Jesus was worshiped in heaven

JESUS WAS WORSHIPEDIN HEAVEN
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
REV 14:1-3 14 Then I looked, and there before me
was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him
144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name
written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a sound
from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a
loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that
of harpists playing their harps. 3 And they sang a new
song before the throne and before the four living
creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song
except the 144,000who had been redeemed from the
earth.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Heavenly Worship
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Revelation14:1

And I looked, and, see, a Lamb stoodon the mount Sion, and with him an
hundred forty and four thousand…
A Sermon
(No.110)
Deliveredon Sabbath Morning, December28th, 1856, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, RoyalSurrey Gardens.
"And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stoodon the Mount Sion, and with him an
hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their
foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and
as the voice of a greatthunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with
their harps; And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and
before the four beasts, and the elders; and no man could learn that song but
the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemedfrom the
earth." -- Revelation14:1-3.
THE SCENE ofthis marvellous and magnificent vision is laid upon Mount
Sion; by which we are to understand, not Mount Sion upon earth, but Mount
Sion which is above, "Jerusalem, the mother of us all." To the Hebrew mind
Mount Sion was a type of heaven, and very justly so. Among all the mountains
of the earth none was to be found so famous as Sion. It was there that

patriarch Abraham drew his knife to slay his son; it was there, too, in
commemorationof that great triumph of faith, Solomonbuilt a majestic
temple, "beautiful for situation and the joy of the whole earth." That Mount
Sion was the centre of all the devotions of the Jews.
"Up to her courts, with joys unknown,
The sacredtribes repaired."
Betweenthe wings of the cherubim Jehovahdwelt; on the one altar there all
the sacrificeswere offeredto high heaven. They loved Mount Sion, and often
did they sing, when they drew nigh to her, in their annual pilgrimages, "How
amiable are thy tabernacles O Lord God of hosts, my King and my God!"
Sion is now desolate;she hath been ravished by the enemy; she hath been
utterly destroyed;her vail hath been rent asunder, and the virgin daughter of
Sion is now sitting in sackclothand ashes;but, nevertheless, to the Jewish
mind it must ever, in its ancient state, remain the best and sweetesttype of
heaven. John, therefore, when he saw this sight might have said, "I looked,
and, lo, a Lamb stoodin heaven, and with him an hundred and forty and four
thousand having his Father's name written in their foreheads:And I heard a
voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great
thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they
sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and
the elders:and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and
four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth."
This morning I shall endeavour to show you, first of all, the object of heavenly
worship -- the Lamb in the midst of the throne; in the next place we shall look
at the worshippers themselves, and note their manner and their character;in
the third place we shall listen to hear their song, for we may almost hear it; it

is like "the noise of many waters and like great thunder;" and then we shall
close by noting, that it is a new song which they sing, and by endeavouring to
mention one or two reasons whyit must necessarilybe so.
I. In the first place, then, we wish to take a view of THE OBJECTOF
HEAVENLY WORSHIP. The divine John was privileged to look within the
gates ofpearl; and on turning round to tell us what he saw -- observe how he
begins -- he saith not, "I saw streets ofgold or walls of Jasper;" he saith not,
"I saw crowns, markedtheir lustre, and saw the wearers." Thathe shall
notice afterwards. But he begins by saying, "I looked, and, lo, a Lamb!" To
teachus that the very first and chief objectof attraction in the heavenly state
is "the Lamb of God which taketh awaythe sins of the world." Nothing else
attractedthe Apostle's attention so much as the personof that Divine Being,
who is the Lord God, our most blessedRedeemer:"I looked, and, lo a Lamb!"
Beloved, if we were allowedto look within the vail which parts us from the
world of spirits, we should see, first of all, the personof our Lord Jesus. If
now we could go where the immortal spirits "day without night circle the
throne rejoicing," we should see eachof them with their faces turned in one
direction; and if we should step up to one of the blessedspirits, and say, "O
bright immortal, why are thine eyes fixed? What is it that absorbs thee quite,
and wraps thee up in vision?" He, without deigning to give an answer, would
simply point to the centre of the sacredcircle, and lo, we should see a Lamb in
the midst of the throne. They have not yet ceasedto admire his beauty, and
marvel at his wonders and adore his person.
"Amidst a thousand harps and songs,
Jesus, our God, exalted reigns."

He is the theme of song and the subject of observationof all the glorified
spirits and of all the angels in paradise. "I looked, and, lo, a Lamb!"
Christian, here is joy for thee; thou hast looked, and thou hast seenthe Lamb.
Through thy tearful eyes thou hast seenthe Lamb taking awaythy sins.
Rejoice, then! In a little while, when thine eyes shall have been wiped from
tears, thou wilt see the same Lamb exalted on his throne. It is the joy of the
heart to hold daily fellowship and communion with Jesus;thou shalt have the
same joy in heaven; "there shalt thou see him as he is, and thou shalt be like
him." Thou shalt enjoy the constantvision of his presence, and thou shalt
dwell with him for aye. "I looked, and, lo, a Lamb!" Why, that Lamb is
heaven itself; for as goodRutherford says, "Heavenand Christ are the same
things; to be with Christ is to be in heaven, and to be in heavenis to be with
Christ." And he very sweetlysays in one of his letters, wrapped up in love to
Christ. "Oh! my Lord Christ, if I could be in heaven without thee, it would be
a hell; and if I could be in hell, and have thee still, it would be a heaven to me,
for thou art all the heaven I want." It is true, is it not Christian? Does not thy
soul sayso?
"Notall the harps above
Could make a heavenly place,
Should Christ his residence remove,
Or but concealhis face."

All thou needestto make thee blessed, supremely blessed, is "to be with
Christ, which is far better."
And now observe the figure under which Christ is representedin heaven. "I
looked, and, lo, a Lamb." Now, you know Jesus, in Scripture, is often
representedas a lion: he is so to his enemies, for he devoureth them, and
teareth them to pieces. "Beware,ye that forgetGod, lest he tear you in pieces,
and there be none to deliver." But in heaven he is in the midst of his friends,
and therefore he
Looks like a lamb that has been slain,
And wears his priesthood still."
Why should Christ in heaven choose to appear under the figure of a lamb, and
not in some other of his glorious characters?We reply, because it was as a
lamb that Jesus fought and conquered, and, therefore as a lamb he appears in
heaven. I have read of certainmilitary commanders, when they were
conquerors, that on the anniversary of their victory they would never wear
anything but the garment in which they fought. On that memorable day they
say, "Nay, take awaythe robes;I will wearthe garment which has been
embroidered with the sabre-cut, and garnishedwith the shot that hath riddled
it; I will wearno other garb but that in which I fought and conquered." It
seems as if the same feeling possessedthe breastof Christ. "As a Lamb," saith
he, "I died, and worstedhell; as a Lamb I have redeemed my people, and
therefore as a Lamb I will appearin paradise."
But, perhaps, there is another reason;it is to encourage us to come to him in
prayer. Ah, believer, we need not be afraid to come to Christ, for he is a

Lamb. To a lion-Christ we need fear to come;but the Lamb-Christ! -- oh,
little children, were ye ever afraid of lambs? Oh, children of the living God,
should ye ever fail to tell your griefs and sorrows into the breastof one who is
a Lamb? Ah, let us come boldly to the throne of the heavenly grace, seeing a
Lamb sits upon it. One of the things which tend very much to spoil prayer-
meetings is the fact that our brethren do not pray boldly. They would practice
reverence, as truly they ought, but they should remember that the highest
reverence is consistentwith true familiarity. No man more reverent than
Luther; no man more fully carried out for the passage, "He talkedwith his
Makeras a man talketh with his friend." We may be as reverent as the angels,
and yet we may be as familiar as children in Christ Jesus. Now, our friends,
when they pray, very frequently say the same thing every time. They are
Dissenters;they cannotbear the Prayer Book;they think that forms of prayer
are bad, but they always use their own form of prayer notwithstanding; as
much as if they were to saythat the bishop's form would not do, but their own
they must always use. But a form of prayer being wrong, is as much wrong
when I make it as when the bishop makes it; I am as much out of order in
using what I compose myself continually and constantly, as I am when I am
using one that has been composedfor me; perhaps far more so, as it is not
likely to be one-half so good. If our friends, however, would lay aside the form
into which they grow, and break up the stereotypedplates with which they
print their prayers so often, they might come boldly to the throne of God, and
need never fear to do so;for he whom they address is representedin heaven
under the figure of a Lamb, to teachus to come close to him, and tell him all
our wants, believing that he will not disdain to hear them.
And you will further notice that this Lamb is saidto stand. Standing is the
posture of triumph. The Fathersaid to Christ, "Sit thou on my throne, till I
make thine enemies thy footstool."It is done; they are his footstool, andhere
he is said to stand erect, like a victor over all his enemies. Many a time the
Saviour knelt in prayer; once he hung upon the cross;but when the great
scene ofour text shall be fully wrought out, he shall stand erect, as more than
conqueror, through his own majestic might. "I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood
on the Mount Sion." Oh, if we could rend the veil -- if now we were privileged

to see within it -- there is no sight would so enthrall us as the simple sight of
the Lamb in the midst of the throne. My dear brethren and sisters in Christ
Jesus, wouldit not be all the sight you would everwish to see, if you could
once behold him whom your soul loveth? Would it not be a heaven to you, if it
were carried out in your experience -- "Mine eye shall see him, and not
another's?" Would you want anything else to make you happy but continually
to see him? Can you not say with the poet --
"Millions of years my wondering eyes
Shall o'er my Saviour's beauty rove,
And endless ages I'll adore
The wonders of his love?"
And if a single glimpse of him on earth affords you profound delight; it must
be, indeed, a very sea of bliss, and an abyss of paradise, without a bottom or a
shore, to see him as he is; to be lost in his splendours, as the stars are lost in
the sunlight, and to hold fellowship with him, as did John the beloved, when
he leaned his head upon his bosom. And this shall be thy lot, to see the Lamb
in the midst of the throne.
II. The secondpoint is, THE WORSHIPPERS, WHO ARE THEY? Turn to
the text, and you will not, first of all, their numbers -- "I looked, and, lo, a
Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four
thousand." This is a certainnumber put for an uncertain -- I mean uncertain
to us, though not uncertain to God. It is a vast number, put for that

"multitude which no man cannumber," who shall stand before the throne of
God. Now, here is something not very pleasant to my friend Bigotyonder.
Note the number of those who are to be saved;they are said to be a great
number, even a "hundred forty and four thousand," which is but a unit put
for the vast innumerable multitude who are to be gatheredhome. Why, my
friend, there are so many as that belonging to your church. You believe that
none will be savedbut those who hear your minister, and believe your creed; I
do not think you could find one hundred and forty-four thousand anywhere.
You will have to enlarge your heart I think; you must take in a few more, and
not be so inclined to shut out the Lord's people, because you cannot agree with
them. I do abhor from my heart that continual whining of some men about
their own little church as the "remnant" -- the "few that are to be saved."
They are always dwelling upon strait gates and narrow ways, and upon what
they conceive to be a truth, that but few shall enter heaven. Why, my friends, I
believe there will be more in heaven than in hell. If you ask me why I think so,
I answer, because Christ, in everything, is to "have the pre-eminence," and I
cannot conceive how he could have the pre-eminence if there are to be more in
the dominions of Satan than in paradise. Moreover, it is said there is to be a
multitude that no man cannumber in heaven;I have never read that there is
to be a multitude that no man can number in hell. But I rejoice to know that
the souls of all infants, as soonas they die, speed their wayto paradise. Think
what a multitude there is of them! And then there are the just, and the
redeemedof all nations and kindreds up till now; and there are better times
coming, when the religion of Christ shall be universal; when he shall reign
from pole to pole with illimitable sway;when kingdoms shall bow before him,
and nations be born in a day; and in the thousand years of the greatmillennial
state there will be enough savedto make up all the deficiencies ofthe
thousands of years that have gone before. Christ shall have the pre-eminence
at last; his train shall be far largerthan that which shall attend the chariots of
the grim monarch of hell. Christ shall be master everywhere, and his praise
sounded in every land. One hundred and forty-four thousand were observed,
the types and representatives ofa far larger number who are ultimately to be
saved.

But notice, whilst the number is very large, how very certain it is. By turning
over the leaves of your Bible to a previous chapter of this book, you will see
that at the 4th verse it is written, that one hundred and forty-four thousand
were sealed;and now we find there are one hundred and forty-four thousand
saved; not 143,999,and 144,001,but exactlythe number that are sealed. Now,
my friends may not like what I am going to say;but if they do not like it, their
quarrel is with God's Bible, not with me. There will be just as many in heaven
as are sealedby God -- just as many as Christ did purchase with his blood; all
of them, and no more and no less. There will be just as many there as were
quickened to life by the Holy Spirit, and were, "born again, not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." "Ah," some say,
"there is that abominable doctrine of election." Exactlyso, if it be
abominable; but you will never be able to cut it out of the Bible. You may hate
it, and gnashand grind your teeth againstit; but, remember, we can trace the
pedigree of this doctrine, even apart from Scripture, to the time of the
apostles. Church of England ministers and members, you have no right to
differ from me on the doctrine of election, if you are what you profess by your
own Articles. You who love the old Puritans, you have no right to quarrel with
me; for where will you find a Puritan who was not a strong Calvinist? You
who love the fathers, you cannot differ from me. What sayyou of Augustine?
Was he not, in his day, calleda greatand mighty teacherof grace? And I even
turn to Roman Catholics, and, with all the errors of their system, I remind
them that even in their body have been found those who have held that
doctrine, and, though long persecutedfor it, have never been expelled the
church. I refer to the Jansenists. But, above all, I challenge every man who
reads his Bible to say that that doctrine is not there. What saith the 9th of
Romans? "The children being not yet born, neither having done any goodor
evil, that the purpose of God according to electionmight stand, not of works,
but of him that calleth:It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the
younger." And then it goes onto sayto the carping objector -- "Nay, but, O
man, who art thou that repliest againstGod? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power
over the clay, of the same lump to make one vesselunto honour, and another
unto dishonor?" But enoughon this subject.

One hundred and forty-four thousand, we say, is a certain number made to
representthe certainty of the salvationof all God's elect, believing people.
Now, some saythat this doctrine has a tendency to discourage men from
coming to Christ. Well, you sayso; but I have never seenit, and blessedbe
God I have never proved it so. I have preachedthis doctrine ever since I
beganto preach;but I can saythis, -- ye shall not (and I am now become a
fool in glorying) ye shall not find among those who have not preached the
doctrine, one who has been the instrument of turning more harlots, more
drunkards, and more sinners of every class, fromthe error of their ways, than
I have, by the simple preaching of the doctrine of free grace;and, while this
has been so, I hold that no argument can be brought to prove that it has a
tendency to discourage sinners, or bolster them up in sin. We hold, as the
Bible says, that all the elect, and those only, shall be saved; all who go to
Christ are elect. So that if any of you have in your heart a desire after heaven
and after Christ; if you carry out that desire in sincere and earnestprayer,
and are born again, you may as certainly conclude your electionas you can
conclude that you are alive. You must have been chosenof God before the
foundation of the world, or you would never have done any of these things,
seeing they are the fruits of election.
But why should it keepany one from going to Christ? "Because,"says one, "if
I go to Christ I may not be elect." No, sir, if you go, you prove that you are
elect. "But," says another, "I am afraid to go, in case I should not be elect."
Say as an old woman once said, "If there were only three persons elected, I
would try to be one of them; and since he said, He that believeth shall be
saved,'I would challenge Godon his promise, and try if he would break it."
No, come to Christ; and if you do so, beyond a doubt you are God's electfrom
the foundation of the world; and therefore this grace has beengiven to you.
But why should it discourage you? Suppose there are a number of sick folk
here, and a large hospital has been built. There is put up over the door, "All
persons who come shall be taken in:" at the same time it is known that there is
a person inside the hospital, who is so wise that he knows all who will come,

and has written down the names of all who will come in a book, so that, when
they come, those who open the doors will only say, "How marvellously wise
our Masterwas, to know the names of those who would come." Is there
anything despiriting in that? You would go, and you would have all the more
confidence in that man's wisdom, because he was able to know before that
they were going. "Ah, but," you say, "it was ordained that some should
come." Well, to give you another illustration; suppose there is a rule that
there always must be a thousand persons, ora very large number in the
hospital. You say, "When I go perhaps they will take me in, and perhaps they
will not." "But," says someone, "there is a rule that there must be a thousand
in: somehow or other they must make up that number of beds, and have that
number of patients in the hospital." You say, Then why should not I be among
the thousand; and have not I the encouragementthat whosoevergoesshallnot
be castout? And have I not againthe encouragement, that if they will not go,
they must be fetched in somehow or other; for the number must be made up;
so it is determined and so it is decreed." Youwould therefore have a double
encouragement, insteadof half a one;and you would go with confidence, and
say, "They must take me in, because they say they will take all in that come;
and on the other hand, they must take me in, because they must have a certain
number: that number is not made up, and why should not I be one?" Oh,
never doubt about election;believe in Christ, and then rejoice in election;do
not fret about it till you have believed in Christ.
"I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with him an hundred
forty and four thousand." And who were these people, "having his Father's
name written in their foreheads?" NotBs for "Baptists," notWs for
"Wesleyans,"not Es for "EstablishedChurch:" they had their Father's name
and nobody else's. Whata deal of fuss is made on earth about our distinctions!
We think such a deal about belonging to this denomination, and the other.
Why, if you were to go to heaven's gates, andask if they had any Baptists
there, the angel would only look at you, and not answeryou; if you were to
ask if they had any Wesleyans, ormembers of the EstablishedChurch, he
would say, "Nothing of the sort;" but if you were to ask him whether they had
any Christians there, "Ay," he would say, "an abundance of them: they are

all one now -- all called by one name; the old brand has been obliterated, and
now they have not the name of this man or the other; they have the name of
God, even their Father, stamped on their brow." Learn then dear friends,
whateverthe connectionto which you belong, to be charitable to your
brethren, and kind to them, seeing that, after all, the name you now hold here
will be forgottenin heaven, and only your Father's name will be there known.
One more remark here, and we will turn from the worshippers to listen to
their song. It is said of all these worshippers that they learnedthe song before
they went there. At the end of the third verse it is said, "No man could learn
that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed
from the earth." Brethren, we must begin heaven's song here below, or else
we shall never sing it above. The choristers ofheaven have all had rehearsals
upon earth, before they sing in that orchestra. You think that, die when you
may, you will go to heaven, without being prepared. Nay, sir; heaven is a
prepared place for a prepared people, and unless you are "made meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light," you can never stand there
among them. If you were in heavenwithout a new heart and a right spirit, you
would be glad enough to getout of it; for heaven, unless a man is heavenly
himself, would be worse than hell. A man who is unrenewed and unregenerate
going to heaven would be miserable there. There would be a song -- he could
not join in it; there would be a constanthallelujah, but he would not know a
note: and besides, he would be in the presence of the Almighty, even in the
presence ofthe God he hates, and how could he be happy there? No, sirs; ye
must learn the song of paradise here, or else ye can never sing it. Ye must
learn to sing --
"Jesus, Ilove thy charming name,
'Tis music to my ears."

