What, then, did he see? He saw in the first place a throne, and on the throne one sitting. Round about the throne were twenty-four seats, and ‘upon the seats four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.’ But besides the elders there was a marvellous manifestation of spiritual life, inexplicable to us who have no experience of the life of a spirit without the body: for in chap. iv. 6, we read, that ‘in the midst of the throne,’ and round about the throne, were four living ones. These living ones were clearly in the most intimate relationship with the throne and with Him who sat on it. They were as near to it and to Him as was possible, for they were in the midst of it, and round about it, while in an outer circle stood a vast host of angels. From chap. v. 11, we see clearly that these angels were in an outer circle, not so near the throne as the living ones, for there we read: ‘I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living ones, and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.’ In this description the only real difficulty is with reference to the elders and living ones, for we are not distinctly informed who they were. According to the reading of ver. 9 and ver. 10, as given us in our dear old English Bible, it appears perfectly plain that together they formed the company of those whose ransomed souls are now resting before the throne, for they said in their hymn, ‘Thou hast redeemed _us_ by thy blood . . . And hast made _us_ unto our God kings and priests.’ But there seems to be a doubt about that ‘_us_,’ and, therefore, we must not rely too much on it. But on the whole there is reason to believe that the vast multitude of happy spirits now before God awaiting the resurrection, are represented by this inner circle of elders and living ones already brought as near as possible to the throne, and surrounded by the vast company of angels, who, having been sent forth to minister unto them during their pilgrimage, can rejoice without jealousy in their blessedness, even though they are placed in a position of greater honour than themselves. But our business in this lecture is not to discuss the persons seen in heaven, but rather to examine what they think of redemption, to learn how far their account of it agrees with our own, and to find in what estimation they hold the redeeming work. * * * * * I. Their account, or description of it. Does the account which they give in their hymn agree with the account which we have gathered from the rest of Scripture? I think it does exactly, and I would ask you to notice four points.