It is only after many years' study of this Book of the Revelation, and a special study the past three years and a little more, that I have ventured to put these talks together. And now they are sent out with the earnest humble prayer that others may find some little practical help in prayerfully reading, as I have found much in prayerfully studying, under the Master's gracious faithful touch. CONTENTS I. THE CHRIST CROWNED, THE FACT 9 II. THE CROWN BOOK 39 III. A SIGHT OF THE CROWNED CHRIST 63 IV. A MESSAGE FROM THE CROWNED CHRIST 97 V. AN ADVANCE STEP IN THE ROYAL PROGRAMME 127 VI. A CLEARING-UP STORM IN THE REALM 151 VII. THE CROWNED CHRIST REIGNING 215 VIII. WATCHING THE HORIZON 235 I.--THE CHRIST CROWNED, THE FACT "When God sought a King for His people of old, He went to the fields to find him; A shepherd was he, with his crook and his lute And a following flock behind him. "O love of the sheep, O joy of the lute, And the sling and the stone for battle; A shepherd was King, the giant was naught, And the enemy driven like cattle. "When God looked to tell of His good will to men, And the Shepherd-King's son whom He gave them; To shepherds, made meek a-caring for sheep, He told of a Christ sent to save them. "O love of the sheep, O watch in the night, And the glory, the message, the choir; 'Twas shepherds who saw their King in the straw, And returned with their hearts all on fire. "When Christ thought to tell of His love to the world He said to the throng before him, 'The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep--' And away to the cross they bore Him. "O love of the sheep, O blood sweat of prayer, O man on the cross, God-forsaken; A shepherd has gone to defend all alone The sheepfold by death overtaken. "When God sought a King for His people, for aye, He went to the grave to find him; And a shepherd came back, Death dead in His grasp, And a following flock behind Him. "O love of the sheep, O life from the dead, O strength of the faint and the fearing; A shepherd is King, and His Kingdom will come. And the day of His coming is nearing."[1] Coronation Gift. Christ is crowned. Not in any vague far-fetched meaning, but in the plain common-sense meaning of the word, He is _crowned_. For crowned means put in the place of highest power, with full right to exercise that power at will. And when the crucified Jesus went up that Olivet day, before the astonished eyes of the disciples, into the sightless blue, on the cloud, He was received in the upper world by the Father. And He was lifted up into the place of highest honour and greatest power. He sat down at the right hand of the Father.[2]