You must learn to feel that "sweetersounds than music knows mingle in your
Saviour's name," or else you can never chaunt the hallelujahs of the blest
before the throne of the great "I AM." Take that thought, whatever else you
forget; treasure it up in your memory, and ask grace ofGod that you may
here be taught to sing the heavenly song, that afterwards in the land of the
hereafter, in the home of the beautified, you may continually chaunt the high
praises of him that loved you.
III. And now we come to the third and most interesting point, namely, THE
LISTENING TO THEIR SONG. "I heard a voice form heaven, as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of
harpers harping with their harps;" singing -- how loud and yet how sweet!
First, then, singing how loud! It is said to be "like the voice of many waters."
Have you never heard the sea roar, and the fulness thereof? Have you never
walkedby the sea-side, whenthe waves were singing, and when every little
pebble-stone did turn chorister, to make up music to the Lord God of hosts?
And have you never in time of storm beheld the sea, with its hundred hands,
clapping them in gladsome adorationof the MostHigh? Have you never
heard the sea roarout his praise, when the winds were holding carnival --
perhaps singing the dirge of mariners, wreckedfarout on the stormy deep,
but far more likely exalting Godwith their hoarse voice, and praising him
who makes a thousand fleets sweepoverthem in safety, and writes his
furrows on their own youthful brow? Have you never heard the rumbling and
booming of oceanon the shore, when it has been lashedinto fury and has been
driven upon the cliffs? If you have, you have a faint idea of the melody of
heaven. It was "as the voice of many waters." Butdo not suppose that it is the
whole of the idea. It is not the voice of one ocean, but the voice of many, that is
needed to give you an idea of the melodies of heaven. You are to suppose
oceanpiled upon ocean, seaupon sea, -- the Pacific piled upon the Atlantic,
the Arctic upon that, the Antarctic higher still, and so oceanupon ocean, all
lashed to fury, and all sounding with a mighty voice the praise of God. Such is

the singing of heaven. Or if the illustration, fails to strike, take another. We
have mentioned here two or three times the mighty falls of Niagara. Theycan
be heard at a tremendous distance, so awful is their sound. Now, suppose
waterfalls dashing upon waterfalls, cataractsupon cataracts,Niagaras upon
Niagaras,eachofthem sounding forth their mighty voices, and you have got
some idea of the singing of paradise. "I heard a voice like the voice of many
waters." Canyou not hear it? Ah! if our ears were openedwe might almost
castthe song. I have thought sometimes that the voice of the Aeolian harp,
when it has swollenout grandly, was almostlike an echo of the songs of those
who sing before the throne; and on the summer eve, when the wind has come
in gentle zephyrs through the forest, you might almost think it was the
floating of some stray notes that had lost their way among the harps of
heaven, and come down to us, to give us some faint foretaste of that song
which hymns out in mighty peals before the throne of the MostHigh. But why
so loud? The answeris, because there are so many there to sing. Nothing is
more grand than the singing of multitudes. Many have been the persons who
have told me that they could but weepwhen they heard you sing in this
assembly, so mighty seemedthe sound when all the people sang --
"Praise Godfrom whom all blessings flow."
And, indeed, there is something very grand in the singing of multitudes. I
remember hearing 12,000sing on one occasionin the open air. Some of our
friends were then present, when we concludedour service with that glorious
hallelujah. Have you ever forgottenit? It was indeed a mighty sound; it
seemedto make heaven itself ring again. Think, then, what must be the voice
of those who stand on the boundless plains of heaven, and with all their might
shout, "Glory and honour and powerand dominion unto him that sitteth on
the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever."

On reason, however, whythe song is so loud is a very simple one, namely,
because allthose who are there think themselves bound to sing the loudest of
all. You know our favourite hymn --
"Then loudestof the crowd I'll sing,
While heav'n's resounding mansions ring
With shouts of sov'reigngrace."
And every saint will join that sonnet, and eachone lift up his heart to God,
then how mighty must be the strain of praise that will rise up to the throne of
the glorious Godour Father!
But note next, while it was a loud voice, how sweetit was. Noise is not music.
There may be "a voice like many waters." and yet no music. It was sweetas
well as loud; for John says, "I heard the voice of harpers harping with their
harps." Perhaps the sweetestofall instruments is the harp. There are others
which give forth sounds more grand and noble, but the harp is the sweetestof
all instruments. I have sometimes satto heara skilful harper, till I could say,
"I could sit and hear myself away," whilst with skilful fingers he touched the
chords gently, and brought forth strains of melody which flowedlike liquid
silver, or like sounding honey into one's soul. Sweet, sweetbeyond sweetness;
words can scarcelytell how sweetthe melody. Such is the music of heaven. No
jarring notes there, no discord, but all one glorious harmonious song. You will
not be there, formalist, to spoil the tune; nor you, hypocrite, to mar the
melody; there will be all those there whose hearts are right with God, and
therefore the strain will be one greatharmonious whole, without a discord.
Truly do we sing --

"No groans to mingle with the songs
That warble from immortal tongues."
And there will be no discordof any other sort to spoil the melody of those
before the throne. Oh! my beloved brethren, that we might be there! Lift us
up, ye cherubs! Stretchyour wings, and bear us up where the sonnets fill the
air. But if ye must not, let us wait our time.
"A few more rolling suns at most,
Will land us on fair Canaan's coast;"
and then we shall help to make the song, which now we canscarcelyconceive,
but which yet we desire to join.
IV. We now close with a remark upon the last point: WHY IS THE SONG
SAID TO BE A NEW SONG? But one remark here. It will be a new song,
because the saints were never in such a position before as they will be when
they sing this new song. They are in heaven now; but the scene ofour text is
something more than heaven. It refers to the time when all the chosenrace
shall meet around the throne, when the last battle shall have been fought, and
the lastwarrior shall have gained his crown. It is not now that they are thus
singing, but it is in the glorious time to come, when all the hundred and forty
and four thousand -- or rather, the number typified by that number -- will be
all safely housedand all secure. I canconceive the period. Time was -- eternity
now reigns. The voice of God exclaims, "Are my beloved all safe?" The angel

flies through paradise and returns with this message,"Yea, they are." "Is
Fearful safe? Is Feeble-mind safe? Is Ready-to-Haltsafe? Is Despondency
safe?" "Yes, O king, they are," says he. "Shut-to the gates," says the
Almighty, "they have been open night and day; shut them to now." Then,
when all of them shall be there, then will be the time when the shout shall be
louder than many waters, and the song shall begin which will never end.
There is a story told in the history of brave Oliver Cromwell, which I use here
to illustrate this new song. Cromwelland his Ironsides before they went to
battle bowed the knee in prayer, and askedfor God's help. Then, with their
Bibles in their breasts, and their swords in their hands -- a strange and
unjustifiable mixture, but which their ignorance must excuse -- they cried,
"The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacobis our refuge;" and rushing to
battle they sang --
"O Lord our God, arise and let
Thine enemies scatteredbe,
And let all those that do thee hate
Before thy presence flee.
They had to fight up hill for a long time, but at last the enemy fled. The
Ironsides were about to pursue them and win the booty, when the stern harsh
voice of Cromwell was heard -- "Halt! halt! now the victory is won, before you
rush to the spoil return thanks to God;" and they sang some such song as this
-- "Sing unto the Lord, for he has gotten us the victory! Sing unto the Lord."
It was said to have been one of the most majestic sights in that strange, yet
goodman's history. (I say that word without blushing, for goodhe was.)For a

time the hills seemedto leap, whilst the vast multitude, turning from the slain,
still stainedwith blood, lifted up their hearts to God. We say, again, it was a
strange sight, yet a glad one. But how greatshall be that sight, when Christ
shall be seenas a conqueror, and when all his warriors, fighting side by side
with him, shall see the dragonbeaten in pieces beneaththeir feet. Lo, their
enemies are fled; they were driven like thin clouds before a Biscaygale. They
are all gone, death is vanquished, Satanis castinto the lake of fire, and here
stands the King himself, crownedwith many crowns, the victor of the victors.
And in the moment of exaltationthe Redeemerwill say, "Come let us sing
unto the Lord;" and then, louder than the shout of many waters, they shall
sing, "Hallelujah! the Lord GodOmnipotent reigneth." Ah! that will be the
full carrying out of the greatscene!My feeble words cannot depict it. I send
you awaywith this simple question, "Shallyou be there to see the conqueror
crowned?" Have you "a goodhope through grace" that you shall? If so, be
glad; if not, go to your houses, fall on your knees, and pray to God to save you
from that terrible place which must certainly be your portion, instead of that
greatheaven of which I preach, unless you turn to God with full purpose of
heart.
The PerfectChurch
Revelation14:1-5
S. Conway
How well it is for us, in forming our estimates and in regulating our conduct,
to have set before us a true ideal and a faultless standard! To compare
ourselves with ourselves, that is, with men like ourselves, is, so St. Paul tells
us, not wise. And all experience proves the truth of his word. The low levels of
ordinary religious life in the present day all result from our practically, not
professedly, putting before ourselves standards which are faulty and inferior,
instead of those which would be constantly summoning us to higher and holier

attainment. Now, the Word of God is ever furnishing us with such perfect
standards. Our Lord againand again bids us turn our gaze heavenward, that
we may see there how we ought to judge and what we ought to be. How
frequently he speaks ofour Fatherin heaven, that we may beheld in God the
true ideal of all fatherhood! And that we may the better understand and act
towards our children, he tells us that "in heaven their angels do always
behold," etc. And when his opponents murmured, as was their wont, at his
receiving sinners and eating with them, he rebuked them by the reminder that
in heaven there is not murmuring, but joy, even over "one sinner that
repenteth." And here in these verses we who belong to the Church on earth
have given to us a vision of the perfect Church - the Church in heaven. And
the contemplationof it cannotbut be well for us, that we may judge thereby
our beliefs, our worship, our selves, and seek more and more to conform them
to the heavenly pattern. Observe, then -
I. THAT WE CANNOT LIMIT THE CHURCH TO ANY ONE VISIBLE
CORPORATEBODY. The claims of any such Church body here on earth to
be exclusively the Church, and the denial of membership therein to all outside
that body, are shown to be false by the fact that the notes and characteristics
of the true Church are found in many Churches, but exclusively in none.
There are, thank God, few Churches, if any, that have not some of them. Out
of all of them the Church is gathered, but to no one of them is it confined. The
members of the Church are describedhere as having the name of the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ "written upon their foreheads." Now, this is a figure
of speechto tell of the characterof those who form the Church; that that
characteris:
1. God like. It is the Father's name which is written; hence they who bear it
are holy and without blemish, perfecteven as the Father in heaven is perfect.
2. Visible. It is written on their foreheads. The light shines before men; it
cannot be hid. That godliness is much to be questionedwhich no one can see,
or which is hidden awayand kept for only certain seasons,places,and

surroundings. That which is here said teaches the reverse of such a doubtful
thing.
3. And it is permanent. It is "written." "Litera scripta manet." It abides, not
being a thing assumed for a time, and like the goodnesstold of by Hosea,
which as the "morning cloud" and "early dew goeth away." It is the habit of
the life, the continual characteristic ofthe man. Such, in generalterms, is the
distinguishing mark of membership in Christ's true Church. And againwe
gratefully own that in all Churches it is to be found. Would that it were on all
as in all!
II. THE CENTRE OF THE WORSHIP OF THE PERFECTCHURCHIS
"THE LAMB." St. John says, "I beheld the Lamb;" not "a Lamb," as the
Authorized Version reads. He does not stop to explain. He has so often spoken
of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb, that there canbe no room for doubt as
to his meaning. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, not so much in his more majestic
attributes - his might, majesty, and dominion - that we are bidden behold, but
in his sacrificialcharacteras "the Lamb of God who taketh awaythe sin of
the world." As such he is the Centre of the Church's adoration. He is seenon
Mount Zion, that site of Israel's temple being takencontinually in Scripture as
the symbol of the home of God's redeemedand the scene oftheir eternal
worship. He is surrounded by the Church of the Firstborn - "the firstfruits"
unto God, whom he has redeemedby his blood. The number named here,
twelve and the multiples of twelve, is ever associatedwith the Church. And the
twelve times twelve tells of the Church's completion, the "accomplishmentof
the number of the elect." Now, in the midst of that perfect assembly, that
Church of which these are the representatives, stands "the Lamb" as the
Object of the adoration, the love, and the worship of all. That Church on
earth must, then, lack this distinct note of the heavenly Church if in it Christ
the Sonof God, as the Redeemer, the Saviour, the Sacrifice for the world's
sins, be not lifted up as the Objectof all trust, love, and obedience, and if he be
not so regardedby the members of such Church. Let us ask - What is he to

ourselves? How do we look upon him who is thus lookedupon by the Church
in heaven? In the midst of our Zions, do we see, as the chief, the central, the
pre-eminent figure, the Lamb of God? And in the inner temple of our own
hearts, is he there enshrined and enthroned as he hath right and ought to be?
What is our hope and what our trust? How can we ever hope to be numbered
with "the Church of the Firstborn," if the name of him, to which every heart
there responds, awakesno echo, no answering thrill, in us? Our lips utter that
name often enough, and in all manner of ways; but what do our hearts say?
That is the question to which this vision of the Lamb on Mount Zion,
surrounded by the adoring Church, should give rise in every one of us. And
may God grant that it may meet with a satisfactoryanswer!
III. THE WORSHIP OF THE PERFECTCHURCHIS A JOYFUL
WORSHIP. We are told that "they sung a new song." Joyfinds utterance in
song;it is its natural expression;and when, therefore, we read of the songs of
heaven, it is proof of the joys of that blessedplace. The worship of heaven
takes this form. Here, prayer and preaching form, and properly form, part of
our worship; but there, praise alone is heard. Here, we wail our litanies and
pour forth our supplications; but there worship is all song - the voice of glad
thanksgiving and joyful praise. How much is told us of the blessedfuture in
that one fact!And of this song we are told many precious things.
1. How full voiced it is! St. John likens it to that "ofmany waters" - that loud,
resonantsound as when the floods lift up their voice, or the sea roars, or
where some vastvolume of water pours itself from over a greatheight to some
far down depth. What a sound comes up from that boiling caldron of tossing
waves!The magnitude of the sound of that song is what St. John seeksto set
forth by his similitude of "many waters."
2. And its majesty also is indicated by its comparisonto "a greatthunder " -
the voice of the Lord as they of old regardedit. It is no mean, trivial theme

that has inspired that song, but one that wakes up every heart, and opens the
lips of all the redeemed, to show forth the praise of him who hath redeemed
them. It is a noble song, grand, glorious. How could it be otherwise, telling as
it does of deeds of such Divine heroism, of conquests of such moment, and of
sacrifice so vast?
3. And how sweeta song is it also!For St. John supplies yet another
similitude: its sound was like that "ofharpers harping with their harps." So
sweet, so soulsubduing, so full of heavenly delight, that it brought smiles to
the saddestcountenance, andwiped awayall tears. And is not the song of
redemption just such a song as that? Even we know of songs of Zion so
unspeakablybeautiful, and set to music such as, it seems to us, even angelic
choirs might rejoice in. But if earthly song canbe so sweet, though coming
from lips and hearts so little pure, what must that song have been which is
told of here, and which St. John can only compare, for its unutterable beauty,
to the strains of the most perfect instruments that the ancient world knew of -
the harp, Judah's national symbol, and bestbeloved accompanimentof
praise? But not alone the mingled magnitude, majesty, and sweetnessofthe
sound of this song is setforth here, but also its substance.
4. It was "a new song." There had never been anything like it before. They
who sang it had never joined in, or even heard of, such song till they sang it in
the presence of. the Lamb on Mount Zion. It could not but be new, for it was
inspired by new and glorious revelations of God; sung amid conditions and
surroundings that were all new, and by hearts and lips made new by the
renewing grace of the Holy Spirit of God. Much there had been in days past
for which they had been constrainedto praise and give thanks, but till now the
half had not been told them, and hence none of their old songs would serve.
They must sing a new song;it could not but be new.

5. And it was knownby none but those who sang it. "No man could learn that
song but," etc. How can he who has never even been to sea know the joy of
him who has been saved from shipwreck? Who but the child knows the
mother's love? The song told of here is but the result of the experiences
through which they who sing it have been led. How, then, canthey sing it who
have known none of these things? But those representedby the hundred and
forty-four thousand know the depths of sin and sorrow from which, and the
heights of holiness and joy to which, and the love by which, and the purpose
for which, they have have been uplifted. They know the conviction of sin, and
the joy of pardon, and the Holy Spirit's grace, and the love of Christ. But
what does the unbeliever know of these things? and how, therefore, can he
learn this song? The question comes - If such be the worship of the heavenly
Church, are our Churches on earth preparing their members to join therein?
Churches here should be vestibules for the heavenly Church. Is the Church
with which we are associatedso to you and me? No one can learn that song
unless they be redeemed. Have we the qualification? Have we come to Christ?
Are we trusting in him? "We must begin heaven's song here below, or else we
shall never sing it above. The choristers of heavenhave all rehearsedtheir
song here ere they took their places in the choir of heaven." But only Christ
can touch the soul's sin darkened eye, and cause it to see that truth which will
make redemption precious, and hence he who is our Saviour must be also our
Teacher. So only can we learn the new song of his redeemed.
IV. ITS MEMBERSARE WITHOUT FAULT. After that the blessed
condition of the redeemed has been set forth, we are next shown their
character. The generaland symbolic expressionwhich tells how they all have
the "Father's name written on their foreheads" is expanded and explained by
the more definite declarations whichwe must now notice. It is said "they are
without fault," or "blameless,"as the RevisedVersion reads;and the apostle
specifies four of the chief temptations to which they had been exposed, and
which they had resistedand overcome.

1. And the first he names is that of impurity. In the unusual expressionin
which this sin is referred to, there is no countenance of any teachings which
would give higher place to the single over the married life. If the unmarried
alone are amongstthe redeemed, it is questionable if one of the apostles ofour
Lord would be found there. But that which is pointed at is those sins of which
it is best not to speak, but which we know full well have their roots in the very
centre of our nature, and which it is a lifelong struggle to repress and subdue.
But this must be done, and - blessedbe he who saves notonly from the guilt,
but the might of sin! - it may be done, and is being done, even as it was with
"these" ofwhom our text tells.
2. Half heartedness. Greatwas,and greatis, the temptation to follow Christ
only along paths not difficult. But to follow him "whithersoever" he went - ah!
how many would be and are sore tempted to shrink from that! They would
follow their Lord for some way - even at times a long way; but to follow where
difficulty, danger, disgrace, death, waited for them - from that how many
would shrink! But "these" did not.
3. Conformity to the world. "These"hadthe holy courage to be singular, to
come out "from among men," to go againstthe stream, to be other than the
rest of men. low difficult this is those only know who have tried to do as
"these" did. The assimilating power of the societyin which we mingle is
almost resistless, andoften it is full of spiritual peril. It was so to those for
whom St. John wrote, and not seldom it is so still. Hence we have to go unto
Christ "without the camp, bearing his reproach." "These"did this, and so
won the high honour and rich reward told of here.
4. Insincerity. When to confess Christmeant, perhaps, the loss of all things,
yea, their very lives; when martyrdom was the guerdon of faithful
acknowledgmentof their Lord, how tremendous must have been the
temptation to tamper with truth, to conceal, to compromise, to evade, to

equivocate!But of "these" it is said, "in their mouth was found no guile." He
who is the Godof truth, yea, who is the Truth, everlays greatstress on this
virtue of guilelessness, whilstdeceitand lies are declaredabominable in his
sight.
CONCLUSION. Suchwas the characterof that perfectChurch - "the
firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." Doubtless there were all other forms of
Christ likeness -love, patience, meekness, andthe rest - for the varied forms
of Christ's grace as seenin characterare generallyfound in clusters. Where
you find some you generally find others, yea, in some measure, all of them.
But as we read of only what is said here, our heart well nigh despairs, and
would altogetherwere it not that the same source of all goodness is open to us
as to them of whom we here read.
"Oh, how can feeble flesh and blood
Burst through the bonds of sin?
The holy kingdom of our God,
What man can enter in?" And the sadreply would be, "None," were itnot
that he who summons us to such high attainment ministers all neededgrace.
Therefore we may and we must be "holy as he is holy." - S. C.

