Our blessed Lord and Saviour, since his ascension into heaven, has been with us alway by his Spirit, and He will, in like manner, continue with us" even unto the end of the world."

He will be with us at the end of the several acts contained in the prophetic writing shown on the opening of the seventh seal, but not in bodily presence. Hear how He will be with us," Then the earth shook and trembled: the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because He was wroth."

"There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it."

"He bowed the heavens also, and came down, and darkness was under his feet."

"And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind."

"He made darkness his secret place: his pavilion round about him were dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies."

"At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed hail-stones and coals of fire." "The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice, hailstones and coals of fire."

Yea, he sent out his arrows and scattered them, and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them."

"Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered, at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils."-Ps. xviii. 7-15.

He will be with us on the day of the "first resurrection," and during the reign of the saints on earth, but not in bodily presence. He is "the King of kings, and Lord of lords," "dwelling in light which no man can approach unto."

The "saints" shall awake out of sleep, and shall be clothed again with flesh and blood, but thus clothed, they could not behold the Lord in his glory and live. When they see his face at the last day, they shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, by putting on immortality. What a mystery there is in the shedding of blood! "Without shedding of blood is no remission." Blood is the life of the natural man, but thanks be to God, the blood of Christ has been shed for the sins of the whole world, and spiritual life poured into the mystical body of the Church. Christ is the head of the Church;"

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and again,

The Church is the body of Christ,

the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

When

Saul was persecuting the Church, a voice said in answer to his question, "Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest."

The union between Christ and his Church is compared to the union between husband and wife. "A man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife." 66 They too shall be one flesh." As concerning Christ and his Church"We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." For this cause shall the spirituallyminded man forsake all earthly things to be joined to the Lord. "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." Again, "We are the body of Christ, and members in particular." Therefore, each faithful servant and soldier of Christ represents the whole body, the head, as well as the other members. By bearing this in mind, we shall understand such passages in the book of Revelation as the following (ii. 26, 27).

"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations."

"And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father."

How close and mysterious, then, is the union between Christ and his Church, and between Him and each member thereof! How close and mysterious the communion of saints!

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We read in the third chapter of the book of Revelation, Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me."

These and many other similar expressions in the Holy Bible (some of which I shall hereafter mention) are to be understood as relating only to a spiritual feast.

Again, we read in the book of Revelation (xix. 17.)

"And I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God."

This is also to be looked upon in the light of a spiritual feast by all true believers, though differ

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ing in its nature from the former. It is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." Here a spiritual blessing towards the Church is foreshown by a curse upon her enemies, given in vengeance by the Almighty.

I will now repeat those words of our Lord, "Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

The next evidence I take from the twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation.

The first three verses tell us of that day which is to come, when the mystery of iniquity shall have been taken out of the way. He will be bound for a thousand years, so that he shall deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years. shall be fulfilled. That term ended, "he must be loosed a little season." It is afterwards written, ver. 4, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the Beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands: and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."