Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Ezekiel ii. 10.

EZEKIEL'S roll was written before and behind,' or on the 'face and the back.' This was not usual in the ancient volumes, or rolls of parchment, which were commonly written on one side, though sometimes, from the abundance of matter, on both. These latter were called by the Greeks οπισθογραφα βιβλια,* 'books written on the back, or outer side; and from them, by the Romans, Libri Opisthographi;† or as Juvenal, Scripti in Tergo, 'books written on the back.' Rev. v. i, John 'saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals;' which a learned writer of the present day thinks was the book of Daniel, who alone of all the prophets, was commanded to 'shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end;' and whose prophecies have a remarkable similarity to the contents of the book which John saw. Let us rejoice in the abundance of matter which the sacred roll of revelation contains, that we may understand the Scriptures, which are able to make us 'wise to salvation.'

ON JOHN'S EATING THE LITTLE BOOK. Rev. x. 10. THE Holy Spirit not only compares spiritual things with spiritual, but also spiritual things with natural, in order to remind us of the concerns of our souls, when we are attending to the things of the body.

* Lucian, Vit. Auct. 9.

Pliny, Ep, lii, 5,

+ Sat. i.

John is said to eat the little book, in order to express that ardor of mind with which he received the Revelations; and to prevent a confusion of imagery, the contents are said to make his belly (not his soul) bitter. Dropping the figure, the expressions inform us of the joy with which John received the Revelations, and the grief of heart which the knowledge of its contents occasioned. The revelation would be as sweet as a letter from a dear and distant friend. Many years had elapsed, and many bitter trials had occurred, since John had leaned upon Jesus's breast; and now, in banishment and in tribulation for the truth's sake, he receive a letter from him whom his soul loveth. This communication would afford additional sweetness to John, as it proved that he was still "that disciple whom Jesus loved;" being honored with the delivery of those secrets to the world, after all the other apostles were dead. O man, greatly beloved! While men in general are desirous of prying into futurity, good men are not a little anxious to be made acquainted with the mysteries of Providence, and the final issue of God's kingdom. And this desire would here meet with the utmost indulgence. This also would render the Revelations to John sweeter than honey or the honey-comb.

But when this pleasure had subsided; when the whole was understood, and completely digested, the knowledge of the contents of this book was sufficient to fill the mind of the apostle with the most pungent grief.

John saw that the godly among his own countrymen were sealing, by the angel who had the seal of the living God, in order to make way for the ruin of his VOL. III.

34

native country, the destruction of a great part of his brethren the Jews, and the dispersion, the long disper sion of all the rest. He also saw the great, the dreadful, and long apostasy from the Christian faith; the rise, the reign, and the abominations of the Man of Sin. These events were all clearly revealed to this beloved disciple. Wonder not then, that this revelation should fill his soul with such distress. The dreadful persecu tions which would attend the church of Christ, from that time till the mystery of God should be finished, were all present in the view of John. He saw the flowing of that blood which has since been shed by Rome pagan, or Rome papal, in order to satiate and intoxicate the antichristian Whore. To render his distress complete, he was also presented with all those direful calamities which have since befallen the world, or shall ever befal it to the end of time; even the pouring out of the last plagues. All these evils he saw men would bring upon themselves, by neglecting, by opposing, or by corrupting the gospel. To think that Satan should so far succeed as to make even the Gospel of salvation the occasion of such evils!...... This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. T. B.

PRAYER OF REV MR. ROMAINE.

O THOU Spirit of wisdom and of revelation, be with me whenever I read thy holy word! testify to me in it, and by it, of Christ Jesus, who he is, and what he is to me; and glorify the Father's love in him! Open thou mine

eyes to see the wondrous things revealed in it upon these subjects, that I may understand them in thy light, and that my judgment of them may be the same with thine! I beseech thee also to enable me to mix faith with what I do understand! and what, through thy teaching, I am enabled to believe aright, that help me to receive in the love of the truth! O God, fulfil thy promise; put thy blessed word into my inward parts; write it upon my heart; and what I am taught to love, grant me power to practise, that thy new covenant promise may in me have its full effect, and I may be in heart and life cast into the mould and form of thy word! thus becoming a real living edition of the Bible! Make it my daily study! Render it my constant delight! Let my meditations in it be always sweet! O thou holy and eternal Spirit, witness thus to thine own record; and let me experience it to be the power of God, as well as the truth of God! In this dependence upon thee, in the use of it, let me be daily growing, until, by the will of God, I shall have served mine own generation; and then let it be the last act of my life to seal the truth of thy testimony concerning Jesus! Let me find thy witness true in the hour of death, and beyond death all the promises made good to me, through Jesus Christ, in life everlasting! Amen and amen.

ON THE IMPRECATIONS CONTAINED IN THE BOOK OF

PSALMS.

MANY of the objections which skeptics or infidels raise against the sacred Scriptures, occasion no perplexity to the Christian. He sees at once the depravity of heart, the enmity against God and truth, from which they spring, and the vanity of those carnal reasonings which give them all their force. But, when the penmen of the Psalms, whether David or others, utter the most awful imprecations, denouncing not only all temporal evils, but even eternal damnation on men, it frequently creates the most distressing difficulties in the minds of pious and, in other respects, wise men. Hearing the Psalmist cry, 'Destroy thou them, or rather, impute their guilt to them, O God!* Cast them out in the multitude of their iniquities! Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell!'t a holy man asks; with anxious mind, How can this be consistent with religion, of which the very essence is love; which commands us to love our enemies, to do good to them that hate us, to pray for them that spitefully use us, to bless them that curse us, to bless and not to curse?

It has been feebly replied by some, 'This was under the Jewish dispensation, which was less perfect than the Christian; and which tolerated many things that the Gospel condemns.' But will this satisfy those who remember that truc religion is the same in essence under every dispensation? Can we forget that the Old Testament expressly commands us to exercise benevo† Psalm Iv. 15.

* Psalm v. 10.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »