let loose for a little season, which we suppose refers to the last persecution of the saints by the nations (Matt. 24. 9-12); for immediately after the thousand years, during which the assembly shall be unmolested by Satan, there shall be the great tribulation of the faithful and the judgment of their enemies, when the world shall be destroyed by fire from heaven. (2 Pet. 3. 7, 10.) And in that day all the departed saints shall awake from their sleep to celebrate the marriagesupper of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem, together with their brethren who shall be alive at his coming. (Matt. 25. 1-10.)

To any one who knows that the Assembly has apostatised from the faith, and that the children of God are spiritually dead, and that the bride shall be ready to receive the Lord at his coming; the foregoing interpretation of the vision of John will be found to be conformable to the word of God. We know, however, that the apostate teachers deny that this vision refers to the restoration of God's Assembly, which is quite natural, for to do so would be to confess that their churches are dead, and do not belong to the body of the Christ; nevertheless, according to the analogy of the faith, it can bear no other interpretation; for though there is no clue to interpret the meaning of the apocalyptic signs concerning God's dealings with the world; this is not the case as regards the vision of the millennial reign of the Lord, which is elucidated by various prophecies concerning his kingdom in other parts of the holy scriptures; and we rejoice to think that there is already an earnest of the first resurrection; for there are, doubtless, a few assemblies, though we have not seen them, who follow the Lamb, and with whom the Apostle Paul, were he alive, would break bread on the Lord's day; and though the ideal standard of sanctification may not be yet attained, the faithful brethren should not be deterred from persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, but pray like the Psalmist: Return, we beseech thee, O God of

hosts; look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.' (Ps. 80. 14, 15.) For the Assembly of the Christ is God's planting, and the work of his hands (Mark, 4. 26-29. Isa. 61. 1-3. 1 Cor. 3. 6-10); and because God has created it for his glory, it shall endure for ever. (Isa. 49. 15. Matt. 5. 15, 16. John, 15. 8. 1 Cor. 4. 20. Eph. 2. 10. Phil. 1. 11.) The reign of superstition and heresy has lasted long, but it shall have an end, for every plant that our God and Father hath not planted shall be rooted up; for the arm of Jehovah is not shortened, and neither is his love to his children diminished (Isa. 59. 1); for he has seen the affliction of his people who were in Egypt, and he has given them his Word to release them from the trammels of scholastic theology. For the translation of the Bible into the vulgar tongue in the sixteenth century was the first step towards the sanctification of God's children by the truth; and ever since that blessed day the process has been going on, by means of which the Assembly of the Christ shall be manifested again on the earth as it was in the beginning of the dispensation. And though dissensions may arise in the Lord's Body, they will be allayed by the Holy Spirit and the word of God. 'Beloved,' saith Jude, 'remember ye the words which were spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus the Christ.' And Solomon hath said, 'Add not thereto, lest God reprove you and ye be found liars.' (Prov. 30. 6.) And so the Lord shall preserve a faithful Assembly as his witnesses, having their loins girt about with the truth, and their torches burning, until the day when the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in heaven, and they shall be called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb.

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CHAPTER X.

CHRISTIAN WORSHIP.

I. THE faithful brethren are sacrificers of God, whom they worship through the Lord Jesus the Christ.

II. Confession.

III. Prayer.

IV. The Lord's Supper.

V. The temple of God must be holy.

VI. Rules for the guidance of the prophets in the Sanctuary.

I. The faithful brethren are sacrificers of God whom they worship through the Lord Jesus the Christ.

'And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of sacrificers and a holy nation.' (Ex. 19. 6.)

Unto him [Jesus the Christ] who loveth us, and hath washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us a kingdom and sacrificers unto his God and Father; to him be glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.' (Rev. 1. 5, 6. Comp. 5. 10.)*

The faithful brethren who constitute the Assembly of God are the successors of the sons of Aaron, who were appointed to be sacrificers of God for ever throughout their generations (Ex. 40. 15); as Peter testified of us, saying, 'Ye are an elect generation, a body of royal sacri

* The word 'hiereus' signifies a sacrificer, and not a priest, as it is rendered in our version of the New Testament; for the term 'priest' signifies presbyter, or elder. The word of man says we are all kings and elders, but God says we are a kingdom and sacrificers.

ficers, a holy nation, a purchased people, that ye should show forth the virtues of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.' (1 Pet. 2. 9.)

In the Assembly of the Christ the saints are all royal sacrificers, for, like the sovereign sacrificers of Israel, they enjoy the privilege of offering sacrifices to God in the most holy place. Under the Mosaic law none could offer sacrifices to God but the sons of Aaron; but, under grace, all who believe in Jesus have access to the Father in one Spirit, in the sanctuary, which blessing God announced by rending the veil of the temple when our Lord was crucified. (Matt. 27. 51. Eph. 2. 18. Heb. 7. 19; 10. 19-22.) And as the Christ, who is the image of God, is bodily present in the heavenly tabernacle, in which he is worshipped by the holy angels (Heb. 1. 6); so he is spiritually present in the assembly of the saints, which is his tabernacle on earth, in which he is worshipped; for he has promised that where two or three come together in his name, that is in him, or in communication with him by the Holy Spirit, he is there in the midst of them to receive their sacrifices. (Matt. 18. 20.) For God is visible to the saints who are in the Spirit, in the Lord Jesus, in the assembly, which is a habitation of God in Spirit. (Eph. 2. 22.) Our Lord, therefore, accepted the worship of his brethren as God when he was glorified (Matt. 28. 17. Luke, 24. 52); for the holy brethren are sacrificers of God and of the Christ. (Rev. 20. 6) And they worship the Father through his glorified Son, as it is written: Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a body of holy sacrificers, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus the Christ' (1 Pet. 2. 5); and Paul says To God only be glory through Jesus the Christ for the ages. Amen.' (Rom. 16. 27.) And in Jude it is written: To the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, dominion, and power, through Jesus the Christ our Lord, both now and for all ages. Amen.' (Jude, 25.)

6

The faithful brethren worship God by means of the Christ; for in him they see the invisible God, and by his Spirit they have access to him as their Father. And hence it is written, 'Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus (that is in him, or in his Spirit), giving thanks to God the Father through him.' (Col. 3. 17. Comp. Rom. 1. 8.) And, again, the Spirit saith: Through him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name' (Heb. 13. 15); for in worshipping God through his beloved Son we offer our heavenly Father the most acceptable sacrifice. For all should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father who hath sent him.' (John, 5. 23. Comp. 2 Tim. 4. 18. 1 Pet. 4. 11. 2 Pet. 3. 18. Rev. 1. 6; 5. 12.)

The sons of God worship their heavenly Father in Spirit and in Truth, as Jesus testified to the woman of Samaria, saying: 'The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship that which ye know not; we know that which we worship; for salvation cometh from the Jews.' (Comp. Isa. 2. 3-5. Joel, 2. 32. Zech. 13. 1. Rom. 11. 26.) But the hour cometh and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that the Messiah cometh, who is the Christ. When he is come, he shall tell us all things.' (Comp. Deut. 18. 15-19.) 'Jesus saith, I that speak unto thee am he.' (John, 4. 19-26.)*

The time was drawing near when the kingdom of the

*The Samaritans were the representatives of the schism which rent the kingdom of Israel into two parts. These beretics worshipped God in a temple on Mount Gherizim, and had a translation of the Pentateuch, but they rejected all the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures.