open day and night, and animate and inanimate nature shall lift up ceaseless incense, and unite its thousand-voiced psalm of praise. Time shall be a perpetual Sabbath, and all things shall be worship. The sun shall have no spot, the sky no cloud, the year no autumn, earth no graves. "He said unto me, Write." I showed you, in our exposition of the chapter that describes the Reformation, that "write" means hear, attend, take special notice; and "write not," means disregard, despise the order. "Write," in this place, denotes the absolute certainty of the fulfilment of these promises: it teaches us that all obstruction shall be swept away-all opposition dissolved, as an icicle in the sun. Man's word may be successfully resisted, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. It is now written-it shall soon be actual. Hope still, desponding believer! turn your weeping face eastward, and know that, notwithstanding clouds, and eclipses, and evil auguries, the Orb of day will rise in beauty, and reign for ever. "Earth shall be full of his glory;" "all nations shall be blessed in him;" "he shall reign for ever." What is prophecy now shall soon be performance-words and deeds are alike to Deity. "It is done" -the prophecy is written; the performance will soon overtake The it. The spectacle of the new heaven and the new earth shall soon emerge from the last fire. All that obstructs it shall give way. The name of Christ shall supersede every name. first name, Christian, pronounced in scorn at Antioch-written frequently in blood-covered with reproaches, and mutilated by sects, shall be heard in music in the everlasting jubilee-it shall be inscribed on the throne, and in the light of the glory of the Lord shine with imperishable beauty. The kingdoms of this world are then the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. As if to convince us of the ability of Him who sits upon the throne to accomplish all, he introduces himself under another name: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and ending." A shallow skepticism would seize on this as a contradiction. How can one be alpha and omega, first and last, "beginning and ending," at the same time? So equally contradictory to us is the sublime description of Deity, "which is, and was, and which is to come." But are not all the ideas which relate to Deity seemingly contradictory to us? Infinity, Eternity, the Trinity, all overflow the earthen vessels that seek to contain them; and in our pride we pronounce that a contradiction which we should only adore in humility and awe. Christ is the beginning and ending of all-the archetype, and the agent, and the issue of all. Whatever wisdom has been expressed by combining the letters of the alphabet-whatever truth has been. told-whatever of true beauty poets have sung, or painters portrayed, or statuaries sculptured-whatever of science and literature sages have sought or universities have taught, are all in the great alpha and omega of time and eternity. Christ is the beginning and the end of all, the harmony and perfection of all, the light and the life of all; and even those disclosures which have been rashly quoted as inimical to his truth, and incompatible with his word, shall be seen to have been misapprehended by man, but never to have missed their course to his presence, or failed in their contribution to his glory. As Christ is the beginning and ending, all things shall praise him as such; and all his people consecrated to be his priests in the New Jerusalem shall present all things to him as acceptable incense. Then shall his command be universally obeyed "Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the earth, give unto the Give unto the Lord glory due unto Lord glory and strength. his name." "Christ will send us down the angels, And the whole earth and the skies Lit for blessed mysteries; And a priest's hand through creation As all things are thus to be made new, I need scarcely repeat that all the inhabitants of that new city must be made new creatures too. "This great change begins on earth." It takes place now or never. It is written, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; all things are become new." If then we are the prepared denizens of the New Jerusalem, we must have passed through a great change. "We are born again." "We are the sons of God." Let us try ourselves in the sight of God, and by the light of his word. If in our experience all things have become new, we have found a new object of worship. Self became the centre of love and the object of worship at the fall. "Ye shall be as gods!" was the successful temptation; and ever since, the aggrandizement, and elevation, and supremacy of “I” has been the thirst of fallen nature. But now "I" gives place to "I am that I am," the law of self to the love of God; and He who only is worthy fills the whole soul with his glory. A new object of pursuit also turns up, and shines before us; it is no longer self-aggrandizement, but the glory of God. Man learns and lives the first question in the catechism-"Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever." It is no longer the grand question, Will this profit me? but, Is this accordant with the will, and conducive to the glory of God? Whether he eats or drinks, he does all to the glory of God; and thus his least and loftiest acts-his most public and most private-have each and all a sublime aim, a holy significancy. Each day grows into a Sabbath; each meal is covered with a sacramental glory; and all his thoughts and actions and intercourse with mankind become perpetual worship. He seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and walks with new and |