At the Surrey Tabernacle, Borough Road
“And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.” Revelation 17:8.
LAST Lord’s day morning we showed that the Gospel is the Book of Life; it ministers life, it swallows up death, it sustains life, yes, we live by it: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” And we observed that the foundation of the world here spoken of may apply to three circumstances, the foundation of the world literally; and also, the foundation of the Levitical dispensation, Abraham being the foundation of that dispensation; and then, thirdly, the foundation of the Christian world. And the Lord’s people’s names are written, that is to say, they are included, in the promise, “The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.” Their names are all included in that; and when the Lord made promise to Abraham that in him should all the families of the earth be blessed, here again their names are included; and so, when Jesus Christ died, he laid down his life for the sheep, here again their names are included. And thus, if you take the foundation of the world to mean the first promise, or to mean the period of Abraham, or to mean when Christ died, in each respect the words stand good, that their names were thus in this Book of Life from the foundation of the world. Christ was slain from the foundation of the world in type. Abel came with a more excellent offering, and that offering, we know, pointed to the sacrificial excellency of Christ, so that Christ was slain in type from the foundation of the world; and then he was slain literally at the foundation of the Christian world. The Christian world rests upon the foundation that Christ laid in his death; as says the prophet, or the Lord by the prophet, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation”, and that foundation was laid when Christ died, “a stone, a tried stone” and he was then tried in a way that he never will be again; and he endured the trial, he survived the trial, he surmounted the trial unhurt, came off spotless at the last, “ a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation;” and he that is brought off from all other hopes, and believes in this foundation, and rests his soul there, shall not be ashamed.
Before I enter upon the subject, we must have a definite idea of what is intended here by the beast. Here is a beast they are to worship. Now, let us have a distinct and a clear idea of what is meant by that, otherwise we certainly shall not understand, as we go along, this morning, our subject. Now the beast, then, will mean any organized power that stands opposed to the sacrificial perfection of Christ, and that stands opposed to the liberty of which the people have in Christ, I thus define the characteristics of the beast; first, it means any organized power, or any person either, that stands opposed to the sacrificial perfection of Christ, and that stands opposed to the liberty of the people of God, Hence, in the fourteenth verse of this same chapter this wild beast, for so it means, is characterized by two things I have mentioned, I am aware he is characterized by many other things, but I mention these two as being simple, and, I think, understandable by us all. It is said that he shall make war with the Lamb. There it is, you see, hostility to the sacrificial perfection of Christ Jesus, the spotless Lamb pointing out the sacrificial perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, my hearer, who shall describe, we cannot describe, how glorious in the eyes, and how precious to the souls, of those that are in heaven is the sacrificial perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were made acquainted, while in this vale of tears, with their need of it; and they saw it, and embraced it, and gloried in it; and their language, if not in words, in substance was the same, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, we all well know that the beast, the Jewish Church, for the Jewish Church was a member of this beast, the Jewish Church stood opposed, and that in an organized form, to the sacrificial excellency of Christ, and stood opposed to him altogether, and cried, “Away with him! Crucify him!” Then comes Rome Pagan; then comes Rome Papal; then comes Arminianism; and then comes duty-faith. There are plenty of systems that profess to hold Jesus Christ as the only Savior, and do in one part of their creed admit that he died for sinners; but in another part of their creed they deny the real perfection of that atonement; and with all the doings of Christ they leave something for the creature to do; and they will even tell us that it is the duty of men savingly to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. All these are members of the beast; all these. For it is said, this beast comes from perdition, mark that, at least, he comes up out of the bottomless pit, that is, all these systems come from hell, and they go into perdition. So that, if I am one with that which stands opposed, however refined my system may be, whether a duty-faith system, a free will, or a Socinian, or a Papistical, or Puseyite, or any other, if I am opposed to the spotless sacrificial perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ, my religion came from hell, and it will go to hell, and I shall go to hell with it, as sure as I am a man, if I live and die in that spirit that stands in any shape or form opposed to the sacrificial perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look, my hearer, to this, and see whether you have found out that your sinnership is complete, that your helplessness is complete, that your depravity is entire, that your condemnation is irremediable, so far as anything you can do. If you have found out this, then you will receive the testimony of Christ, his sacrificial excellency; you will find your life, and light, and liberty, and sanctification, and redemption, and justification, and eternal glorification, and eternal safety, in and by the spotless character, perfection, efficacy, and glory of the sacrificial excellency of Christ. These, then, are the members of the beast, that stand opposed to the Lamb; but the Lamb shall overcome them; he will maintain the dignity, in his church, of his sacrificial excellency, for he is something besides a Lamb; he has not merely atoned for sin, and then left his sacrifice at the mercy of man, as erring men tell us, no; he has atoned for sin, and has ascended up on high, as Lord of lords and King of kings, to maintain his rights, to bring his people out of all delusions, bring them down to his feet, and show that their acceptance is entirely by the conquest that he has wrought: “The Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with him are called.” He called unto them, and they came unto him. They could not do otherwise; they were dead, and he called them with a life-giving power; they were in darkness, he called them with an illuminating power; they were in bondage, and he called and said, “Loose him, and let him go;” they were weary, and trying to make themselves that which his atonement alone can make them, and he said, “Come unto me,” and he said it effectually. “They that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” They shall be faithful to this sacrificial perfection; they shall hold fast the truth unto the last. We have volumes, I have gone through them, cartloads of books, pretty well, most unmercifully belaboring the Roman Catholic Church, Popery, Popery everything as though the devil had no agencies anywhere except in that dark church as though the beast showed his paws nowhere but under that system. It shows itself everywhere where there is opposition to this sacrificial perfection of Christ; and duty-faith and free will are as much doctrines of the devil, as is the doctrine of transubstantiation advocated in the Church of Rome. They are all of the devil, from the first to the last, and belong to the beast; they rise from the bottomless pit, and they must go into perdition. Some ministers can go over and lend a practical sanction to duty-faith. Such men are traitors in the camp, and ought to be treated as such. We are too lenient by half with them. If some of the old martyrs were alive, they would look upon such men as traitors; they would not believe in their sincerity. Why, if you took it in a military point of view, how would it be then? How would that man be treated who would go over and advise with the enemy? Should we think him a really loyal man? Should we think his heart right with his own country, and with his own government? We should not. We should be for shutting him up, and perhaps shooting him, to save the trouble of hanging him. So, the man that professes the truth, and does not abide by the truth, is a traitor in the camp. The “beast,” then, means anyone that stands opposed to this sacrificial excellency of Christ, and to the liberty the people of God have in him.
After this rather long introduction, I will proceed to notice the subject immediately before us this morning. I intend my discourse to consist of two things; first, to run a fourfold contrast between this beast. I will notice then, first, the fourfold contrast between this beast, as set forth in the Book of the Revelation, with the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ; and then, secondly, the respects in which this beast was, and is not, and yet is.
First, then, I notice the fourfold contrast. It is said of this beast that it has seven heads, which are seven mountains. Now, you must understand that this beast, this organized, political, ecclesiastical, tyrannical power, that it is set before us in a variety of forms, and also set before us as it is in the estimate Tatian of its worshipers. Why, then, is it called, “this kingdom of Satan” (for this is my object, after all, to contrast the kingdom of Satan with the kingdom of Christ), why, then, is this “kingdom of Satan” spoken of as seven mountains? Is it not to bring before us the fact that, in the estimation of the followers of that kingdom, they have perfection on their side? You see there is a plurality, there is a want of oneness, there is a want of oneness in the kingdom of Satan; and so, it is here represented as having seven heads, or seven mountains. I am aware the learned tell us that this is an allusion to ancient Rome being built upon seven hills. Well, it may, or it may not, I have little or nothing to do with that; I have to do chiefly, though not exclusively, with mystical matters. So, then, one of the representations of the kingdom of Satan is that of seven mountains, to denote a want of unity. They imagine it is perfect, but there is a want of unity. But the kingdom of Jesus Christ is never so represented. The kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, to denote its unity, in contrast to this want of unity among the enemies, is set forth as one mountain, and only one mountain; and so it is said, “The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and be exalted before the hills;” that is, exalted above all the powers of antichrist; that Antichrist has never been able yet to establish a kingdom that could move the kingdom of Christ, or overcome the kingdom of Christ. Let us see then, here, the unity we have in the kingdom of Christ. We have one mountain, one kingdom, and one Spirit, and one Gospel, and one God, and one people, and these are all alike. I know not any representation of the people more beautiful than that given in the hundred and 33rd Psalm. There is a description there given of these people that belong to the kingdom of Christ in opposition to those that belong to the others; and it is a remarkable thing that those who belong to false gospels admit a plurality. Ah! my brother Wesleyan, and my brother Puseyite, and my brother Papist. “It is true such an one is a Papist, but I believe he is a good man.” I have heard some Protestants say that. And So-and-so, he was a good man;” so that they really admit a plurality. But the saints of God have never admitted this plurality. The apostle Paul said. If an angel from heaven preach any other gospel, let him be accursed. So, then the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a kingdom of unity, in contrast to the pluralities of other gospels, and other systems. See then, I say, that 133rd Psalm, how it represents the people, “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Now you see they are brethren. How are they brethren? They are brethren by eternal election, and they all come to that; they all agree to that; they all meet upon that ground, and all accord with that; they are brethren by eternal election. Go to the second of Hebrews, as well as a great many other scriptures; but take that one, that “He that sanctifies, that is, Christ, “and they who are sanctified,” that is, the people, “are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.” “Sanctified,” another Scripture says, “by God the Father, preserved in Christ Jesus, and called.” So that the kingdom of Christ, like Jerusalem, is bound compact together, a kingdom of unity; one part of the kingdom perfectly agrees with another, just as one part of Christ’s life agrees with another, and one part of his doctrine agrees with another. There was perfect harmony in his life, and perfect harmony in his death; everything was in perfect harmony, and so there is here; and it is good for brethren to dwell together here in unity. But you cannot without election; electing grace must come in, God must appear in his sovereignty; and when he appears in his sovereignty, down goes creature sovereignty, the creature becomes nothing, God becomes all and in all. Now it is good to dwell here, because it is to dwell with God in his order, in his love, in his mercy. Ah, there is nothing I am more delighted with. How sweet the thought that I spend my years just as they were laid out for me; how sweet the thought that every hair of my head is numbered; how sweet the thought that not a sparrow can fall to the ground without God’s permission; how sweet the thought that every loss, every adversity, every grief, and every pain, and every sorrow, shall all be subservient to substantiate the eternal counsels of the Most High, confound the devil, astonish our souls, bring us to himself, and make us rejoice that while we are nothing God is everything. It is good and it is pleasant for brethren to dwell together in this unity of the Spirit, in this unity of eternal truth. Here we have not only good and pleasant, but here we have the anointings of the Holy Spirit. “It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments.” This refers to the solemn anointing of the high priest when the high priest was consecrated to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. And if I am brought to dwell here in harmony with God’s sovereignty in eternal election, that brings me into harmony with the truth that Christ is that High Priest that has made reconciliation for the sins of the people. Thanks eternal to his dear name. My faith does not make reconciliation, my repentance and my practice do not make reconciliation, nor minister a single iota towards it; it is done by his sacrificial perfection. And here if I am brought into harmony with the sovereignty of God, the same Spirit that brings me there brings me into sweet harmony with the sacrificial excellency and perfection of Christ Jesus. He was anointed to make reconciliation for the sins of the people: and now the Holy Spirit, by what Christ has done, consecrates us to God; as says the apostle, “You who were afar off are now in Christ Jesus made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Dear God and Father, endear Jesus Christ; blessed Holy Spirit and blessed life, blessed heaven and blessed time; neither afraid to live nor afraid to die there. Thanks be to God, that causes us to triumph in Christ. As long as you can say, Ah, I belong to no sect, I like them all, then you are a lover of the devil, you are a follower of the devil, you are taught of the devil, and you will have your portion with the devil; for as not a man was saved that was out of Noah’s Ark, and that was a free grace ark, Noah found grace in the eyes the Lord, so not a soul can be saved out of that which is brought within the circle of the free grace salvation, made with one with Christ, and brought into harmony with God’s all vanity in Christ’s mediation. Now that only is there this harmony with God’s sovereignty and Christ’s perfection denoted by the anointing but see the refreshing’s; it is “as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.” You with your free will gospel, I would as soon put myself under a shower of sand, and expect the refreshing from it, is under your free grace gospel. You, with your duty-faith offers, I would as soon put myself under a shower of sand as under your duty-faith gospel or expect any refreshing from it. But bring me here, into this eternal, indissoluble unity; bring me here, where the High Priest has made reconciliation for the sins of the people and bring out of the doings of his eternal love this wondrous rain; it shall descend upon my soul as the dew, it shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass. Many have said to me, Suppose you lived in a town where there was not the truth, and there was a false minister, or a man that did not preach the real truth, a duty-faith man, would not you for the sake of example to your family go and hear that man? No. I would stop at home and read the Word of God, and I would tell my family what a deceiver he was, what a liar he was, what a devil-taught man he was, and that I would far rather stay at home than go to hear such a man. Nothing can refresh my soul but heavenly truths. Moses shows us, in the thirty-second of Deuteronomy, that it is a proclamation of the perfection of Christ’s work, the declaration of Christ’s rock-like character, that he is the immoveable rock; that is the doctrine that is to drop as the rain, distil as the dew. “For there,” after this order; not in the seven mountains, but in the one mountain; not in the many gospels, but in the one gospel; not in your universal charity; not in your religious harlot-ism, admitting all churches and all gospels; no, but in this unity, where the High Priest is anointed, and where this free-grace, living gospel refreshes the soul, here it is “the Lord, commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” Here we shall live. I love God the Father in election; and if you take me away from that, I feel I am under the law directly, and am more disposed to blaspheme God than to bless him. Take me away from the perfection of Christ’s work, and I feel I am under the law, and am more disposed to curse my very existence than to either love or worship God. Take me away from under the commanding power of this gospel, and the certainty of it, and thus rob me of the Holy Ghost in the universality of his power and the sovereignty of his will, giving to every man severally as he will, I then feel I am under the old Adam instead of being under divine teaching, and away I go fretting and stewing about this and the other, and there is more of the devil in it than anything else. But keep me here, close to a triune God; there I am happy; there I can rejoice, there I can bless God for my creation, because in connection with it I have eternal redemption. That is one contrast, then: the kingdom of Satan is plural, consisting of many mountains called seven mountains; of course, that is a definite number for an indefinite; seven mystically may mean seven hundred for aught I know. The gospel is never called doctrines in the Bible. There is not one instance in all the Bible wherein the gospel of Christ is called doctrines, never once spoken of in the plural. You never read of the doctrines of Christ; there is not such a scripture. Why not? Because there is but one doctrine, but one teaching, but one gospel, but one Spirit, but one God. But when you come to the other, you read of the doctrines of devils, or as it ought to have been rendered, the doctrines of demons; that is, the doctrines of mediatory gods; plenty of mediators, such as they are; but then they rise from the bottomless pit and go into perdition. See, then, in the one you have unity, in the other you have plural. It is a great thing to be brought into this unity of the Spirit, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ah! Say some, you are one of the last in the world to do this; you have quarreled with everybody. I am quarreling with all that quarrel with the truth, nobody else. I am at peace with those that are at peace with the truth, but I am not with the others, and never shall be to all eternity.
But the second contrast is that in this kingdom of Satan there is a plurality of kings, seven kings. We have but one, you see; there it is again. And, says John, five of these kings have fallen; ah, poor things, dear me, five have fallen. We tried that gospel, and it didn’t do; we tried another gospel, and it didn’t do. It is amazing to hear the people in England sometimes. Ah, well, that free-grace gospel will never do; all of you advocate Teetotalism, that will do the work, that will bring men to God. Another says, Oh, no, that won’t do; advocate universal education, that will bring the people to God. Another says, No, that won’t do; let us have universal suffrage, that will bring the people to God. No, says another, that won’t do; let us open all the theatres, and we will all throw up our differences, and all be brethren and preach, that will bring the people to God. And so, they keep setting up their kings, and down they go as fast as they set them up; and all these kings fall, and so it is. But our King never fell, our King never failed. Here are five kings fallen. I am aware you may take that historically, of course. Well, suppose I take it historically, and tell you that ancient Egypt was one king, for they stood against the Israelites. Suppose I were to tell you that Assyria was the next dynasty that stood against the Israelites; suppose I were to tell you that Babylon was the next, Persia the next, and Greece the next, and that these five kings were fallen; I should tell you the truth; and I will not deny the historical reference there may be, perhaps, to these five dynasties; I would not exclude that, because they all were enemies, and it is a fact that they are all fallen, and fallen to rise no more. But our King never fell; no, bless his dear name! never. He had a rough path to walk, but he never stumbled; he had terrible things to encounter, but he never stumbled; he rejoiced as a strong man to run a race, though he carried in that race the heaviest burden that ever man did carry, a burden that none but a person who was God as well as man could carry. So, then our King has never fallen; but here are five fallen. What comes next? We will not despise history; we must understand it both ways, historically and mystically. There are two more yet to come to make up the seven, and who were these two? Why, the Pagan and the Christian. Ah, say some, it is Pagan and Papal. Step a little broader if you please, sir; there were two powers yet to come, namely, the Pagan, which in John’s time had not yet begun exactly to show its power, not in the way it did afterwards, in the ten persecutions; and then comes the Christian. “Ah, Papal you mean.” Yes, I mean Papal as a part; but you must be very ill-versed in ecclesiastical history if you do not know that Protestants have persecuted, in some cases, as much as Papists ever did. Ah, say you, I can’t believe that. Can’t you? No occasion to go far for it. Go back to that beautiful lady, that nice creature, there isn’t a name in all history that is more nauseous to me, I mean as applied to her in the association in which it there stands. Mary, Queen Mary, is not worse, if so bad. I mean Queen Elizabeth, good old Queen best. “Ah, well, I don’t think she was so very bad either.” Don’t you? Well now, suppose you were young and just married, and you and your husband are very happy; very yes, very happy together. And your husband is a good man; yes, fears God, yes, not the Church of England prayerbook, and he would rather lose his last drop of his blood then bow to that book. The beautiful Elizabeth finds it out; she sends for your young husband, she puts him into Newgate, and she has him bound hand and foot and bent backwards until the blood comes out of all parts of his body from his being torn backwards, and keeps him in agonies unbearable, perhaps for three or four days, before he expires. Well, would you love the beautiful creature after that? She punished hundreds in that way. And therefore, my hearer, the kings yet to come will mean any persecuting power. She was not a Papists, not professedly so; she was a Protestant, pretty Protestant! Protestants have been as bad as Papists sometimes, and would be now, the Church of England would put down Dissent tomorrow if she could; and she has the blood of the saints on her skirts and would like to renew her murderous conduct if she could; but bless God, I believe she never will be able. Well, then, while these kings must fall, our King never fell and never will, no. The martyrs well knew, when they were under sufferings, Ah, this is only the body that they are torturing, they can’t affect me in my life in Christ; it is only a sinful, ungodly world they are hastening me out of, they cannot take me out of the kingdom of Christ, nor out of the hands of Christ, nor out of the hands of the living God, nor out of the Book of Life; they can sever me only from that which is mortal, but they cannot sever me from that which is immortal; they may kill my poor dying body, after that, there is no more they can do. Which, then, will you have, those religions wherein five of the kings have fallen, and the others must come to nothing, or that religion where there is a King that shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end? He never stumbled nor fell, manages his affairs with discretion. “Precious in his sight is the blood of the saints.” He never took a life away; he gave his own life for them, but never took their life; he preserves them, keeps them, blesses them, and his kingdom rules over all. Where are we, then? Are we among those that hold a plurality of religions, thinking all are alike; or are we brought out from them unto Mount Zion, and brought to that one king, Christ Jesus, who had no predecessor, and who has no successor; and his people had no predecessors, nor will they have any successors?
The third contrast is, that these seven kings had seven crowns; but then you see five are fallen, they are gone. But the Lord Jesus Christ never lost a crown. Here we admit plurality with him. I look at Jesus Christ in the fifth chapter of Revelation, and I see him set out with a solitary crown, and with a bow, and he went forth conquering, and to conquer; I watch him, I follow him, I come to the nineteenth chapter, and I find that same person that set out with one crown, has now on his head many crowns, to denote that he has obtained many victories, obtained many honors, conquered and saved many sinners. Ah, I fall in with him there. “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses,” these white horses symbolizing the pure truths of the gospel, proclaiming that perfection of purity that is in and by Christ Jesus, that he is crowned Lord of all, and they shall be crowned with, him with loving kindness and tender mercies, and that forever. But, again, this mystical adverse power is said to have ten horns; that is to denote the firmness of his standing. Oh yes, they stand so firm, not like you poor high Calvinists stand, only as the Lord holds you, no like you narrow-minded people, seeking about, and feeling about, and wandering about, and can’t stand anywhere except on free-grace ground. Ten horns, to represent his tenfold power to stand fast. Why, say you, they are called ten kings. Well, it is all carrying the idea of farm standing. Let us look at the contrast, and with that and just a word upon the other we must close. Now in the second chapter of Daniel you read that the image was smitten on the feet, and this image stood upon its feet; there were the ten toes, and yet the stone came out of the mountain, smote this man of sin, smote this opposing power, and all these opposing powers became as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor. So that you see they could not stand; no, partly strong and partly weak could not stand, must come to nothing. Now let us see Daniel’s contrast. “In the days of these kings” (which was the case, so those kings existed then mystically adverse powers), “shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed,” in contrast to all these kings that are to be destroyed; “and the kingdom shall not be left to other people.” We have had 300 Popes, obliged to leave the kingdom one to another; I am satisfied that their religion came from hell. Not so the kingdom of Christ. When I die, will my death take me out of that kingdom? No, it will take me to the glory part of the kingdom. Will my death sever me from the kingdom of Christ, and shall I leave that kingdom to others? No, but it will bring me into its perfection, and glory, and joy, to dwell there through the countless ages of eternity. “The kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms;” that is, so far as the Lord’s people are concerned, as well as in other respects; “and it shall stand,” in contrast to all the others, “forever.”
Now John says this beast was, is not, and yet is. There is a twofold sense in which these words must be understood. First, that this adverse power, that had been just before the time here referred to practicing its murderous operations, had now for a time ceased, so that the churches had rest round about, therefore it was the beast that was, but is not, that is, is not now in actual operation or power, but is wounded to death for a time; he is crippled, neutralized for a time; and thus he was, is not, yet is; that is, is in existence. Ah, he will rise by-and-bye; Paganism will rise; and he will rise in the Christian form by-and-bye. So then, in that sense he was, is not, and yet is, that is, is in existence, ready for action as soon as opportunity offers. Then there is another sense in which these words are true. First, he was, yet by the death of Christ is not. These powers of darkness had power over us, but Christ has slain this dragon as far as his people are concerned. The children being partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise partook of the same, that he might, destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; so that the devil was, and yet is not. Mark that, he was our lord and king, but he is not now our lord and king; he was our ruler, but he is not now; he was our master, but he is not now; we overcome him now by that which we were once not acquainted with, namely, the sacrificial perfection of Christ; we overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. And thus, he was, is not, and yet is still king over all the children of pride. In these senses, then, I think there is no difficulty in understanding it, so far as our souls are concerned.
Now it would require five or six sermons to make this subject thoroughly clear. My chief object has been to contrast in the various respects the kingdom of Christ with all other kingdoms, that we might see in the contrast the goodness and mercy of God in delivering us from these powers of darkness and bringing us into that kingdom which must rule over all; and if so, we shall rule with it, and that forever.