called Babylon, in her idolatrous state; the rule works both ways. Therefore as idolatrous people among the Gentiles are employed to represent idolatrous people in Israel, so righteous people and churches of God among the Gentiles are taken to represent righteous people and churches in Israel in the future. Nevertheless the Book of the Revelation and the seven letters to the seven churches do indeed have a first and primary application to the seven churches of Asia among the Gentiles, but their principal application is to the seven churches in Israel, who are developed during the time of judgment in the time of the end, and who are spiritually called the seven churches of Asia. This is quite a mystery, and therefore we will furnish a few reasons in support of the premises, as contained in the above.

When Jesus appeared in glory to John, in this vision, he heard behind him a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." John says, And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks one like the Son of man. And he had in his right hand seven stars." Then in the interpretation it is said, "The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks: the seven stars are (or represent) the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest, are the seven churches."

Now the Tabernacle of Witness with all its furniture, consisting of altars of burnt offering and incense, the ark of the covenant, the cherubims of glory, the seven golden candlesticks, and the form of encampment of the twelve tribes, and the encampment of the priests about the Tabernacle, all were representations of things that were to arise in the house of Israel, and not what was to arise among the Gentiles. The Gentile converts to Christianity were branches cut out of the wild olive tree contrary to nature. Therefore, ays the apostle, "Boast not thyself against the branches, but if thou boast, chou bearest not the root, but the root thee."

Therefore the seven golden candlesticks could no more be taken exclusively to represent things that were to arise among the Gentiles than could the altar, or the ark of the covenant, or the cherubims, or the tabernacle itself, or the encampment of the tribes of Israel be employed exclusively to foreshadow hings that should arise among the Gentiles. Consequently the seven golden. andlesticks could only be used in a primary or initial sense to symbolize the Gentile churches of the apostolic times, whereas their principal and full application is to the churches in Israel, and among the twelve tribes thereof, in the latter days. Consequently there are many things said of, and to the even churches, in the seven letters and elsewhere, that do not fit the Gentile hurches of the past, but which will fit perfectly to the seven churches of the

uture.

For instance, consider the salutation of the seven spirits which are before he throne, and which are further symbolized as the seven eyes and seven orns of the Lamb, and which in plain language are the body of Christ, the ride, the Lamb's wife; now how could she salute the seven churches of

Asia, while dead and before she is raised from the dead? But in the latter days before the judgment upon the house of Israel, she will have been raised from the dead and perfected, and will participate in the great work of judg ment during which time the seven churches of mystical Asia are being developed.

Again it is written among the last words of the testimony of Jesus, "I Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star, and the spirit and the bride say, Come." Now how could the bride salute, and say, "Come," to the seven churches in the apostolic age, when so far as her members were developed in that day they lay sleeping in the dust of the earth? But although she could not say, "Come," to the churches and people in the last of the former days, she will be able to say, Come," to the churches and the people in the latter days because she will then be alive and glorified.

Again, he which hath the sharp sword with two edges saith to the church at Pergamos, "I know thy work and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is." The Satan spoken of here is the Devil and Satan who occupies such a prominent place in this prophecy and has his seat, or throne, in Jeru salem; and when the beast which rises out of the sea appears upon the scene, then the dragon, called the Devil and Satan, surrenders his seat, his power and great authority to him; therefore as Satan's seat in that day will be in Jerusalem, so in Jerusalem will the church of mystical Pergamos be located.

According, then, to this view, the things that John was commanded to write in a book, called "the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter," and which he was commanded to send unto the seven churches which are in Asia, apply first in part to the primitive churches, and after that to the latter day churches in Palestine, so that what did not apply to the one would apply to the other. In fact this method has been followed in many instances, for example, in the former history of the people of Israel; for this is a representation in many of its features of the second manifestation of the house of Israel in the future; consequently when the prophets in old times spake to the people of these periods, some of their words applied to the times then current, and some applied to similar times and events in the latter days.

Therefore, when the prophets spake to the people that then lived and testified of some things which would arise in the future, the people were puzzled to know what they meant; therefore it is written of Ezekiel (20:49), "Then said I, Ah, Lord God, they say of me, Doth he not speak in parables?" For while some of Ezekiel's words would fit his people that then lived, they mostly referred to Israel in the future. So also do the words of Jeremiah, Isaiah and the other prophets, from Moses and those who follow after. So also is it with the words and sayings of Christ and the apostles. Moreover this example of double application may be seen also in the covenant made with David, as written in II Samuel (7: 14-15), saying of Christ and of Solomon, "I will be his Father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men, but my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before thee." The first application of

this is to Solomon, for said David (II Chron. 28: 6), "The Lord said unto me, Solomon thy son he shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son and I will be his Father." The second application of this oracle is to Christ, as shown by both Peter and Paul (Heb. 1:5), " And again. I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son." Christ did not commit iniquity, but Solomon did, because of which the Lord gave ten tribes to Jeroboam, but did not take away his mercy from Solomon, as he did from Saul, but gave one tribe to him for David's sake, and for his own name's sake, and said (I Kings 11:39), "I will for this (the iniquity of Solomon) afflict the seed of David, but not for ever."

