<< Revelation 10 >>

 1. And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, encompassed with a cloud; and a rainbow was over his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet  as pillars of fire. 2. And he had in his hand a little book open. And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth. 3. And he cried with a great voice, as a lion roareth. And when he cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

5. And the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven. 6. And sware by Him that liveth for ages of ages, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things that are therein, that time shall be no longer. 7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished; as He hath declared to His servants the prophets. 8. And the voice which I heard from heaven, spake unto me again, saying, Take the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing upon the earth.

9. And I went unto the angel, saying unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey. 10. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it up, my belly was made bitter. 11. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

The exploration and manifestation of those who are in the churches of the Reformed is still treated of; here what they believe concerning the Lord, as being the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself taught (Matthew 28:18); and that His Human is Divine; and that this is not received there; and that it can be received with difficulty, so long as the dogma of justification by faith alone is seated in their hearts. The contents of each verse

Spiritual Correspondences

  Verse 1. "And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven,"
 
The Lord in Divine majesty and power.
 
 "Encompassed with a cloud, and a rainbow was over his head,"
 
 His Divine natural and Divine spiritual.
 
 "And his face was as the sun,"
 
 The Divine love, and at the same time the Divine wisdom.
 
 "And his feet as pillars of fire,"
 
 The Lord's Divine natural as to the Divine love, which sustains all things.
 
 Verse 2. "And he had in his hand a little book open,"
 
 The Word as to this doctrinal point therein, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth and that His Human is Divine.
 
"And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth,"
 
 The Lord has the whole church under His auspices and dominion.
 
 "And cried with a great voice, as a lion roareth,"
 
 Grievous lamentation that the church is taken from Him.
 
 "And when He cried, seven thunders uttered their voices,"
 
 The Lord will disclose throughout the whole heaven what is in the little book.
 
 Verse 4. "And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not,"
 
 These things indeed are made manifest, but that they are not received till after they who are meant by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, are cast out of the world of spirits, because there would be danger were they to be received before.

 Verse 5. "And the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven (verse 6), and swore by Him that liveth for ages of ages,"
 
 The attestation and testification of the Lord by Himself.

 "Who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things that are therein"
 
 Who vivifies all that are in heaven and that are in the church, and each and everything with them.

 "That time shall be no longer,"
 
 There cannot be any state of the church, or any church, except one God be acknowledged, and that the Lord is that God.
 
 Verse 7. "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound"
 
 The final exploration and manifestation of the state of the church which must perish, unless a new one be established by the Lord.

 "And the mystery of God shall be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets,"

  Then it will appear, that it is foretold in the Word of both Testaments, but has hitherto been concealed, that after the Last Judgment is executed upon those who have devastated the church, the Lord's kingdom will come.
 
 Verse 8. "And the voice which I heard from heaven, spake unto me again, saying, Take the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing upon the sea and upon the earth,"
 
 A command from heaven, that they should admit that doctrine, but that it should be made manifest by John how it would be received in the church, before those are removed, who are meant by "the dragon," "the beast," and "the false prophet."

 Verse 9. "And I went unto the angel, saying unto him, Give me the little book,"
 
 A motion of the mind with many to receive the doctrine.

  "And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey,"

  Reception of the acknowledgment that the Lord is the Savior and Redeemer, is grateful and pleasing, but that the acknowledgment that He alone is the God of heaven and earth, and that his Human is Divine, is disagreeable and difficult by reason of falsifications.
 
 Verse 10. "And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it up, my belly was made bitter,"
 
 So it came to pass, and was thus manifested.

 Verse 11. "And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings,"
 
 Because it is so, the quality of those who are in faith alone must be further shown.
 
Author: Emanuel Swedenborg (Apocalypse Revealed)

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THE MIGHTY ANGEL WITH THE LITTLE BOOK.

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And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angels hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. (Rev. x. 9, 10).

THE appearance of the glorious angel whom John describes must have been an immense relief after the doleful scenes described in the previous chapter. It is the sign of Divine Providence introducing a new era.

Every new age is ushered in by a special opening of Divine Truth in some new character, which will give the tone, and mould the form, of the coming time.

When the Lord commenced the Jewish Dispensation, He revealed to Moses His name Jehovah, known in a better age, but long forgotten, and dictated the laws and ritual which should form the Israelitish world.

When that world closed in disaster, the Lord provided for a better age, by the Gospel, and the hallowed precepts of the Sermon on the Mount. It was a fresh opening of the book of Divine Truth, fraught with new hopes and blessings for the world.