Biblical Illustrator
A Lamb... and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand.
Revelation14:1-13
The 144,000
J. A. Seiss, D. D.
I. WHO ARE THESE 144,000?Theyare the identical 144,000sealedones
spokenof in chapter 7., with only this difference, that there we see them in
their earthly relations and peculiar consecration;and here we see them with
their earthly careerfinished, and in the enjoyment of the heavenly award for
their faithfulness.
II. WHAT ARE THE CHIEF MARKS OR CHARACTERISTICSOF
THESE 144,000?
1. The first and foremostis that of a true and conspicuous confession. They
have the name of the Lamb and the name of His Father written on their
foreheads. This is their public mark as againstthe mark of the worshippers of
the Beast. There is nothing more honourable in God's sight than truth and
faithfulness of confession.
2. Another particular is their unworldliness. Whilst most people in their day
"dwell upon the earth," sit down upon it as their restand choice, derive their
chief comfort from it, these are "redeemedfrom the earth" — withdrawn
from it, bought awayby the heavenly promises and the Divine grace to live

above it, independent of it. They are quite severedfrom the world in heart
and life.
3. A third point is their pureness. "They are virgins," in that they have lived
chaste lives, both as to their faithfulness to God in their religion, and as to
their pureness from all bodily lewdness.
4. A further quality is their truthfulness. "In their mouth was not found what
is false." These people were truthful in speech, had also a higher truthfulness.
They have the true faith; they hold to it with a true heart; they exemplify it by
a true manner of life. They are the children of truth in the midst of a world of
untruth.
III. WHAT, THEN, IS THEIR REWARD?
1. Taking the last particular first, they stand approved, justified, and accepted
before God. "They are blameless." To standbefore God approved and
blameless from the midst of a condemned world — a world given over to the
powers of perdition by reasonofits unbelief and sins, is an achievementof
grace and faithfulness in which there may well be mighty exultation.
2. In the next place, they have a song which is peculiarly and exclusively their
own. Though not connectedwith the throne, as the Living Ones, nor crowned
and seatedas the Elders, they have a ground and subject of joy and praise
which neither the Living Ones nor the Elders have; nor is any one able to
enter into that song exceptthe 144,000.None others everfulfil just such a
mission, as none others are ever sealedwith the sealof the living Godin the
same way in which they were sealed. Theyhave a distinction and glory, a joy
and blessedness, afterall, in which none but themselves canever share.

3. They stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. To be "with the Lamb," as over
againstbeing with the Beast, is a perfectionof blessing which no language can
describe. It is redemption. It is victory. It is eternalsecurity and glory. To be
with the Lamb "on Mount Zion" is a more specialposition and relation.
Glorious things are spokenof Jerusalemwhich have never yet been fulfilled.
On His holy hill of Zion God hath said that He will setup His King, even His
Son, who shall rule all the nations (Psalm 2.). The Lamb is yet to take
possessionofthe city where He was crucified, there to fulfil what was written
in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin over His head when He died. And when that
once comes to pass, these 144,000are with Him, His near and particular
associatesin that particular relation and administration.
4. They are "a firstfruit to God and to the Lamb," not the firstfruit of all the
saved, for the Living Ones and the Elders are in heavenly place and glory
above and before them; but a firstfruit of another and particular harvest; the
firstfruit from the Jewishfield, in that new beginning with the Israelitish
people for their fathers' sakes,whichis to follow the ending of the present
"times of the Gentiles." They are brought to the confessionofChrist, and
sealedin their foreheads with the name of both the Fatherand the Son, during
the time that the rest of their blood-kin are covenanting with and honouring
the Antichrist as Messiah.
IV. WHAT, NOW, OF THE ANGEL-MESSAGES?
1. The first message.Thatan angel is the preacher here is proof positive that
the presentdispensation is then past and changed. It is no longerthe meek
and entreating voice, beseeching men to be reconciledto God, but a great
thunder from the sky, demanding of the nations to fear the God, as over
againstthe false god whom they were adoring — to give glory to Him, instead
of the infamous Beastwhom they were glorifying — to worship the Makerof

all things, as againstthe worship of him who can do no more than play his
hellish tricks with the things that are made; and all this on the instant, for the
reasonthat "the hour of judgment is come."
2. The secondmessage. With the hour of judgment comes the work of
judgment. A colossalsystemof harlotry and corruption holds dominion over
the nations. God has allowedit for the punishment of those who would not
have Christ for their Lord, but now He will not allow it longer. Therefore
another angelcomes with the proclamation: "Fallen, fallen, the great
Babylon," etc. The announcement is by anticipation as on the very eve of
accomplishment, and as surely now to be fulfilled. The particulars are given in
chapter 17. and 18. There also the explanation of the object of this
announcement is given. It is mercy still struggling in the toils of judgment, if
that by any means some may yet be snatched from the opening jaws of hell;
for there the further word is, "Come out of her, My people," etc.
3. The third message. And for the still more potent enforcementof this call a
third angelappears, preaching and crying with a greatvoice, that whosoever
is found worshipping the Beastand his image, or has the Beast's mark on his
foreheador on his hand, even he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God
which is mingled without dilution in the cup of His anger, and shall be
tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the angels and in the
presence ofthe Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascends to the ages of
ages, andthey have no restday and night! It is an awful commination; but
these are times of awful guilt, infatuation, and wickedness.And when men are
in such dangers, marching direct into the mouth of such a terrible perdition, it
is a greatmercy in God to make proclamation of it with all the force of an
angel's eloquence. The same is also for the wrongedand suffering ones who
feel the power of these terrible oppressors. Ittells them how their awful griefs
shall be avengedon their hellish persecutors.

4. The fourth message. There is no suffering for any class ofGod's people in
any age like the sufferings of those who remain faithful to God during the
reign of the Antichrist. Here, at this particular time and juncture, is the
patience or endurance of them that keepthe commandments of God and the
faith of Jesus. To come out of Babylon, and to stand alooffrom its horrible
harlotries, is a costly thing. Therefore there is another proclamation from
heaven for their specialstrengthening and consolation. Whetherthis word is
also from an angelwe are not told; but it is a messagefrom glory and from
God. And it is a sweetand blessedmessage.It is a message whichJohn is
speciallycommanded to write, that it may be in the minds and hearts of God's
people of every age, and take awayall fearfrom those who in this evil time are
calledto lay down their lives because they will not worship Antichrist.
"Blessedare the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth." And when
violence, cruelty, and slaughterare the consequence ofa life of truth and
purity, the soonerit is over the greaterthe beatitude.
(J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
The communion of saints
ArchdeaconManning.
I. The communion of saints is THE RESTORATIONOF FELLOWSHIP
BETWEENGOD AND MAN. There are in the will and work of God three
perfect and eternal unities: the unity of three Persons in one nature; the unity
of two natures in one Person;and the unity of the Incarnate Son with His
elect-the Head with the members of His Body mystical. This is the foundation
of the communion of God and man. "A Lamb stood," etc.
II. The communion of saints is THE RESTORATION OF THE
FELLOWSHIP OF MEN WITH EACH OTHER. Our regenerationunites us
to the Divine Personin whom God and man are one; and by union with Him
we are reunited to all whom He has likewise united to Himself. As the vine has
one nature in rootand stem, branch and spray, fibre and fruit, so the mystical

and true Vine in earth and heaven has one substance and one life, which is the
basis of all fellowshipin love and will, in sympathy and action, in mutual
intercessions ofprayer, and in mutual ministries of power. Lessons:
1. Let us learn, first, that we can never be lonely or forsakenin this life. No
trial can isolate us, no sorrow can cut us off from the communion of saints.
There is but one thing in which the sympathy of Christ has no share, and that
is, the guilt of wilful sin.
2. And let us learn further, by the reality of this heavenly fellowship, to live
less in this divided world.
3. Lastly, let us learn from this communion of saints to live in hope. They who
are now at restwere once like ourselves — fallen, weak, faulty, sinful, etc. But
now they have overcome. Only one thing there is in which we are unlike them:
they were common in all things except the uncommon measure of their
inward sanctity. In all besides we are as they; only it is now our turn to strive
for the crown of life.
(ArchdeaconManning.)
Having His Father's name written in their foreheads
The sublimest human distinction
Homilist.
I. It is the most BEAUTIFUL. The face is the beauty of man; there the soul
reveals itself, sometimes in sunshine, and sometimes in clouds. The beauty of
the face is not in features, but in expression, and the more it expresses of
purity, intelligence, generosity, tenderness, the more beautiful. How beautiful,

then, to have God's name radiating in it! God's name is the beauty of the
universe.
II. It is most CONSPICUOUS. "Intheir foreheads." It is seenwhereveryou
go, fronting every object you look at. Godliness cannotconcealitself. Divine
goodness is evermore self-revealing.
III. It is most HONOURABLE. A man sometimes feels proud when he is told
he is like some greatstatesman, ruler, thinker, reformer. How transcendently
honourable is it to wearin our face the very image of God! Let us all seek this
distinction. With the Father's name on our foreheads we shall throw the
pageantry of the Shahs, the Czars, and all the kings of the earth into
contempt.
(Homilist.)
The name on the forehead
Preacher's Portfolio.
I.A CLAIM OF APPROPRIATION.
II.A SIGN OF OFFICE.
III.A MARK OF DIGNITY.
IV.A PLEDGE OF SECURITY.
V.A MEMENTO OF OBLIGATION.

1. To remember that ye are not your own.
2. To profess openly.
3. Faithfully to discharge functions.
4. To the exercise ofunvarying trust.
5. To be holy.
(Preacher's Portfolio.)
Harpers harping with their harps
Musicalart in its relation to Divine worship
J. W. Shackelford, D. D.
We claim for music the first place among the fine arts.
1. Becauseit is the most ideal, for the ideal is the highest.
2. Becauseit most thoroughly expressesthe various emotions of the human
mind, and therefore has the widest reachover human life.
3. Because, like love, it is eternal.

I. WHAT KIND OF MUSIC IS BEST? Universalagreementon the subjectis
not to be expected, because the subject is so mixed up with questions of
expediency, of taste, of knowledge.People have a right to expectthat the
canticles and hymns shall be sung to music in which they can join, but devout
people who can sing must be taught that, while spiritually alert, they must be
vocally silent in many parts of Divine worship.
II. HOW CAN WE BEST SECURE THE BEST MUSIC FOR DIVINE
WORSHIP? As to the voices, assuming that those of the men are sweetin
quality, the successofa male choir may be said to depend on three things
mainly: First, that the voices of the boys shall be properly trained, so that they
produce a clearand flute-like tone. Secondly, that no music should be
attempted which is beyond the ability of the choir to execute. Thirdly, that
nothing be put on the programme until it is thoroughly rehearsedand well
known. Then let everything be done "decentlyand in order." Then will our
Church music be a realhelp to devotion. Hearts will be uplifted, voices
upraised. Then will our sacredsongs be as the echo of the angelic songs above,
and God will be glorified.
(J. W. Shackelford, D. D.)
Music in heaven
G. Kingsley.
There is music in heaven, because in music there is no self-will. Music goes on
certain laws and rules. Man did not make these laws of music; he has only
found them out; and if he be self-willedand break them, there is an end of his
music instantly; all he brings out is discord and ugly sounds. The greatest
musician in the world is as much bound by those laws as the learner in the
school, and the greatestmusician is the one who, insteadof fancying that,

because he is clever, he may throw aside the laws of music, knows the laws of
music best, and observes them most reverently. And therefore it was that the
old Greeks,the wisestofall the heathens, made a point of teaching their
children music; because theysaid it taught them not to be self-willed and
fanciful, but to see the beauty of order, the usefulness of rule, the divineness of
laws. And therefore music is fit for heaven; therefore music is a pattern and
type of heaven, and of the everlasting life of God, which perfectspirits live in
heaven; a life of melody and order in themselves;a life of harmony with each
other and with God.
(G. Kingsley.)
They sung as it were a new song
The new song in the soul
Fred. Brooks.
(with Ephesians 5:19): — The text from St. Paul is the necessaryintroduction
to the one from St. John. They both suggestfor us the necessaryconnectionof
inner and outer harmony of being. What makes martial music noisy, blatant,
offensive? It is when a spirit of mere savagequarrelsomenessis in connection
with it. And what makes it majestic and able to marshal and lead hosts? It is
the force of national duties and earnestness, giving it commanding power. Our
texts give the highest Christian form of this truth, the connectionof inner and
outer harmony. It declares that no man canlearn the new song who has not
been redeemedin nature; none cansing it who has not made, first, melody in
the heart unto the Lord. First, considerthis in connectionwith the statement
that holiness, goodness, is a concord. Every virtue is a harmony. It is the result
of combining different and separate tendencies. Itis complex. It is, as it were,
a chord of the inner music, formed by striking different notes of character
together, and combining them in one. And that is what makes virtue so hard
of acquisition and a virtuous Christian life such a struggle. The true graces
are harmonies of different notes;are chords of character;not merely a single
note of character, struck with a single finger, easily, and at once;but each, a

combination of various notes of character, revealedonly by using all the hand,
and both hands of life; including different parts and requiring earnest,
anxious toil, before it is harmoniously and truly struck — struck with
pleasure to the greatHearer, to whose earyour charactermakes melodyin
your heart, the Lord. Look at some of the severalvirtues, and see if it be not
so;that eachone is a chord, a combination, a harmony. Take love, or charity,
the most winning and prominent of virtues. It is not simple. In its true height
it is a combination. It is composedof the union of self-sacrifice and
benevolence to others. Passionis never true love, for it is selfish. Or take
another human virtue, true human courage, and see its componentparts.
Who is a brave man, but he who, keenlyalive to pain, tingling through and
through with sensitiveness ofdangerand love of life, is yet also full of the
sense ofduty and the glow of patriotism, and out of those two very different
parts constructs the delicate, perfect harmony of his courage?Oragain, select
a third one out of the catalogue ofnoble human characteristics;and see how,
in its true form, it is harmony, a combination of differing elements. Take
freedom, liberality, or liberty of spirit. There is a true and a false freedom.
The false freedom is simply license. It has only one thought — to do its own
will, to getits own desire, to be unbound by others'will. It has no harmony. It
has but a single note, a single tone, and it is easilygained. There is no struggle,
no argument to reconcile and combine any differences in a melody. But there
is a truer human liberty than this; that which Paul describes whenhe says,
"as free, but as servants";one which strives, while doing its own will, to be
sure that it is also doing the will of Godand truth; one which labours to
combine obedience with freedom, to be obediently free and to be freely
obedient; to make it the freest actionof the human will to do God's will, and
to obey the commandments of His love and truth. That is a hardly gained, but
a very rich harmony. Take still one more example of the fact that every virtue,
in its true, essentialform, is a concord, a combination of tones. You will find it
in the trait of justice. To be just is not a very simple operation. It requires,
first, wisdom, judgment, intelligent powerof discerning and discriminating. It
requires, secondly, courage,freedomto announce the decisionof wisdom,
without fear or prejudice. It requires, thirdly, temperateness, powerofself-
restraint, that there be no excess, orpassion, or over-statementof one's
decisions in the vehemence of his convictions. Every actof justice must include

these three. But let us think on a little further. The Bible calls human virtues
and graces "fruits of the Spirit." Their harmony is produced by the Spirit of
God. Have you ever stood and wondered at the wild, sweetmusic of an
AEolian harp — held by no human hands, resonantunder no human fingers,
but swayedby the breathing winds of nature, bringing forth its strange
combined melodies? Such an instrument is the human soul. Strung and held
by no human hands, with the spiritual breath of God the Spirit passing over
its strings, seeking to awakenthem to speak in those perfectharmonies which
we call "virtues," but which the Bible calls "fruits," or results "of the Spirit."
Oh, let us not quench the Spirit. It is about us, fraught and laden with all the
airs and strains of God; able and waiting to call them out of our hearts, and
the materials of our characterand nature. By it we may be able to make
melody in our hearts to the Lord. By it we may strive to do here what the
redeemedshall de by it at lastbefore the throne, in that land of the Spirit. We
may learn from the Spirit that perfect new song which canonly be sung by a
melodious heart and nature.
(Fred. Brooks.)
The music of heaven
S. D. Hillman.
1. The heavenly song is describedas "a new song." And it is so in that the
theme of it will be new. "They sing," says St. John, "the song of Moses the
servant of God, and the song of the Lamb." The song of Moses celebrated
redemption out of Egypt. Here, on earth, the Church cannot fully
comprehend the whole development of the plan of Divine mercy. The process
is still going on, and not until all the savedare brought to glory will it be
completed; and hence those songs which most appropriately express our
holiest thoughts and aspirations here will not be suited to our condition
hereafter. "The new song" is adapted to our enlarged powers and to our
altered circumstances.

2. Continued freshness will characterise the song of heaven. The sweetest
strains lose more or less of their freshness by constant repetition.
3. Further, the music of heaven shall give rise to new emotions. In the life of
the celebratedcomposerHandelit is statedthat upon being askedhow he felt
when composing "the Hallelujah Chorus," he replied, "I did think I did see all
heaven before me, and the greatGod Himself." And it is said that a friend
calledupon him when he was in the act of setting to music the pathetic words,
"He was despisedand rejectedof men," and found him absolutelysobbing.
What will be the emotions of joy and gratitude which will be experienced
when all the redeemed, gatheredout of every nation, and kindred and tongue
shall unite as with one heart and one voice, and sing "the song of Moses and of
the Lamb"?
4. And then unlike the songs ofearth, "the new song" shallnever be
interrupted. Sin, sorrow, death, are all unknown there! The song of heaven
shall be an eternalsong, and the strains of the music of the heavenly harpers
shall flow on for evermore!Have you the prospectof joining the heavenly
throng?
(S. D. Hillman.)
A song of freedom
J. M. Hoppin.
A "new song," it is doubtless the song of a new and higher victory. A song is,
above all, an expressionof the heart, something spontaneous, the irrepressible
upspringing of an inward emotion. A bird sings because it cannot help
singing, and because its little heart is thrilling with an overflowing joy; and so
they who sing the "new song " have had, doubtless, some true experience of a

greatgoodand joy which causes them to sing. I think that it is the experience
of every thoughtful man that all the real misery springs, in some way, from
spiritual wrong. If he have lost friends, which is one of our greatnatural
griefs, yet if sin had not thrust itself into this sorrow, if the soul of the friend
as well as one's ownhad been perfectly true to God, and to right, one would
find in the bereavementa cause to rejoice, for to the holy dead God reveals
the fulness of His love. It is the conscious wantof the love of God, manifesting
itself in acts of selfishness, ingratitude, and treasonto truth and duty — it is
always this that has made the human spirit wail. Selfishness is a constantpain,
and love a constantjoy. I do not deny the many natural sorrows oflife, and
that they are sometimes painful beyond human power to endure, but we
would be strong from a Divine strength to bear troubles and sufferings which
fall to our lot in this life, and they would be only for our discipline and
perfection, were we without transgression. Thesewould be outside sufferings.
But it is the feeling that we have acted unrighteously, that we have stained our
soul's honour, that we have been unthankful to the heavenly Father. It is this
that consumes the spirit within us. If we arc raisedfor one instant by the
quick motion of faith, by the absorbing exercise of prayer, by the unselfish act
of pure obedience, into the light and liberty of God's presence, we gaininward
freedom and peace, we experience anabsolute deliverance from the tyranny
of evil. We may perceive, then, why the powerof sin in our human nature is
calledin the Scriptures a "bondage." It is pure absolutism. Let the bondsman
strive once to free himself, to shake himself loose from his bonds, to change his
own nature, and he will see what a graspevil has. To be freed from the power
of evil would soothe all pangs, would wipe awayall tears, sorrow, care, and
would restore to the life-giving presence and joy of God. Can we not then
begin, in some feeble manner I grant, to perceive or imagine what may be the
significance ofthe "new song"? It is in truth a song of freedom, and we need
not wonderthat it is represented to be like the sound of many waters, the
outpouring of innumerable hearts on the free shore of eternity, for God has
made the soul to be free and to have no law over it but the law of love. There
are, indeed, but few such chords that vibrate in human hearts. Sorrow is one
of these. Coleridge saidthat at the news of Nelson's death no man felt himself
a strangerto another; and of these universal chords, that of freedom is also
one. Such a spontaneous cry rises from an enslavednation, whose chains are

broken by some God-inspired man. Never shall I forgetthe mighty shout I
heard that went up from the whole people of Florence, gatheredtogetherin
the greatmarket-square of the beautiful city on the Arno, at the news of a
decisive victory gainedover the powerful enemy of Italian independence —
Austria. A new, unlooked-for joy poured into the hearts of the suffering and
long-oppressedItalian people that they were at length free! It made them one.
It overflowedtheir hearts with sudden strength, and men fell upon each
other's necks and kissedeachother, and their joy found expressionin shouts
and songs. So it will be a new joy in heaven to be free — to be free from the
shameful oppressionof evil. The believer may, in some feeble and imperfect
measure, in his besttimes, when Christ his Light is near, be able to conceive of
this state of entire victory over, or deliverance from, sin, because he has in the
present life yearnings after it, and prophecies of it; but to the unrenewed mind
this truth is not quite clear. It is, on the contrary, a thought which gives that
mind, when it thinks at all, much uneasiness and confusion. For it has had
fleeting tastes ofsweetnessin this earthly life, and in those pleasures into
which God does not come, poor though they be, and it fears to lose those
alloyed and swift-passing experiencesofhappiness in being holy. It would not
release entirelyits hold upon these, for fear of losing its happiness altogether.
But we must let go one to win the other. We must push off from the shore of
this world to gain the free shore of eternity; and so complete is the victory of
heaven, that not even such an electric thought of evil as has been described,
shall pass over the soul. Holiness is happiness. Goodness is joy. Love is
freedom. There are no remains of the conflict of temptation. The spell of sin is
broken; and as freedom is one of those things that never grows old, so the
song of heaven shall be a "new song."
II. But another and higher sense remains, in which it would seemthat the
song of heaven is calleda "new song," arising from the fact that this heavenly
freedom which is sung, does not end in ourselves, in our freedom or holiness
or joy, but ends in Christ, and in the Divine will in which dwells this pure and
mighty powerof the soul's deliverance from evil.
(J. M. Hoppin.)

