cry has long been ringing in your ears, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!" Are your loins girded about, your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto those who wait for their Lord? Five virgins once set out to reach that festival, but when they came "the door was shut." They knew what was required; but the Bridegroom came, and this was the consequence of their unreadiness. God forbid that this should be your experience!

Wake, awake, for night is flying,
The watchmen on the heights are crying;
Awake, Jerusalem, at last!

Midnight hears the welcome voices,

And at the thrilling cry rejoices;

Come forth, ye virgins, night is past!

The Bridegroom comes, awake,

Your lamps with gladness take;
Halleluia!

And for His marriage feast prepare,

For ye must go to meet Him there.

LECTURE FORTY-THIRD.

BATTLE OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY — THE SUBLIME HERO COMES OUT OF THE HEAVEN HIS HORSE-HIS CHARACTER HIS EYES- HIS DIADEMS-HIS NAMES-HIS CLOTHING HIS SWORD HIS TITLE HIS FOLLOWERS THEIR HORSES THEIR CLOTHING-THE ARMIES HE ENCOUNTERS THE LAUGH OF GOD- BIRDS INVITED TO THE SLAUGHTER-THE BEAST AND FALSE PROPHET'S FATE THE SLAYING OF THE ARMED HOSTS - THE VICTORY.

Rev. 19 11-21. (Revised Text.) And I saw the heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and one seated upon him, Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judgeth and warreth; his eyes flame of fire, and on his head many diadems, having a name written which no one knoweth but himself, and clothed in vesture dipped [or stained] with blood, and his name is called THE WORD OF GOD. And the armies,

the ones in the heaven were following him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white, pure. And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he may smite the nations; and HE shall rule [or shepherdize] them with a rod of iron; and HE treadeth the winepress of the wine of the anger of the wrath of the God, the All-Ruler. And he hath upon his vesture, even upon his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

And I saw a certain angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in mid-heaven, Hither, be gathered together to the great supper of God, that ye may eat flesh of kings, and flesh of captains of thousands, and flesh of mighty men, and flesh of horses, and of those that sit on them, and flesh of all [classes], both free and bond, and small and great.

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and his armies, gathered together to make the battle with the sitter upon the horse, and with his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who wrought the miracles in his presence with which he de

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ceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worship his image; these two were cast alive into the lake of fire which burneth with brimstone; and the rest were slain with the sword of the sitter on the horse, which (sword) proceedeth out of his mouth; and the fowls were filled from their flesh.

THE marriage of the Lamb, and the grand banquet which attends it, are speedily followed with the closing scene of this present world. It is a scene of war and blood. It is the battle of the great day of God Almighty. It is the coming forth of the powers of eternity to take forcible possession of the earth. It finds all the confederated kingdoms of man mustered in rebellion against the anointed and rightful sovereign of the earth. A collision ensues, which is the most wonderful that ever occurs under heaven. And the result is a victory for the right, which is to be forever. The description is one of the grandest contained in these Revelations. In proceeding to contemplate it four things are to be considered:

I. THE MIGHTY CONQUEROR.

II. THE HOSTS WHICH FOLLOW HIM.

III. THE ARMIES HE ENCOUNTERS.

IV. THE COMPLETENESS OF HIS TRIUMPH.

God help us to take in these particulars to our edification and spiritual profit.

I.

The sublime Hero of the scene is none other than our ever blessed Lord Jesus. His name is

not given, but the marks and inscriptions which he bears, and all that is said of him, infallibly identify him as that same Jesus who went up into heaven from the summit of Mt. Olivet, and whose holy feet are to stand again on these self-same heights.

He comes forth out of the heaven. For this purpose John saw it opened. When Jesus came up from the waters of baptism, "the heavens were open unto him," and the Spirit descended upon him, and a voice from the empyrean depths said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matt. 3: 16.) When Stephen was martyred he saw "the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." (Acts 7: 55.) When Jesus was on earth he promised his disciples that they should see the heaven opened. (Jno. 1:51.) At the beginning of these visions John beheld a door opened in the heaven, and through that opening he was called up, while all was closed to the general mass of men. (Rev. 4: 1.) But here was quite a different opening from any that has occurred or will occur till then. This is that rending of the heaven for the glorious Epiphany of Christ with his people, to which the Scriptures refer so much. For, as we believe that "he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty," so we believe that "from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." So the Lamb, being married now, leaves the Father house and comes forth to take possession of what is peculiarly his own.

This horse tells of His white color tells Light is the robe

He rides upon a white horse. royalty, judgment, and war. of righteousness and justice. of divine majesty, and white is the color that most attaches to Christ in all these judgment scenes. When the first seal broke he rode a white horse; when the great harvest is reaped he sits upon a white cloud; and at the end of the thousand years he sits upon a white throne; and so here he is seated on the white steed of battle, for "in righteousness doth he make war." In the day of his humiliation he rode but once-when he came to the Jewish nation as its anointed king. But he then rode upon an ass, a colt, the foal of an ass. Then he was the meek and lowly one; but here the little domestic animal is exchanged for the martial charger, for this is another and mightier coming as the King of the World, "just and having salvation." In his majesty he rides prosperously, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness.

He is Faithful and True. This presents him in sharp contrast with those whom he cometh to judge and destroy. The Dragon is the deceiver; the Beast is the False Christ; his companion is the False Prophet, and the great confederacy is made up of false worshippers. These are to be handled now, and it is the embodiment of all faithfulness and truth that comes to deal with them. There is then no hope for them, for if justice be done them they have no show whatever. The worst thing that can happen to some is to give