come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John.

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are written therein for the time is at hand. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.

Rev. xxii. 10. Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand. [1 John ii. 18; 2 Thes. ii. 7.]

Dan. xii. 8-10. And I heard, but I understood not, then said I, "O my Lord! (D. x. 5-11; Rev. i. 13-19) what shall be the end of these things?" And He said, "Go thy way, Daniel! for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." Amos iii. 7. Surely The Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the Prophets.

John xv. 15. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known

unto you.

2 Pet. i. 16-21. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; but were eye-witnesses of His majesty. For He received from God The Father honour and glory, when there came such a Voice to Him from the Excellent Glory, "This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." And this Voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place,—until the Day dawn, and the Day-Star arise,-in your hearts.

[To the believer the darkness is past, and The True Light now shineth, 1 John, ii. 8; yet he also waits for the fulfilment of prophecy as prefigured in the vision of The Kingdom, Matt. xvi. 28; xvii, 1-3, when Moses and Elijah

as "first fruits" of the "sons of God" were " manifested." Rom. viii. 19. (Mal. iv. 2. Rev. xx. 16.)]

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private [or human] interpretation;

["That which was once truly spoken by the prophets remains truth even to the present day; a Divine unfolding or revelation, and is known to be so in its results and issue."-Bengel.]

for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake, moved by The Holy Spirit.

1. Thes. v. 1-10. But of the times and the seasons, brethren! ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that The Day of The Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, "Peace, and safety!" then sudden destruction cometh upon them,—and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren ! are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober! Let us, who are of The Day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation! For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

Matt. xxiv. 32, 33, 42, 44. Now learn a parable of the fig-tree! When its branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it [He] is near, even at the doors. Watch! therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Therefore, be ye also ready! for in such an hour as ye think not The Son of Man cometh.

Luke xxi. 28, 34-36. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads! for your redemption draweth nigh.. And take heed to yourselves! lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that Day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye! therefore, and pray always! that ye may be accounted

worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand [εμжρooεv - stand accepted, as objects of His complacent approbation. Jude 24; Rev. iv. 4] before the Son of Man. Ezek. xxxiii. 2-6. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

IT IS EXPEDIENT FOR YOU THAT I GO AWAY.* John xvi. 7.

John xv. 16. A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to The Father.

John xvi. 7. If I go not away, The Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. [Eph. i. 6. Accepted in the Beloved One.] 1 John i. 7, ii. 1, i. 3. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. We have an Advo→ cate with The Father, Jesus Christ, The Righteous One. And truly our fellowship is with The Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Eph. ii. 18. Through Him we both have access, by One Spirit, unto The Father. Rom. v. 1, 2. Peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ by Whom also we have access, by faith, into this grace wherein we stand. Eph. i. 13, 14, iv. 30. In Whom also,

The way of reconciliation with The Father is opened by this "going away" (see Lev. xvi. 9, 10, 20-22), this fulfilling of the doom of banishment from The Holy Presence (Gen. iii. 22-24), by The Righteous and Obedient Son (Ps. xxii. 1-3; Matt. xxvii. 46), Who was reckoned among the transgressors (Isa. liii. 12); and Who died, The Just One for the unjust (1 Pet. iii. 18); and by His ascending up again where he was before (Jno. vi. 62, iii. 13), and shedding forth The Holy Spirit to dwell in men (Acts ii. 32, 33; Jno. xiv. 16-18), is given the Earnest of their restored Inheritance in God, Who is their Everlasting Portion (Eph. i. 13, 14; Rom. viii. 11, i. 4; 2 Pet. i. 2-11); and man has again, and for ever, dominion over the works of the Creator's hands, according to the original purpose of God (Gen. i. 28; Ps. viii; Matt. iv. 23; v. 5; Rev. i, 5, 6, v. 10).

after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise [promised Spirit] which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession (Lev. xxv. 8-13, jubile; Isa. lxi. 2; Ezek. xxxvii.), unto the praise of His glory. Grieve not The Holy Spirit of God, [wherein ye were] sealed unto [a] day of redemption. (Rom. viii. 21-23.)

[Leviticus xvi. 20-22. And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited-land of separation. Lev. xvi. 27, iv. 12, 21. And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall one carry forth without the camp, and where the ashes are poured out shall they be burned.

1 Pet. ii. 24. Who His own Self bare our sins in His own body to the tree.

Heb. xiii. 12. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own Blood, suffered without the gate.]

John xiv. 28. Ye have heard how I said unto you (3, 18), "I go away, and come again unto you." If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice because I said I go unto The Father: for My Father is greater than I. (2 Cor. viii. 9; John xvii. 5; Heb. ii. 9, 14-16.)

John xx. 17. Touch [detain] Me not! for I am not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, "I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God." (2 Cor. v. 17, 18; Gen. iii. 8-10; Heb. ix. 24, 27, 28.)

[Since the Lord, on the evening of the same day, even invited the touch of his disciples (Luke xxiv. 33-39), it appears probable that, after manifesting Himself to Mary Magdalene, He at once completed the offering to The Father, by presenting Himself as the Firstfruits, or wave-sheaf; as was appointed to be done on the morrow after the Sabbath; whether that were, as in this instance, the ordinary Sabbath of the week, or the Sabbath and holy convocation commanded to be observed on the fifteenth day of Nisan, the day immediately following that of the sacrifice of the Passover. (Lev. xxiii. 11; John xix. 31.) See note in "The High-Priesthood of Christ," by the author of "English Synonymes."

Again, in view of His apostles, The Lord ascended to the heaven of heavens, and a Cloud [the Shekinah (?) in which The Angel Whose Voice should be hearkened unto,-as was also commanded concerning the transfigured

Saviour in the Mount,-led the people through the wilderness: Exod. xiii. 21, xxiii. 20, 21; Matt. xvii. 5; 2 Pet. i. 16-18] received Him; and in which He shall return (Acts i. 9-11), at the time of the restitution of all things (Acts iii. 21), when He will be seen, seated upon a Great White Throne, from Whose Face the earth and the heavens will flee away. (Rev. xx. 11; Job xxvi. 9.)

At that Ascension the disciples had a foretaste of the great joy in Him, The Living One (Rev. i. 18), of which The Lord had told them (John xvi. 22, xiv. 19); for as He was parted from them He blessed them, and they returned to Jerusalem, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God (Luke xxiv. 50-53), waiting for The Promised Spirit, Who should be the earnest of their glorious Inheritance in an ever-present Saviour and King. (Acts ii.; John xvii. 24, xiv. 1-3; Rev. vii. 15-17, xxii. 3-5; Num. xviii. 20; Ps. lxxiii. 26; and Jer. x. 16; where we lose the force of the passage in the English version through omission of a distinctive initial— Portion,"—as also in Gen. xxxi. 53-" Jacob sware by The Fear of his father Isaac.")]

THE RESURRECTION:

WHICH IS THE EVIDENCE OF THE FATHER'S ACCEPTANCE OF THE SACRIFICE FOR SINS.

Rom. i. 4. Declared [definitely marked as] The Son of God-by the resurrection from the dead.

[This Sonship was in occultation by His humiliation, and was at length fully disclosed to us after His resurrection.-Bengel.]

1 Cor. xv. 17. If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

HE IS RISEN, AS HE SAID.

Matt. xxviii. 6, xvi. 21.

Acts i. 3, 2. To the apostles, whom He had chosen, He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen by them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to The Kingdom of God, until the day in which He was taken up.