Title Page

Preface

Chapter I.

The Acts of the Apostles 1-7 — The starting -point of the dealings of God in the new creation is the risen ascended man Christ Jesus, 1. The title “Acts of the Apostles” only a human one, and far from giving an adequate statement of its contents, 2. Difficulty at first sight to see why the Spirit of God, having shown us Jesus risen and ascended in concluding Luke’s gospel, should go over the same ground in the opening of the Acts, 3. The Lord does not act independently in His risen character any more than He did as man here below, 3. Resurrection does not supersede the Holy Spirit, 4. How the Lord met the scant intelligence conveyed in the question about the immediate restoration of the kingdom to Israel, 5. The basis of Christianity, 6. Waiting for the power of the Spirit to act in gift on others, 7. “Ordained to be,” 7. Paul not one of the twelve, 8. “They gave forth their lots,” 9. Note on the foregoing, 9. The parted tongues showed that God thought of the Gentile as well as of the Jew, 10. The amazement of the multitude, 11. Joel’s prophecy and its bearing, 12. Messiah characterized by the most absolute trust in God in life and in death supported by Psalm 16 13, and by other psalms, 14. How God opened a way for the acceptance of Messiah when apparently all was lost to Israel, 15. No true repentance unto life without faith, 16. The gift of the Holy Spirit always consequent on faith, never identical with it, 17. True belief goes with true repentance, but the gift of the Holy Spirit consequent on both, 18. ἀσμένως (gladly) may be omitted, 18. The apostles’ doctrine and fellowship—breaking of bread and prayers, 19. How far did the early believers realize the truth of the one body? 20. Breaking bread at home, 21. The meaning of σωζομένους, 22. “His servant Jesus,” 23. Peter’s sermon to the men of Israel, 24; which is an appeal to the nation as such, 25, and individually to the rulers of the people and elders of Israel, 26. Guilty conscience betrays its conscious weakness however willful, 27; and lack of conscience could not be hid, 27. The meaning of “filled with the Holy Ghost,” 28. Possessions laid at the apostles’ feet, 29. There is rarely a manifestation of God in the church without a dark shadow accompanying it from the evil one, 29. All sin now is sin against the Holy Spirit, 30. For Christians to use the law is to lower the test of judgment incomparably, 31. Many a thing has been untruly said since the lie of Ananias and Sapphira which has not been judged as theirs was, 32. Power by angelic deliverance and power by men in providence displayed, 33. Persecution and its privileges, 33. Murmurings, 34. The church of God is not a system of rules but a living power, 35. Appointment and choice, 35. Grace while it discerns knows how to rise above evil, 36. Stephen, full of grace and power, 36, sets before the council the prominent facts of Israel’s history, 37. Abraham’s non-possession, Joseph’s rejection, 37, Moses’ disappointment, Solomon’s insufficient temple-dwelling, 38, all laid to the charge of the Holy Spirit—rejecting Israel, who, filled with rage, stone the witness to their sin, 39. The loud voice and the whisper of the expiring martyr tell each their own tale, 40.

Chapter II.

