SERMON the marriage of the Lamb. These are the true sayings of God. II. The Apostle, struck with this emphatic address, and contemplating with grateful admiration so joyful a state of things, and the divinity of that fore-sight by which it was predicted, falls down at the angel's feet to worship him. But he said unto me, See, thou do it not; I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The sense is plainly this: Direct thy acknowledgment for this important discovery, and that religious adoration, which it inspires, to God only who revealed it, and not to me, who am but thy fellow-servant in this office of bearing testimony to Jesus: I said in bearing testimony to Jesus; for know, that the spirit of prophecy, with which I am endowed, and by which I am enabled to foretell these great things, is but, in other words, the testimony of Jesus; it has no other use or end, but to do honour to him; the prophet, whether he be angel or man, is only the minister of God to bear witness to his Son; and his commission is ultimately directed to this one purpose of manifesting the glories of his kingdom. In discharging this prophetic office, which thou admirest so much, I am then but the witness of Jesus, and so to be considered by thee in no other light than that of thy fellow-servant. It is evident from the expression, that the text was intended to give some special instruction to the Apostle, whose misguided worship afforded the occasion of it. For, if the design had merely been to enforce the general conclusion-worship God-the premises need only have been- I am the servant of God, as well as thou-for from these premises it had followed, that therefore God, and not the Angel, was to be worshiped. But the premises are not simply, I am thy fellow-servant, but I am the fellow-servant of those who have the testimony of Jesus: which clause indeed. infers the same conclusion, as the former; but, as not being necessary to infer it (for the conclusion had been just and complete without it) was clearly added to convey a precise idea of prophecy itself, as being wholly subservient to Christ, and having no other use or destination, under its various forms and in all the diversities of its administration, but to bear testimony to him. Therefore the Angel says emphatically, in explanation of that latter II. II. SERMON clause,For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy-or, as the sentence, in our translation, should have run, the order of its parts being inverted, For the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. It may not be pretended that no more was meant by the text, than that the particular prophecy, here delivered, was in attestation of Jesus for then it would have been expressed with that limitation. The terms, on the other hand, are absolute and indefinite-the spirit of prophecy-whence we cannot but conclude that prophecy, in general, is the subject of the proposition. We have here, then, a remarkable piece of intelligence conveyed to us (incidentally indeed conveyed, but not therefore the less remarkable) concerning the nature and genius of prophecy. The text is properly a key put into our hands, to open to us the mysteries of that dispensation; which had in view ultimately the person of Christ and the various revolutions of his kingdom-The spirit of prophecy is, universally, the testimony of Jesus c. not b St. Matthew, vi. 22. c Maplugía T 'Inoa-the testimony of, or concerning Jesus, the testimony given by Jesus. II. The expression, as I have shewn, is so pre- SERMON cise as to leave no reasonable doubt of its meaning. Yet it may further serve to justify The former appears to be the sense, for the following reasons. 1. The point asserted, is, "That the Angel, who had delivered this illustrious prophecy, was the fellow-servant of John, and not of John only, but of those who have the testimony of Jesus." The proof is -for the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus -i. e. the end of prophecy is to bear testimony, or, to do honour, to Jesus; therefore, I, says the Angel, who am endowed with this prophetic spirit, am but employed, as thou art; who, in thy character of Apostle or Evangelist, hast received the same general commission, namely, to bear testimony, or to do honour, to Jesus. See Acts x. 42. We are, therefore, fellow-servants, or joint labourers in the same cause. All this is clear and well-reasoned. But, now, take the wordsthe testimony of Jesus- in the sense of-the testimony given by Jesus and how does the Angel's having the spirit of prophecy, prove him to be a fellow-servant of John? for the reason assigned will then stand thus ---for the spirit of prophecy is the testimony which Jesus gives 1 of himself. The inference is, that the Angel was a true prophet. Again: how is the Angel proved, in this way, to be the fellow-servant of those who have the testimony of Jesus? Why, thus; the Angel had the spirit of prophecy, and prophecy was the gift of Christ; therefore he was the fellow-servant of those, who had the same gift, i. e. who were prophets. Without doubt. But why so strange a way of proving so plain a point? It had been enough to say I am a prophet, as others are. Still, what was this to St. John? who, in this place, is not sustaining the cha SERMON this interpretation, if we reflect, how exactly it agrees with all that the Jewish prophets were understood to intend, and what Jesus racter of a prophet; for the worship he was inclined to pay the Angel was on account of the Angel's being, what himself was not, a prophet. Turn it which way you will, the reasoning is frivolous, or inconsequent. I conclude therefore, that not this, but the other interpretation gives the true sense of the testi mony of Jesus. · 2. To speak of prophecy under the idea of a testimony to, or concerning Jesus, is conforming to the true scriptural idea of that gift. Thus we are told that to him [i. e. to Jesus] give all the prophets witness — τέτῳ πάντες προφῆται paplupo, Acts x. 43. Prophecy, therefore, being the thing here spoken of, is rightly called the testimony, or witness to, or concerning Jesus. 3. Lastly, the construction is fully justified, 1. by observing that the genitive case [as here 'Ino] is frequently used in scripture, not actively, but passively. See a variety of instances in Mede, p. 626, where he explains διδασκαλίαι δαιμονίων : And 2. by referring the reader to the following passage of St. Paul, where the very expression of the text is so used — μὴ ἦν ἐπαισχυνθῇς τὸ μαρτύριον τῷ Κυ pía nuclearly, be not ashamed of bearing testimony to our Lord, 2 Tim. i. 6. —and to Rev. i. 9. where the Apostle tells us, he was in the isle of Patmos. · διὰ τὸν λόγον το Θεξ, καὶ διὰ τὴν μαρτυρίαν Ιησε Χρις- on account of his having been faithful in preaching the word of God, and in bearing testimony to Jesus Christ-and still more plainly, if possible, and indubitably, by referring him to Rev. xii 17. where, speaking of the Dragon, he says, he went in wrath to make war on those, which keep the commandments |