The song of the redeemed
R. Watson.
I. THEIR CHARACTER. They are "redeemedfrom the earth." Redemption,
in their ease, was notmerely virtual, but actual;not in price only, but also in
power. It was a redemption carried into their personalexperience. Suchmust
ours be, or the price of our redemption has been paid for us in vain. There is
pardon, finely representedas implying submission to God, and acceptance
and acknowledgmentby him. The Father's name is written in their foreheads.
There is confessionofGod before men. They practised no unholy
concealment;their religionwas public, and declaredat all hazards. They were
undefiled. They were unspotted from the world, even its more prevalent
errors-errors recommendedby example, justified by sophistry, alluring by
interest, and enforcedby persecution. There is their obedience. This is
impressively described by their following the Lamb whithersoeverHe goeth.
There is their completeness. Sanctifiedthroughout, they were preserved
blameless in spirit, soul, and body. And there is their redemption from earth.
They were redeemed from its corporate society, as the world. That remained;
they were chosenout of it. They were redeemed from its cowardlyand selfish
principles, by which truth is sacrificedto ease and gain; whereas these
sacrificedease andgain for truth. From its example; for, while the multitude
were wandering after the beast, these were following the Lamb. From Rs
pollutions; for they had been washedfrom their sins by the blood of Him who
loved them. From earth itself; for they are now before the throne.
II. THEIR PLACE. "Before the throne."
1. It is the place of glorious vision.
2. It is the place of eternal security. Day is there, never succeededby night.
There is quiet, unbroken by alarm: the gates of the city are not shut by day or

night. There is life, never to be quenched in death. For ever does the river flow
from under the throne, and the tree of life feels no winter.
III. THE REPRESENTEDACTION.
1. "Theysang." Powerfulemotions of joy seek foroutward expression. This is
one of the laws of our very nature. The expressionwill be suitable to the
emotion. Grief pours forth its wailings;joy is heard in the modulations of
verse, and the sweetswells and cadencesof music.
2. They sang "a new song." Everydeliverance experiencedby the saints of
God calls for a new song:How much more, therefore, this, the final
deliverance from earth! Their song is new, as demanded by new blessings.
John saw before the throne "a Lamb, as it had been newly slain." The phrase
intimates that blessings for ever new will flow from the virtue of His
atonement, and the manifestationof the Divine perfections by Him. Nor shall
the song be new as to individuals only, but as to the whole glorified Church.
3. They sang it "before the throne." The glorious fruit of "the travail of His
soul."
IV. THE PECULIARITY OF THEIR EMPLOYMENT. "No mancould learn
that song." Notso much to the sound, the music, of the song, as to its subject,
does this language refer;and such subjects only can be turned into song, as
dwell in the very spirits of the redeemed.
1. There are remembered subjects. The redeemed from earth recollectthe
hour when light broke In on their darkness.

2. There are presentsubjects.
(R. Watson.)
The unlearned song of the redeemed
C. A. Bartol.
What can be the meaning of this singular announcement of a song not to be
taught even to the other inhabitants of heaven? We need but refer to a
familiar principle of the mind's operations, whose religious significanceis
often not perceived;by which toil, pain, and trial, however grievous in the
experience, turn to comfortand delight in the retrospect. As, by the influence
of chemicalattraction, the most glossywhite is brought out on textures
originally of the blackestdye, or as the mere constantfalling of the bleaching
sunlight makes a dull surface glisten like snow, so do the soul's melancholy
passageschange as they are actedon by reflection, and the darkestthreads of
its experience brighten in the steady light of memory. There are few
enjoyments more exquisite than the father feels in telling his son of the
hardships of his early life. How he dilates on the efforts and sacrificeswith
which he beganhis career!But would he spare one hard day's labour, though
it wore and bent his frame? one hour's thirst, with which his lips were
parched? Not one: not one act of self-denial, not one patient stretch of
endurance; for all these, by this transforming principle, have become most
pleasantto his mind. On the same principle, we can understand, without
referring to unworthy motives, the soldier's interest in his oft-repeated
narratives. Oh, the dark and deadly scene!the ground wet with blood, and the
smoke of carnage mounting heavy and slow over the dead and the dying I It is
not necessarilythat his soul breathes the spirit of war; but it is that these, like
other trials, turn to joys, as viewed from the height of his present thought,
stretching picturesquely through the long valley of the past. The same
principle operates in the hardships of peacefullife. The sailorhas a like

gladness from the dangers with which he has been environed on the stormy
deep. He interprets the almost intolerable accidents that overtook him into
goodand gracious providence, and sings of his calamity, privation, and fear.
So all the sweetestsongs, andall the grandestand most touching poetry, that
have ever been on earth breathed into sound or written in characters, have
sprung out of such work and strife, sorrow and peril. And why should not a
new song, unknown even to the elder seraphs, be so composedand framed in
heaven, out of all life's trouble and disaster;while the mercy of God, the
atoning influence of Christ, all heavenly help and guidance that they have
receivedin their struggles, shalladd depth and melody to those voices of the
redeemed? Such is the mystery and bounty of the Divine. Paradoxicalas it
may seem, God means not only to make us good, but to make us also happy,
by sickness,disaster, anddisappointment. For the truly happy man is not
made such by a pleasantand sunny course only of indulged inclinations and
gratified hopes. Hard tasks, deferredhopes, though they "make the heart
sick," the beating of adverse or the delay of baffling winds, must enter into his
compositionhere below, as they will finally enter into his song on high. There
is more than pleasantfancy or cheering prediction in that language about
beauty being given for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness;for out of dust and ashes alone beauty can
grow;supreme gladness glistens nowhere but upon the face where grief hath
been sitting; and the highest praise to God is sung when He hath delivered us
from the pit of woe and despair. The opening of one of the most strangely
beautiful flowers, from the roughest of prickly and unsightly stems, is an
emblem of the richestblooming of moral beauty and pleasure from thorns
and shapes of ugliness in the growth of the immortal mind. But there is a
strict condition. They who would blend their voices in that happy choir, to
which the hosts of heaven pause to listen, must be faithful in performing this
toil, in overcoming this temptation, in enduring this trial. An ancient poet
says, it is a delight to stand or walk upon the shore, and to see a ship tossed
with tempest upon the sea;or to be in a fortified tower, and see hosts mingled
upon a plain. But what is such pleasure compared with that felt by those who
look down from the firm ground of heavenupon their own tossings in the
voyage they have with a sacredand religious faithfulness accomplished, and

fix their retrospective eye on the fight they, with a holy obstinacy, wagedwith
their own passions and besetting sins?
(C. A. Bartol.)
The new song
James Kidd, B.A.
We shall begin our meditation on this vision by considering the occupationof
those referred to. They sing. Praise is often spokenof as the chief occupation
of the saints in heaven. Nor need we wonder that such is the case. Theyhave
passedto the land of pure delight. They mingle in congenialsociety. Above all,
they behold Him, whom they have long adored afar off, and with Him they
maintain unbroken communion. His presence and voice fill their hearts with
joy, deep and intense. Nor does the inspiration of their song come only from
the present; it comes also from the past. Then they fully learn what has been
done to them and for them during their earthly journey. This praise, too, is
unceasing. Other engagements and interests concernmen in this life. They
have wants that must be supplied; they have burdens that must be borne; they
have battles that must be fought. And these urge them to prayer as often as to
praise. Even up to the Jordan's bank they must stretchforth their hands and
raise their voice in supplication. But, in that better land, they enjoy
satisfactionand rest. Full provision has been made, and they have only to
celebrate the goodnessthat has done it all. That which they sing is called"a
new song." It is heavenly in origin and character. It is no feeble strain of
earth, weak in thought and poor in expression. It far transcends in matter and
in form the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs ofthe Church below. These
were suited to the partial knowledge ofthis lowersphere, but they are
inadequate to the fuller view and the deeper experience to which the
redeemedhave risen. Of that anthem we catchsome echoes in the revelation
which John has given us. It is a song of salvation, it is a shout of triumph. It is
called"the song of Mosesand of the Lamb," and this title is suggestive ofits
tenor. From a danger greaterthan that to which the Israelites were exposed
have those who are with the Lamb been delivered. Notfrom physical evil or

an earthly enemy, but from spiritual loss and death, and from the power of
the wickedone, have they been rescued. Notonly, therefore, do they sing the
song of Moses;they sing also the song of the Lamb. Being a new song, it must
be learned by those who would sing it. But the text warns us that this is
possible only for those who have undergone a certain training. Without
discipline we cannot take our place in the choir above, engage in the
occupations, orenjoy the beauties and delights of the Paradise above. This,
indeed, we might understand apart from revelation. All experience combines
to suggestit. In the material world everything has its place and work, and is
speciallyfitted for filling the one and performing the other. We recognise in
that sphere the reign of law. Every branch of industry has its own rules and
its own methods. To learn these an apprenticeship must be undergone. And
this is as applicable to the moral regionas it is to the socialand the
intellectual. Place a man of dissolute habits, of vicious temper, of impure
thought, of blasphemous speech, in the company of men and womenwho are
spiritual in tone, pure in thought, reverent in speech, and what will his
experience be? Not certainly one of satisfactionand enjoyment. He will be
wretched. He will long to escape that he may go to his own company and to his
own place. Now, this truth, which is receivedand actedon in all spheres of
human activity, has force beyond the limits of earth. It touches the
constitution of things: it rests on our nature, and must, therefore, determine
our experience not only here but hereafter. To occupy our minds with the
foolish, if not the wicked, things of earth, is to render ourselves incapable of
dealing with the concerns of heaven; that before we can even learn the song of
the redeemedwe must have been prepared, for not every one canlearn the
new song that is being sung before the throne, before the four beasts, and
before the elders. But we are not only warned that preparation is required; we
are also taught in what it is to consist. Its generalcharactermay, indeed, be
gatheredfrom what has just been said. We have been reminded that to engage
heartily in any occupationwe must make ourselves acquainted with its rules
and methods, that to enjoy any societywe must have in some measure risen to
the attainment of its members. In order, then, to discoverwhat is needful, by
way of training, before we canjoin this company, enjoy their fellowship, and
sing their song, we have only to inquire by what features they are marked.
They are spiritual in character, they are with the Lamb on Mount Zion, they