The Acts of the Apostles 8-12 — A turning-point in the history of the church, the unfolding of the truth of God, and the manifestation of His ways, 41, in the reveation of Christ as an object for the Christian in heaven and outside the narrow boundaries of Judaism, 42. There is no narrowness in a rejected heavenly Christ, 43. Saul’s ruthless and blind persecution, 44. Philip preaches Christ, substantiating his testimony with miracles, 45; which latter attract the attention of the fleshly-minded Simon, 46, for the power attaching thereto, 47. But the power attaching to gifts is subordinate to the possession of a divine Person, 48. The contrast between the first and subsequent bestowals of the Holy Spirit, 49. The free sovereignty of the Holy Ghost accompanied by the greatest care on God’s part to maintain unity between the several spheres of His action, 50. The laying on of hands not essential to the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, 51. It was a sign of identification as well as of divine blessing, 52. The free sovereignty of the Holy Spirit accompanied by the greatest care on God’s part to tide of blessing begins to flow further from Jerusalem, 53. A man of Ethiopia, 54, hears the word and grace put together, and receiving light is baptized, and returns to his own country filled with joy, 55, no longer a proselyte to Judaism but a disciple of Jesus, 56. The call of the apostle of the Gentiles, 57. A sudden burst of glory causes Saul to surrender instantly, 57. The mighty effect on his soul, 58. The precious message of the Lord to him through Ananias, 59. He preaches that Jesus is Son of God, 59. The doctrine of the Sonship did not in the smallest degree set aside the Messiahship, 60. An important lesson as to reception, 61. An object of grace can afford to be gracious, 62. Grace can credit grace easily, understands the way of the Lord, and disarms suspicion, 62. Note on “church” or “churches,” 63. The progress of the Apostle Peter, 64. Cornelius, 65, a converted man before Peter went to him, 66. Had life but not peace, 67, and was by no means ignorant of the word that God had sent to the children of Israel, 68; and so believing God as far as he knew Him, could at least pray for further blessing until it came, 69; and he got, not the truth of the church one body, but that God was meeting Gentiles as well as Jews, 70, and that salvation was the heart understanding deliverance not merely from judgment, but from this present evil world, 71, whereupon the Holy Spirit is given, not by the laying on of hands as at Samaria, 72, but direct from God Himself, and the Gentiles are forthwith baptized with water, not, however, as a ministerial act, 73. Peter explains this wondrous transaction to those who had not witnessed it, 74. Note on “Ελληνας and ‘Ελληνιστὰς, 75. How blessed to see the free activity of the Holy Spirit without any kind of communication of man! 76. What a rebuke to those who would make the church a mere creature of government! 77. The wisdom of Barnabas in seeking Saul, and the recognition of a gracious heart among God’s instruments, 78. Peter rescued from prison by the prayers of the saints, 79.

Appendix to Lecture II. — Extract from Mr. E. Litton’s work on “The Church of Christ in its Idea, Attributes, and Ministry,” 80-88.

Chapter III.

