THE SPIRIT AND THE BRIDE SAY COME.
"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. xxii, 17. None of those who are finally lost will ever have occasion to find fault with the provisions that have been made for their salvation. They can never find fault with the light that has been granted to show them the way to life. They can never find fault with the invitations and entreaties that Mercy has given them to turn and live. From the very beginning there has been a power exerted, as strong as could be and still leave man his own free agent,—a power to draw him heaven-ward and raise him from the abyss into which he had fallen. Come! has been the entreaty of the Spirit, from the lips of God himself, from the lips of his prophets, from the lips of his Son, even while in his infinite compassion and humility he was paying the debt of our transgressions; and from the lips of his apostles. The last message of mercy that is now going forth, is another, not a final utterance of divine long-suffering and compassion. Come, is the invitation it gives. Come, for all things are ready. And the last sound that will fall from Mercy's lips on the ear of the sinner, ere the thunders of vengeance burst upon him, will be the heavenly invitation, Come. So great is the loving-kindness of a merciful God to rebellious man. Yet they will not come. Acting independently, and deliberately, they refuse to come. So when they shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and themselves thrust out, they will have no one to accuse, no one to blame but their own selves. They will be brought to feel this in all its bitterness; for the time will come when it will be as described by Pollok, when he says, "And evermore the thunders murmuring spoke
From out the darkness, uttering loud those words,
Which every guilty conscience echoed back:
'Ye knew your duty but ye did it not.'
Dread words! that barred excuse, and threw the weight
Of every man's perdition on himself
Directly home—
'Ye knew your duty but ye did it not.'" There is a time in the life of every one, sooner or later, when the warning will come and he rejects it at his own peril; a time when the Spirit invites him to come, and it is well if he heeds the invitation. The Bride also says, Come. But who is the Bride? Let us go with John to the top of that great and high mountain, whither the angel took him when he told him he would show him the Bride the Lamb's wife. Rev. xxi, 9. He showed him that great city, the holy Jerusalem. Did he show him the Bride? He did if he fulfilled his promise; and we dare not accuse the angel of dishonesty or deception. He told him he would show him the Bride; and he took him up into a mountain and showed him the city. The angel, therefore, calls the city the Bride. We will call it so too. Again, Isaiah says, [Chap. liv, 1.] "Sing, O barren, thou that did'st not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud," &c. Verse 5. "For thy Maker is thy husband." Paul in Gal. iv, 26, 27, says, But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all; for it is written, Rejoice thou barren, thou barest not," &c. Here Paul takes up the prophecy of Isaiah and makes an inspired application; hence we have an inspired commentary of an inspired prophecy. The one says, Thy Maker is thine husband; and the other says that this of which the Prophet spake, is the Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all. Out of the mouth of these three witnesses therefore, the Angel, the Prophet, and the Apostle, independent of the mass of other testimony and proof which might be adduced, we will consider it settled, that the great city, the holy Jerusalem which is above, is the Bride, the Lamb's wife. How then does the Bride say, Come? If we could be strengthened to behold the living glories of that city and live; and should be permitted to gaze upon its dazzling beauty, and be assured that we had a perfect right to enter therein, and bathe in that ocean of bliss and blessedness, and revel in its glory for ever and ever, would it not then say to us, Come, with a persuasion which no power could resist? Who of us in view of this could turn away and say that we had no desire for an inheritance there? But though we cannot now look upon that city, the unfailing Word of God has promised it, and that is sufficient to inspire in us an implicit and living faith; and through the channel of that faith it says to us, Come. Come if you would inherit mansions where sickness, sorrow, pain and death can never enter; if you would have right to the tree of life and pluck its immortal fruit and eat and live; if you would drink of the water of the river of life, that floweth from the throne of God clear as crystal. Come, if you would obtain through those glittering gates of pearl an abundant entrance into the eternal city; if you would walk its streets of transparent gold; if you would behold its glowing foundation stones; if you would see the King in his beauty on his azure throne. Come if you would sing the jubilee song of millions, and share their joy. Come, if you would join the anthems of the redeemed with their harps of gold, and know that your exile is for ever over and this is your eternal home. Come, if you would receive a palm of victory, and know that you are for ever free. Come, if you would exchange the furrows of your care-worn brow for a jeweled crown. Come, if you would see the salvation of the ransomed myriads, the glory of the glorified throng which no man could number. Come, if you would drink from the pure fountain of celestial bliss, if you would shine as the stars for ever and ever in the firmament of glory; if you would share in the unutterable rapture that fills the triumphant hosts as they behold before them unending ages of glory ever brightening, and joys ever new. The Bride does say, Come. Who of us shall resist the invitation? The word of truth is pledged to us that if we keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus, we shall have right to the tree of life, we shall enter in through the gates into the city. And we shall feel that we are at home in our Father's house, amid those gorgeous splendors, and that these very mansions were prepared for us; and we shall realize the full truth of those cheering words, "Blessed is he that is called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." Rev. xix, 9. "Let him that heareth say, Come." We have heard of the glory, of the beauty, of the blessings of that goodly land, and we say, Come. We have heard of the river with its verdant banks, of the tree with its healing leaves, of the ambrosial bowers that bloom in the Paradise of God, and we say, Come. Whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely.