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pass before your vision; you may climb the lofty Alpine summit and behold the snow-streaked and snow-capped peaks towering to the heavens around you--or you may listen to the best music ever composed by a Mozart, a Handel, or a Beethoven, or the finest ever executed by a Liszt, a Rubenstein, or a Paderewski; yet I must tell you upon the authority of God's word that "eye hath not _seen_, nor ear _heard_, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." 1 Cor. 2:9. This vision shows very clearly the lofty position to which Christ has been exalted, possessing "a name which is above every name"; for the entire company of angels and redeemed saints unite in extolling him with songs of praise, and that, too, before the very throne of the Deity and in the presence of his infinite Majesty. Surely we can not doubt that ours is a divine Savior, and one worthy of all praise, honor, power and dominion both now and forever. Though John beheld this wonderful vision in heaven, yet we must remember that it was given and recorded for the benefit of God's people upon earth. The plan of redemption was not actually revealed in heaven, for "Jesus Christ came _into the world_ to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15), and it was here that he was ordained to "taste death for every man." Heb. 2:9. The ransomed company thus brought to view is intended to point out the redeemed of earth; for there is no salvation to be obtained in heaven, in which place no blood was shed--the blood is one of the agents that bears witness in the earth. 1 John 5:7, 8. The central figures of this vision were God, the Holy Spirit, and Christ, around whom the living creatures and elders were gathered, and they, in turn, were surrounded by the angelic throng. This entire scene was doubtless intended to represent the exalted character of spiritual things on earth, where the plan of redemption was revealed and the redeemed host gathered out of all nations. In a very important sense the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost all dwell in the spiritual church, or new Jerusalem, and are thus "in the midst" of God's people, surrounded by the redeemed host who unceasingly worship them, and they, in turn, have the promise that "the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them" (Psa. 34:7); yea, "an innumerable company of angels" reside in this "heavenly Jerusalem," or "city of the living God," unto which we, as a part of the "genera
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