The Acts of the Apostles 13-20 — The missionary journeys of the apostle Paul, 89. A formal act of separation which is in no way ordination, 89. Ministry and its distinction from official charege, 90. The difference between denying exclusive or one-man ministry and upholding a stated ministry, 91. What the church gives the church has a voice in, but what the Lord gives He is the Sovereign disposer of, 92. Also the Holy Spirit can set apart among the servants to a peculiar service, 93. The laying on of hands in the case of Barnabas and Saul was a fraternal recommendation to the grace of God in the work to which they had b een separated by the Holy Spirit,94. The minister cannot override the church, nor the church rightly control the minister, 95. “John to their minister,” what it means, 96. The judicial sentence from the Lord on Elyinas the sorcerer, 97. Paul and his company—a word on spiritual influence, 98. The liberty of a Jewish synagogue contrasted with the present narrowness of Christendom to receive the word of truth, 99. John and his unambitious testimony to Messiah, 100. “Raised up Jesus” does not refer to resurrection, 101. The true application of the second psalm to this subject, 102. The hatred which the unbelieving Jews felt to the preaching of the gospel to Gentiles, 103. The scripture which applied to Christ appropriated by the apostles themselves, 104. Christian faith appropriates to itself what is said of Him, 105. Unbelief always flies to influence of some kind, just as faith does to God, 106. The simplicity of grace and the wisdom of patience will always in the end triumph over what men call heroism, 107. Scripture always shows us people dealt with as they are, not all according to one fixed and rigid rule, 108. Truth may be declared sometimes by vindicating God and deprecating what is false, 109. “When they had ordained them,” how subversive of the true sense of the passage! 110. Note on χειροτονήσαντες, 111. The folly of making elders without a properly-constituted appointing power, as an apostle or his delegate, 112. God does not bestow power in a period of disorder as in a time of order, 113. The louder the vaunt the less real is the claim to ornaments of which God stripped His guilty people, 114. Hindrances brought in by the Judaisers, not to the apostle’s work only, but to his doctrine, 115. The matter referred to Jerusalem, 116. Fallacy of the thought that questions were settled by a mere word in apostolic days, 117. Peter preaching Paul’s doctrine, 118. James confirms the same, quoting the prophets, 119. Leading men among brethren, 120, who accompany Paul and Barnabas with the letter to the Gentile brethren at Antioch, 121. There is a duty of conferring together on the part of those who labor, 122. Paul choosing Silas as his fellow-laborer is recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God, 123. The first appearance of Timothy on the scene, 124. His circumcision by Paul very remarkable, 125, but a proof how grace can triumph over law, 126. Transactions at Philippi, 127. Opposition to the truth in Europe takes rather the form of patronage, 128. Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, 129. Analysis of Paul’s address to the Athenians, 130. Poets in their dreams often stumble over truths beyond themselves,131. The sudden intervention of the man who; raised from the dead, is going to deal with this habitable earth, 132. The success of the gospel in Corinth, 133. Paul as a tent-maker proscribed by ecclesiastical canons, 133. Apollos helped in the way of God more perfectly by Aquila and Priscilla, 134. The condition of certain believers at Ephesus who had not received the Holy Spirit, 135. There are many souls not at all in liberty, not having received the spirit of adoption, 136. They have looked for something about to come, rather than at that which is come, 137. The definitive usage of the Lord’s day, or the first day of the week, as the fitting time for the breaking of bread, 138. Note on elders and bishops, 138. The marked absence of any reference to succession where it would have been most fitting had it been intended, 139.

Chapter IV.

The Acts of the Apostles 21-28 — Paul’s course from Jerusalem to Rome a remarkable episode in the apostle’s history, 140. Seven days’ stay, 141. The children of God should if practicable be together every day, 142. Christianity should ramify the whole course of a man’s life after he belongs to Christ, 143. Wives and children, 144. Philip’s four daughters who prophesied, 145. On the right exercise of a woman’s gift, 146. Public preaching of the gospel by women is never contemplated in scripture, 147. Paul in Jerusalem in company with James and the elders, 148. The condition of Jewish and Gentile Christians in the early days of the church, 149. Paul no exception to that patience that could bear with Jewish prejudices, 150. Paul was a man who puts all that have been since his day into the shade, 151. Painfulness of having to touch in any way on that which might seem to reflect on the conduct of the great apostle, 152. The smallest slip of a blessed man like Paul has the greater weight because of his position, 153. What comes of listening to those whose measure is less than the truth of God as revealed, 154. The tumult in the temple precincts, 155. The address in Hebrew narrating his conversion, 156. His claim to Roman citizenship. Modern martyrs in theory, 157. To state a fact, which the law recognizes is very different to going to law, 158. The injustice of the chiliarch in delivering his prisoner to the Jewish council, 159. A further trait of the uncertainty of the ground the apostle was now treading, 160. Let us beware how we slight the least warning of the Holy Spirit, 161. The object before the apostle in setting party against party in the council was not Christ, 162. The name of Christ is ill-served by making use even of the most reputable of His adversaries, 163. The Lord has nothing but comfort to administer, even when His servants make mistakes, 164. Lysias’ crafty letter, 165. The hired rhetoric of Tertullus, 166. Paul’s temperate and frank reply, 167. Felix and Festus, 168. Agrippa and Bernice, 169. Paul’s defense before Agrippa, 170. He narrates his conversion, 171. “Delivering thee from the people,” and so forth, does not convey the true sense, 172. Our mission as Christians is not so much against evil as for good, 173. If you would effectually help others, you must always be above the motives and ways that sway them, 174. The Roman governor’s stigma on the truth, 175. Agrippa’s half-wrung confession, 176. The grace and truth of Paul’s answer embracing the standing and state of a Christian, 177. Paul’s voyage, and the old vigor manifest as soon as he is out of the charmed circle, 178. Kindness of brethren in Italy most refreshing to the apostle’s heart, 179. The long-suspended sentence on Israel, 180. Conclusion, 181.

Chapter V.

The Epistle of James — Suddenness of the transition from Paul’s to James’ writings, 182. Condition of the church at Jerusalem and the early Christians, 183. Luther’s rejection of this epistle, 184. Our business is to gather what God has to teach us, 185. This epistle is a final summons to Israelites wherever they might be, 186, and enjoins the manifestation of godliness toward both God and man, 187. Blessing now is not in honor and ease, but contrariwise, 188. God reverses the judgment of the world as to temporary circumstances, 189. Trial of faith and temptation of flesh, 190. Temptation as handled by James and Paul, 191. Haste to solve difficulties is practically a finding fault either with God or with His word, 192. God is not only good, but He is a giver, 193, and a communicator of His own spiritual nature, 194. The link between Peter, James, John, and Paul, 195. Paul and James never contradict each other, because, though they use the same words, they do not treat of the same subjects, 196. The implanted word in contrast to an external law, 197. The law of liberty, 198, and the law of bondage, 199. The will restrained and the will led on, 200. Pure and undefiled religion, what is it? 201. There was to Israel a peculiar danger of taking up the doctrines of Christianity as a system, 202. Human faith cannot save, 203. The works of Abraham and Rahab viewed apart from faith, 204. Bring in faith, and they stand out clothed in the light of heaven, 205. The tongue in private and in public, 206. Little matters produce great results, 207. James always keeps in mind the practical everyday view of things, 208. Two kinds of wisdom, 209. The wisdom from above is sure of its ground, and needs not to contend, 210. James addresses others besides Christians, 211. New punctuation of a difficult verse, 212. “Saved sinners” not a scriptural expression, 213. We had better get rid of phrases which deserve no better name than religious cant, 214. The forming of resolutions without God deprecated, 215. Heaping treasure in, not for, the last days, 216. The selfishness that comes into direct personal collision with the Lord of glory, 217. Murmurings, religious asseverations, 218. The oath required by the magistrate, 219. God’s discipline governmental, 220. Confession, 221. Conclusion, 222.

Chapter VI.

The Epistles of Peter — The epistles of Peter, addressed to the elect Jews of his day, maintain whatever there is in common between the Christian and the saints of the Old Testament, 223. The general principles of God are in nowise enfeebled by Christianity, 224. Election always individual in Christianity, 225. Sanctification of the Spirit, 226. Wherever there is a real work of God’s Spirit, the sanctification of the Spirit is made good, 227. Sanctification in Peter precedes justification, 228. To confound this with practical holiness upsets the gospel, 229. The gift of the Spirit is not sanctification of the Spirit, 230. The first impulse of a converted man is to do the will of God, 231. We are called to obey as Christ obeyed, 232. That kind of obedience, 233. Sprinkling of blood under the law did not imply atonement, 234. The distinction between Peter’s and Paul’s testimony, 235. We need Christ interceding for us as well as the privilege of being in Christ, 236. A whole Christ is given and needed, 237. Saints are kept; for Christian doctrine is not as men so often say—that of saints persevering, 238. As far as unbelief works it is just so far death in effect, 239. The appearing of Jesus, 240. The value of faith at that day, 241. Christianity could not be displayed while Christ was here, 242. It was when He who died went to heaven that Christianity appeared in its full force, 243. How much we are indebted to the Spirit who now reveals a Christ already come, 244. Three distinct truths, 245. Christianity comes between the first and second coming of Christ, 246. The holiness of the Christian is fuller and deeper than that of the Jew could be, 247. Two motives for holiness, 248. Man claims the exercise of a will which he denies to God, 249. What brings a man into peace is the certainty that all is clear with God, 250. Christianity alone settles all questions, 251, “That ye may grow thereby unto salvation,” 252. Two characters of priesthood, 253. Holy and royal priesthood, 254. “Not a people but now a people,” 255. It is only a theologian who finds a difficulty, 256. The people of God are called out for heaven, and thus are strangers on earth, 257 Exhortations. The personal snares of every day, 258. Obedience to God and man, 259. Slaves, wives, husbands, 260. Suffering ought never to be for sin, 261. The spirits in prison, 262. The reason Peter notices Noah’s preaching, 263. Salvation never short of nor separate from the power of resurrection, 264. God, while dealing in grace, never abandons righteous government, 265. Liberty of ministry, 266. On speaking in the Church of God, 267. The gift and the ability to use it, 268. The flock of God and its shepherds, 269. “God’s heritage” a false rendering, 270, leading people to say “my congregation,” and so forth, 271. The second epistle brings in God’s righteous government in its judgment of Christendom or corrupted Christianity, 272. Called by glory and virtue, 273, its signification, 274. The kingdom the main subject of Peter’s testimony, 275. Prophecy a lamp for the darkness, 276. What means the “day-star”? 277. The light of the lamp is not enough for the Christian, he needs daylight, 278. Mischievous interpretations, 279. Comparison of 2 Peter 3:3, 280. What is private interpretation? 281. All prophecy runs on to the kingdom of Christ, 282. False teachers in Christendom; Christendom hastening to heathen conclusions, 283. The day of the Lord and the scoffers, 284.

Chapter VII.

The First Epistle of John — The characteristic of John’s epistles is “Christ in us,” 285. “That which was from the beginning,” 286. Christ’s personal being as man here below, 287. The life was manifested, 288. The expression of eternal life is modified in a saint, 289, but is fully portrayed in Christ, 290. Fellowship with the Son of God, 291. Fullness of joy, 292. A manifestation and a message, 293. The message, 294. God is light in contrast to the contrary notion of heathens, 295. Christianity is a life beyond the law, 296. Walking in the light and according to it, 297. Every Christian walks in the light, 298. Fellowship one with another, 299. A Christian is one who instead of hiding his sins confesses them, 300. The detection of what is contrary to God in us, 301. Restoration founded also on propitiation, 302. The grand characteristic of life in Christ is obedience, 302. Knowing that we know God: what it means, 303. No view of Christ is true that makes Him in that view more precious than He was when manifested in this world, 304. The difference between keeping God’s word and merely doing what is right, 305. Obedience puts God in His place and man down, 306. Love now comes in connection with obedience as a test of one born of God, 307. Fathers, young men and babes, 308. The two-fold character of antichrist, 309. Righteousness, 310. Manifestation, 311. Without Christ you cannot understand any part of the Bible spiritually, 312, Sin is lawlessness, 313. A translation cannot be correct which contradicts other passages of undoubted holy writ, 314. The common translation of 1 John 3:4, lowers the sense of what sin is, 315. The family of God and the family of the devil, 316. Every creature lives according to its nature, 317. Righteousness and love combined, 318. The great danger of trifling with the practical consequences of truth, 319. We in Him and He in us, 320. Danger of separating the Holy Spirit from Christ, 321. A test for knowing what is and what is not of the Holy Spirit, 322. There is no evil spirit but what winces at and refuses to endorse the glory of Christ, 323. The difference between what is of the world and what is of God, 324. The word is the test next to the person of Christ, 325. Life and propitiation in our Lord and His work, 326. Intimacy and mutuality, 327. Arminianism and Calvinism both prejudicial to the grace of God, 328. What is meant by dwelling in God, 329. Who is my brother? 330. God concludes as He began in setting forth Christ, 331. How to love God’s children, 332. John keeps us fully in the consciousness of our deliverance, but also of our responsibility, 333. The Spirit, the water, and the blood, 334. Sin unto death, 335. The last verses sum up the whole matter, 336. Appendix on 1 John 5:7-8, 337-347.

Chapter VIII.

The Second and Third Epistles of John and Jude — Why the 2nd Epistle is addressed to a woman, 348. When the glory of Christ is in question everything must give way before it, 349, and then a woman and her children are bound to judge, 350. “The truth” a characteristic point in John’s Epistles, 351. How the inspiration has been questioned, 352. The question of utility not to be entertained, 353. Is my soul in communion with God about His own Son? 354. The truth produces truthfulness, 355. The phrase “Jesus Christ come in the flesh” signifies His Deity and humanity, 356. Every false teacher is a deceiver, but he who lowers the glory of Christ is antichrist, 357. No person can take Old Testament ground now that Christianity has been revealed, 358. It is a blessed thing not to be easily moved about by every wind of doctrine, 359. It is impossible to discover a truth of God that is not in the Bible, 360. The truth is stated comprehensively, for otherwise Satan would alter particular forms of error to save appearances for the simple, 361. Bidding God speed does not convey the sense of χαίρειν, 362. It is simply “good morning,” 363. The third Epistle presents the positive as the second did the negative side, 364. The third prevents our being too narrow, 365. False teachers invariably select women and children in whom to instill their doctrines, 366. Men characterized by selfishness as women are by warm affection, 367. Both Gaius and the elect lady are loved “in the truth,” 368. Stranger brethren, 369. Diotrephes the type of the clerical spirit, 370. Persons having large gift can the more afford to give the fullest scope to the lesser gifts, 371. The key note of the first Epistle is heard right through to the third, 372. The doubts of those who have compared it with 2nd Peter, 373, betray their incompetence to judge, 374. It is never taught in scripture that the Lord redeemed a heretic or any other man that was not saved, 375. Redemption and purchase by no means the same things, 376, as Calvinists and Arminians each contend, 377. The Epistle of Jude individualizes the saints, 378. The similarity and dissimilarity of this Epistle with 2nd Peter, 379. Peter speaks of unrighteousness—Jude of apostasy, 380. Examples, 381. Peter’s breadth and Jude’s preciseness, 382. Jude looks at a dealing suited and due to apostates, 383, and urges on the saints grace rather than godliness as Peter does, 384. Making a difference, 385. Reference to Jude’s question in John xiv. 22, 386. Remark on the so-called Catholic Epistles, 3£36. Conclusion, 387.aints grace rather than godliness as Peter does, 384. Making a difference, 385. Reference to Jude’s question in John 14:22, 386. Remark on the so-called Catholic Epistles, 386. Conclusion, 387.

Chapter IX.

The Revelation 1-3 — The moral fitness of John to be the instrument of communicating the closing volume of the New Testament, 388. The position of Christ as a man maintained throughout, 389. Terms in contrast with those used in the gospel, 390. Intervention noticeable on every side, 391. The reason why gathered from Old Testament analogy, 392. John corresponds to Daniel, 393. The word of God in its connection with what John saw, 394. The Lord’s gracious word of encouragement in anticipation of the doubts and cavils of unbelief, 395. The spiritual usage of seven in prophetic scripture, 396. Why the Holy Spirit is described as the seven spirits, 397. To dislocate the New Testament absolutely from the Old, or to see no more than a repetition of the Old in the New, is an almost equal error, 398. God is introduced in Old Testament style and character, but applied to New Testament subjects. The Holy Spirit also, 399. The voice of the Christian heard exceptionally, 400. The Lord God the Eternal puts His voucher on the book from the beginning, 401. Why the visions were given on the Lord’s day, 402. The voice behind, and the voice saying, Come up hither, 403. We are called to walk according to the place and relationships in which we stand, 404. All measured according to God’s own mind, 405. A threefold glory, 406. Death and hades, 407. The things that are, 408. What is meant by the angel, 409. The church in Ephesus, 410. Its state, 411. Its decline, 412. Smyrna, 413. The Patristic party, 414. Succession and ordinances become defined as a system about this time, 415. Pergamos, 416. Clericalism and its effects, 417. Nicolaitanism become a doctrine, 418. Thyatira, 419. Jezebel, 420. The remnant in Thyatira, 421. Associated with Christ in His kingdom, 422. Sardis, 423. Protestantism, 424. Luther never clear in his soul about justification by faith, 425. Romanists ignorant of the Bible, 426. Infidelity and superstition allied, 427. Philadelphia, 428. A re-commencement, 429, formed after a rejected Christ, 429. The synagogue of Satan, 431. The hour of temptation, 432. Only escaped by removal from the scene altogether, 433. Laodicea, 434. Half-hearted neutrality about Christ, 435. Gold and white raiment, 436.

Chapter X.

The Revelation 4-11:18 — Resume of seven churches, 437. From Revelation 4 onward we find no longer a church condition on earth, 438. The thousands of books written on Revelation, from the Patristic age downwards, never mention this until a comparatively recent date, 439. No merely human intelligence can interpret the Bible, 440. The church is not properly speaking the subject of prophecy, 441. The throne in Heb. 4 and Rev. 4 contrasted, 442. The four and twenty elders, 443. “The dead in Christ,” 444. The judicial characteristics of the throne, 445. The sea of glass a symbol of fixed purity, 446. Who are the living creatures? 448. The Lamb presented for the first time in this scene, 449. The seven-sealed roll, 450. Why angels are absent in Rev. 4 and present in Rev. 5, 451, explained, 452. The opening of the seals, 453. The white horse, the red horse, 454, the black horse, 455, the pale or livid horse, 456. The souls under the altar cry, 456. The answer to that cry, 457. The earliest and latest persecutions brought together, 458. Symbols and plain language contrasted, 459. False conclusions about the day of judgment under the sixth seal, 460. The sealing of one hundred and forty-four thousand, 461, and a crowd of Gentiles without number, 461, reserved for blessing on the earth, 462. The gospel of the kingdom, 463. “Before the throne of God” describes character, 464. The seventh seal, 465. Everything is angelic under the trumpets, 466. The meaning of “the third part” in the prophecy, 467. The second, third, and fourth angels, 468. The woe-trumpets, 469. The first two—the locusts and the Euphratean horsemen—have a correspondence to the sealed-remnant and saved—Gentile companies, 470. A parenthesis between the sixth and seventh trumpets corresponding to a similar one between the sixth and seventh seals, 471. The mystery of God is His present seeming inaction as to government, 472. The little book, why little and open, 472. The two witnesses, 473, an adequate testimony in those days, 474, who are preserved in spite of the beast until their work is done, 475, after which their unburied corpses lie in the broadway of Jerusalem, 476. The seventh trumpet, 476. The advent of the world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, 477. Conclusion, 478.

Chapter XI.