are pure and holy. From this it follows that the education which those who
would join them must undergo is spiritual. It is not intellectual only. Mere
acquaintance with what concerns persons is not of necessitysympathy with
them. Only when knowledge touches heartand life can there be fellowship, for
only then are companions animated by the same spirit and interested in the
same subjects and pursuits. Nor, on the other hand, can the training be
merely mechanical. By no outward washing or cleansing can we free the soul
from its foul blot; can we make ourselves pure, worthy to stand before the
greatwhite throne and Him who sits thereon. The one hundred and forty and
four thousand who do learn the song are said to have been "redeemedfrom
the earth." They have been "redeemed." This indicates that by nature they
are not fit for the occupationreferredto. The faculty qualifying them for it
has been lost, and has to be restored. The dormant faculties must be roused
and developed, the powers that have been misapplied must be converted. The
term "redemption" is employed in Scripture in two different senses, orrather
to suggesttwo aspects ofthe change which it indicates. At one time it signifies
release from the bondage of the Evil One without; at another, release from the
bondage of the evil nature within. Here it is the inner rather than the outer
reference that is in view. It is less escape from slaveryand danger than purity
and elevationof characterthat is thought of. Not at once are we made fit for
heaven in the fullest sense:not at once is the hold which sin has gained on us
relaxed. That comes by struggle, by warring againstthe powers and
principalities arrayed againstus, and to which we have submitted.
Emancipation in this view is education, growth, advance. The possibility of it
rests on living faith, and the realisationof it is gradual, to be carried forward
day by day. We have not yet attained, neither are we already perfect, but we
follow after, pressing "towardthe mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus."In His footsteps we should be seeking to walk, and only
as we are doing so are we preparing ourselves for the engagements andthe
delights of the BetterLand. That such is the nature of the redemption spoken
of in the text becomes still clearerwhenwe observe that those spokenof are to
be redeemed "from the earth." By the earth is meant the lower nature, and
what stands relatedto it. To be redeemed from the earth is to be lifted above
it, to use it without abusing it, to act under the control of the Spirit, and this is
a movement that should be upward as wellas onward — not monotonous

progress on a dead level, but achievement, victory, exaltation. It must be
apparent to every one that redemption from earth means meetness for
heaven, Heaven and earth, in their spiritual use, stand opposedto eachother.
To be subject to the one is to be beyond the range and influence of the other.
We should then be striving after this redemption; we should be seeking to
value aright the things around, and we should be endeavouring to free
ourselves from their dominion; we should be struggling, that the evil powers
within may be subdued — knowing that only thus can we be prepared for
joining the glorious company above, for learning the new song, and for
celebrating the praise of Him who hath wrought salvationfor us.
(James Kidd, B.A.)
The new song
T. G. Selby.
Whilst passing in early manhood through a stage of deep dejection, John
Stuart Mill found occasionalcomfortin music. One day he was thrown into a
state of profound gloomby the thought that musical combinations were
exhaustible. The octave was only composedoffive tones and two semi-tones.
Not all the combinations of these notes were harmonious, so there must be a
limit somewhere to the possibilities of melody. No such possibility can limit the
range of the "new song," for it shall be pitched to the key of God's ever-
renewedmercies. We need not dread an eternity of monotonous, mill-round
worship. The originality of God's mercy will be a spring of originality in us.
(T. G. Selby.)
No man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand
Man training for heaven
Homilist.

I. HEAVEN REQUIRES HIS TRAINING. Man cannot blend in the happy
harmony of the celestialstate without previous training. Analogy would
suggestthis. In the physical system, every being is fitted to his position; his
organismis suited to his locality. In the socialsystemthe same principle of
fitness is required. The stolid clowncould not occupythe professor's chair;
nor could he who is reckless concerning law, right, and order, occupy the
bench of justice. It is just so in relation to heaven. To feel at home in the
societyof the holy, cheerfully to serve the Creatorand His universe, and to be
in harmony with all the laws, operations, and beings, in the holy empire, we
must manifestly be invested with the same character. But what is the training
necessary? It is moral — the training of the spiritual sympathies; the heart
being brought to say, "Thy will be done."
II. REDEMPTION IS THE CONDITION OF HIS TRAINING. "Those who
were redeemedfrom the earth. The redemption here referred to is evidently
that procured by the system of Christ (Revelation5:9). The training requires
something more than education;it needs emancipation — the delivering of the
soul from certain feelings and forces incompatible with holiness — a
deliverance from the guilt and power of evil. The grand characteristicof
Christianity is, that it is a power"to redeem from all evil."
III. THE EARTH IS THE SCENE OF HIS TRAINING. "Redeemedfrom the
earth." The brightest fact in the history of the dark world is, that it is a
redemptive scene. Amidst all the clouds and storms of depravity and sorrow
that sweepoverour path, this fact rises up before us as a bright orb that shall
one day dispel all gloom and hush all tumult. Thank God, this is not a
retributive, but a redemptive scene. But it should be remembered that it is not
only a redemptive scene, but the only redemptive scene.
(Homilist.)
Angelic incompetency

T. De Witt Talmage.
It seems that when the song of grace rises in heaven, there are a great
multitude who are incompetent to take part in it. What is the song that utterly
defies the unfallen spirits of heaven? It is the song of redemption, and I shall
give you two or three reasons whythose unfallen spirits find it an
impossibility to sing it.
1. First, they never were redeemed. from sins. Standing in the light of heaven,
they know nothing about the joy of rescue. Having sailedfor ages onthe
smooth seas ofheaven, they know nothing about the joy of clambering out
from the eternalshipwreck. Beautiful and triumphant song, but they cannot
sing it. It is to them an eternalimpossibility.
2. Again, these unfallen spirits of heavencannot mingle in that anthem
because they do not know what it is to be comforted in suffering. You
sometimes find a pianist who has been through all the schools,and has his
diploma; but there seems to be no feeling in his playing. You say: "What's the
matter with that musician?" Why, I will tell you: he has never had any
trouble. But after he has lost children, or been thrust into sickness,then he
begins to pour out the deep emotion of his own soulinto the instrument, and
all hearts respond to it. So, I suppose that our sorrows here will be somewhat
preparative for the heavenly accord. It will not be a cold artistic trill, but a
chant struck through with all the tenderness of this world's sufferings.
3. Again, I remark that the unfallen spirits of heavencannot join in the
anthem of grace in heaven, because they never were helped to die. Deathis a
tremendous pass. Do you not suppose when we get through that dark pass of
death, we are going to feel gratitude to Christ, and that we will have a glorious
anthem of praise to sing to Him? But what will those unfallen spirits of heaven
do with such a song as that? They never felt the death shudder. They never
heard the moan of the dismal sea. But you say: "That makes only a half and
half heaven; so many of these spirits will be silent." Oh, there will be anthems

in which all the hosts of heaven canjoin. The factthat there will be a hundred
and forty and four thousand, as statedin the text, intimates that there will be
a vast congregationparticipating. That song is getting sweeterand louder all
the time. Some of our friends have gone up and joined in it. If our hearing
were only goodenough, we would hear their sweetvoices rippling on the night
air.
(T. De Witt Talmage.)
Not defiled with women
Undefiled
W. Milligan, D. D.
The words cannot be literally understood, but must be takenin the sense of
similar words of the Apostle Paul, when, writing to the Corinthians, he says,
"ForI am jealous overyou with a godly jealousy;for I espousedyou to one
husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ." Such a "pure
virgin" were the hundred and forty and four thousand now standing upon the
Mount Zion. They had renounced all that unfaithfulness to God and to Divine
truth which is so often spokenof in the Old Testamentas spiritual fornication
or adultery. They had renounced all sin. In the language of St. John in his first
Epistle, they had "the true God, and eternal life." They had "guarded
themselves from idols."
(W. Milligan, D. D.)
Follow the Lamb whithersoeverHe goeth
The followers ofthe Lamb
C. H. Spurgeon.

I. AN OUTLINE OF THE CHARACTER OF THOSE BLESSED ONES
WHILE THEY ARE HERE.
1. First, notice their adherence to the doctrine of sacrifice while they are here:
"These are they which follow the Lamb."
2. And, next, it is clearof these people that they followedthe Lamb by
practically imitating Christ's example, for it is written, "These are they which
follow the Lamb whithersoeverHe goeth." Try to put your feetdown in the
footprints that He has left you. Do aim at complete conformity to Christ; and
wherein you fail, mark that.
3. Now, notice in the sketchofthese people that they recogniseda special
redemption: "These were redeemedfrom among men." Christ had done
something for them that He had not done for others.
4. And as they recognizeda specialredemption, they made a full surrender of
themselves to God and to the Lamb: "These were redeemedfrom among men,
being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." If you are the firstfruits unto
God, be so;if you belong to yourself, serve yourself; but if, by the redemption
of Christ, you are not your own, but bought with a price, then live as those
who are the King's own, who must serve God, and cannotbe contentunless
their every action shall tend to the Divine glory, and to the magnifying of
Christ Jesus.
5. These people who are to be with Christ, the nearestto Him, are a people
free from falsehood. "In their mouth was found no guile." If we profess to be
Christians, we must have done with all craft, policy, double-dealing, and the
like. The Christian man should be a plain man, who says what he means, and
means what he says.

Jesus was worshiped in heaven

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