crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe" (Rev. xiv. 14-16).

And another angel cried, saying, "Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. . . . And blood came out of the wine-press," &c. (Rev. xiv. 17-20).

Then follows the final outpouring of wrath-" seven angels having the seven last plagues: for in them is filled up the wrath of God." "The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled!" (Rev. xvi. 1-8).

Now the blood of the martyred ones is indeed to be judged, and avenged" on them that dwell on the earth."

"I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy" (Rev. xvi. 5, 6).

"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her." 'Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; FOR GOD HATH AVENGED YOU ON HER. "And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And

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again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. (Rev. xvii., xviii., and xix. 1–6.)

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These words need no comment. They speak for themselves. It is the avenging of the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. The souls under the altar have received the answer to their cry, "How long, O Lord?" It is done. The "little season is past; their fellow-servants and brethren are killed, and their blood is avenged on them that dwelt on the earth. And has it not been "by terrible things in righteousness that their cry has been answered?-through tribulation "such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time" (Dan. xii. 1; Matt. xxiv. 21)-through a martyrdom of saints -through the avenging of their blood on them who martyred them? Yes, they are "terrible things "-yet all has been done "in righteousness "-in perfect rectitude-in unsinning justice. And for this righteousness, the heavenly hosts sing praises to their God, crying, " Alleluia."

Surely, surely we are not to think that this cry ascends from redeemed ones in glory over lost souls, as some have imagined. No; it is the rectitude of their God that excites their adoring admiration and deep-felt gratitude, because "He hath judged the great whore," that Fornicatress who was the ruin of those lost souls; that "strange woman," described by Solomon as the seducer of the unwary, whose "steps take hold on hell" (Prov. v. 7): even that woman, who has the name written on her forehead, "Mystery, Babylon the great, the Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth; "- the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev. xvii. 1-5; xviii. 2).

We cannot attempt to decide precisely what this mystic Babylon is, nor how the events predicted in this book shall meet their final accomplishment. Enough that we see so clearly what shall be the end of all those whose hearts have been seduced from Jesus by this "great whore." Enough that we have had such a revelation made to us of that lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, in which all shall be tormented for ever and ever who are marked with the mark of the Beast. For be it so that these predictions are uttered concerning those who pass through the final tribulation, and the final exhibition of evil, in a form in which it has not yet developed itself. It matters not. That great whore is "the Mother of harlots;" many have been the varying forms in which she has carried on her "fornications" from the beginning, and is carrying them on at this moment, even in this our day. And that Dragon who gives his power, and his seat, and his author

ity unto the Beast, is none other than the Devil, that old serpent, which has acted the part of the father of lies from the beginning. And see how he draws men down along with himself into the bottomless pit; "the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part (their share') in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone (ch. xxi. 8).

The special phase that may characterise the actings of the Dragon and the Whore, through successive generations, may vary; but let us learn to trace the stream to its source, and to follow it to its end. It empties itself into the lake of fire! "Consider this, all ye that forget God." O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!"

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"A MAN shall be as an hiding-place' 66 - a place of refuge" (Isa. xxxii. 2; Prov. xiv. 26). How wonderful, in the day when the heaven shall depart as a scroll, and the mountains and islands shall be moved out of their places, and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the mighty men, shall be calling on the mountains and the rocks, saying, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne"-how wonderful, then to be standing safely hid in the cleft of the rock, in Jesus our "hidingplace!"

This is the place God offered to Moses-the place He offers to us!— "Behold, there is a place by me.” Oh! is it not the "place" to be desired above any other place on earth? "A place by me." It is the Jehovah Elohim who speaks; He whose name is "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin" (Exod. xxxiv. 1-7). "The Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock." "That rock was Christ." And what a wonderful sight that rock presents-the Holy One placing the sinner by His side! What "a place" for us to be found in-a place, too, of God's own suggesting, "a place by me!"