The two previous chapters have unfolded, in awful types, the baleful influence of false principles and corrupt practices to such an extent, that the world would be darkened as if covered with smoke; and life would be embittered, so that they would fain desire the death that would not come.

Alas, for the perversions which produce these strange extremes of misery! If men would but be loving, simple, sincere, thoughtful, and upright, what a beautiful world this would be. The elements of happiness are all about us. Heaven lies around us in our infancy. A world around us, and a world within, invite us to be happy.

What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God? The Lord Himself is with us, and in a thousand ways whispers His loving kindness to every man, The sun, in its effulgent splendor, announces to the world its Makers goodness. The birds carol of it; the winds waft it. The countless bounties of the fertile earth announce that the Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.

How gently the Savior said this to His disciples, when they asked Him to show them the Father, and it would suffice them. HAVE I BEEN SO LONG WITH YOU, and yet thou hast not known Me, Philip? He that bath seen Me hath seen the Father.

Yes, our Heavenly Father has been with us, however little we may have known it. One thing only is needful to enable us richly to enjoy His mercies, the one so emphatically impressed on Nicodemus: YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN.

He is with us in our mothers smile, and in the loving song that hushes us to gentle sleep. He is with us in our goodly growth, our noble faculties, our inestimable gifts of mind and body. He is with us even in the pains and diseases that warn us from wrong, and lead to repentance and a better course.

Either His hand preserves from pain,
Or if we feel, it heals again;
From Satan's malice shields our breast,
Or overrules it for the best.

O yes, adorable Lord Jesus, Thou art ever with us, either as the Son or as the Father; as Prophet, Priest, or King, Thou art leading or training us; but we too often turn aside from our one essential duty, following Thee in love and life, and prefer DARKNESS to light, because our deeds are evil.

It is this darkness and misery in the Church that are meant in the awful descriptions of the previous chapter--indeed in the two chapters preceding.

When nations are to perish in their sins,
Tis in the Church the leprosy begins.

Anarchy in the Church, in consequence of false views prevalent--views substituting for holy love, and a heavenly life, some modes of faith irrespectible of life, upon which it was supposed salvation depended.

Faith in God, faith in doing His will, faith in His Word and promises, faith in His kingdom of purity and peace, and in the judgment to come: this is undoubtedly an indispensable qualification; for a person can only carry out that in which he really believes.

But faith in faith only being sufficient for salvation, and hair-splitting about the especial dogmas which are the saving securities of everlasting bliss: this is the temper which prevents the change of character that is really indispensable, and which proceeds from repentance and regeneration. Hence, decked in religious profession, the old man remains, with all his lusts, and the new man of righteousness and true holiness is not put on. There is no renewal in the spirit of the mind (Eph. iv. 22-24). Hence self remains enthroned in the heart, engendering pride, jealousy, contempt for others, denial of their rights, animosity, contention, war, cruelty, persecution.

Under the mask of religion, every godless passion lurks and spreads, and hate and violence go forth in the name of the Lord.

In the last century, such prostitution of the sacred principles of religion were terribly rife, and the disasters that were everywhere experienced in Christendom are depicted by the miseries St. John saw represented in the spirit-world. The language is awful and mysterious. Yet it is not so mysterious, but its meaning will become plain if opened by a reference to other portions of Divine teaching.

It is not political devastation, but spiritual destruction in the Church, that is described, though that issues also eventually in outward upturning and wretchedness. The scenes were spiritual, and the Apostle Paul says: Which things also we speak, not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1 Cor. ii. 13).

The darkness from the bottomless pit was darkness in the Church, flowing in from below, shutting out the sun of Divine love, and the atmosphere--the air of Heaven.

The locusts represent false principles, inducing opposition to daily growth in good thoughts of every kind, injuring the grass, green things and trees--all spiritual cultivation, except in those heaven-protected ones, who are sealed to God in their highest affections.

The astounding boldness by which the most absolute characteristics of religion were struck and set aside, is represented by the stroke of the scorpion, as when he striketh a man.

The persuasion that men had nothing really to do in religion, that: they were as so many sticks, and stones, and pillars of salt, though they seemed to have freewill, conscience, and rationality, they were only things that moved as they were pulled, and thus should die as men, would induce in numbers the most insane phantasies. But they would strive is vain thus to unman themselves. Hours of common-sense would come, and Divine mercy would to some extent save them from themselves, and keep their truly human faculties of conscience, liberty, and reason alive.

Reasonings innumerable would come like vast armies of pigmy warriors, making the wrong appear the better reason, exciting the fire of hatred, the obscuration of falsehood, and nauseous lusts, like brimstone; of the pit. They would persuade those who were not inwardly good, and betray them to spiritual ruin. Their power is in their mouths and their tails--their results are serpent-like passions, hateful feelings, and selfishness in all its forms.

With others who do not profess religion, the result is disinclination to commence it, and self-idolization of every kind: a dull, blank deadness, carelessness of life, carelessness of death; neither repentance, hope, nor change--continuing in their sins and uncleanness.

Such is the extremity of misery which comes when the Church, which ought to be the fountain of cure, has become corrupt. Happily a watchful Providence supplies the means of restoration. The Divine Wisdom discloses a remedy. The great angel was an emblem of Divine Wisdom. When calamities come upon earth, especially when a Church declines, and the traditions of men make the commandments of God of none effect, the Living Word comes forward to judgment, and supplies the kernel of a new age. The Word of God, says the Apostle, is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; neither is naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do (Heb. iv. 12, 13).

How sublime is the representation of Divine: Wisdom by the magnificent form of this angel. It is called an angel, because angel means one sent, and the Divine Wisdom is sent forth or manifested to carry out the purposes of Divine Love. It is indeed Love, in the form of Wisdom. Hence the face of this grand emblem was as it were the sun. He was clothed with a cloud, as wisdom is, and had a rainbow upon his head, to represent the inner loveliness of Divine Wisdom, while his feet, as pillars of fire, represent the Divine powers flowing into the world, and acting upon the hearts and minds of the members of the Church. They are pillars of fire, because they are glowing with love.

The sea surrounds the land, and in spiritual language it represents those who are external in the Church, the land those who are internal. When the Church is at its end, the best people are outside, and the less truly good are within. Hence the right foot rests oil the sea, the power of love is felt more by those who are simply good; while the power of truth applies itself to the rulers and those within the Church--he left foot on the land.

The ardency of the Divine Love for mans salvation is expressed by the loud voice, as when a lion roareth.

The seven thunders uttering their voices, and expressing things that were not to be written, intimate the abundance of Divine truths, for which the members of the Church in that state were not prepared. Write them not. The Lord said to the Jews, I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot hear them now.

So here there were doubtless an abundance of truths uttered, but write them not. The angels proclamation that there should be time no longer, and the mystery of God should be finished, mean that the Church had arrived at its end, its real life as a Church had ceased. It had a name that it lived, but was dead. Its time as a living Church was completed.

Churches wax and wane: they are worlds that come to an end, but Gods universe endureth for ever. It was the end of the Jewish age, or Church, when they crucified the Lord. He said from His Cross, It is finished. Christ NOW ONCE in the END of THE WORLD, hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. ix. 26). There had been the end of the Adamic world at the flood; the end of the Noahic world with Terah; but Gods world, the universe of suns, moons and stars, goes on. He hath established them for ever and ever. He hath made a decree which shall not pass (Psa. cxlviii. 5). One generation passeth away and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever (Ecc. i. 4).

The angel who, with uplifted hand, swore by Him who liveth for ever and ever that time should be no longer, was making the awful but needful announcement that the dark and sad dispensation of gloom and misery which is described in the previous two chapters should come to an end, and is pronounced no longer to be the Church of God.

Its dark and during falsities, inducing hardness of heart, animosities, and persecutions in the name of the God of Love, striking all that is noble in the human soul, and paralyzing it for good, like a scorpion striking a man, should be denounced as the product of the smoke of the pit, and Divine Wisdom would provide the germ, the soul and center of a new Church of God, the herald of a better time.

There was a Little Book in the hand of the angel. In treating of the Great Book, mentioned in chapter v., we saw that it was an emblem of the Word of God, the grand means of human elevation and progress. Heaven and earth shall pass away (systems of Church and State rise and fall) but My Word shall not pass away (Matt. xxiv. 35). The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever (Isa. l. 8).

Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saveth them out of their distresses. He sent His WORD and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction (Psa. cvli. 17-20).

Thus we see the Word of God is the only means of spiritual restoration for a Church or for an individual.

But here, the angel has a Little Book, the essence, spirit, or kernel, of the Great Book. It is the doctrine of the Lord Jesus as the Only God, the Divine Man, who is love embodied, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which should form the beginning of a new and glorious dispensation. This had been the soul of the Bible from the first. Every prophet had announced that Jehovah would come and be a Redeemer and Savior. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people. As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began (Luke i. 68-70).

