The rapid sale of two large editions, rendering a third so quickly necessary, is happy evidence of the wide-spread interest in the glorious truths connected with the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In no respect does this edition differ from the first, but I take this opportunity of endeavoring to clear up a point briefly touched on in the Lecture, “The Stone Cut Out Without Hands,” concerning which inquiry has been made, namely, Who are the guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb? Of them it is written, “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” These clearly are not the Bride, but are “the friends of the Bridegroom.” I judge them to be all the heavenly saints — all the risen and glorified saints — other than the Church, which, as being the body — the Bride of Christ — is composed only of believers from the day of Pentecost to the rapture of the saints. Old Testament saints — who are specifically alluded to in Hebrews 12:23 as “the spirits of just men made perfect,” will, I apprehend, greatly rejoice in the day of the Lamb’s joy, though they be not in the peculiar place of intimacy, which, as the Bride, grace now gives to those who know the Lord, and are, by the Holy Spirit, united to Him in this, the day of His rejection. John the Baptist already anticipated this unselfish joy when he said, “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice; this my joy therefore is fulfilled” (John 3:29). So, again, will it be when the heavenly guests sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Well may we sing —
“O day of wondrous promise,
The Bridegroom and the Bride
Are seen in glory ever:
O God! how satisfied.”
May the gracious Lord yet further deign to use this little volume to awaken interest in His own near return.
W. T. P. W.
Edinburgh, February 15, 1893.