Homilist Revelation 4:9-11 And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who lives for ever and ever,… I. MAN IN HEAVEN HAS REACHED THE HIGHEST DIGNITY. He has "crowns." 1. Have faith in the improvability of our nature. 2. Let us be consoled under the departure by death of the good. 3. Let us not judge of providence without taking into account the future as well as the present. II. MAN IN HEAVEN ASCRIBES THE DIGNITY HE HAS REACHED TO JESUS CHRIST. "They cast their crowns," etc. 1. A conviction that they owed all their honours to Christ. 2. A readiness to acknowledge their obligation. The greater our nature the more ready to acknowledge our obligation. 3. The surpassing glories of Christ,. He is in the midst of the throne, and all ascribe their all to Him. Napoleon the First, after he had conquered empires, and planted his foot upon the neck of kingdoms, determined to be crowned Emperor. To give pageantry and lustre to the occasion, he compelled the Pope of Rome to be present. In the act of coronation, the emperor refused to receive the crown from the Pope; his proud spirit told him he had won it himself: he placed it upon his own brow, thus declaring to the spectators and the civilised world the fact that he was indebted to himself only for imperial power. There is nothing of this spirit in heaven; they all cast their crowns at the feet of Christ, and say, "Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory." (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, |
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