The Old Testament perpetually taught that Jehovah would come as Jesus, the Savior the New Testament that the Savior had come, and now was the refuge, the strength, and the consolation of all who sought His merciful helpJesus, the All in all.

This was the deep ground in all the ancient religions, of their gods becoming men. They had learned, before they separated into discordant sections, that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpents head. It was embodied in the incarnation of Chrishna in India, and in the labors of Hercules, the son of Jupiter, in the West.

Christ (says the Apostle), is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth (Rom. x. 4).

Adam was His emblem as the author of a new and regenerated humanity, Moses as the Lawgiver, Aaron as the Priest, Joshua as the Savior, David as the Conquering Redeemer, Solomon as the Prince of Peace.

This was the grand mystery of ages, the HIDDEN WISDOM, as the Apostle calls it, and which is the true meaning of mystery, for a mystery. is not a contradiction, but deeper wisdom than usual, and fuller of light when explained.

Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the HIDDEN WISDOM, which God ordained before the world; which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory (1 Cor. ii. 7, 8). Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, received up into glory (Tim. Iii. 16).

That Jesus, Jesus only, is the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, Who is, Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty, this is the Little Book, this is the grand principle of a new age, the precursor of the blessed time when the Word of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea; in which none shall hurt nor destroy in all Gods holy mountain (Isa. xi. 9). A voice from heaven said to John: Go and take the Little Book which is open in the hand of the angel; that is, receive the doctrine which is now offered by Divine Wisdom. It is important that this offer was made to John. The disciples were types of character, as well as individuals. Peter was the man of faith, John the man of charity. Peter was always believing and arguing, John was always loving. When the two went to seek the risen Savior, John did outrun Peter. And here it is to John this grand new principle is committed. It is the same when the New Jerusalem was represented as coming down from God out of heaven. It is written I, John, saw the holy city. John said, We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren (John iii. 14). It is to the Johns of the world, grand new disclosures of heavenly wisdom come.

John manifested his desire by saying, Give me the Little Book. God operates, man co-operates. The book was given to John, and he was told that it would be sweet in his mouth, but when it entered more deeply, bitterness would be felt.

The sweetness on receiving this doctrine is felt by every recipient; the bitterness which comes after is salutary, though painful.

The soul finds it sweet to have an Omnipotent Savior, a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. It is sweet to have a doctrine that takes in the whole Word, that solves every difficulty which has troubled the spirit when seeking its Savior. Here is a God the mind can conceive, and the heart can love and embrace.

The charm, the peace, the rapture of a soul filled with a Saviors love, has often been expressed in tender and exultant strains.

The words of the American poet Wordsworth are glowing with this sentiment:--

O for a seraph's golden lyre,
With chords of light, and tones of fire,
To sing Jehovah's love:
To tell redemptions wondrous plan,
How God descended down to man,
That man might rise above.

The Apostle Peter is recorded to have been led to execution crying. None but Christ, none but Christ. The good old bishop of Smyrna, Polycarp, when about to be burned alive, and required to revile Christ, replied: Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me wrong; and how can I now blaspheme my King, Who has saved me? Hugh Miller, the great geologist, writes: The great central doctrine, the true humanity and true Divinity of the adorable Savior is a truth equally receivable by at once the humblest and the loftiest intellects. Poor dying children, possessed of but a few simple ideas, and men of the most robust intellects, such as the Chalmers, Forsters, and Halls of the Christian Church, find themselves equally able to rest their salvation the man Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Sir James Macintosh, the statesman and historian, in dying, sank to rest uttering in faint sounds Jesus, love! Jesus, love--the same thing.

So sweet is this doctrine in the mouth. It brings home the striking expressions of Jeremiah: When I found Thy words I did eat them, and they were the joy and rejoicing of my heart (Jer. xv. 16). So sweet is the Little Book in the mouth.

But when it penetrates more deeply, it finds our own perversities and evils.

When men believed there were more Divine persons than Jesus, they laid the results of their ignorance and follies upon God, out of Christ, the supreme First Person. When the air was foul with every abomination, and pestilence came, it was the heavy hand of God that was smiting them.

When houses, damp and dark, were not fit to live in, and low fever was never away, it was Gods wrath that was afflicting the people. When water not fit for use was breeding typhus, or drunkenness and gluttony induced apoplexy, juries declared the victim fell by the visitation of God.

Every form of disease and wretchedness, the result of human error or human guilt, was quietly or publicly considered as the result of Divine decree, and borne with terror, as the infliction of unimpeachable Omnipotence.

When Jesus is acknowledged as the Only God, such miseries cannot be charged upon Him. He is the All Merciful and the Ever Merciful. Hence other causes for unhappiness must be sought out, and can only be found in our lusts and shortcomings. From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts? The dear Lord our Savior injures no one. Like His sun, He shines on the evil and on the good. His graces are offered, like His rain, to the just and the unjust.

Whence, then, come sorrows, heart-burnings, misery, private and public, but from prejudice, malice, ignorance, evil tempers, neglect, impatience, and wrong in us?

Self-exploration discovers defects, and induces pain, anguish, bitterness, and sorrow, although it may be a salutary sorrow, leading to repentance. This is the bitterness in the belly, to be followed, in the faithful servants of the Savior, by penitence, change, and sweetness once more.

The alternation of sweetness and bitterness in the career of a Christian is often represented in the Divine Word.

When the Israelites had passed the Red Sea, and were delivered from the bondage of Egypt, how sweet were their triumphal rejoicings, how exultant their songs! But in three days they came to the waters of Marah, and they were so bitter that. the people could not drink--emblem of the delivered Christian, whose experience brings him to duties that seem hard, difficult, and painful, until he prays to the Lord, Who infuses the love of duty into him, represented by the wood thrown into the water, when the bitter becomes street again.

Remember, also, the experience of Samson. He was assailed on his way to Timnath by a lion in his path. He was fearless and strong, and tore the raging beast as if it were a kid. He pursued his journey after the conflict, and on coming back and turning aside to see the carcass of the lion, he found that bees had already made enough of honey to supply him with sweet food, and to give his father and his mother some. So is it ever in subdued evil habits, or conquered lusts--useful thoughts, like busy bees, soon fill the mind with healthful satisfactions, and blessings, like sweet honey, both for ourselves and others. In the 81st Psalm it is written: O that My people had hearkened unto Me, and Israel had walked in My ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries... He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied thee.

These alternations of sweet and bitter, followed again by pain and triumph, continue during our whole regenerating career. The time, however, comes at last when we can say, with the Apostle:       I have fought the good fight; I have finished my course. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness (2 Tim. iv. 7).

My beloved friends, this grand angel is before us now.       The book is in his hand. Shall we not accept it? It is intended for each of us.

Born to become angels, we have the charter of our happiness presented in this Little Book. Christ in you is the hope of glory. The Lord must enter into us, and there enlarge His beneficent authority as our Friend, Teacher, Redeemer, Savior, King, God over all.

He must, in us, open the eyes of the blind, make the lame to walk, restore the maimed, heal the lepers, and raise the dead.

O what unspeakable rapture it is, when we open our hearts, and this life of the Savior is commenced in the soul!

       Jesus, the very thought of Thee, with sweetness fills the breast,
       But sweeter far Thy face to see, and in Thy presence rest;
       Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame, nor can the memory find,
       A sweeter sound than Thy blest name, O Savior of mankind.

The soul commencing its regenerating work is like the slave claiming his freedom, and having his claim allowed--the son taking up his heritage, and entering upon its enjoyment.

The Little Book of saving truth, when accepted and incorporated into our hearts and lives, overthrows self, and, with it, all baneful habits.

The sources of wrong and wretchedness in the world are unjust principles, evil tempers, and the unwillingness to accept truth which crosses our humors. But when Jesus enters as the Light of our world, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, old things pass away, and all things become new.

The world is glorified with a new radiance; the seeds of paradise are sown; we live, and work, not only for earth, but for heaven. The good time coming for us has already begun. An inner beauty and order commence in the soul, and our Fathers name is seen on our foreheads. We become strong for overcoming our spiritual foes, and conquer again and again, until we become more than conquerors, and taste the inner peace that passes all understanding.

Take and eat the Little Book. It is for you fraught with the greatest destinies. A new heaven and a new earth will grow out of its hallowed lessons. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Oh, why will men hug the demons of pride, envy, profligacy, and folly, which rob them of every virtue, when they are every one invited to take the sacred charter of heavenly freedom, purity, peace, and bliss, for time and eternity, by taking the sacred truth which will realize the Divine promise: Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high, because he hath known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and grant him My salvation.

Take the Little Book, and eat it up: and it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

Author: JONATHAN BAYLEY----- THE MAGNIFICENT SCENES IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION (1878)