One more feature and it must suffice on this head. Jesus says to the church at Sardis, "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief in the night, and thou shall not know what hour I will come upon And to the church in Philadelphia he says, "Behold I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown "; in concluding, in this revelation to the churches Jesus says to them, "And behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man as his work shall be." Now about eighteen centuries have passed away since this revelation was given to John to send to the churches of Asia, and Christ has not come yet, because when he does come, he says his reward is with him, to give to every man as his works shall be.

Now how could Jesus say to the churches which existed hundreds of years ago, "Behold I come as a thief," and "Behold I come quickly," when lo and behold, eighteen centuries have already passed away, to say nothing of the centuries that will yet come and go, before Christ comes, for there is not a sign in the earth of his coming at the present time, therefore if he should come in these days, the Scriptures would be broken. How then are these Scriptures to be understood? for he says among the very last words of this revelation, "Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

When we understand that this revelation is intended chiefly for the seven churches of the latter days who will actually live when Christ will come, the difficulty is removed. Jesus and the apostles in their day used similar language, and that we may understand the meaning thereof Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, in his second letter charges them specifically saying, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed." This settles the question, and shows that people must exercise judgment or they will be deceived and fall into the error of the wicked; and this warning occurs constantly throughout this book and is written in each of the seven letters to the churches, saying, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches." That is, let him understand it, and do it; and another feature of divine revelation must always be kept in mind, namely, that God which quickeneth the dead, calleth things which be not, as though they were, insomuch that things which are yet to arise in the

future, are spoken of as though they were in the present. And therefore the manner of the Scriptures is sometimes very rapid in passing from the former to the latter days of Israel, and the long interval lying between these two periods is struck out as though it were a blank, and as though these two distant periods were joined together.

THE COMING OF THE LORD JESUS WITH CLOUDS, AS IT IS WRITTEN, "BEHOLD HE COMETH WITH CLOUDS” (REV. 1:7)

The clouds referred to here are spoken of in Daniel's vision as the clouds of heaven, saying, "I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they (the clouds) brought him near before him" (Dan. 7: 13). Clouds are taken in symbolic language to represent vast bodies of people, as it is written. of Gog and his multitude (Ezek. 38:9), saying, "Thou shalt ascend, and come like a storm; thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands, and many people with thee." This vast concourse is here symbolized as a cloud to cover the land. But in those times there will be manifested another cloud of a higher and more glorious nature, the clouds of heaven that come with the Father and his Son, and are numerically spoken of by Daniel as thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. These are the clouds of heaven that come with the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ to execute judgment upon the ungodly nation of Israel first, and afterward, upon the assembled nations of the earth that know not God. These same clouds are presented in the Revelation under the symbol of four beasts and twenty-four elders, who sing of themselves, and worship the Lamb, saying, "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth." And John adds, "I beheld, and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." These are the clouds of heaven that Christ comes with, when he comes to judge the world, even as Zechariah also says, The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." Paul speaks of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints (I Thess. 3:13), and he also speaks of the righteous as a cloud of witnesses. Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, Jude informs us prophesied of the coming of the Lord with all his saints to execute judgment upon the ungodly.

"And they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." Now to have a proper appreciation of this event, a man must understand the situation of things in the earth at that time. First, the whole house of Israel will be dwelling in their own land, as numerous as the sand of the sea, and must therefore be counted by millions. Second, Jerusalem will be one of the greatest and most important cities of the earth, for wealth and commerce and power, but intensely idolatrous, for it is written of her, "As a fountain casteth out her waters, so Jerusalem casteth

out her wickedness." Third, the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen will be encamped in Israel's land, to the extent of many millions consisting, as Amos says, "of a great people and strong, there hath not been ever the like; neither shall there be any more after it, even to the years of many generations." The Lord speaks of this vast assemblage in few words saying (Isa. 66: 18), "It shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory."

Now with such scenes as these before the mind existing in Israel's land at the coming of Christ, one is prepared to realize the force of the language which says, "And every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Amen."

THE LORD'S DAY (REV. 1:9-10)

Even so.

John says, "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." Now the Lord's day, or day of the Lord, which is the same thing, is the great object that stood up before the minds of the apostles and prophets, and it is often mentioned by them in their writings. Moses says of that day, "The Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left" (Deut. 32:36). Again the Lord says of his rebellious people, "I will surely hide my face in that day, for all the evils which they shall have wrought in that they are turned unto other gods" (31: 18). And again the Lord says concerning the evils which shall befall his people in the latter days, in the song of witness, " And he said, I will hide my face from them: I will see what their end shall be, for they are a froward generation, children in whom is no faith" (32: 20).

The prophet Isaiah testifies of that day saying, "The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is lifted up, and they shall be brought low, and the idols he shall utterly abolish" (Isa. 2:5, 22). Paul makes frequent mention of the day of the Lord, and the day of Christ, and Peter says, "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the (Mosaic) heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat (elements of the same heavens). The (Mosaic) earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

John, therefore, was in vision transported mentally and carried away to the day of the Lord by the Spirit, which day will be manifested in the latter days of the house of Israel, and in the land of Israel, and among the twelve tribes of Israel, and among the nations and kindreds and tongues and peoples which the Lord will bring there in the capacity of mighty armies, and the very worst of the heathen also, who are employed in a systematic, orderly, and consecutive manner to execute God's righteous and long threatened judgments upon his sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters, who have forsaken the Lord and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. Therefore the Lord says, "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation; I will send