Oh to be ever willing to present ourselves to God, as Moses did, in fervent and importunate supplications for a realising sense of His

presence," that, like him, we may be admitted to this close access, this place of wondrous fellowship and communion with the God whom, not having seen, we love! Oh to be ever close beside Him throughout our wilderness journeyings! It is the only place of safety. Yet how safe! "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders” (Deut. xxxiii. 12; Prov. xviii. 10).

It is a place of refuge. "There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain" (Isa. iv. 6; Prov. xiv. 26).

It is a holy place. midst of the bush.

Therefore, "God called unto Moses out of the And He said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" (Exod. iii. 4, 5).

It is a happy place. "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage " (Ps. xvi. 5, 6). Mary found it a happy place, when "she sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word" (Luke x. 39). And John found it a happy place, when "leaning on Jesus' bosom last supper (John xiii. 23).

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And it is an abiding place. "Lord, Thou hast been our dwellingplace in all generations" (Ps. xc. 1).

Thus we may know much, very much, of the blessedness of a place by God on the Rock of Ages, even now while we walk only by faith. It remains, however, for that great and solemn day of His appearing, to declare the full amount of this vast privilege; for never, perhaps, till we hear the terrific sentence pronounced on all who refuse to hide in the clefts of the smitten rock, "Depart from me, ye cursed," shall we realise fully the immensity of bliss treasured up in those four precious words "A place by me."

How it should make us prize those parting words of Jesus to His disciples-" I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John xiv. 2, 3).

1 KINGS VI. 38.

"In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid, in the month Zif: and in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, (which is the eighth month), was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it."

"The house was finished throughout all the parts thereof."

"As hour after hour passeth by

Mark'd by its own peculiar joy or woe,
Which Jesus means should tell upon the heart,
Behind each hour-O may some stroke be left

Made for eternity upon each living stone!"

And so it shall be. Each hour's strokes are needed, nor shall any one of them be lacking, for "the house" shall be "finished throughout all the parts thereof." Every individual Christian shall be complete, and complete every part of his experience:-" all the parts thereof."

This suggests a deeply interesting view of the preparatory work now carrying on in each living stone that is being made ready for the rearing up of the entire fabric at the day of the appearing of Jesus, the true Solomon.

Believer, it tells of the needs be for every stroke you get. Each is sent with some special design in view. It is meant to tell upon the heart, and to be felt there; for the heart is no more like the unfeeling block of stone; it is sensitive, and tender, and feels the rod, and it is intended it should be so. Every hour it is meant that something should be learnt.

It tells again that God is the hearer and answerer of prayer, yea, of thine own prayer. For hast thou not asked to be sanctified wholly"throughout all the parts" of the fabric of the inner temple? Then receive the hourly strokes as the answers vouchsafed to thy cries for sanctification and holiness. Who indeed would like to be the unfinished stone, which, at its own desire, escaped some painful hour of discipline, and thereby became a blot upon the temple of glory, having some hideous deformity clinging to it through eternal ages? Then be content, poor suffering child of God, to endure the strokes which alone can fit thee for thy place in the heavenly temple. And be comforted in every weary hour of despondency and depression, by the assurance given in the type, that the house shall certainly be finished throughout all its parts. God will not spare the strokes of his rod for thy crying. Nothing shall be lacking from thy perfection. The God of peace shall sanctify thee wholly, and preserve thee blameless unto the coming of his Son. "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." Now joyous, and now grievous-He will patiently and unweariedly carry on the needful discipline―

"As hour after hour passeth by."

Nor will he detain thee one hour longer than is absolutely required for thy perfecting. Most beautifully is this taught in the type-" So was he seven years in building." "Seven" denotes completeness or perfection; the time is no less perfect than the building. All is perfect, for all is the work of that Heavenly Architect of whom St Paul spake : "He looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God!"

If, then, each part is so perfectly finished for itself, how exquisite will be the beauty of the perfect whole! How magnificently great we may expect that building to be, upon which the "Builder" has expended such unwearied pains for near six thousand years of time! How welcome and precious to every sufferer should be the bright anticipation of that coming seventh thousand, when the house shall be