The Revelation 11:19-Rev. 16 — The commencement of what may be called the second volume of the Revelation, 479. The temple of God open—The resumption of the old links with His ancient people Israel, 480. The ark of His covenant is the sign of the unfailing certainty of that to which God bound Himself, 481. Israel’s threefold symbol of authority, 482. What constitutes the Roman Empire, 483. Explanation of the woman and her male child, 484. Why introduced here, 485, and no mention of aught save birth and rapture, 486, all a mystical representation of Christ’s relations with Israel and of His removal out of the scene, 487, the church also, 488. The ejection of Satan from heaven, 489, and his efforts to destroy the saints on the earth, 490. Two leaders introduced to catch a twofold class of men, 491. These are the two beasts; the first civil power, the second religion, and both apostate, 492. Why called beasts, 493. The revival of the Roman Empire, 494. The man of sin, 495, a trinity of evil, 496. What Christendom is hastening to, 497. Dwellers on the earth, 498. The second beast, 499. The locality of each beast, 500. The meaning of the two horns, 501. Popery is more anti-church than antichrist, 502. The second beast claims to be the Jehovah—God of Israel, 503. The number of the beast, 504. Its application to the first rather than the second beast, 505. What God does with His own in these scenes, 506. The everlasting gospel, why so called, 507, not to be confounded with the gospel now preached, 508. It is the universal message of God to man and connected with His creation glory, 509. Fear God and give glory to Him, 510. God about to pour a judicial delusion on Christendom, 511. Intelligence and its evils, 512. Identity of the everlasting gospel with the gospel of the kingdom, 513. Four warnings and a declaration, 514. The harvest and vintage of the earth, 515, thus forming seven distinct acts in which God will interfere in the way of forming a testimony, 516. Another sign connected with the previous one in Rev. 12, 516. The sea of glass mingled with fire, 517. Which saints will pass through the tribulation, 518. “King of nations” not “King of saints,” 519. The seven last plagues, 520. The whole apostate sphere smitten, and not the Roman earth merely, 521. The gathering to Armageddon, 522. Conclusion, 523.

Chapter XII.

The Revelation 17-22 — Babylon and the beast, 524, or corruption and violence, 525, cannot be referred to pagan Rome or to Jerusalem, 526. For the full explanation of the prophecy we must look onward to the latter day, 527, rather than to Romanism, although there is a measure of analogy, 528,—or Babylon in Chaldea, 529. The mystery of good and the mystery of evil, 530. Christ has not only a supreme but an exclusive place, 531. The prophet’s amazement at the mystery, 532. The time is coming when power will cease to be ordained of God, 533. A great reversal of man’s history and political maxims, 534. The resurrection of an empire by the power of Satan, 535. The ten kingdoms, 536. A partial application of the prophecy justified, 537. Necessity of the ten kings getting their power at the same time as the beast, 538. Constitutionalism, 539. The balance of power, 540. The revived Latin empire will destroy Babylon, 541, in order to leave itself a clear field, 542. Nothing but Rome answers to “the woman,” 543. Civilization and what it comprises, 544. Why God visits with such severity at the close, 545. The day of the Lord on the world in no way sets aside His judgment on individual souls, 646. A mysterious lawlessness, which not merely embraces Christian times, but the end of the age after the church has gone, 547. The bride, 548. Righteousnesses, 549. The guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb, 550. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus, 551. Heaven opened for the exit of Christ Himself, 552. Who those are who follow the Lamb out of heaven, 553. Judgment in the hand of Christ, 554. The end of the beast and the false prophet, 555. The first resurrection, 556. Who are the persons invested with judicial authority, 557. Three classes of martyrs, 558. The first resurrection does not mean all rising at the same moment, 659. The term “the last day” does not mean a specific moment of time, 560. At the conclusion of the 1000 years Satan reappears on the scene, 561, and the righteous and the wicked form two distinct arrays, 562, and now there is one throne, Christ judges the dead, 563. The age of visible glory inefficacious to change the heart of man, 564. Extraordinary increase of population in the millennial day, 565, and extension of man’s present natural life, 566. The book of life, 567. Death and hades terminated, 568. The tabernacle of God with men, 569. The Lamb’s wife contrasted with the great harlot, 570, and used for blessing as the harlot had been used for mischief, 571. The city the holy vessel of divine power for governing the earth during the millennium, 572. Paul will not be forgotten although his name be not among the twelve, 573. The heavenly city needs not, as the earthly, a temple as a means of communication, 574. The nations (not “of them that are saved”) shall walk in the light of it, 575. Admonitions, 576. To the Christian this book is not sealed, 577. It is Christ who says, “I come quickly.” The church says, “Come,” 578, and so can the feeblest believer, be he ever so unintelligent, 579. Conclusion, 580.